Buy used. For almost every beginner, a good used set is the smart start. You keep your money, you get clubs that are already proven, and you can upgrade later — once your swing settles and you know golf is truly for you.
Here is the honest math. A brand-new full set can cost €1,600 or more, and single clubs run €300 to €600 each. A quality used set costs 30 to 70 percent less. You can build a first bag — driver, a fairway wood, a hybrid, irons, a sand wedge, a putter — for roughly €180 to €550. That is everything you need for your first year, for about the price of one new driver.
There is a pattern I have seen for years, and a used-club reseller once described it perfectly: shiny new starter sets keep turning up secondhand, sold by people who tried golf and moved on before the clubs ever earned their price. Do not be that story. Spend small at the start, fall in love with the game first.
What are the real risks of buying used clubs?
The real risk is buying the wrong club without noticing. Used clubs can hide small faults: a bent or rusted shaft, worn grooves, a cracked or slippery grip, a dent in the head. A bent or rusted shaft is a no — walk away. Everything else you can check, and most of it is cheap to fix.
Grips are the nice surprise. Grips older than five years should really be replaced, and re-gripping costs only a few euros per club. So a tired-looking set with good bones can feel almost new for very little money.
Then there are counterfeits, mostly on Marktplaats. Fake A-brand clubs exist, and some are made well enough to fool you. A Dutch reviewer once compared buying on Marktplaats and the specialist sites; the counterfeit he found was only caught because the seller could not answer a simple question — where and when he bought the clubs. That is your best defence. Ask where the clubs came from and how old they are. An honest seller answers easily.
Which clubs are safe to buy used — and which are not?
Almost all of them. Irons and putters hold their performance well, so used is perfect there. And cavity-back irons are exactly right for you as a beginner — they have a higher MOI, which simply means the head twists less on off-centre hits. More forgiveness on the shots you catch a little thin or a little toey. That is the whole game when you are learning.
Wedges are the one club to treat with care. The grooves wear down with use, and worn grooves give you less spin and less control near the green. With a used wedge, look closely at the grooves, or buy one nearly new. This is the single exception to my “used is fine” rule.
Skip the boxed beginner sets from big general stores if you can. Experienced golfers online say the same thing again and again: put that same budget into a used cavity-back set from a real brand like Callaway, Ping or TaylorMade, and the feel and forgiveness are on another level.
How much should a beginner expect to spend?
Plan for €180 to €550 for a full starter bag of seven to ten clubs. You do not need to buy everything at once, either.
Here is a little insider point that saves you money. Clubs lose value fast — about 20 to 30 percent in the first year, then 10 to 15 percent each year after, with drivers and wedges dropping quickest. So clubs from two or three generations back, roughly four to six years old, sit in the sweet spot: modern enough to play beautifully, cheap because someone else already paid the new price. A well-chosen used set from a few proven years back gives you the best forgiveness for your euro. Newer clubs are only slightly better than five-year-old ones, and honestly, at beginner swing speeds you will not feel the difference.
What matters far more than age is fit. The right length, weight and shaft flex help you more than the newest model. Which brings us to the next question.
When does buying new actually make sense?
When you are committed and playing regularly — say a year or more — new clubs with a proper fitting start to make real sense.
But be patient with fitting. A full custom fitting on day one is usually money spent too early, because your swing still changes every few lessons. A simple check of length and shaft flex after four or five lessons, or five to ten rounds, is the practical move. Clubs that are too long, too heavy or too stiff quietly teach bad contact habits, and I would rather help you build good ones from the start. Once your swing is steady, then we fit — and then new can be worth it.
If you want to understand your own gaps first, it helps to know how far each club goes and what clubs a beginner really needs before you spend anything.
Where can beginners in the Netherlands find good used clubs?
You have good options here, and I like the low-risk ones for beginners.
Decathlon Netherlands sells used clubs that are inspected, tested, and come with a one-year warranty. For a first set, that safety net is lovely. Golfclubtrader.nl is the main Dutch specialist, and it lets you buy single clubs, not only full iron sets — handy when you just want to replace one or two. Golfbidder, based in the UK, ships to the Netherlands and photographs and grades every club individually, so you see exactly what you get. Marktplaats has the widest choice and the lowest prices, but that is where you must know what you are looking for.
For local shops and the full picture, see where to buy golf gear near Utrecht . And while you are shopping, grab the right golf balls too — cheaper than you think, and they matter for a beginner.
One last piece of advice, straight from the Dutch golf federation: before you buy used, bring your golf pro or an experienced golfer to look them over. I do this happily with my students — a quick check for length, flex and groove wear before you pay. If you would like a second pair of eyes on a set you found, that is exactly what I am here for, and you can see how lessons work on my pricing page.
Start small, play often, and let the clubs earn their upgrade. That first cheap set might just be where you fall for this game.