Buying Guide For High Handicap Golfers!

If you’re a high handicap golfer looking to hit the ball further, straighter, and lower your scores, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through the ideal golf bag setup to help improve your game, focusing on clubs designed for forgiveness and ease of use.

Woods

Let’s start with the driver: the Ping G430 Max 10K. Recently, there’s been a trend towards “10K MOI” drivers, which are designed to be highly forgiving and easy to hit. Personally, I love the Ping G430 Max. Even as a low-handicap golfer, I find it easy to hit, accurate, and it doesn’t sacrifice distance. It’s a great choice for a wide range of players.

On the tee, the goal is to keep the ball straight and in play, and this driver excels at that. You’re going to shoot better scores by hitting more fairways, so find something that’s forgiving and gives you confidence.

If you really struggle with a driver, consider a mini driver. These clubs have really made a comeback over the last couple of years, with the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy even putting them into the bag in certain events.

The Callaway Paradym AI Smoke Mini Driver is a great example. It’s a smaller head but has more loft and a shorter shaft, and for many, it doesn’t sacrifice much distance compared to a full driver. It’s worth trying if the traditional driver feels intimidating because it can be a little easier to control.

For longer approach shots, so many high handicap golfers can benefit from switching out their long irons and opt for hybrids instead. We’ve included the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Hybrids, because there are both standard and high-launching models, and because we think they’re really easy to hit up in the air.

They’re also more forgiving than long irons, so if you’re somebody who doesn’t strike it very consistently or struggles with fat and thin shots, the hybrids are going to perform better than a long iron. Some brands go all the way down to 9-hybrids these days, so don’t be afraid to add a number into your bag.

Irons

Game improvement irons are crucial. I recommend Ping irons, known for their forgiveness and ease of use. The Ping G730 irons are a great example because they have a large face and blade length, and a nice thick sole which should make it easier to strike the ball. They’re designed to give you forgiveness if you don’t quite catch it out of the middle, whilst the weighting is situated to get the ball up in the air easily.

If you need extra help, consider hybrid irons like the Cleveland Halo XL model, which are in the super game improvement category but would be a fantastic addition for golfers who really struggle to get the ball up into the air.

Don’t shy away from graphite shafts either, which are often a little more lightweight and are designed to help with launch too, which could give you a little more distance.

Wedges

Wedges are an area where high-handicappers can really see improvements. So often, these golfers will use a game improvement set of irons but then switch to bladed specialised wedges – which is just making the game so much more difficult.

Something like the Cleveland CBX 4 is a cavity-back wedge, which will blend better with existing iron sets but also provides an extra level of forgiveness too, thanks to a wider sole and more perimeter weighting.

In bunkers or tricky lies around the green where there’s lots of thick or wet rough, looking at a high-toe wedge like the TaylorMade Hi-Toe 4 could be helpful too. Its larger toe and full-face grooves provide forgiveness and inspire confidence when you need to open the face for high shots.

Putter

For the putter, we chose the TaylorMade Spider Tour. One of the quickest ways high-handicap golfers can lower their scores is by reducing three-putts. Shot Scope data shows that high-handicap players are twice as likely to three-putt as single-digit handicappers, and finding a model that keeps the face nice and stable whilst improving distance control can be a massive benefit.

A mallet putter, like the Spider Tour, provides more forgiveness than a bladed putter, especially on long putts, reducing the chances of mis-hits. If it’s good enough for Scottie Scheffler, then it’s good enough for you!

Golf Ball

When it comes to the golf ball, there’s a bit of a misconception that using a top of the range ball such as the Titleist Pro V1 or the Callaway Chrome Tour is going to give you the best results every time. This is not always true, and high handicappers who maybe struggle with swing speed or launch can easily benefit by looking at a lower compression ball.

We’d suggest something like a Titleist Velocity or Titleist TruFeel which are better suited to golfers who need to generate more ball speed and launch, and the added bonus is that they’re almost half the price of the likes of the Pro V1. If you tend to lose a couple of golf balls (or more) every time you play, they could be well worth trying.

GPS Watch

Finally, we would recommend a GPS watch over a laser rangefinder for beginners or high handicappers. Whilst lasers are great for getting specific yardages to specific targets, a GPS watch is a much better way to improve course management as it can help you to avoid certain hazards, pick out layup points and give you the layout hole.

Something like a Shot Scope V5 is great also because it comes with performance tracking capabilities, where you can analyse your statistics to find which areas of your game you need to improve.