Golf has quietly become a family sport again – parents and kids heading out together, sharing the same tee times they once spent apart. But kitting out a whole household is where most people come unstuck. Here’s how to get the right gear for every generation, without wasting money on the wrong thing.

Walk into any UK club on a Saturday morning and you’ll see it: nine-year-olds lining up putts, teenagers out-driving their parents, and grown-ups rediscovering a game they’d shelved for a decade. Golf’s growth over the last few years has been driven as much by families as by anyone, helped along by shorter formats, relaxed dress codes and a wave of comfortable, casual gear that doesn’t demand you look like a tour pro to feel like one.

The catch is the equipment. Kids’ sizing is confusing, adult upgrades are a minefield of marketing, and nobody tells you that the wrong shoes can end a round early. So before your next family trip to the course, here’s a practical run-through – starting with the smallest players.

Start the kids off right: clubs that fit, not clubs they’ll grow into

The single most common mistake parents make is handing a child a cut-down set of adult clubs. It seems thrifty, but it backfires. Adult shafts are too stiff and far too heavy for a young swing, the lie angles are wrong, and the sheer effort of moving the club puts kids off before they’ve had a chance to enjoy it.

Purpose-built junior clubs solve all of that. They’re lighter, with flexible shafts that help kids actually get the ball airborne, and they’re built to the right length for a child’s height. The rough age brackets most families shop by:

• Ages 3–5: short, simple starter sets – a couple of clubs and a putter is plenty for first swings in the garden or on a par-3.
• Ages 6–8: a proper little half-set, usually a driver or fairway, a couple of irons and a putter.
• Ages 9–12: the sweet spot for a full package set, where technique starts to develop and a matched bag makes a real difference.
• Ages 12–14: the transition years, moving toward adult flex and length as they grow.

For most families the best value by a distance is a package set – driver, irons, putter and a bag bought together and matched to the age group, rather than piecing it together club by club. Left-handed juniors are catered for too, which is worth knowing, as it’s easy to assume a child is right-handed and get it wrong early. A well-chosen set of junior golf clubs is the difference between a child who wants to come back next weekend and one who doesn’t.

Ready to upgrade your own game? Feel beats price tags

Once you’re out on the course regularly, something happens: the beginner irons you started with begin to feel like the thing holding you back. Thin strikes sting, off-centre hits go nowhere, and you start wondering whether better clubs would actually help. The honest answer is yes — but not for the reason the marketing suggests.

You don’t need a tour-professional budget to get tour-level feel. What matters far more than the badge on the club is whether it’s been fitted to you – your height, your swing speed, the way you deliver the club. A proper fitting session is comfortably the highest-return hour you can spend in golf.

This is where a brand like PXG earned its reputation. It built its name on premium feel and a fitting-first philosophy, and its more accessible ranges have brought that within reach of ordinary club golfers rather than just low handicappers with deep pockets. If you’re weighing up a serious upgrade, it’s worth trying a set of PXG irons fitted to your game – forgiving enough to help on your bad days, and satisfying enough on the good ones to remind you why you started playing.

Don’t forget the shoes: comfort that lasts all 18

Here’s the part almost everyone underestimates. Walking a full round is somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 steps, often over uneven ground, and there’s no faster way to sour a good day than aching feet by the back nine. Footwear matters more than most golfers give it credit for – and this is one area where the family-friendly, casual side of modern golf really shines.

The move in recent years has been toward spikeless, cushioned shoes you can wear from the car park to the clubhouse to the first tee without changing. Comfort-led brands have leaned right into that. A pair of True Linkswear golf shoes, for instance, is built around all-day walking comfort, which makes them an easy recommendation for anyone playing on foot – or for a parent who’s on their feet chasing a junior around the course anyway.

Making golf a family habit

Gear is only half of it. The families who stick with golf tend to start low-pressure: a par-3 course, a pitch-and-putt, or an hour at the driving range where nobody’s keeping score and everyone’s allowed to top one. Build the habit first; the scorecards can come later.

One practical tip to close on: shopping in one place saves a surprising amount of hassle. A specialist retailer that stocks everything from junior sets through to premium irons and footwear means you can get the whole family sorted – and, ideally, fitted – in a single trip, rather than chasing pieces across half a dozen sites. Get everyone set up properly once, and the only thing left to argue about is who’s buying the halfway-house bacon rolls.

See you on the first tee.