HAROLD, THERE ARE PLACES WHERE YOU CAN SAVE MONEY. IF I MAY ID  THESE. GOLF NOW IS A PLACE WHERE IN YOUR STATE YOU MIGHT FIND GOOD COURSES TO PLAY AND FIND HUGE SAVINGS. AS TO FINDING NEWER USED CLUBS AT AFFORDIBLE PRICES EBAY IS A GOOD PLACE. MOST OF THE BIG BOX STORES ASK TOO MUCH MONEY FOR THEIR USED EQUIPMENT AND GIVE NOTHING FOR YOUR TRADE INS. I WOULD HOPE THAT IF TEAM TITLEIST GETS ENOUGH MEMBERS THEY MIGHT ADD A SUB SITE FOR TEAM MEMBERS TO LIST AND SELL THEIR CLUBS. THEY WOULD BE ONLY A GO BETWEEN  FOR MEMBERS TO FIND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING  FOR AND THE MEMBERS EAMIL EACH OTHER TO MAKE A DEAL. TITLEIST WOULD NOT BE RESPONDSIBLE FOR ANY DEAL.  ONLY TITLEIST CLUBS WOULD BE SOLD AND MEMBERS WOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CONTERFIT CLUBS!! TITLEIST WOULD MONITOR THE PICS OF WHAT IS BEING SOLD. HEY THIS MIGHT PUT SOME PEOPLE TO WORK AT TILLEIST!!  SOME DAY USED CLUB SHOPS WILL MAKE A HUGE PART OF THE GOLF INDUSTRY. TOO BAD TILTEIST DOES NOT HAVE A REFINISH SHOP WHERE THE CAN REMANUFACTURE THEIR BEST DESIGNS!!!

Golf is not cheap, but we all knew that when we started.  That said, the courses and pro shops are competing for your business.  They want you to spend your disposable income with them.  Try negotiating on the expenses.  Will your club give you a break on dues?  Some public courses have different prices based on the day and time that you play.  Check out those options before you tee it up in 'primetime".

Looking at other sports/leisure activities such as ice hockey, skiing, or boating, the equipment is what costs so much money.  Golf is not immune to the high cost of R&D.  We want our toys and that is just the nature of the game we play.   

There has been some problems with counterfeit clubs on auction sites lately. To be sure that you're getting authentic Titleist equipment, ALWAYS , buy/order, at an authorized Titleist rep.

I was also thinking about how good that it would be to have an area on Team Titleist, where members could buy/sell/trade, ONLY registered/authentic, Titleist equipment. I think that it would attract more people/customers to Titleist/Team Titleist. It would be pretty neat if Titleist offered a "custom shop".

I wish that it was that easy to get a job at Titleist! I'd do anything to get to work for them.  

Harold

I've been playing golf for a long time, I can tell you that twice in that time, I walked into a Pro Shop and bought brand new clubs. Great Titleist clubs are out there at good prices.  We all would like to walk out of the Titleist fitter with the same clubs and bag as the Tour players.  No chance for me.  I bought my Titleist 695MBs 2-pw for $168.  My Titleist driver, 905T cost less than $50.  Vokey wedges also.   An older Titleist Staff bag rounds out my current set-up. You have to spend time looking.  There are plenty of golfers selling to upgrade to the new equipment on ebay. 

Give your self time to build your set-up.   By the end of the summer, you'll be all Titleist.  Use the club archives on past Titleist irons and woods.  Plenty on info and pics there.   I liked the 695MBs, and searched  til i found a good price.

Best of luck

Deno

David

Never hurts to send in a resume.  There are job openings on the site.

Deno

Harold (or Joe?),

Great question and observations...the reality is, golf isn't cheap..at my local course in Minnesota we are truly struggling due to people playing less golf at our municipal course...here's the rub...we're struggling because our course needs some improvement on some of our greens...but our local leaders do not want to invest any more money into the course because play is down - we try to explain that with the improvements we'll get more play, but with the economy the way that it is, they are reluctant...and I can't really blame them.  Couple that with our playing season only being approx. 6 months, our course needs to make some cash in a short amt. of time and sometimes it doesn't work.

As far as what you can do...there are lots of ways to golf on a budget.  Used clubs (sorry, "pre-owned") are a great idea - you can get some great deals on clubs if you shop around at your local clubs...make friends with the guys that have the best of everything, chances are they are going sell some stuff soon!  Then you can make a deal with them without using a middleman like a golf shop or retailer.

Don't be afraid to price match - if you find something on-line or at a store but you'd like to get it at another place you shop, show them the deal you found and often times they will match or at least give you a deal to get your sale.  You do need to be wary of on-line scams, but at the same time there are many very good on-line retailers out there, too.  Lots of local pro shops are also going into the on-line sale business - and there are often some Super Good deals at the end or beginning of seasons so it's worth it to search on line and maybe you'll find a nice little course in the midwest looking to get rid of some inventory.

Coupons!  There are tons of coupons and deals at local clubs, in papers, and on the internet.  Just as others have said above, clubs are competing for your business and they have learned that to get people in the door they may need to give out some deals.  Being the shopper gal that I am, I always check out deals on course sites or local papers when I go on a trip - even a free cart or buy one get ones can save you up to $20-40.

Sign up for email newsletters or mailing lists - some courses send out exclusive deals to people willing to get their course newsletters or other info - sometimes you even get a free round on your birthday!

Good Luck and happy golfing!

Ladies and gents-

Thanks for the input.  Trust me, if anyone can get a deal it is myself.  I probably take advantage of being an active duty Marine and ask for a military discount everywhere I go.  I am more lucky than others, because even places that don't usually offer a discount hook me up because of my situation.

My local club is terrible at business, but they offered $35 bucks for 18 with a cart after 330pm all summer.  That was nice except I couldn't do anything else but golf that day.  And I am looking forward to the spring again so I can get the walking discount....but they dont let walkers on the course until after 2pm (which REALLY ticks me off).

As far as used clubs go, trust me I have only bought used clubs except for my new Vokey set and AP2 set.  Other than that, 909 woods/hybrids were all used and roughly $100 a pop close to a year ago.

My point was more that every new club that comes out is very expensive, and if you want to play decent courses it gets even more expensive.

I played lacrosse all the way through college, and initially I had to buy my equipment (stick, pads, helmet etc) and that served as the initial investment.  I did not have to pay to play on the field for a game or buy a dozen balls every month (except when I would shoot in my back yard).  Nor did I have to invest in a certain wardrobe in order to participate.

Simply put, we all want to encourage others to participate in our sacred game....in my opinion it is harder because of the initial AND continuous expenses involved with golf and I wish we could change that somehow.

Have a good one:

Joe

This is a great idea, both buying on ebay (which all clubs except my irons were bought on ebay) and getting a team titleist members only buying and selling portion of the site.