Importance of name brand golf clubs

I would consider myself a golf beginner and my favorite part of the game is watching myself improve with each and every club. I have a set of clubs my dad gave me probably eight years ago and have just now seriously started playing them this season. I have continued to use the irons from the set but have upgraded the putter to a cleveland mallet putter which i feel as if i have great control over but need to re grip. The driver i use is some beat up wal mart driver that i got for ten dollars at a garage sale. Just recently i have stopped slicing on every shot and hit about a constant 250 or more yard drive. Also in my bag i have a sand wedge and hybrid that arent name brands passed down from my grandfather but i can hit both pretty consistently. My irons i continue to see improvement with, they are a set of tour select clubs(made by northwestern) they are very cheap clubs. My question is that although i can hit these clubs decent how much improvement will a new set of clubs bring? The picture included is what the original set looked like.

I think the biggest improvement comes from having a set custom fit for you, you don't have to spend a ton of money on clubs to gain benefits but spending money on getting those clubs fit for your swing is the best start possible.

If you are looking to improve, from a technology standpoint a lot has changed in the last 8 years....beyond technology no matter what clubs you go with make sure they are fit to you.

if if you don't want to break the bank, check out Giga Golf. They will custom fit a set to your body.

I suggest you work on your swing first before getting a nice set of clubs. Make your swing efficient, reliable, natural and repeatable. You can do that with your present clubs. Take it from a guy who went through nine sets of clubs without a good golf swing. That was expensive.

However, while you're finding your swing, take the opportunity to try out what's there, just so you open your mind to the possibilities. Once you have your swing, you can get yourself a cool new set.

The guys are right that you should eventually get fitted, but without a consistent swing, it's like a tailor trying to make you pants where you're a 32 one day and a 37 the next.

For brand-name, some have real tech in improving your game, and some have more hype, and unfortunately, it's hard to tell the difference. Bottom line, if possible, always try before you buy.

And gear doesn't have to be brand new. You can always find good pre-owned clubs.

Welcome to the game and good luck with being a golf gearhead. It can be addictive. Take it from a guy who came from rehab.

The name on the club should have absolutely no bearing on how well you golf with them. There may be technology improvements in the newer name brand clubs, but that doesn't necessarily mean you will be better at golf.

The work you put in, well be the deciding factor.

thank you to everyone, especially theoverswinger. I think i am going to continue to become better with these clubs by taking lessons and continuing to hit the local par 3 course and a driving range a few times a week. Once consistent i think then i can reward myself with a nice fitted set of clubs. I am currently a college student for one more year so hopefully within the next two years i will have money to spend on the right set

Evan a few thoughts. Back in the day Northwestern was a decent club. Irons have not changed all that much. There have been improvements. But not quantum leaps. So keeping your irons is a good idea for now. Get through school and get a good job. Then replace the irons. Might not be a bad idea to have them checked for lie angle though. Pretty cheap to have them bent to your specs. New grips also will go a long way to making your irons play better. Not rocket science to replace them yourself. You Tube vids will show you how.

As for the hybrids. If they are working regrip and keep plugging. Hybrid heads aren't as critical as say driver. Wait till your out of school.

Now for driver and fairways here I say time to change. If I read your post right the driver is beat. Here is where technology has definatly moved on. A good quality used driver a few generations old are cheap. I bought a Cleveland SL270 for 39 bucks. Something like that will be light years better than the Wally World driver your banging now. Head to a good golf store GolfSmith or the like and search the used bins and get a decent used driver. You'll thank me later.

Also fairways have gotten way better. I would suggest again a good used fairway or 2. 4 and 7 would be my suggestion. The forgiveness of the newer stuff is worth the cost of updating. Used fairways a few generations old are cheap.

Someone suggested Giga Golf. I've heard of them, no experience. Prices are good, no idea on quality. I would suggest Hireko though. Good quality stuff at decent prices. They will custom assemble for you. Golfworks is another source of high quality fitted clubs. All 3 should get you new clubs on the cheap.

One last suggestion on Driver and fairways. The new Taylormade SLDR C series are a very good bargain. Simple effective clubs at a pricepoint most anyone can afford. An idea that is a long time comming. I hope other companys will hop on the band wagon on this idea.

Best of luck in your search. Enjoy the game.

Mark Shuman

braddman19 said:

The name on the club should have absolutely no bearing on how well you golf with them. There may be technology improvements in the newer name brand clubs, but that doesn't necessarily mean you will be better at golf.

The work you put in, well be the deciding factor.

Click to expand...

Well said. Technology and new clubs can not fix a bad swing. No matter the brand, if they work for you, they work for you.

i will for sure look into a nicer driver at a price point i can afford. I believe at the local play it again store they have a newer taylormade driver going for about fifty dollars so when i can afford both that and rent i will for sure pull the trigger. I think the next step though is the fifteen dollar fix of regripping my putter. the grip on my irons is still in good quality as it has not been played with much. appreciate the advice from everyone

My first clubs were a cheapo complete set I bought from Academy for something like $180. I played with them a few times over a few years, but knew they weren't up to snuff if I was going to really get into the game. The quality wasn't what was holding me back, but the fit. I always kind of figured I needed longer clubs, but assumed they would be ridiculously expensive.

