Golf Equipment online

Abugarcia

Hi Guys

Im new to the boards and i just had a question regarding golf gear.Im Kind of a online buyer as in im addicted to it:mad!but i was told to buy my gear either in a golf shop or store.Ive just taken up the game and i love it!but i need to get all the gear as i was just using a friends.I bought my 1st club the other day(rescue) in mcguirks in leopardstown in dublin the shop was pact and quite daunting with so much to choose from but the staff were very friendly and the man that served me (robbie) was very pleasant and knowledgeable and gave me a discount.My question really is are clubs cheaper online now a days or am i better off going to golf stores?I live in Galway and the selection off shops down here are not great at all Any advice would be greatly apreciated

Thanks

Kid Charlemagne

Delighted to hear "Robbie" in McGuirks Leopardstown was so nice to you!:rolleyes:

Give me a break.

ODwyersGolf

Hi Abugarcia,

A rule of thumb would be not to buy online from Asia anyway.

They reckon that over 20% of clubs sold online are fake. However there is a large amount of clubs on sites like eBay etc... that are original and some are great value for money. Buyer feedback here is key. If they've good feedback, usually the clubs are legit.

However, if it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is unfortunately.

If you know the exact type of club that you are looking for, get in contact with the different stores in Ireland and see who's cheapest and what's the best they can do on the club. If they're coming in around the same as what you have to pay online, then I'd suggest getting it from the Irish store as you've that extra bit of comeback. 99% of the time you'll also get the club a lot quicker. For instance, if we've the particular club in stock that someone orders, we'll ship it the same day by courier which means you'll get it the next day. Otherwise we'll get it out as soon as it comes in from our suppliers (3 or 4 days) I'm sure other shops around the country are similar.

If you are new to the game, why not try buy second hand clubs? There's massive money to be saved on second hand clubs at the moment. We sold a set of irons the other day second hand and I'd say if they were used twice, it was a lot. They sold for about 1/4 of the price you'd pay for them new.

U.P.O.

I'll admit i have bought a fair bit of gear on-line in the past and it has worked out cheaper.

A few weeks ago though i was in the market for a set of Mizuno JPX-800 Pro irons in 5-PW. McGuirks or Halpennys or one of them was €620ish i think. Golfstoreeurope was €570ish. I got an e-mail from golfstoreeurope that they had a 10% discount on that weekend so i thought great, i can get them for €510 this weekend.

I went into my local American Golf just to have a look at the clubs again to make sure i was happy and have a hit off them. As i was chatting to guy there i asked him how much for a 5-PW (the price on them was 3 or 4-PW) He told me €490 :eek: And that included the "custom fitting" on the Mizuno Swing DNA thing which was great so i was confident i'd end up with the right shaft for me rather than guessing when buying on-line.

Moral of the story. Dont always asume on-line is better or cheaper. Sometimes your local store is cheaper. Sometimes its worth paying more to try out gear and get a bit of a fitting. Sometimes it is better to buy on-line. (So really that was no help )

If you're a beginner though and dont know much about gear maybe you're better off paying a little bit more and go to a store and try out the various clubs and get some advise. At least you'll be confident that what you bought is really the best fit for you. It may even work out cheaper than getting them on-line too

TheGrump

My advice would be wait until the January sales. I've picked up a good few things over the last few years in McGuirks and American Golf, there's always good deals. You need to be quick though, a lot of people get vouchers for Christmas and the good deals fly out the door.

I bought a few things last year in Mcguirks all with between 20% and 40% off. I had some money left on a voucher so I threw a golf towel in to the basket. At the till I was asked if the towel was reduced, when I said no I was given 25% off. Not bad when they give you a deal that you didn't even have to haggle for (even if it was only a few euro).

death1234567

Kid Charlemagne wrote: »

Delighted to hear "Robbie" in McGuirks Leopardstown was so nice to you!:rolleyes:
Give me a break.

:rolleyes:. The guy is just asking a legitimate question FFS.

Kid Charlemagne

death1234567 wrote: »

:rolleyes:. The guy is just asking a legitimate question FFS.

Maybe you're right but a first post promoting a specific shop....?

Dr_Colossus

Abugarcia wrote: »

Hi Guys

I live in Galway and the selection off shops down here are not great at all Any advice would be greatly apreciated

Thanks

Since you're based in Galway you can't go wrong with Lifestyle in the Liosban Industrial Estate, impressive sized store and often beats the bigger chains McGuirks, Halpenny and American Golf both in terms of price and service. Have no affiliation with the store but have bought clubs and gear there in the past.
Other than Golfstyle the proshop in the Galway Golf Club in Salthill is quite good and competitive on price.
Similar to the above I'd also recommend going second hand, since it's your first set of clubs a good second hand set of clubs will do you years until you have reduced your handicap with a consistent swing which will then benefit from a new set of custom fit clubs.

k.p.h

It's worth noting that the turn around on golf clubs is very fast, e.g the new model is always in the works and just around the corner. It is also worth noting the progression in technology is moving pretty slow at the moment e.g as opposed to 10 years ago where one model was a significant improvement over the last.

To go with that a lot of golfers try to keep up with the trends and also try to keep up with technology in hope of some improvements. This makes the depreciation on clubs pretty significant. So basically last years model is 50% of what it originally cost.

But what about performance.? I reckon with some of the better gear their is almost no difference in performance between models, maybe 1% or 2% better at best. Heck the difference in performance is even less important when you take an individual into account, what dose someone like, do you feel comfortable and confident with the club.

I think the local second hand market is where anyone starting out should be looking. Either for trades in shops or on adverts , chances are you might want to change again in 12 months but at least you will be sound in the knowledge that you didn't pay over the odds. And then maybe at that stage you can go for the ol custom fit with the latest and greatest.

Whatever you do make sure to try before you buy and watch out for fakes..

slave1

I second the earlier post, for an entry player the second hand market is where you will get your best value.
I use adverts.ie and occasionally golfbidder.co.uk and callawaypreowned.com.

mike12

+1 for golfbidder.co.uk clubs are always better than you would expect, i have in the past made them a offer a bit less than the cost of the club and they did the postage for free.
Mike

Doc Daneeka

+1 for Golf Style in the Liosban estate. Great selection of new and second hand with reasonably competitive prices. Staff there are quite good too.

Abugarcia

Kid Charlemagne wrote: »

Delighted to hear "Robbie" in McGuirks Leopardstown was so nice to you!:rolleyes:

Give me a break.

Whats your problem?i mean why even bother posting if you have nothing to say?I simple said that a guy helped me in mcguirks i was sharing my experience.. .your being very petty.

Thank you to the rest of the replys and for taking the time to post all very useful advice.I never thought you could buy second hand clubs so maybe thats a route i should certainly take a look at ive a couple of friends that are members in ggc i must have a look in the pro shop thats a good starting point.
Thanks again lads.

irish bloke

Kid Charlemagne wrote: »

Delighted to hear "Robbie" in McGuirks Leopardstown was so nice to you!:rolleyes:

Give me a break.

Thats a little bit cynical, but in fairness to you I can see why you might have thought that.

There have being a few threads/posts on here lately from new users trying that aul "promoting one business" trick.

In this case though you have to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, as there is not enough in that mail to deem him a rouge...