[Porchdog]

I used to golf some, primarily with my Dad, father in law, and with my sons. I only ever used hand me down clubs.

For my very occasional golfing I found that a 2 wood was much more effective as a driver. I spent more time in the fairway, even though my rare "good" drives were a bit shorter.

My Dad's game peaked in his mid 70's (he didn't golf much at all until after he retired). He had played about 150 rounds a year with a cheap set of clubs he bought when he retired. (he gave me his wooden Ben Hogans). When he thought he was good enough he tested a bunch of clubs and got fitted with a set of Taylor Mades. He never got completely consistent with that driver. Eventually he tried a friends Adams, and got one of those.

I still have all three sets of clubs that he used, plus my FIL's clubs. Either of my sons can whip me with any set of clubs and they golf less than me.

In 40 years of very casual golfing I never got good enough for clubs to make any noticeable difference - except that I am very erratic with the "high performance" drivers. If I cared enough to improve I would spend the money on lessons and the driving range.

There are plenty of quality used clubs cheap on craigslist.