If you were like many amateur golfers you started out playing golf on a borrowed set of golf clubs and had no idea, or very little knowledge on how to select the best golf clubs for you.

Golf club selection considers three main areas [aside from your budget!]:

Your gender (male or female) = correct “standard” fitting scale
Your height without shoes + the distance from your wrist (where it bends) to the floor (without shoes) = the length of golf club
Your age + Your handicap or skill level + How fast you swing a golf club + What club you use at the 150 yard marker = shaft flex that is appropriate for you.

Loft & Lie Adjustments

Lie adjustments can be made on irons and wedges – determined by the natural vertical stance of the player at address.

Do not use online fittings for lie adjustments, as they do not take into account your natural ball address.

Woods, hybrid clubs and putters can not be adjusted because the hosel on these clubs is cast in a way where physically bending the head will crack or bend the crown of the club.

Loft adjustments don’t make sense and should be avoided. Instead, take time to select the correctly lofted clubs in the first instance.

Take care not to overcomplicate your golf club selection, especially when you have only just started playing golf. Selecting clubs to compensate for poor swing speed or posture problems is ludicrous, when within a month or two, you will most likely have corrected both these issues.

Which Brands Are Best

The most popular brands of golf clubs today are: Callaway, Ping, Titliest, TaylorMade and Cobra.

Many clone brands provide all of the performance features of a big name brand with a better value to the consumer. "Legal clones" or "knock-offs" are much better value as they don’t indulge in brand advertising, overhead, and middlemen. Up to 70% of the retail price of a name brand golf club goes to support the advertising and brand name development.

They are made from essentially the same materials and design principles, use many of the same shaft and grip suppliers, and perform similar to (or often better than) the name brands.
Most heads, shafts, and grips are manufacturered by the same small group of suppliers.

Be careful not to buy Illegal knockoffs and counterfeits. These violate legal trade dress rights, trademarks, patents or copyrights.

Buying Golf Clubs on The Internet

Key Reasons to Buy Your Golf Clubs on the Internet are:

Factory direct shopping at factory direct pricing - if you know what you want, this is a great place to get the best deals.
Research and comparative shopping
Selection and customization - Internet merchants are unrestricted in showroom space so often offer more than the 4 or 5 different models in 2 lengths and flexes that typical showrooms offer. Lengths, flexes resulting in a custom fit product for you.
Value and Quality
Guaranteed customer satisfaction - Most online merchants offer 100% satisfaction. within 30 days of your receiving your clubs.

How To Tell If Your Golf Club Merchant Knows What They Are Doing

If you golf sales team online or offline does not ask for ALL of the following information – WALK AWAY

Age / Gender
Height / Floor to Wrist Height
Handicap <15 or >15
Swing Speed:

< 70 MPH    Slow & Easy

70 – 85 MPH   Average

85 – 110 MPH   Fast / Big Hitter

> 100 MPH   Smoking It !!
Club used from 150 yards 4/5/6 iron OR 7/8 iron