The Best Beginner Golf Club Sets of 2024

Golf can be an intimidating sport for beginners to break into. The jargon, the culture, the rules, the unwritten rules… Do you have to have a tee time to play? And if so, how do you make one? And then there’s the gear; what’s the difference between a 60-degree wedge and a gap wedge? Do I need both?

The good news is that most club manufacturers keep an eye out for new golfers just like you, building and marketing complete sets of clubs, from the driver all the way down to the putter, that eliminate some of the guesswork when you’re making that first big golf purchase. Even better news? I personally tested half a dozen of the best golf club sets for beginners from top manufacturers to help you dial in the right clubs for you.

The Best Beginner's Golf Club Sets at a Glance

• Best Beginner Golf Club Set Overall: Callaway XR
• Best Beginner Golf Club Set for Players Looking to Improve: PXG Gen6 0311XP
• Best Budget Beginner Golf Club Set: Wilson Profile
• Best Beginner Golf Club Set for Slicers: Cobra AIR-X Complete
• Most Stylish Beginner Golf Club Set: STIX Play Series
• Best Beginner Golf Club Set for Cart Junkies: Cleveland Launcher Max

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Best Golf Club Sets for Beginners

Best Beginner Golf Club Set Overall: Callaway XR

There’s a reason to buy each set on this list, but the Callaway XR earns the title of best overall beginner set because of the range of clubs in the bag, and the amount of forgiveness coupled with the distance that each club offers. With a robust 13 clubs, you get two different hybrids (4h and 5h) in addition to the driver and 3 wood, then a 6 iron down to a sand wedge. With that many clubs, you won’t have too many gaps that you can’t cover on the course. The driver is stable and easy to hit without getting too gimmicky with the design. I wasn’t maxing out my distance, but I found it easy to shape the ball flight with this driver, purposely hitting draws and fades, which translates to more fairways off the tee. The irons are buttery and fun to hit, and I found myself having to adjust my club selection as I got greater distances from these irons than I was used to. What used to be a 6 iron shot was now a 7 iron shot with the XR in my hands.

But my favorite aspect of the Callaway XR comes down to the two hybrids included in the set. They are, without a doubt, the most satisfying hybrids I’ve tested throughout this process. The contact is solid, and a broad sweet spot helped me push the ball further down the fairway, whether I found the center of the face or not. The 5 hybrid in particular has a great loft, which I found helpful when trying to get the ball up in the air and out of tall grass. Both hybrids have oversized heads that are easy to square and offer an extra boost of confidence when I’m staring down a 200-plus-yard distance to the green. The mallet-style putter is also very forgiving and easy to square, which goes a long way to sinking more putts when you’re starting out in the game.

The XR also comes with an easy-to-carry stand bag, with a comfortable harness and a smart suite of pockets that allows you to carry everything you need, from tees to an extra layer. Of all the bags I tested for this article, it was one of the better designs; for instance, you can reach the water bottle without taking the bag off your shoulders.

You can find cheaper full sets on the market, but I’m not sure you'll find a set that allows you to hit better as a beginner.

Best Beginner Golf Club Set for Players Looking to Improve: PXG Gen6 0311XP

You’re not going to be a beginner forever. At least, we hope not. PXG’s Gen6 clubs get high marks for their forgiveness—they have large sweet spots and oversized head designs that boost confidence and help correct common swing mistakes, just like other clubs in this article—but they’re not made for first-time hackers. They’re made for imperfect golfers looking to continually improve and find their lowest score possible. The Gen6 is a 10-club set with a driver and hybrid (no 3 wood), then 6-iron through 9-iron, pitching wedge and gap wedge, as well as an 0211 putter. 

You also get a slick carry bag. This has become my daily driver set of clubs, because while they’re forgiving and help correct my natural tendency to hook the ball, they don’t take anything away from my ball speed or distance. If anything, they add to that distance. They are a little harder to hit than some of the other true beginner sets in this list, but there’s no sacrifice on the top end of my game. 

When I’m playing well with these clubs, I’m playing really well, hitting the ball long and straight. It’s an addictive feeling that I don’t get with other clubs. More importantly, I won’t outgrow the Gen6. I won’t be dissatisfied with the distance as I improve my swing and these clubs will allow me to continue to shoot lower and lower scores.

