May 30 2009
In the Market for Great Golf Equipment
When you begin shopping for good golf equipment, you'll find that if you know how and where to look, it can be a very rewarding adventure. I've stumbled upon great deals a number of times just by dropping by summer yard sales. I've seen entire sets for $30. Single woods were $3. Granted, they weren't the best of the best, but I don't need the best of the best to play (until such time that I turn pro).
I'd rather plop down a few hundred bucks into learning how to play golf from a pro than to throw down $1100 for a set of clubs I may not use consistently. Garage sales, auctions, yard sales, and thrift stores will all have sets of golf clubs for very reasonable prices. Again, they aren't new so you do need to check out the shafts to make sure they aren't bowed. But those neighborhood summer sales would be the first place I'd look.
Next place I would seek out is on ebay.com, the largest online auction site in the world. They have a great business model and you can find really good bargains if you know where to look. As I write this there were over 3000 golf club sets for sale. There were 12,500 golf ball sites that sold golf balls. I even saw a "used golf ball" category. Go online to Ebay and search around, you are sure to find deals.
Amazon.com is another reputable site for finding many who are willing to sell a set of golf clubs at a reasonable price. You have to search out the deals, but they are there.
One minor disadvantage to the online sites is that you don't get to play with the clubs before you buy. Unfortunately you don't always know for certain what you're getting. The advantage though is that most major online sites have modest return policies (with plenty of cautions before you actually press Buy).
Finally, online golf sites (not Yahoo-, Ebay- or Amazon-related) are the last place I would turn to in order to find great reconditioned golf equipment. These sites are geared towards golf. Buying from these sites is an area that you need to be cautious about.
You can buy decent equipment at affordable prices but you need to exercise a bit of caution. It's fine to be cautiously skeptical about your buys. P.T. Barnum said it best: "there's a sucker born every minute." And he hadn't even heard about the online world. Unfortunately, he's right. You now know that not everyone you deal with online is as honest and trustworthy as you and me. Do some due diligence and read the reviews of the person you are buying from. If he (or she) has a ton of positive reviews, you increase your odds of success. Chances are very good that your purchase will also be very good. Avoid those who have very few buy and/or sell transactions. It doesn't make the person untrustworthy, it just makes her inexperienced.
