The golf industry is a complete scam. Golf club manufacturers continue to release new golf clubs. They continue to talk about how much better they are from the previous releases. They continue to convince naive golfers that they need to spend more on this set compared to the older models that are priced FAR more reasonably.
Here’s three reasons why we STRONGLY recommend buying older models of golf clubs instead of buying new releases.
Older Golf Clubs (2-5 Years Old) Will Perform Practically The Same as New Golf Clubs
If you think golf clubs actually improve a substantial amount every year, you’ve got a lot to learn. Golf club manufacturers continue to keep inventing ridiculous “technologies” every year to somehow increase ball speed and forgiveness across the entire clubs face by 10% every year. Bull. They are just gimmicks with stupid names.
You want to know what changes every year? The paint jobs on the clubs. That’s pretty much it. All of the sliding weights, the new shapes of the club heads, and the new gimmicks invented every year are just ways to trick unsuspecting golfers into opening up their wallets and shelling out the money for new clubs.
To be upfront, there was a pretty substantial improvement in clubs from 2000-2010. However, 2010-2015 saw small improvements, and 2015-2020 has seen practically no improvement at all.
For example, the Callaway XR 16 driver (which you can get for $100-150 easy) is easily just as good as the Callaway Epic Flash driver. Practically the same club with a different color scheme. The difference in ball speed? Minimal at best. The difference in forgiveness? Nill. The difference in price? Substantial. The Callaway XR 16 driver is about 5 years old now. Once you get closer to 8-10 years old, you may notice a small difference in performance compared to the newer clubs. But in the last 5 years? Practically no difference.
To be fair, I don’t blame the golf club manufacturers. They have to make a profit to stay in business. They have to continue to make their shareholders happy, or else they will be looking for a new job. However, I DO blame popular golf websites that always recommend the newest releases. They are simply looking for the biggest commission possible. A 5% commission is much better on a $500 driver than on a $100 driver. Me? I’d rather recommend a solid, slightly used $100 driver that will perform just as well as the $500 one.
You’ll Save a TON of Money, Which Can Be Used for Lessons or a Club Fitting
You can’t talk about new vs older models and NOT talk about the price difference. The difference in prices is truly insane. Most golfers don’t even consider buying older models, as they see the $1,000 set of irons as the only option. What??? Who brainwashed you so badly that you think you need $1,000 just for IRONS, let alone the entire set of clubs.
Here’s what we recommend: buy older models of golf clubs. 2-5 years old is typically the sweet spot. Models that are 2-5 years old are: easy to find, affordable, and nearly the same in performance.
For example, don’t buy the TaylorMade SIM irons for $1,000. It’s a set of cast, super game improvement irons. How the hell do they justify the price of $1,000? Instead, pick up the TaylorMade AeroBurner set of irons. About 30% of the price, and will perform pretty much the exact same. Well that was an easy way to save $700.
Ideally, golfers will take all of the money they save and invest it (in the stock market or) in lessons or a club fitting. We recommend finding a good local PGA instructor, sticking with them, and making the changes necessary to improve your golf swing. This will help far more than a new set of $1,000 irons. This will literally help you golf game AND your wallet. It’s a win-win.
Older Models Keep Their Value Better
When buying a car, you should consider the resale value down the road. You don’t want a car that depreciates in value from $50,000 to $10,000 after 5 years and 100k miles. The same goes for golf clubs! You don’t want golf clubs that go down in value from $1,000 to $200 after three years.
Here at golfclubguru.com, we always recommend the best VALUE clubs, not the most expensive clubs like other websites recommend. With that being said, older name brand models (2-5 years old) keep their value EXTREMELY well. It’s very common to buy an older model of clubs for $250, use them for 3 years, and then resell them for $200 when you are ready for a different set of clubs. That’s a reduction in value of only $50.
On the other hand, it’s a very common mistake to buy the latest release of clubs for $1,000, using them for 3 years, and having a hard time getting $250 when you are looking to sell them down the road. That’s a loss in value of $750!
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