A used golf club plays the way it did new if the spec suits you and nothing that matters is damaged. The skill is telling the marks that matter from the marks that don't. This guide covers what to check on any second-hand club, then drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, iron sets, wedges and putters in turn, how to read a graded listing, what to pay and what UK law gives you as a buyer.

Quick summary

• Check the spec before the condition: hand, loft, shaft flex and length decide whether a club suits you, and a spotless club in the wrong flex is still the wrong club.
• Cracks or dents in a face, crown or shaft change how a club plays, while sky marks, sole scratches and paint chips only change how it looks.
• Worn grips are the most common fault on a used club and the cheapest to fix, with new grips costing roughly £6 to £13 each.
• Grooves matter most on wedges, where worn edges cost spin on the short shots a wedge is bought for.
• Used prices follow the model's age and grade: a hybrid usually costs £60 to £120, a driver £150 to £300 and an iron set £250 to £500.
• Buy from a business and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 covers you, plus 14 days to cancel an online order; a private seller only has to sell you what they described.

Should you buy used golf clubs?

Yes, for most golfers. A used club that suits your swing and has no structural damage plays much as it did new, for a fraction of the new price, and club design moves in small steps from one season to the next.

The parts that wear out are grips, grooves and paint. A sound head and shaft keep working for years, so the lifespan of a golf club is set mostly by how often it's played and how it's stored.

Used clubs run from ex-demo clubs hit a few times in a fitting bay to clubs with years of rounds on them, and the gap between ex-demo, pre-owned and refurbished clubs shows in both the grade and the price.

New makes more sense in 2 cases: when you need a spec that rarely turns up used, such as irons 1 inch longer than standard with an upright lie, and when you want this season's model on launch day. For everyone else, the checks below are what separate a good used buy from a bad one.

What to check on any used golf club

6 checks apply to every used club, in this order: the spec, the head, the shaft, the grip, what comes with it and whether it's genuine. The order matters, because the first check rules out more clubs than the other 5 put together.

The spec: hand, loft, flex and length

Check the spec first, because a club in the wrong flex or length plays badly however clean it is. Every listing should give you 4 things:

• Hand. Right-handed or left-handed. Filter for yours before anything else.
• Loft. Stamped on most heads; on an adjustable driver, fairway wood or hybrid, the sleeve setting can raise or lower it.
• Flex. Ladies (L), Senior (A), Regular (R), Stiff (S) or Extra Stiff (X). A shaft that's too stiff for your swing tends to send the ball low and right for a right-hander, and one that's too soft tends to send it high and left.
• Length. Our listings say "Measures: Standard" unless a club has been lengthened or shortened, and anything non-standard is stated.

Flex is the spec that's easiest to get wrong from a listing, and matching shaft flex and weight to your swing speed matters more than the brand of head on the end of it. If you've been fitted before, buy to those numbers.

The head: face, crown and sole

Check the face first, the crown or topline second and the sole last, because that's the order in which damage changes how a club plays.

• Face. Cracks, dents or a face that has sunk inwards are deal-breakers. Wear in the middle of an iron or wedge face is normal and only matters if the grooves have gone with it.
• Crown or topline. Sky marks, the scuffs left when a ball is hit off the top edge of a driver or wood, are paint damage and cosmetic. A dent or crack in the crown is structural, so walk away.
• Sole. Scratches on the sole are normal on any club that has been played off turf, and they don't change how it plays.

Ask the seller whether a driver, wood or hybrid rattles. A rattle in a metal wood is usually a loose piece of glue from manufacture, which a club repairer can often fix, but you want to know before you pay rather than after.

The shaft

Check a used shaft for 3 things: its flex, any damage and whether it's the original. On steel shafts, look for dents, rust spots and bends. On graphite, look for splinters, cracks and chips in the paint deep enough to show the fibres, especially just below the grip and just above the hosel, where shafts rub in a bag.

An aftermarket shaft isn't a fault, and it can be an upgrade, but check its weight and flex suit you. On an adjustable driver or wood, the shaft carries a sleeve at the tip that only fits that brand's heads, so a TaylorMade shaft won't go into a PING head.

The grip

Grips are the part of a used club most likely to need replacing, and the cheapest part to fix. A grip that has gone shiny, hard, cracked or smooth where your thumbs sit will slip in your hands, and you'll squeeze harder to stop it.

