I was in your shoes about a year ago.  Playing for fun though, started because work friends played and loved it.  shooting 115-120, now am 85-90 range.

I started with a $100 set clubs from craigslist, played with them for 6 months till a couple broke, then my friends told me to just invest the money if you have it into a good set of clubs that will last 10-15 years and by then you will be able to afford new ones.  I went with the AP1 710 5-W vokey wedges, adams driver/3w, I couldn't be happier.  The AP1's with the NS105 shafts really helped get the ball flight higher. 

Another thing they told me if i really wanted to improve to go out and get lessons from a PGA professional.  Makes a big difference.  Hope this info helps!

AP1s are good for all skill levels. I'm a 12. You could probably get the 5-PW and then Vokey wedges. Don't know how you hit a 5 iron but if you are mediocre at best consider a 27 hybrid instead. 50-08, 54-11 and 60-07 SM3 or SM4 Vokeys. Don't know what your wood hitting ability is. Most 20 handicappers struggle to hit a 15 deg 3 wood off the fairway. 17 fairway would work better and the distance diff is maybe 7 yards. For the in between clubs maybe 21 fairway and 24H or 19H and 24H. You should hit a 21 fairway and 19 hybrid alongside. For me, the diff between a 21 fairway and 21 hybrid is 10 yards. 10.5 or even 12 deg driver. How's your short game?

You mentioned. Get fitted then you can try everything out. The fitters are great at what they do. I was fitted for AP1's and love them! My driver is the best one I have ever hit. Vokey wedges and Cameron putters are second to none!

Thanks for the feedback Thomas. I may just go to a regional center that has various "brands" and hit them to see how they feel and compare to eveything else. I'm really undecided which brand to go with and with all the research I've done lately I think I maybe have a little "information" overload...lol! I agree completely about the lessons, I have a friend that has goten down to a 6 hdcp and he said that was a huge difference in lowering his hdcp and becoming a better player.

Hey Lou, I've heard both ways - good for all skill levels but I've also heard that they are more "players" clubs. I'm going to hit them and see how they feel... I was thinking along the same lines, but going with 6-PW and having hybrids for long irons up to a 5. You make some great suggestions about hybrids vs. woods I'll have see what my loft is for driver and space out woods/hybrids to fill in the distance gaps... Short game is not bad actually but of everyones short game is in need of a little work ;) No matter what brand I choose I think Vokeys may be the way to go...get dialed in. Again depending lofts (PW is 44 - 48 for AP1's??) I may get 4 wedges and standard bounce (8-12) on all of them... Thanks for the specific feedback and suggestions!

Thanks Justin! I'm not entirely sure which brand as of yet but definitely gonna go hit against a few other and go from there... Thamks again...

Justinu3

You mentioned. Get fitted then you can try everything out. The fitters are great at what they do. I was fitted for AP1's and love them! My driver is the best one I have ever hit. Vokey wedges and Cameron putters are second to none!

The AP1s beat my Eye 2s HANDS DOWN (I had a set of Eye 2 Blue Dot 5-PW and had a hard time hitting the 5-7 irons; The 6 and 7 AP1s are WAY EASIER to hit and I use one club less vs the Eye 2s). Friday was the first time in a while I have stuck the green on Oaks North (North Course) #5 in a long time (the last time was when I still had my 38H) and I hit an easy 8 iron. I've loved my Vokey wedges for quite some time now (SM3s). My 50-08 is my go to pitching weapon and the 54-11 extracts the ball out of bunkers with the greatest of ease.

I was in the same place last year. My hcp was 29, and I decided to build 'my' set as opposed to just getting whatever was cheapest. I tend to over research, get too much information, and I was getting confused about so many things that I really couldn't tell what was good for me. What worked for me in the end was to actually hit balls with various brands/models, I must have hit a full bucket of balls with 10-15 different clubs. For me, I ended up with the AP1's, I just hit them much better than anything else. They might be considered 'better player' clubs, but I hit them better than some other brand/model that's considered 'super game improvement'. It all depends on how YOU play with them. I can't give you advice on what brand to get, that seems to be very personal. Go out and try them on grass tees on an actual range, at a place that doesn't put tape on the clubs. If you're in SE Michigan, Carl's Golfland will let you try anything.

Have to agree with Dan.  My handicap last year was 23 but I wasn't having fun hitting irons.  We were working with 2 lines, one of which was AP1.  With a suitable shaft and lie, the AP1 had a slight edge technically over club X, but both were superior to the GI set I had.  They were in the same price range and I went with AP1 because I like the profile better.  There are many factors in my score, but I look forward to pulling out an iron now because I hit them better.

Thanks Daniel - great advice! I'm actually in Ontario (Canada) and we have a few places that have a real grass range let you hit them without tape but not many so I am limited. Although, as you sugessted I am going to spend the time and money to get to a performance center that has 8-10 brands and launch monitor and hit clubs and go from there... Thanks again,

My bag is a bit of mixed brands but I pretty much hit every club consistently and play to a 12 handicap (which is slowly dropping as I get a warm fuzzy with my golf set; I just changed my fairway wood and 4 hybrid over the weekend and got em pretty cheap on clearance at GG). Although my 5/26 hybrid and AP1 6 iron get the same distance, I struggle with the latter so I pulled it and re-added a 7/34 hybrid (I use it for specific shots and use the 7 iron for specific shots). I've had numerous "shootouts" in putting this bag together.

Driver - Burner HT Draw driver 13* 220-240 yards. I hit it past 250 every now and then.

5/18 wood - Burner Superfast 190-200 yards

4/21 hybrid - Burner Superlaunch 175 yards (I'm sure I can let one rip for 180+)

5/26 hybrid - SQ2 160 yards

7/34 hybrid - SQ2 145 yards

AP1 7-PW (145 yd for 7 iron, 135 for 8 iron, 125 for 9 iron, 115 for PW)

Vokey SM3 wedges (100 yd for 50-08, 80 yd for 54-11, 70 yd for 58-08 and 60 yd for 62-11; the distances for the 54-62 are in the rare event I do a full golf shot)

White Hot 7H putter.

I may not have a 100+ mph swing or use a triple X flex shaft (I hit 85 mph and may hit 95 when really connecting and use regular flex) but I find the center of the fairway and drop them on the green. I have a good enough short game to make pars on the 400+ par 4s.