Starter clubs for woman?

[david613m]

My wife wants to take up golf and she is looking for a good set of starter clubs. For those of you who have commented on my other thread, she doesn't have the height problem I have and can probably get standard clubs for a woman.

Any recommendations? Should she just get the $200 K-Mart Starter set or the likes and then slowly replace her clubs/irons as she progresses? She's played golf before with other people's clubs and had some lessons -- its not likely she's going to give it up at any point. If she should go for a name brand set, what might be good for her?

This site is great! Glad to find a site where people know what they are talking about finally!

[bdcrowe]

My wife wants to take up golf and she is looking for a good set of starter clubs. For those of you who have commented on my other thread, she doesn't have the height problem I have and can probably get standard clubs for a woman.

Any recommendations? Should she just get the $200 K-Mart Starter set or the likes and then slowly replace her clubs/irons as she progresses? She's played golf before with other people's clubs and had some lessons -- its not likely she's going to give it up at any point. If she should go for a name brand set, what might be good for her?

This site is great! Glad to find a site where people know what they are talking about finally!

I've played with several women of various skill levels who swear by Cobra's women's clubs. But please... Leave the Wal/K-Mart clubs alone. They are low quality. Varying swingweights through the set, etc... The more people that buy them, the more club breeders will breed them. Take a stand. Think of the poor clubs.... Seriously, leave the Mart sets alone.

[Bravo35223]

David:

I agree with bd on the Kmart clubs. There is no assurance that these are quality clubs.

On women's clubs - I usually recommend that you find a qualfied female professional in your area and ask her about this. Explain the situation including your wife's experience and what you have budgeted and she should be able to help you out.

Women's clubs are very often outfitted with graphite shafts on the irons. This is due to the fact that women often have lower swing speeds. The vast vast majority of men's irons have steel shafts because of higher swing speeds/greater strength of the player. As a result - men do not have much of a background in recommending clubs for women.

In any event - you want to do as good a job on your wife's clubs as your own and frankly most of us here do not have the experience we need on this issue. A well qualified female pro in your area is what I recommend...

If you mind me asking, where do you live?

bravo

[david613m]

David:

I agree with bd on the Kmart clubs. There is no assurance that these are quality clubs.

On women's clubs - I usually recommend that you find a qualfied female professional in your area and ask her about this. Explain the situation including your wife's experience and what you have budgeted and she should be able to help you out.

Women's clubs are very often outfitted with graphite shafts on the irons. This is due to the fact that women often have lower swing speeds. The vast vast majority of men's irons have steel shafts because of higher swing speeds/greater strength of the player. As a result - men do not have much of a background in recommending clubs for women.

In any event - you want to do as good a job on your wife's clubs as your own and frankly most of us here do not have the experience we need on this issue. A well qualified female pro in your area is what I recommend...

If you mind me asking, where do you live?

bravo

I don't mind at all, but the answer is sort of complicated. For the next few months, I live in Philadelphia and work in Delaware. She works in New York. We'll both be living and working in New York at the end of the summer.

[Bravo35223]

OK - you live in huge metro areas where you will have enormous choices.

I recommend a company called Golfsmith for you. They started in Austin Texas and have branched out tremendously.

Here are their stores

:http://www.golfsmith.com/ps/display_...f4a5b223836242

This company has excellent clubmaking capabilities and can create new component clubs for you from heads and shafts they stock OR they can reshaft used proline clubs that you acquire.

Because of your height, if you can get to a Golfsmith location - I recommend them.

Also, because you are in the Northeast - there are huge clubmaking resources available to you. If you know any good experienced golfers in your area - you may want to contact them...

[jc@bg]

My wife wants to take up golf and she is looking for a good set of starter clubs. For those of you who have commented on my other thread, she doesn't have the height problem I have and can probably get standard clubs for a woman.

Any recommendations? Should she just get the $200 K-Mart Starter set or the likes and then slowly replace her clubs/irons as she progresses? She's played golf before with other people's clubs and had some lessons -- its not likely she's going to give it up at any point. If she should go for a name brand set, what might be good for her?

This site is great! Glad to find a site where people know what they are talking about finally!

Many contributors on this site will probably cringe (cringe, cringe) at what I am about to say, but don't completely rule out the possibility of your wife playing well with "men's" clubs. I'm 6'0 and my wife's 5'2" (and 110 pounds). She played for decades with a set of Lynx "Tigress" irons built for women, with sort of decent success (typical 18 holes @ 90-95) but a weak and inconsistent iron game. She used an old 4-wood of mine off the tee because she hit it better than the women's driver, and she used irons from the fairway because she had little to no success with the women's fairway woods (or with my old 4-wood, really).

In the last couple of years, I've upgraded my own equipment to "get with" the latest technology. When wife and I were on the course together and she had a nice lie, I suggested that she try my new Steelhead 7-wood with graphite shaft. Boom! She hit it great and now has it in her bag. Through a similar process (try my club, you'll like it), my wife now has a TM Rescue Mid 25 degree and a full set of Callaway X-14 irons, all with graphite shafts.

I don't want to measure the lies as she's playing these men's-length clubs because she hits them too well for me to introduce any doubt into the situation. The lies probably aren't that bad for her, though, because her legs are long for her height and her arms are short--she probably needs close to the same lie as I do at 6 feet and very long arms.

Here's the real point: if your wife is anything like mine (and she may not be), she may like the no-pressure solution of trying some longer, heavier men's clubs *if you or a friend have something top-quality that might conceivably work for her.* No pressure from dealing with sales people, and no pressure from trying to live up to a spanking-new set of "special" women's clubs. My wife gained about a club and a half when I got her a set of used men's x-14s with regular flex graphite shafts (she also doesn't like the whippy women's shafts), and her consistency of contact also is improved. My daughter, who, although taller and heavier than my wife, has a weak to nonexistent golf swing, has had similar results: she can't hit women's clubs out of her shadow but can make some pretty good strokes with my clubs. Both of these ladies have a tendency to quickness in the swing that longer, heavier clubs helps to smooth out. Lessons and professional advice are wonderful, but I've seen a few professionals who take the party line much too much to heart. Mismatched or poor-quality sets aren't the answer, and please don't buy something for your wife that she hasn't tested on the course. But also don't get in mind that if it doesn't say "women's" on it she can't hit it well--'tain't so.