Good set of beginner clubs

Question
Hello, I'm very new to golf. I just started playing about a month ago now and I love it already. The thing is, is that I am a college bound student who needs to save AS MUCH money as possible. I played once with a rental set and ended up buying a very cheap set of Cougar X-Cat Tour II golf clubs. I have golfed about 8 times with these and so far so good. I realize that because I only spent $100 on these, that they are not going to last long. I am happy with them right now though and I guess I'm just wondering your opinion on whether or not you think I should save up money during the next year (I live in upstate New York so the weather is going to be too cold to golf) and buy a new set in the beginning of the next season. So far I've just played randomly at three different course but one of them offers a great membership rate for full-time students, so I'm definitely getting one. Therefore I'll be playing a lot next year. So should I save my money for college and use these as much as I can, which might be one season, two seasons or 5 seasons, or should I buy a better set that will definitely last longer. If so what set would you recommend and how much would they cost?

Thanks, Greg

Answer
Hey Greg,

If you're that new to the game, going out and spending a lot of money on clubs just doesn't make much sense to me.  At the same time, you'll probably get better performance out of some better equipment.  In the spring I would look around golf shops and courses for a decent set of used irons.  You should be able to get a pretty nice set of clubs for a very reasonable price.  The golf industry starts flooding the market with new equipment every spring.  As people buy new clubs you are able to find good deals on the sets that they trade in.  Top of the line clubs from 3 or 4 years ago are probably going to out perform any brand new $100 set of clubs. The technology in them is just so much better, even if they're a couple of years old.  The same thing goes for your woods.  As far as putters are concerned...it's all about practice, repetition and what you think feels good.  I once won 2 tournaments using an old putter I picked up in a pawn shop for a couple of bucks.

Don't forget to take advantage of all that time indoors this winter. I must have spent hundreds of hours putting on my dorm room carpet when it was cold or rainy outside.  Put a dime on the floor across the room and putt over it.  Once you get the stroke down, try to stop the ball on it.

Good luck and have fun.

John