OK, we let’s assume you have up to a maximum of $400 and are wanting to buy a complete set of golf clubs. Most likely, this will be your first set of golf clubs. However, this may also be an upgrade from a cheaper first set of golf clubs that you had in the past.
Well, this process is going to be a whole lot easier than you perhaps expected. We are going to break down, in a very simple way, the exact set of golf clubs that will be best for YOU.
I’ll go ahead and make a very broad generalization. 90% of you reading this should just buy the cheapest Callaway Strata complete set that you can get your hands on. Callaway Strata is the most popular choice for complete sets, especially for women’s complete sets. There are lots of other options out there, but they don’t compare when it comes to the mix of performance and price.
3 Important Factors to Consider
There are three factors that you need to keep in mind: brand, # of clubs, and price. Let’s break them down.
Brand: There are tons of brands of ladies golf clubs. I recommend that you stick with three of them: Strata (owned by Callaway), Wilson, Callaway, and Cobra. Cobra and Callaway make the best complete sets, but they will unfortunately be out of the price range of this article’s budget of $400. Therefore, Strata and Wilson will be your best bets here. Tour Edge and Top Flite are also decent options, but they simply don’t compare to Strata and Wilson in my opinion.
Now, let’s talk about the brands that you need to ignore. Ignore all of them except for the 6 that I already mentioned (Strata, Wilson, Callaway, Cobra, Tour Edge, and Top Flite. For example, ignore all of the off-brands like Aspire, Ram, Precise, Palm Springs, and Confidence. These models will break super easily and super quickly, and their customer service is nothing like the brand names.
Number of Clubs: You may think you need a complete set of clubs. 14 is the max based on the rules of the USGA, so you probably assume that you need 14 clubs. NOPE! You really don’t need near a complete set. You NEED the following: a driver, a fairway wood, a hybrid, a few irons, a wedge, a putter, and a bag. That’s it.
You DON’T need multiple fairway woods. You DON’T need multiple hybrids. You don’t need 5+ irons. One fairway wood, one hybrid, and 3 irons is plenty for a beginner lady golfer. Many brands offer a basic set (9-10 clubs) and a deluxe set (11-14 clubs). Don’t confuse an “11-piece set” with “11 clubs”, because the number “11” in 11-piece includes the bag and head covers, which is stupid I know. Anyway, go with the basic set (less pieces), because you don’t need all of the clubs to start out with. You can always buy more if needed down the road.
Price: You can buy an incredible set for far less than $400. Most people think they have to shell out $1,000+ for a good set of clubs. Nope. All of the options that we’ll recommend in this article are going to be sold for under $400.
Our Honest Recommendations
1) Strata 11-Piece Women’s Set (Most Popular & Best Value)
The Strata 11 Piece Set is by far the most popular women’s set of golf clubs ever sold. It’s only $250, and it includes everything that you TRULY need if you are brand new to golf.
- It has a forgiving driver. Super lightweight, super forgiving.
- It has one fairway wood. That’s all you need. Great for shots where you need more than a hybrid but less than a driver.
- It has one hybrid. Again, that’s all you need. Great for shots where your irons aren’t enough, but your fairway wood would be too much.
- It has 2 irons, a 7 and a 9. Two irons is plenty for a brand new golfer, but an intermediate golfer would want some more, for increased distance control.
- It has a sand wedge. Most basic complete sets don’t have a sand wedge. They just have a pitching wedge, which is a little more difficult to get the ball out of the sand with. So the fact that this set has a sand wedge is awesome!
- It has a putter. It is a blade model. Most women prefer a mallet putter that is easier to aim, but a blade putter is fine.
- It has a lightweight carry bag that is easy to transport. You may like the pink and black color, or you may hate it. Personally, I think it’s a pretty good look. But I’m a dude. So, yeah.
If you are brand new to golf, this is the set for you. It’s the best combination of price and performance, without a doubt. If you are starting to get a good feel for the game, I’d recommend a more deluxe (more clubs) set. This set is great, except that it only has 2 irons.
Perfect for: women golfers that are brand new to the game that want to get a high quality set to learn the game with.
2) Strata Ultimate Women’s 16-Piece Set (For Those Wanting More Clubs)
The 11-Piece set is great. However, for slightly more experienced women golfers, the Ultimate 16-Piece women’s set is a better fit. The Ultimate set has 2 extra irons (8 & PW) and an extra hybrid.
That may not sounds like a lot, but these 3 clubs make a big difference when you are starting to dial in your distance control. We call the short irons and wedges the “scoring clubs”. These are the clubs that you are most likely going to make your pars and birdies with. So the more options you have to get the ball as close to the hole as possible on your approach shot, the better!
The price difference is about $150 for these three extra clubs. That would make the total for this set right at $400, which isis still a great price for a brand name set of women’s clubs. Everything else is the same in the two sets, except for the color (the Ultimate set is purple instead of pink).
Is the price increase worth it? Well, if you are brand new to golf, no. But if you want the better distance control, yes. And if you plan on using the set for a long time without upgrading to “premium” clubs, then yes, the price increase is worth it.
Perfect for: women golfers that want better distance control with the 3 extra clubs, compared to the 11-piece set, for an extra $150.