New grips cost roughly £6 to £13 each, from a plain black grip to a Golf Pride MCC, with the Golf Pride Tour Velvet at £9.99. On a single club that's a small cost. On a 7-club iron set it's £69.93 at £9.99 a grip before fitting, so price it in before you call a cheap set a bargain.

What comes with it

Check what the club comes with, because the extras cost money to replace. Adjustable drivers, woods and hybrids change loft and face angle with the maker's own wrench, so ask whether it's included. Our listings say "Headcover: If Pictured", which means the headcover comes when it's in the photos and not otherwise.

Whether it's genuine

Buy any premium driver or putter from a seller who can show it's real. Fake drivers and putters copy the big brands closely, but the fonts, the paint fill, the serial number and the head weight usually give them away, and a price far below every other listing of the same model is the first warning.

What to check on each type of used club

Each type of club wears in its own way, so the check that matters most changes from the driver down to the putter.

Drivers

Check a used driver's face, its shaft flex and whether it's a low-spin model before anything else. Face cracks are rare but terminal. Sky marks on the crown are common and cosmetic: on our scale a Fair head may have 1 or 2 of them, and a Good head has none.

The model name matters as much as the condition. Heads marked LS, LST, Plus or Triple Diamond are low-spin models that cut spin for fast swings. At an average swing speed they launch low and punish mishits. Heads marked Max are built to launch higher and forgive more, SFT and HD heads add a draw bias against a slice, and they're the ones to shortlist among used drivers for beginners and high handicappers.

On an adjustable driver, check the setting on the sleeve in the photos. A sleeve can be turned to add or take off loft, so the setting in the photos is the one the club will arrive at.

Fairway woods

Check a fairway wood's face and leading edge for dents, then its loft. A fairway wood spends its life sliding across turf and being hit off the deck, so sole scratches are normal, while a dent in the leading edge can change how the club sits behind the ball.

A 3 wood is usually about 15° and a 5 wood about 18°, and a 5 wood is the easier club to launch from the fairway. Ladies flex and high-launch heads such as TaylorMade's HL models are made for slower swings, and on used clubs for women the first checks are length and flex, because Ladies clubs are usually about 1 inch shorter as well as softer.

Hybrids

Check a hybrid's face and loft first, because the loft decides which iron it replaces. A 3 hybrid is usually 19°, a 4 hybrid 21° to 23° and a 5 hybrid 23° to 27°, so pick one about 3° to 4° stronger than the longest iron you carry.

Hybrids rattle around in a bag without headcovers, so paint chips on the crown are common and cosmetic. Look harder at the shaft just above the hosel, where the heads knock against each other, and at the grooves, which hybrids use more than woods.

Iron sets

Check that a used iron set has every club the listing says it has, then check the grooves and the shafts club by club. A 4-PW set is 7 clubs, a 5-PW set 6 and a 6-PW set 5, and the photos should show every face, because 6 clean irons and 1 battered one is not the set you paid for.

• Grooves. The 7, 8 and 9 irons and the pitching wedge get the most use, so look there for grooves worn smooth in the strike area.
• Shafts. Every club should carry the same shaft model and flex. A single odd shaft usually means a club was replaced or reshafted.
• Lie angle. PING marks the lie angle of each iron with a coloured dot, so a PING set's dot tells you how upright it was built for its first owner.
• Bag chatter. Small marks on the backs and soles from irons knocking together are cosmetic.

Wedges

Check a used wedge's grooves before anything else, because worn grooves cost spin on the short shots a wedge is for. Run a fingernail down the face: on a sharp groove it catches, and on a worn one it slides over. Wedge technology moves slowly, so a wedge a few seasons old with sharp grooves beats a newer one played smooth.

Most wedges have the loft stamped on the head, and many show the bounce as well. Bounce, the angle that stops the sole digging in, matters as much as loft: low bounce suits firm turf and tight lies, and high bounce suits soft sand and lush grass. Rust on a raw-finish wedge is part of the design, not damage.

Putters

Check a used putter's shaft, face and length; its paint and sole matter far less. Putters wear more slowly than any other club, and the checks that count on a second-hand putter are a straight shaft, a face free of dings, a length that suits your stance and a grip shape you like. Premium putters often came with a fitted headcover, so check whether it's included.

