New golf clubs are expensive. I recently bought two custom-fitted Ping fairway woods and was relieved of the thick end of £700. For two golf clubs! I am delighted with them but it is a LOT of money.
I reckon that if I had to replace the 14 clubs in my bag on a like for like basis then it would set me back around £3,000. It is a not inconsiderable sum.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
How to Save Money on Golf Clubs
There are alternative routes you can follow. Let me give you an example. I use a TaylorMade Qi10 driver, a club that I absolutely love. It found its way into my collection last year, at which point it retailed for around £500. Earlier this year TaylorMade replaced it with the Qi35 but several leading professionals, Rory McIlroy among them, chose to stick with the Qi10. And that should tell you what a great club it is.
And here is the thing – because it is no longer the current model, if you shop around you will be able to pick up a brand new Qi10 for far less than £500. American Golf will let you have one for £379 – that is a saving of more than £120!
The same applies to fairway woods, utility clubs, irons, wedges and putters. If you are happy to put last year’s model in your bag you can make some huge savings.
Why You Should Consider Buying Second Hand Golf Clubs
For many of us, second-hand is the best option and the market is flooded with some fantastic choices and a seemingly endless source of websites and online shops to choose from.
If you have a good idea of what you are looking for, I can guarantee that you will find it for the price you are happy to pay. You really don’t need to pay thousands of pounds. And there are some bargains to be had on the biggest household brands.
eBay is an obvous place to start and the choice is mind-boggling, with something to suit every pocket. If you are a beginner, you may fancy a set of Ram clubs, complete with bag for just £39.99. Or perhaps a set of Callaway RAZR-X irons will tickle your fancy at just £207.64. For better players, a set of Mizuno MP-20 HMB/Blade irons fitted with Dynamic Gold stiff shafts caught my eye for £342.
Whether buying or selling, GolfClubs4Cash is most definitely worth a visit. A Callaway Elyte Mini-Driver is on offer at £340. It comes with a full condition report, next day delivery and a money-back guarantee. If you are left-handed you can treat yourself to an Odyssey Dual Force putter for a scarcely credible £41.99. Or maybe a TaylorMade Spider GTX putter for just £199.99.
Golfbidder also allows golfers to buy or sell their used equipment. Like GolfClubs4Cash, every club and set comes with a condition report and a picture gallery that allows you to see what you are buying. Unlike many other sites, Golfbidder indicates the standard of player that each of its clubs is designed for – beginner, intermediate and advanced. So a beginner would be steered away from investing £198 in a Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver but would be pointed towards a Cobra AeroJet at £173. Here, you can buy a used TaylorMade Qi10 driver for just £282.99 or new one for £389.99.
Affordable Golf does exactly what it says on the tin with some great deals on package sets, such as £1,119 for a Callaway XR 13-piece set complete with stand bag or £1,199 for a TaylorMade RBZ 2 11-Piece set with a cart bag.
Nearly New Clubs has a massive array of second-hand clubs as well as some special deals on brand new clubs, such as just £209 for a Cobra LTDx LS driver. When searching for clubs, you can set yourself a budget to see what results you get. This site grades its clubs out of 10. So, a set of Wilson Staff V6 blades costs £349, with club heads graded at 7/10, shafts 7/10 and grips 7/10. Looking for wedges? Titleist Vokey SM10 54 and 58 degrees at £249 looks like a pretty decent deal to me.
The Golf Factory has an impressive selection of top-brand irons, including Titleist, Callaway, Mizuno, PXG and TaylorMade, from £535 to £745. You can buy seven PXG GEN4 0311 T irons with Project X shafts for £745 – that represents a huge saving.
I was surprised to discover plenty of bargains on Gumtree of all places. I came across a Callaway Paradym AI Smoke driver advertised as “like new” for just £275, a magnificent set of TaylorMade RAC MB irons in superb condition for £150 and a huge practice net for £5! I even found a pair of brand new Adidas size 11 golf shoes for, wait for it, £10. There was even somebody giving away a huge bag of golf balls. The beauty of Gumtree is that it can be a largely local service so you can go and inspect your prospective buy before handing over your money.
All of the above is the tip of the iceberg. If you are looking for second-hand clubs, I strongly advise you to spend some time doing an internet search. You just might be pleasantly surprised by what you find out there.
Related Content
The Best Places to Buy Second Hand Golf Clubs
The Second-Hand Golf Club Market: Making Golf More Accessible
More Golfers Are Turning to Second Hand Equipment Market