When that time came I got some very good advice from a club fitter. He told me that the fit was important, and that it could be done on a budget. We determined that I needed them +1.5" and 2* upright. I ordered a set of irons from Hireko golf with those specs. It was around $250 for 5-9, PW, SW, and AW. I'm still playing with those (although I lost the sand wedge). I do play with standard length hybrids, 3W and driver, as well as two standard length Vokey wedges (I think I'd be better off if they were fit as well, though).

At this point I don't think my equipment is holding me back at all. I've proven to myself that I can hit good shots with what I have, I just have to do my part to make that happen. I probably won't look at getting anything different until I get to somewhere around a 20 handicap (I'm currently at 34).

I played clone clubs for years when I first started playing golf. At the time, they were fine. I do believe that name brand clubs perform better because theres a lot of technology and expertise that the cloners arent aware of and the quality isnt quite the same but they still perform well and if I were first starting out, I wouldnt drop $2000 for a new set of namebrand clubs.

There is definitely a difference between clubs, but nothing that should affect the basic game play. For instance, I had a set of cheap dunlop clubs from a big box sports store, and I played ok with them. The biggest difference was the feel when mishitting. On the cheap clubs, if you mishit, it hurt, you could feel it pound through the club right into your hands. With better clubs, those mishits don't hurt as much.

But as others have said, key factor is to get a good swing going, learn the mechanics and such of the swing and then upgrade your clubs after going to a professional fitter and having him check out your swing and analyze it and then try out all the different clubs and find what suits you best.

I'm lucky in that I don't need any adjustments from standard loft/lie. My fitter had me hit many balls, and basically, I'm standard loft lie and stiff shafts. So I can pretty much just grab any club off the shelf. so I chose the clubs I wanted and tried them, liked them and bought them.

But it does not have to cost a fortune to upgrade clubs either. I bought all pre-owned clubs when I upgraded. I chose taylormade because I liked how they felt when I hit them. And I wanted all the same brand.

Taylormade R1 - $120.00
Taylormade RBZ Stage 2 3 wood - $80.00
Taylormade RBZ Stage 2 2H TS - $70.00
Taylormade Jetspeed 3H $39.00
Taylormade ATV 56 degree Wedge $25.00
Taylormade Rocketballz 4-AW $229.95
New Taylormade Ghost Tour Black Daytona with super stroke grip - was a gift from my Dad.
Taylormade Catalina Cart Bag $89.99

I did not really need to change the bag, but I did because I had this matching set idea in my head and wanted everything matched.

I also bought matching head covers for all the woods/hybrids to complete the look and a few odds and ends, new glove as the old one was worn out, and some balls from a few different brands to try out and see what I liked versus what I have been playing.

I sold my old equipment, so it offset my costs as I made back about $350.00 - $400.00 on my old equipment. so it really only cost me around $250.00 to $300.00 to upgrade everything.

So all in all I actually upgraded for a great price all decent stuff that I like. It does;t have to cost a lot if you are willing to buy a couple of generations older pre-owned equipment that is still damn good in its own right. I don't really think any of the newest stuff is giving a significant distance increase over what I have. I bought solely on feel of the new equipment which has reset my love for the game.

Hell my old R7 TP Driver used to bomb the ball pretty good, in fact I have tested it against the R1 with my brother before I got the R1 and I was able to drive further than him with the R7 when we both bombed it. so I can say from my own experience that there has not been a significant distance gain with the R1 vs the R7. But I got it for the newer technology and adjustability.

Even the name brands make (or license) cheap low end clubs (Callaway Solaire, Wilson Ultra, pretty much any boxed set). Just because it has a brand name on it doesn't mean it's high quality. But yes, the materials used make a difference, though the difference is less pronounced for a beginner.

Getting fit is important especially once you've gotten to the point that you are making solid contact at least 2/3rds of the time. I've recommended to friends shopping for irons on a budget to determine flex and then look for something on ebay that's a few years old with the right flex. Take them to a fitter and have the lie, swing weight, and length adjusted. Don't overlook a putter fitting if you really want to make a difference in your scores.

Continue to rock that set if you're getting decent reults and they're not impeding your game. Admittedly I learned the game on a high end set at the time (Ping Eye 2's) and all Ping 1, 3, and 5 persimmon woods. I had an older Johnny Miller bullseye and a sweet original Wilson sand wedge. There's nothing wrong with lower, non name brand gear as long as you hone a sound swing and get good results. The biggest issue for me has always been feel. Personally I even place feel over forgiveness and distance. Accuracy will always be the result of your swi g regardless of cub maker. My current gamers are a set of MD Icon irons 4-PW with traditional lofts. I haven't found a set of cast clubs in the same class as these Icons that even come close to feeling like these. These are light, forgiving and come stock with sweet Mitsubishi Rayon shafts. I doubt I'll be upgrading for a while these dart droppers are really all I need to enjoy the game. The ball positively jumps off the face of these bad boys. There's nothing wrong with your equipment bud. Enjoy the journey golf is one of God's great gifts.