How to read a used golf club listing

A good used listing tells you the spec, the condition of each part and what's included, and every line should match the photos. Here's a worked example, a TaylorMade M2 driver from 2017, read line by line.

We grade every club on its head, shaft and grip separately, using the 4 grades defined in our condition rating guide. Unless a listing says otherwise, every club is fully functional and structurally sound, and the grade describes cosmetic condition and wear:

So this M2's Good head answers the sky-mark question before you look at a photo: regular use, nothing on the crown. The listing's photos cover the face, the crown at address, the sole, the shaft label and the grip, and the 9.5° on the head matches the title.

What a listing can't tell you is whether 9.5° and Regular flex suit your swing, which is why the spec check comes first. Our used TaylorMade M2 range runs from this driver to hybrids and Ladies flex fairway woods, so the same family comes in other specs. If a photo doesn't show what you need, message us on WhatsApp and we'll send more photos or a video of the club.

How much should you pay for used golf clubs?

A fair price for a used club depends on the model's age, its grade and how many of that model are about. These are the usual ranges for a sound used club from a known brand:

The spread inside each row comes from age and grade: recent models and better grades sit at the top, and older models and Fair grades at the bottom.

To judge a single listing, find the model's release year, then compare it with other listings of the same model in the same grade. A Fair head should cost less than an Excellent one, and a club with grips that need replacing should cost less again.

Buying from a shop or a private seller

Where you buy decides what you can do if a club arrives wrong. The places to buy used clubs in the UK split into shops that grade their stock and take returns, and marketplaces where you deal with the seller directly.

Buy from a business and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says the club must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. For a used club, satisfactory quality takes the price and the description into account (Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9), so a club sold as Fair can show wear but can't arrive cracked. Buy online from a business and you can also cancel within 14 days of the day the club arrives (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30).

Buy from a private seller and most of that falls away: the club has to match the seller's description, but there's no right to cancel and no promise of satisfactory quality. That makes the questions you ask beforehand count for more:

• How much has it been played, and why are you selling it?
• Can you send photos of the face, the crown, the sole and the grip, or a short video?
• Is it the original shaft, and has it been cut down or lengthened?
• Does the wrench or headcover come with it?

Every UK order from us comes with a 60-day return window: a refund to your original payment method within 14 days, or store credit, valid for 12 months, from day 15 to day 60, with return postage paid by you unless the club is faulty or not as described.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a set of used golf clubs?

A used iron set usually costs £250 to £500, and a full set adds a driver, fairway woods, hybrids, wedges and a putter on top. Buying the clubs one at a time lets you spend where it matters, and Build a Bag puts together a custom set chosen from your height, handicap, 7 iron carry distance and budget.

Are 20 year old golf clubs still good?

Some are. Irons, wedges and putters age slowest, so a 20-year-old iron set with sound grooves, shafts and grips can still play well. Drivers and fairway woods have changed most since then, with adjustable sleeves, lighter shafts and more forgiving heads, so they're where a newer used model gains the most.

Do old golf clubs have value?

Yes, if they're from a known brand and in usable condition. We take trade-ins and part exchange on all the top brands, with an instant online quote valid for 24 hours and payment by bank transfer or store credit worth an extra 10%. Very old models and worn-out clubs are worth little, however good they were new.

How can I tell how old my golf clubs are?

Find the model name on the sole, back or hosel, then look up its launch year on the maker's site. Some ranges reuse names, so check the details: TaylorMade made an M2 in 2016 and again in 2017, so the same name covers 2 different generations.

Should I buy a used driver?

Yes, if the loft, flex and head type suit your swing. A cared-for driver plays as it did new, and its face and crown are easy to check from photos. The trap is the low-spin model in a stiff shaft, which suits fast swings and is the wrong club for most average ones.

Is it worth regripping used golf clubs?

Yes, when the grips are shiny, hard or cracked. A new grip costs roughly £6 to £13, which is far less than the gap between a used club and a new one, and a fresh grip makes an older club feel close to new in your hands.

What clubs should a beginner golfer start with?

About 10: a driver, a 5 wood, a hybrid, irons from 6 to pitching wedge, a sand wedge and a putter. Used is a good way to start, and the second-hand clubs we'd put in a beginner's bag lean towards high-lofted woods and hybrids that are easy to launch.