Best Budget Beginner Golf Club Set: Wilson Profile

Maybe you’re not sure if you’re going to love golf, or maybe you just want a set of clubs that you can pull out when your father-in-law comes to town and demands you take him out for a round. Whatever your reason for being budget-conscious, Wilson Profile is the best inexpensive set on the market. You’re not going to win any long drive competitions with the Profile, but it’s a 10-club set that’s easy to hit with proven game-improvement tech, like oversized woods, cavity backs, and rounded soles. 

This is the set I convinced my friends to buy when they identified as “golf-curious.” True beginners might outgrow the Profile within a couple of years if they’re dedicated to getting better, but at such a low entry point, you won’t regret this purchase. The sound of the ball off the driver can be a little high-pitched, which is the most common complaint from users, but that’s a small price to pay for such an attractive price point.

Best Beginner Golf Club Set for Slicers: Cobra AIR-X Complete

You slice. There’s no shame in it. Most golfers slice, especially when hitting the driver off the tee. Cobra AIR-X is here to rescue your game. Both the driver and 3 wood feature “offset” designs, which means the club head is set just a fraction back from the shaft, helping to square the face at impact and greatly reducing slices. I had to actively work to slice the AIR-X driver. A handful of my buddies helping me test these clubs had similar results. You also get more clubs out of this set—12 instead of the standard 10—including two hybrids, which can be a beginner player’s best friend as they proved easy to hit, even out of thick rough. 

Also of note: The AIR-X clubs are noticeably lighter than most other clubs I tested, which means you don’t have to rush your swing in order to create faster ball speeds and find greater distance. The irons were great, and I hit them true to my stock distances without sacrificing accuracy, but ultimately I was most impressed with the driver in this set. The distance isn’t groundbreaking, but I noticed a very tight dispersion rate, which translates to more fairways off the tee. I’ll take a 230- to 250-yard drive down the middle of the fairway any day of the week.

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Most Stylish Beginner Golf Club Set: STIX Play Series

Does the look of a club matter? Absolutely. If you like how your clubs look, you’ll want to use them more often, and STIX makes really stylish clubs with a minimalist head design, sporting either matte black or matte chrome finishes. But the 10-club STIX Play Series is more than just attractive; it’s designed specifically with beginner golfers in mind: a low price point, smart range of clubs, and confidence-boosting tech. The driver, 3 wood, and hybrid feature flexible graphite shafts, which is great for newer players with slower swing speeds, helping them generate more force at impact, while the cavity-back irons have a large sweet spot and oversized sole for more bounce off the ground and greater distance on mis-hits. 

These are my 15-year-old son’s favorite clubs. He chose them because of their aesthetics, but manages to keep the ball in the fairway (most of the time) when hitting these sticks, and has continued to increase his distance and ball flight with these clubs as he’s gotten better.

Best Beginner Golf Club Set for Cart Junkies: Cleveland Launcher Max

The 10-club Launcher Max set was a contender for best overall set because it does everything pretty well. The driver has an oversized head with the weight dispersed lower to help generate a high-loft flight pattern. The sound of the driver is a little metallic, which bothers some people, but I’m not complaining because I hit the big dog straight both on the range and on my home course. The set also comes with a Halo 3HL fairway wood, which is designed to help beginners get the ball higher in the air off the deck—a hard trick to do with a traditional 3 wood. This club serves as your multi-purpose stick on long par-5s when you’ve hit your tee shot and still facing 200-plus yards to the green. 

I really like hitting the irons in this set: They’re especially forgiving, with a large club head and oversized sole that bounces off the ground helping to reduce fat shots. It’s a reassuring club to stand over. You sacrifice some distance for that emotional security, but these clubs were very easy to hit straight on the course and at the range. They have a large, cavity-back head that shifts the weight lower, prompting a loftier flight pattern. This is ideal on approach shots when you want the ball to hit the green and stick. You don’t get a traditional 3 wood, but the Launcher Max is one of the few sets that has a 5 iron, which I love. 

The set comes with a really nice cart bag, which is larger than the carry bags most of these other sets come with, but is easy to organize. That bag also has a waterproof pocket for your phone and wallet, and a cooler pocket to stash a couple of beverages.

What To Look For in a Complete Golf Club Set for Beginners

There’s an arms race of sorts among golf club makers as they continue to research and develop new designs and materials in the attempt to deliver sticks that meet the needs of amateur and pro golfers alike. You and I are the beneficiaries of that arms race, as golf clubs have never been more forgiving and fun to swing than they are right now. Here are a few factors you need to consider when choosing the perfect set of clubs for your burgeoning golf addiction.

The Number of Clubs

The first thing you need to realize is not all “complete sets” include the same number of clubs. They don’t even always include the same types of clubs. Some sets will come with multiple wedges, while others will only come with one. Some sets will include a hybrid or fairway wood or two, while others won’t include any. A 10-club package is your typical starter set, but you can get away with bags that only have seven clubs, especially if you’re looking to save some money or only plan to play occasionally. 

Meanwhile, a more robust 14-club set will give you an option for just about every shot you’ll encounter on the course, which means you won’t have to take as many half or three-quarter swings when facing yardage that falls between your given irons. That’s actually important for beginners who don’t necessarily know how the ball will behave during a three-quarter swing.

Forgiveness

This is the key factor that separates an amateur’s set of clubs from a pro’s set of clubs. Professional golfers use “blades,” otherwise known as “player’s clubs,” which have thinner heads and a smaller sweet spot that’s harder to find during a swing. Most of the weight is centered behind that sweet spot, though, so if you do find it, the ball soars. Amateurs need clubs with built-in forgiveness, otherwise known as “game-improvement” clubs. These are designed with bigger sweet spots on the face, oversized club heads with “cavity backs” that are easier to square at impact and build confidence when you’re standing over them, and weighting that’s specifically engineered to help reduce common mistakes like slices. 

It all boils down to this: You don’t have to have a perfect swing to hit a game-improvement club well. But there is a trade-off. Because of the larger sweet spot and more distributed weight behind it, you do sacrifice some distance with game-improvement clubs.

The Fit

Not only are golfers different heights, but they have different swing speeds, too. When you’re choosing your first set, be aware that you can typically adjust the length of the club’s shaft to better suit your height when you’re making the purchase. Sometimes, you can also adjust the stiffness of that shaft to accommodate your natural swing speed. If you’re a slow swinger, you’ll want more flexible shafts. Fast swingers will want stiffer shafts. 

Some manufacturers, like PXG, offer very inexpensive club fittings when you purchase their clubs that will help you dial in the fit of your new sticks. Some golf retail centers offer a similar experience when you purchase your clubs from their store. I can’t recommend this process enough. I swing a lot of different sets for work, but the clubs that were custom-fit for my body and my swing feel the best.

Price

Can you buy a lower golf score? Yes and no. You can spend thousands on a new set of clubs, but if your swing is janky, your score will still be high. With that said, there’s some incredible technology that exists in the higher price points of golf clubs designed specifically to help amateurs play better. Fortunately, much of that tech trickles down to lower-price-point clubs every year. That means there’s a good set of clubs that will maximize your enjoyment of the game regardless of your budget.

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How I Tested the Beginner Golf Club Sets

I played a lot of golf for this article. I started collecting clubs last November and have spent the past six months playing countless rounds on my home course in the mountains of North Carolina, as well as rounds in the Southwest desert and pine forests of North Georgia. I’ve logged many hours on the driving range and put each set of clubs under the microscope with a launch monitor to get quantifiable data about distance and trajectory. During the six-month test period, I swapped out the clubs regularly, playing the same course as often as possible with each set to see how it stacked up against the others under the same parameters.

Why You Should Trust Me

Am I a pro golfer? No. Not even close. I’m currently sporting a 14 handicap, which means I will occasionally drive the ball 310 yards off the tee, but I’m also just as likely to chunk my approach shot and walk away with bogey. But I’m getting better. I played a lot of golf when I was younger, working at country clubs to earn free rounds, took 20 years off without swinging a club, and got back into the game during the pandemic. It has blossomed into a full-blown addiction. I play multiple times a week, and spend a lot of that time testing out a variety of golf gear “for work.” I wrote about the evolution of golf for Men’s Journal, and more recently tested out some really good-looking golf shoes. Maybe more significant, I’m a professional gear tester, writing about gear of all kinds for more than two decades for a variety of magazines, including this one.