Do I need my own clubs for my first lesson?

So please, keep your wallet closed for now. Let’s just get you swinging.

What happens if you show up without clubs?

Nothing awkward. This is completely normal, and I promise you are not the only one.

At Chi Chi Golf in Utrecht , every bay already has clubs and unlimited balls, including left-handed sets. You walk in with empty hands and everything is there. At Golfschool Hoenderdaal in Driebergen it is the same during lessons — clubs and balls are part of the programme.

A little tip that makes your first minute smooth: tell me in advance your height, whether you are left- or right-handed, and what sports you played before. Then I have the right club waiting before you even arrive. A lot of teaching pros do exactly this, and it removes that small worry of “but I don’t own anything yet” completely.

I love the beginners who arrive with nothing. Honestly, sometimes they learn the fastest. One golfer told a story I hear often — an airline lost his bag before a golf clinic, so he used the rental set the coach provided. By the end he felt he had learned just as much as everyone else. The lesson lives in your hands and your balance, not in the brand on the club.

Can you borrow clubs from a friend — is that good enough?

Yes, borrowing works fine, and it can save you money in the beginning. But there is a small catch worth knowing.

If your friend hands you a standard men’s set and you are a woman or a smaller person, those clubs may feel heavy and too long. A lot of beginners tell me the same thing: the borrowed clubs felt clumsy, almost like fighting the club instead of swinging it. One new golfer wrote about starting with heavy borrowed clubs and only later realising they had been quietly teaching him bad habits.

So if you borrow, try to get a women’s or senior-men’s set — lighter, shorter, kinder to a new swing. And you do not need all fourteen clubs. For a lesson, a small handful is plenty: a putter, a pitching wedge, a mid-iron like a 7 or 8, and one longer club such as a hybrid or fairway wood. That covers everything we need to build your first swings.

When should you actually buy your own set?

Later than you think. Wait until after a few lessons — usually four or five, or five to ten rounds on the course.

Here is why, and it is a happy reason: your swing changes fast in the first months. What fits you perfectly today will not fit the same in eight weeks, because you will be different. Most adult beginners go from never holding a club to enjoying a relaxed 9-hole round in about six to eight weeks of weekly lessons. Your body learns, your rhythm settles, and only then do we really know what club length and weight suit you.

This is also why a full custom fitting on day one is rarely worth the money. A beginner’s swing moves too much for “perfect specs” to stay perfect. Golf.nl, the Dutch federation’s own site, says it plainly: spend your money on lessons first, equipment after. I agree with my whole heart.

How do you choose your first clubs (and what do they cost)?

Start small and simple. A beginner does not need a full set of fourteen clubs. A starter set of five to seven — a driver, a wood or hybrid, a mid-iron, a pitching wedge, and a putter — is enough to play and enjoy the game.

For prices, here is an honest picture:

• A new, good-quality beginner set in the Netherlands: roughly €300–€700.
• A solid second-hand set: from about €150–€300.
• Renting for a single round at almost any Dutch course: usually €10–€25.

And during organised lessons, borrowing is often simply free. At Hoenderdaal you can even rent a full bag with clubs for the whole beginner course for €50, plus a €50 deposit — so equipment never becomes the thing standing between you and the game. If you want to see how all these little costs add up, I put them together in the guide on what it costs to start golf .

Where can you find affordable clubs in the Netherlands?

When the day comes, you have plenty of good options here. Marktplaats usually has more than 1,600 golf club listings, and there is a friendly Facebook group, Golfspullen te koop Nederland, with over 11,000 members swapping gear.

One gentle warning. On open marketplaces you sometimes find counterfeit clubs — fakes that look real. To stay safe, buy your second-hand set from a specialist like Golfclubtrader, Second Chance Golf, or DutchGolfClubFitter. They check what they sell, so you get the real thing without the worry.

The best moment to shop is when you already know your swing a little — and by then, I can tell you exactly what to look for. Bring me the questions when you get there.

So do not wait for the perfect clubs to start. Book your first lesson with empty hands and an open mind, and I will hand you a club and show you how good this game feels. When you are ready to build your own set, we do it together — that is the fun part. You can find the simple next steps on how to start golf in the Netherlands , and my lesson options are on the pricing page . Come play. I would love to teach you.