Our Golf Club Recommendations for Beginners
To compensate for these swing issues, a beginners set should aim for maximum forgiveness.
Oversized clubheads will remedy the problem of inconsistent contact. With a larger hitting area, there's less mis-hits. Perimeter weighting will help on irons - the mis-hits will straighten up a bit, and heel and toe shots become solider. The ball will go up higher with a wide sole, which will also help the club slide through the turf. Also, clubs that are a little shorter will improve the chances of club-ball contact.
Offset clubheads get the club back to the ball later, which remedies those out-to-in swing paths, because the clubface will be squarer, and less open. Additionally, it will assist with those fat shots, because your hands will be kept to the front of the clubhead.
Choose hybrid clubs with a lot of loft and a low centre of gravity to help you with long shots from the rough or the fairway. The more loft you have, the easier it becomes to get the ball higher in the air, which in turn gives you more distance. In addition, it adds backspin, which makes shots go straighter by neutralizing side spin.
When it comes to putting, practice definitely makes perfect. It's not a matter of strength, but it can still be tricky for beginners to gauge distances. The big issue is alignment, as you won't have learnt to keep your head right above the ball. Contact is also an issue.
For the optimum Beginners set-up we suggest:
Driver: The popular ZR1 Ti Driver 460cc from Pinemeadow Golf is modelled after the Ping® G10 Driver. The 460 cc club head and the large clubface will make your shots a lot easier and more consistent. This design is perfect for beginner golfers.
Fairway Woods: To maintain consistency thru the different woods we recommend to stick with the ZR1 #3 Fairway Wood. It offers the same playing characteristics as the 'big brother' (= driver or #1 wood), and the same high-tech and beautiful design.
Irons/Hybrids: Instead of mixing and matching different shorter irons and longer hybrid clubs the ZR1 Hybrid Iron Set has done the work for you. As a perfect iron/hybrid set for beginners it replaces the hard to hit 3, 4 and 5 irons with perfectly matching hybrids. We recommend to get the full set with graphite shafts if your swing speed is slow, or to get at least the hybrid clubs with graphite shafts no matter how fast your swing speed is.
Putter: As a beginner golfer you will use the putter more often than any other club in your bag, so it makes sense to get one that will make the task of putting as easy as possible. The Xeon Titan putter is a great candidate for this: it is big, well balanced and has a superb alignment aid to help particularly with shorter puts.
The set recommended here is only about $450, compared to over $2000 you would have to pay for the equivalent branded clubs. The golf set will help you to get your game into shape, and it will suit you for at least a couple of years depending on how often you play. Use at least some of the money saved to get good lessons from a golf teaching pro, and you're on your way for a lifetime of fun (…and frustration…).
Here is some additional info about the clubs we recommended above: