So you’ve made the decision to buy golf clubs. Your first decision is whether to buy them new or used. We’ll tackle the benefits and methods of buying “pre-owned” clubs tomorrow, but today let’s talk about starting with a brand new set of factory fresh sticks.

Buying new golf clubs can be expensive, there’s no way around it. There are, however, some strategies you can use to get the most bang for your buck. You’ll also want your investment to last a while by building a set that won’t become outdated too quickly in terms of technology or style. The good news in this regard is that the United States Golf Association (USGA) has become more aggressive in placing limitations on the size and performance parameters of golf clubs, which means that huge leaps forward in club design—making your new clubs obsolete—is less likely now than it was a few years ago.

The best overall advice I can give you is to go to a golf shop or golf specialty store. Wal-Mart and Target are not the places to spend money on golf clubs. Big box golf retailers like Golfsmith, Edwin Watts, Golf Galaxy and Dick’s Sporting Goods are all good places to buy clubs because they have a huge selection and on-staff golf professionals who know how to match you with equipment that fit your skill level. You can also check out Golf Digest’s annual listing of the country’s Top 100 golf shops [pdf] to see if any are nearby.

Wherever you buy your new clubs, by all means use the mantra “Try before you buy.” Any decent golf shop will encourage you to demo clubs on a practice range or at least into a net indoors to find the clubs that work best for you. The best thing is to have a sales person or golf professional watch you during this process to make suggestions, and maybe even suggest some custom options—different shaft or grip options, perhaps—to get a set that is optimized for you. Some golf shops will charge a nominal fee for a club-fitting session, but will waive the fee if you buy clubs from them. In any case, that’s money well spent.

Let’s assume money is a factor. Start with the most visible and useful clubs in your bag: the driver and the putter.

DRIVER: This is the flagship club in your collection, and every man wants to make sure he has an impressive big stick. The driver is the club you’ll likely reach for on the first tee, when you’ll be making your first impression on your playing partners, it’s the club you’ll use to hit your longest shots, and it’s the one that will likely cost the most. The drivers made in the last 2-3 years are nearly all at the USGA limits of 460 cubic centimeters of head volume, and this maximum size makes the club more stable and forgiving when you hit the ball off-center—the technical term is Moment of Intertia, if you want to throw MOI around in your shopping experience.

Many manufacturers have exotically shaped drivers new on the market this year. Callaway and Nike have square-shaped drivers, Titleist has a triangular driver, Cleveland’s HiBore XL has a scooped-out top. These are all good drivers, but for your purposes you should stay way from them for price reasons. These new drivers are all retailing from $299 to $449. They’re good, but last year’s closeouts are now on sale for anywhere from $199-$249, and the performance difference simply isn’t that great. Look for models like Callaway’s FT-3 and Big Bertha 454, TaylorMade’s r7 460, Cleveland’s original HiBore or Launcher 460, or Ping’s G2. These are all excellent products that can be found at a good price, and have strong brand names that other golfers will recognize and respect.

As for driver specs, a good rule of thumb for less-than avid golfers is to use drivers with more loft (get a model with 11 or 12 degrees of loft) and a shaft designated as “regular” or “firm”. Shafts are like mattresses or carpet – there is no industry standard for what constitutes “firm” or “soft”, so comparing them is difficult. But in general, shafts called “regular” should fit about 80 percent of all golfers, and that probably includes you. A soft shaft and a driver with a decent amount of loft will make it easier to get your drives airborne and give you a little extra distance.

PUTTER: The next thing I’d spend money on is a putter. Why? Because you’re going to use this club on every single hole (unless you start holing out your iron shots or chips, in which case you should be buying lottery tickets, you lucky dog) and because as many as 40 percent of your shots will be putts. If you have a good relationship with your putter, you’ll have a better time on the links. If you hate your putter, you’ll probably end up wrapping it around a tree or throwing it in a pond. I’ve seen all types of man-on-putter violence, and they’re all funny unless you’re the psycho going nuts because you just missed another 18-inch putt.

You can spend up to $300 on a big-name putter like a Scotty Cameron by Titleist or Odyssey’s new Black Series. The Scottys in particular are unique because they are an industry onto themselves, with rabid collectors and websites devoted to their resale value and maintenance. If you want a putter as an investment and have $300 sitting around, go for it. But if you just want a decent instrument for making putts, move on to a different part of the putter corral.

Odyssey and Ping are two top brands that have great reputations and have products that perform well at a good price. You can likely find Odyssey closeouts this spring for $79-$99, and the company’s popular White Hot XG series retails for $119. Ping putters are in a similar price range. A popular trend in putters is massive putter heads designed, like today’s drivers, to be very stable on miss-hits, while smaller “blade”-style putters are also still popular. My rule of thumb: Choose whatever looks best to your eye. A huge part of putting is confidence and comfort, so you’re much more likely to roll in more putts if you have a putter looks good to you.

Coming up next: Buying irons, woods (and hybrids), and wedges.

(Photo: Greywolf2006)