3) Wilson Women’s Ultra Plus Complete Set (Longest)
We also need to include this set by Wilson, as Wilson is pretty much synonymous with quality clubs at amazing prices. The Wilson Ultra set comes with 10 clubs, and it also incorporates their own Super Game technology, and that’s going to make a difference to your round when it comes to forgiveness on mishits. Trust me, you are going to have a lot of mishits.
These clubs are lighter than any other women’s clubs on the market, leading to the best distance of women’s complete sets.
What you get here are clubs where there’s perimeter weighting, and basically what that does is adds real balance to the club. It also increases the sweet spot, so even off-center hits are going to be forgiven, so you don’t have to worry about missing as many fairways and greens as you master your swing. Speaking of that, go ahead and find a good PGA professional to get some lessons from.
Also, the Wilson Ultra women’s clubs use lightweight, graphite shafts, except for the putter of course. Graphite shafts allow you to create more club head speed, which obviously improves distance and height on your shots.
Overall, what we love about Wilson clubs in general is their no-nonsense approach to the design and production process. They don’t try to get too fancy or elaborate in what they do, but what they manage to achieve is a set of clubs that are consistent, and that is something that every player should be seeking in their shots.
Not going to lie to you. I really hate the appearance/look of this set. Terrible color scheme. But hey, that’s just me. You may love it.
Perfect for: women golfers that want to create as much club head speed as possible, as long as you can get over the lame color scheme.
4) Wilson Women’s Profile SGI Complete Set (Most Forgiving)
Staying with Wilson, we have their Profile SGI complete set, which is a much more appealing looking set. I really like the color scheme of the Profile SGI set, but looks obviously aren’t everything.
What is more important is performance. You should know that SGI stands for Super Game Improvement, meaning that this set is meant to be as forgiving as possible. That’s extremely important for newbie golfers that need the larger sweet spots and lower centers of gravity for the extra help on mishits.
The cool thing is that it pretty much has the same technology and setup as the male version, and the surprising thing is that this isn’t always the case.
This 10 club set is aimed at the beginner, so the other benefit is that it does really compensate you when it comes to striking off-center. After all, Wilson is kind of known for producing clubs that help you to improve your game and to shave strokes off, so this should come as no surprise.
The lightweight graphite shaft on the driver adds speed to allow you to focus on your swing. The wood, hybrid, and irons also come with graphite shafts for the same reason. Also, as you would expect, each face has a huge sweet spot that is seriously forgiving, so the damage caused by hooking or slicing your shot will be reduced when compared to other clubs.
Perfect for: women golfers that want to the most forgiveness on mishits as possible.
5) Tour Edge Lady Edge Set (Most Color Options)
Next up, we have the Tour Edge Lady Edge Set and not only does this set look cool, but it’s also going to deliver a quality set of clubs that will seriously improve your game. This set gives you 10 clubs with a driver, two fairway woods, two hybrids, four irons, and a putter, but don’t allow the reduction in number of irons to put you off. Instead, Tour Edge love their hybrids hence there being two included as well as two fairway woods.
Also, we love that this set is very forgiving. In fact, Tour Edge have pretty much focused on this aspect with the intention of the set being aimed more at the beginner or intermediary player. The balance, size of the sweet spots, and the overall feel of this set is seriously impressive, and all for a bargain price.
One of the aims of this set is to help you get the ball up and off the ground, and to do so more consistently. The driver comes with a 460cc head with a higher loft while the woods incorporate a much lower center of gravity which helps with getting that ball up into the air. The same applies to the irons, but they are also seriously forgiving with a huge sweet spot and all of this adds up to a seriously good set of clubs, and remember that all of this comes in at under $500.
Perfect for: women golfers that want to pick from the most color options on the market (black, purple, green).
6) Older Model Callaway Solaire (Highest Quality)
All 5 of the options that we’ve talked about so far are from brands KNOWN for making complete sets. The quality is good, but not as good as premium brands like Callaway, TaylorMade, Cobra, etc.
Callaway Solaire is possibly the highest quality set of clubs that a women can buy, but they typically sell for far more than $400. However, if you buy a used model or an older model (from a few years back), you can pick one up for under $400 for sure.
With this et, you still get that Callaway brand name and everything that comes with it. They have some added forgiveness built into the club faces to help with those shots that are off center. The irons also have a cavity back design and perimeter weighting which gives the clubs greater balance and, therefore, more control over your shot.
Overall, the quality of these clubs is simply far greater than Strata, Wilson, and Tour Edge. However, a brand new golfer wouldn’t notice the difference. It would take a more experienced golfer to notice the increased distance, control, and feel at impact.
This set is a real bargain, if you can get your hands on one, as it will give you more yardage through the lightweight driver, which also reduces the amount of spin you will generate on the ball. This is all thanks to the weight being on the rear of the face while the woods also have perimeter weighting and the perfect loft angle to get a higher launch off the floor.
Overall, this set is going to potentially transform your game.
Perfect for: ladies that want the highest quality clubs, as long as they are ok with going back a few years or buying a slightly used set, either online or locally.
So, what are your thoughts on buying a complete set for less than $500? Do you see it as a bargain, or would you prefer to build your own set with a variety of clubs? Let us know your thoughts and opinions below.
