If you want a new set, Northwestern has always made a good set at a reasonable price. They make a good set to start out with. Dunlop also makes inexpensive clubs, but their starter sets are a bit more money.

You could also go used. Thrift Shops like Salvation Army and Goodwill usually have name brand clubs for $2-$5 each and sometimes full bags for $29 or so.

nike ,calloway,cobra,adams,but there a lot of clones out there that are were good

I am a huge fan of Founders Club. They were very popular in the late 80’s, early 90’s. Then they kind of got bumped off by the big name-brand companies. They still make very good equipment. More importantly, especially for beginners and budget-conscious buyers, they are very affordable. In fact, I saw a couple sets of irons on eBay currently at auction. This brand is hard to find in stores, but is a dealer.

I currently use a Founders driver and 3-wood. Every bit as good as the expensive clubs! Oh, and in case it helps, I have a handicap ranging from 5-10 (depends on how often I get to play) and have been golfing now for about 15 years.

Check out pine meadows a friend of mine uses them and I am impressed with them.

Wilson or Ram,find out if you want to continue before paying more !!

Go to a club repair shop, local golf shop, or Second Swing and get a cheap cavity back set to save on shipping. Until you practice and get some feel it won’t matter, but if you get old style blades you’ll get great, yet frustrating feedback.

Callaway and Cleveland are nice drivers.

Don’t get me wrong but if your just starting out you will soon be hooked on golf. When it comes to golf money is no object for ALOT of people. I would recomend getting a used set. But if you can, try and get a fairly new Used set. The technology in clubs over the past 5 years has really taken off. If I had to recomend a great set I would say start with a 7 peice golf set with the hybrids. Adams Golf is a company that does this. The clubs are called Adams OS. You can find them on ebay for a good price. Then once you catch the bug you can go and spend more on Woods. EBAY is the key word here, will save you ALOT of Money.

Here is a link to a girls set
(even) comes with a bag!

Here is a link to a guys set

I know its a little more than you wanted to spend. But they are both an example of really good deals for better than average clubs.

Learning To Hit Shots Before Attempting To Learn To Play
I played golf a couple of days after Christmas in Rutland MA. The temperature was 38 degrees. A father was out playing with his high school age daughter who had never played before. Apparently, he had gotten her a new set of clubs for Christmas including a driver with a nice pink graphite shaft. Her clubs appeared to be an unfitted, inexpensive set of knockoffs. The father stood over the girl on each shot giving her a list of instructions. She was unable to make contact with the ball a good percentage of the time. Unfortunately, this scene gets repeated all over the golf world, except for the temperature. That had to make the experience even less fun. This type of experience is one of the reasons a lot of people think golf is hard.

In order for golf to be a lot easier you need to learn to hit shots before you attempt to play on the course and you’re not likely to be able to do that by getting instruction from someone who can barely hit the ball themselves. Even if the person instructing you can hit the ball that doesn’t mean they can teach you how to do it.

Learning to play golf can be likened to leaning to hunt. The first thing you need to do is learn how to shoot a gun. You wouldn’t think about going hunting if you hadn’t shot a gun before.

What you need to do is get fitted for a couple of clubs by a competent fitter/teacher. You don’t need a whole set of clubs to start, especially if they don’t fit. That would be like trying to learn how to run in a pair of shoes that didn’t fit. Learn from the hole back. By that I mean learn how to hit short distances before you attempt to hit full shots. You want to be able to go to the course paying attention to where you’re going to hit it. Not wondering whether you’re going to hit it or not and certainly not thinking about how you’re going to swing. Learn a few basics, grip, stance, and set-up. You can practice those things at home, in front of a mirror. It only takes a few minutes a day. You can hit 60 foot pitch shots in the back yard if you have room. You can also look into Almost Golf Balls and Short Flyte Golf balls. The Short Flyte Balls can actually be used indoors.

Bottom line-learn how to hit before you attempt to play. Golf will be a lot easier that way.

You are getting a lot of good ideas above. Some would say go to a golf shop and try to get a basic fitting. For example if you are over 6′3 you might need longer clubs than standard. If you have large hands you might benefit from bigger grips.

Downside to thrift shops is you might buy something and then find you need to regrip the whole set.

Another option if you want new I would look at the men’s and women’s Nickolaus sets that are avaialable at Costco. Use them, get better and then when it is time to replace it cause you two are heading for a handicap lower than 20, then go invest the money in a good fitting and upgrade.

Have Fun!!!!!!

Wilson or MacGregor are good starting clubs. Actually, I still use my MacGregors that I’ve had since 1986. I just keep regripping them.