Hi friends, new to golf

Hello friends,

Am taking up golf with a group of friends soon. Have been looking around to find affordable and good priced courses. Came across 1 trainer at Mandai golf course (Mr Phua). Anyone have any experience with him?

Also, what are the things to look out for when purchasing 2nd hand golf set for beginners ? Few of us are trying to buy an affordable set for each of ourselves for learning and perhaps some fun on the driving range or even greens.

Appreciate all your inputs.

hello and welcome, there's a list of professional coaches in the appropriate section, might want to take a look there.

equipment wise, its best not to rush into it, some prefer beginner sets, but they outgrow them quickly, some prefer to begin with tough to hit blades, so that they can learn to hit the sweet spot well, some prefer brand new, some prefer pre-owned. No best advice, go with what your wallet and heart desires. But no rush, u can always use ur coaches clubs for lessons and even borrow them to hit them when u r not having lessons.

I believe the coach at Mandai is Phua Thian Kay, who's been on the coaching scene for a very very long time, one of the few early golf coaches around. He coached some juniors to success a long long time ago at SICC and was quite recognised as one of the top coaches then. He was a succesful player for Singapore too in the 70s I think. Not sure how he teaches now, but I took lessons from him in my teens as a beginner. He was quite old school then, don't know about now.

Welcome to GR by the way.

Best to hold off purchasing clubs until you're sure you've been bitten bad by the golf bug, or you'll just end up with golf equipment you won't know what to do with should you not decide to continue with the game after finishing your beginner lessons.

Hi, tjy. Welcome.
I am a beginner myself, so not qualified to advise. Just to share with you my experience.

I began learning golf at Toa Payoh range sometime in Oct 2009. After a few lessons, got hooked. Didn't like borrowing the clubs from the range as I couldn't get used to using different clubs all the time. Asked for some advise from my instructor. Bought my first set of TaylorMade R7 irons on eBay.sg. Was thinking that a good branded set would be easier to sell if I give up later. Bonus was that I got a free golf stand bag, a free set of woods and driver that the seller decided to give away. I have since became quite happy with the irons.
Downside was that, although the clubs are genuine and fairly new, they're used. This means I need to regrip them. But I guess all clubs need to regrip sooner or later.

Before I bought the TM irons, I bought one cheap iron at Cash Converters just to try out. My instructor found a small hairline crack and told me to throw it away! Get an experienced golfer to help you choose. (I had no such luck.)

As a beginner, I believe that you need to have the equipment first before you can decide whether you'll like the game or not. Without it, the hassle of having to borrow constantly and returning them may put you off in the first place. And then having to get used to different clubs all the time... If you buy a second hand set and sell it later, I don't think you'll lose much. Consider it as rental costs!

Good luck and let the fun begin!

Thanks for sharing your experience scotty2010, that's another way of going about it.

Once you are sure of your commitment to the game, that's the time to begin the search for the perfect set, cos it is a deep dark descent down a never ending road. Many here can atest to that.

I myself have 11 golf bags, as many pairs of golf shoes, 9 drivers, 7 sets of irons, loose woods, wedges, and numerous putters all over the place. And I don't even consider myself someone who changes clubs that often. Looking back, I might have to change my mind on that.

Hello, Welcome.

Thanks for all your inputs ! I believe I will go for a few sessions and meanwhile look out for good deals for pre-owned clubs. But honestly, looking at the different choices in the marketplace for sales, I seriously do not know which is worth it, which is not.

sorry brothers, for purchasing of golf set, would it be advisable to just use Irons or to get a driver as well?

tjy wrote:

sorry brothers, for purchasing of golf set, would it be advisable to just use Irons or to get a driver as well?

i like your question.. true blue beginner... not bluff one like a lot of GR.. (too humble)..haha..

the short answer is...

for start, when learning, just get the irons first.. master it before you go on to woods and drivers..

hi welcome to gr

thanks bro nrafee.. seriously damn new to this sports... and i'm seriously feeling that i'm a little too old to start this sports... but well, definately wanna try it out... will need plenty of guidance from you guys !

i just started learning also.. wanted to only get the irons.. then suddenly.. one thing led to another, irons, bag, wood, putter, sand wedge, hybrid, driver... my set is almost complete now..

it can get addictive..but just remember it is the Indian not the arrows that matters...

Hi there

Welcome. I am a newbies to GR too. Lets have fun together

so which set of irons are you on now bro ?

Bro are you asking me?

sorry. asking nrafee..

tjy wrote:

sorry. asking nrafee..

Mizuno MX200 graphite - improvement irons

will be using it for a very very long time...

Welocme to GR, TJY.

Will be looking for more experience and fun with golfing..

U gotta join the Official range session on Wednesday evening @ MBGC. Then U get more experience & fun wif the buayas & buayees