Building ‘Players’ Bag on a Budget – Wedge Help!

medxman · April 30, 2020

I’ve been self-assigned the task to build my brother in law a golf set for under $500. He originally wanted to buy a box set for $599 but I told him let me try to build him an actually decent starter set for him that he would actually be able to use for awhile. Nothing wrong with box sets, but he wants to take golf seriously (… and so do I, so I have someone to always play with), so I figured I could build him at least a starter bag for $500 (Canadian) that would last him a lot longer than the box set, especially when he gets decent.

I’m also doing this out of being bored and want to help him get the best set possible for his money.

My idea is to budget for:

Putter $80

56* Wedge (That’s all I see him using for a while) - $50

Iron Set $250

Hybrid $40

Driver $80

Looking around for a 56* wedge for him, I know a lot of new golfers really don’t know the difference between wedges/bounce/grip, so I think 1 wedge will suffice for the time being.

I am thinking a Clevland RTX-3 Tour 12 bounce. I am also debating between SM5, and Tour Milled. Clevland’s though seem like great value, especially sued, I can get some with great condition on the groves compared to an sm5 or the TaylorMade.

What wedge would you guys suggest if you had to get someone new to golf a single wedge or should I try to budget for a second wedge?