Also a hell of a lot of dudes need to play the forwards. I played the other day and one of the guys playing with the group (me and him were both playing as singles with a twosome) was in his 80s and he played with forwards with me and it was delightful. He would have struggled from any other tee box but he knew his game and played the appropriate tee and impressed the heck out of me and the two other dudes
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It’s maybe the most telling “dude” thing in golf is guys obsession with playing as far back as possible. The scorecards often - and always should - say what handicap should play from what tee. But because someone can drive it far (if not straight) they think they need to play from the tips, or the blue tees. It’s as close to a dick measuring contest as I can think of in golf, and it’s so, so dumb.
I play in a league (mgatour.com) that after each tournament gives the person with the highest gross score the “key to the red tee” so they can have an advantage the next tournament. It’s meant, sadly, as a way to shame that person - but what’s insane is how often folks do NOT use it! To be sure, there are some courses where guys would struggle MORE from the forward tees than the “men’s” tees but there are plenty where it’s a big advantage and guys refuse to take it for fear their manhood will be called into question.
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Hey guys, jumping in here for the first time with a question about women’s starter sets. I want to get my fiancée a set as she’s been practicing with my stiff-shafted irons, which just aren’t great for her.
I was looking at this Top Flite set to begin with. Yes, I know it’s Top Flite, but we don’t want to spend too much now, and we can get everything we need with this for her to get going before getting better clubs.
Also open to any options!
I actually know very little about starter sets, save that the lynx one I got years ago was terrible for me because everything was too light and flexible for me to have any clue where the head was in space, so fair warning that my experience/advice may not be of any use to you.
The set you linked looks fine, but Wilson also has a set that’s about the same price—I may be biased, but I’d rather play Wilson clubs than top flite.
However, I think you might be able to find used clubs that might work for her for less, though I’m unsure about how good starter sets are vs getting used clubs. A few places to check might be stores like Play It Again or Facebook marketplace. People don’t generally stick with their starter set, so hopefully you can find something?
Another way to introduce the game to her might be to start with irons and a putter if you have a pitch and putt near you—and those I know you could get for less than $250 used (irons, putter, and bag, even piecemeal on eBay).
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I’ll have to check out the Wilson for sure, definitely would go with that over Top Flite.
I’ll say, I have had very little success on Facebook, usually, the things people are selling are extremely old women’s clubs at a cost that just doesn’t make sense when I can get a new set for basically double.
Unfortunately there are no great pitch and putts near me. She loves the driving range though, so I think that’s where a full set will make sense because we have some within 10 minutes
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Found this, but unsure of modern enough or not:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/390502579021437/
Also, the Wilson set I was thinking about was this one
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Another thing is that ladies golf sets can be annoying to try and find second hand because the market for that flex is smaller. Another thing to consider is that A-flex probably wouldn’t make much of a difference, and may be more readily available.
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Lake St. Clair Metropark. The Par 3 is good, and after you can walk on the beach.
The flex could be close, but the length for “ladies” clubs are typically shorter. Length is another fitting stereotype to fight.
100% it’s a dude thing but it’s also kind of a golf thing. I play with a women’s group and they’ll often do a W/W or a R/W event. Why? Most don’t hit over 175 yards. The reds are a really fun 5100 vs 5800 for the white or 5,500 for Red/whites. Many are already hitting tons of hybrids or fairway woods from the reds. I don’t get the desire to remove chances or really take so many clubs out of the bag!
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I played Spanish Bay last year and I was adamant that we play from the white tees. My buddy said, “Well, the greens are big so it doesn’t really matter where you’re hitting from.” I said, “Don’t you think you - and more importantly, I - will have a better chance of hitting them from 150 yards out instead of 190-200 yards?”
Then we asked the starter, who asked all of our handicaps, and he said, “Play the white. Oh, unless you don’t want to have fun. Then move back.”
I’ve never been more vindicated in my life. FYI, I shot maybe ten strokes better than my guy who wanted to play from farther away.
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I don’t understand the desire to make golf less fun!
Edit: even not playing 9 or executive courses…I don’t get it. It makes golf so fun!
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Fair point. I have to shorten my clubs, and our household has gotten to the point where we just do it at home now.
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Sometimes it’s fun to rise to a challenge. If it was purely fun to shoot low scores we’d all play up.
I’m comfortable at 6700-7100. But play at 6200 often. Sometimes at 5800 with my daughter.
And I encourage others to play up once a month at least just to get comfortable shooting better scores. Breaking barriers.
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Sure - but this is much more applicable for good players. Seeing dudes hit duffs from 6700 is a different story. Similarly, if a woman is largely hitting driver, fairway wood, pitching wedge from the reds, should she go to hitting driver, fairway wood, six iron from whites?
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I mean just generally, i think most players probably play one tee box too far lol
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I played from 5300 this weekend and it got in my head enough I felt the need to bring it up in the post I made. I don’t know what it is about golf and the culture but it definitely made my accomplishment feel tainted a little bit. Which is so dumb.
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If this was the contrarian takes thread I might float an idea of having handicap requirements for certain tees….
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The UK does a lot of things right, and handicap requirements for tees and courses are one of them 
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Agreed. Based on my handicap at my course I should be playing 6287 yards. No thanks!
However, handicap mins could be a start for getting people off the wrong tees (ie folks playing the blues and slowing downplay because they hit duffs etc). You sound like the conscientious type who would self-regulate.