Sell your used clubs is a strategy the frugal golfer finds is a no-brainer! And it’s getting easier to do it all the time. Sell your used clubs & you can stretch your golf dollar that much further! For example, are you buying a new driver? Then, sell your old driver or trade it in to help pay for it.

Before you sell your club, you need to know how much it is worth. An excellent source is PGA.com Value Guide. This guide has a database of current used club transactions and will tell you how much you can expect.

You have a number choices to sell your used clubs. The last few years has seen many online stores spring up specifically to buy clubs. A couple you might check out are Sell-A-Club.com and OldClubs. Basically, you will describe your club online to them, get a quote, & then if you accept the price, you ship the club to them at your own expense. All these sites have escrows or other systems to ensure you get your money. The biggest hassle you might run into is if you haven’t described your club according to the buyer’s grading system. The buyer would then have the right to ship your club back to you at your expense.

Many online golf forums have sections devoted to used golf equipment. Check out FGI Forums Flea Market & Swap Shop and GolfRewind.com Marketplace forum Buy/Sell Golf Equipment . There is a bit of a trust factor here in that you are dealing with individuals rather than a company, but it might be worth a try especially if you have a club the online stores won’t give you a good price for.

eBay is always a viable option to both buy and sell just about anything! You’ll probably find that selling on eBay is just as fun and exciting as buying, and eBay’s outstanding Trust and Safety Program will help to ensure a positive auction experience.

Trading in your used club when you buy your new one will reduce your costs too. Just as when you trade in a car for a new one, you probably won’t get as good a deal as if you sold it yourself. But you take most of the hassle out of it. Online stores that have excellent trade in programs are Callaway Golf Pre-Owned and Outlet , The Golf Warehouse and Golf Galaxy .

The most trouble free way to get at least something for your used clubs is to donate them to charity (thanks Herb Bailey!). Get a receipt and follow your IRS tax guidelines, & you can get a charitable donations deduction on your taxes.

Clean out your garage, make your wife (or husband) happy & get rid of those clubs you don’t use anymore. The frugal golfer knows there is money in selling your used clubs – money you can use to stretch your golf dollar!

Clone golf clubs can be the high quality equipment that you need, but at a fraction of the price of name brand clubs. However, you have to be careful!!!

So what are clone golf clubs? Clones are clubs that take the basic design of the brand name clubs (TaylorMade, Ping, Titleist, Callaway, etc.), make small modifications that in most cases do not affect performance, and then market them under a different brand name. Don’t confuse clones with illegal knockoff clubs which seek to fool you into thinking you’re buying the name brand or with counterfeit clubs.

The makers of legitimate golf club clones are scrupulous in observing the patents and property rights of the major brands (otherwise they’d be sued out of existence). Legitimate clones stress that they are clones by using language such as “compare to Callaway’s FT-5″ or “similar to Ping’s G-10″. The illegal knockoffs & counterfeits seek to confuse you with a similar sounding name or defraud you with clubs that look virtually identical to the real thing.

How good are clone golf clubs? Basically these clubs are made from very similar materials and design principles of the brand name golf clubs. Because of this, clones typically look, feel and perform very much like the name brand clubs. From a practical standpoint most except for perhaps the very experienced golfer will ever notice a significant difference. It’s interesting to note that the majority of brand name companies outsource the actual production of their club components to the same foundries & suppliers that provide clubs to the major clone companies!

The price of clone golf clubs is what makes them so attractive to novice & casual golfers. The major golf club companies spend enormous sums of money (in some cases up to 70% of cost) on promotion, advertisements, & endorsements. On the other hand, the producers of clone clubs typically forgo these costs and the middleman & sell directly on the internet.

Caution is always in order in buying anything on the internet. Sometimes it is virtually impossible to distinguish clubs of the legitimate quality clone companies from the illegal knockoffs, counterfeits, or low quality clones made with inferior materials. Your best bet is to deal with those clone companies that have a long, proven track record for quality, guarantees, & great customer service! I recommend that you check out Pinemeadow Golf, GigaGolf.com, and Golfideas.com — all established and reputable companies!

Getting quality golf equipment at reasonable prices is a major goal for the frugal golfer, and buying golf clubs from the recognized clone companies can improve your game while not busting your pocketbook!

Buying used golf clubs will be the single biggest savings a frugal golfer can make! And the bonus is that with these savings you can afford to buy better equipment!!!

If you read the golf magazines or watch golf on TV, you know the marketing of the newest & greatest golf clubs is big business. Each year all the major club manufacturers unveil their new lines promising quantum leaps in performance & distance (I can’t understand why we’re all not consistently scoring in the 60’s with 350 yard drives by now!). While it’s a given that the equipment of today is a big improvement of that of 10 years ago, the difference from any one year to the next is marginal.

Remember that state of the art driver you bought two years ago? It’s still a great club, isn’t it? But there is a huge number of golfers out there buying new equipment every season or two in the continual search to improve their game. The result of this eternal quest is a massive stock of outstanding used golf clubs and golf equipment on the market. And in the last few years, the internet has literally exploded with opportunities to market these clubs.

The first decision you need to make is “what club(s)” to buy. There is no substitute for experience in swinging a golf club, so use every opportunity to check out different models. Borrow your buddy’s club at the driving range or go to a second hand golf store (many have hitting areas where you can hit balls). Professionals and low handicap golfers rely on the results of launch monitors, which provide a wealth of information but can be expensive to use unless you are being fitted with a new set of clubs (normally included in the price). Typically the mid to high handicap golfer has not grooved a swing sufficient to get the maximum advantage of a launch monitor, so you may want to spend your limited golf dollars elsewhere.

Excellent sources on the web to identify quality equipment based on real life experience include Rankmark and various golf forums like Golf Rewind . You’ll also find a handy club fitting tool at Pinemeadow Golf (click on their “Golf Clubs 101″ page) .

So now you know what to buy, the next step is where to buy. Personally, my first step over the years is to check out eBay. At any given time you will find thousands of used golf clubs available & large numbers of specific clubs available (e.g. over 400 Cleveland Launcher drivers the last time I checked). Wary of online auctions? eBay’s outstanding Trust and Safety Program will help to ensure a positive auction experience.

Regardless of whether you check out eBay, you owe it to yourself to explore Callaway Golf Pre-Owned and Outlet . In addition to having a huge inventory of reasonably price used Callaway clubs, there is an extensive number of other top brand name golf clubs. You literally cannot go wrong here with the selection, shipping, guarantees, return policy, & superior customer service.

Other established and reputable sites to find your used clubs are TGW.com – The Golf Warehouse and Golf Galaxy .

Keep in mind that the first time you hit your brand new club, it then becomes a used club, worth much less than just a few minutes before. The frugal golfer realizes how much savings there can be by buying used golf clubs. It simply makes sense!