Finding Great Deals on Used Golf Equipment on Craigslist and eBay

Golf equipment has one of the steepest depreciation curves of any hobby gear. Manufacturers release new club lines every year or two, and a set of irons that sold for $1,200 new can fall to $300 on the used market within three years, even if they've barely been hit. That's great news if you know how to look.

The real opportunity isn't just with regular buyers chasing last year's model. It's with estate sales, divorces, retirements, and the classic scenario where someone bought a full set, played twice, and decided golf wasn't for them. Those listings show up constantly on Craigslist and eBay, usually priced by someone who has no idea what the market looks like.

Clubs That Hold Value (and Clubs That Don't)

Not all used golf equipment is created equal. Knowing which brands and models retain value is the difference between a bargain and dead weight in your garage.

• Putters: Scotty Cameron putters are the single most collectible item in golf. Limited releases, tour issue stamps, and circle-T models can sell for several times retail. A seller who doesn't know what they have might list a $500 putter for $80 because they just see "old Titleist putter." Always check the model and year before walking away from any Scotty Cameron.
• Irons: Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, and Ping iron sets hold up well on the used market. Forged blades (Titleist MB, Mizuno MP-series, Wilson Staff) stay desirable among better players for years. Game-improvement irons from major brands are less exciting to collectors but still practical pickups for casual golfers.
• Drivers: Driver technology moves fast and resale value drops accordingly. A three-year-old TaylorMade or Callaway driver is still excellent equipment at a fraction of the original price. These are among the best value buys on the used market.
• Wedges: Vokey (Titleist) and Cleveland are the wedge brands with strong resale. Condition matters more here, grooves wear out with use, and a beat-up wedge is genuinely less valuable than it looks. Fresh or lightly used wedges are worth prioritizing.
• Push carts and bags: Clicgear and Sun Mountain push carts hold value surprisingly well. A $250 three-wheel cart can sell used for $100 easily, and buyers are always looking. Golf bags are harder to move but worth picking up cheap if the brand is right.

Craigslist vs. eBay for Golf Gear

Craigslist is ideal for full sets and bulky items like bags and push carts. Nobody wants to ship a 14-club iron set and a bag, so local pickup listings dominate. That means less competition from out-of-area buyers, and you can inspect condition in person before handing over cash. If you're buying a set to actually play with, Craigslist is usually your best bet.

eBay is where individual high-value clubs shine. A single Scotty Cameron putter or a rare Ping driver is easy to ship, which opens it up to the national market. The flip side: more buyers means more competition. But misspelled listings and "Buy It Now" deals priced by sellers who underestimated value still appear regularly. Searching for common typos and misspellings, "Scotty Camron" instead of "Scotty Cameron," "Taylormade" without the space, "Callaway Big Bertha" with wrong model numbers, can surface listings with almost no competing views.

Search Terms That Actually Work

Casual sellers don't know the vocabulary. Searching only "golf clubs" returns a flood of junk. Go specific:

• Brand plus model: "Titleist AP2 irons," "TaylorMade P790," "Ping G425"
• "Complete golf set" or "full set of clubs" for estate-style listings
• "Scotty Cameron" alone, then browse results, sellers sometimes don't even include the model
• "Golf clubs" filtered to your local Craigslist plus nearby cities, range expands the pool significantly
• "Golf equipment" and "golf bag" as separate searches, sometimes a full setup gets split across multiple listings

The same principles from general Craigslist deal hunting apply here: specificity wins, and speed beats everything. A clean set of Titleist irons listed Tuesday morning might be gone by Tuesday afternoon.

What to Watch Out For

Golf equipment has a few common pitfalls that don't apply to most other categories:

• Shaft condition: Graphite shafts can crack or delaminate without being obvious in photos. Ask for a photo along the full length of each shaft, especially the hosel area.
• Counterfeit clubs: High-end clubs, especially Scotty Cameron putters and certain Titleist and TaylorMade models, are counterfeited. On eBay, buy from sellers with solid feedback and look at stamp placement and finish quality closely. On Craigslist, inspect in person.
• Wrong flex or wrong-handed clubs: Sellers don't always mention shaft flex, and left-handed clubs have a smaller resale market. Confirm before meeting up.
• Grips: Old grips are cheap to replace ($50-80 for a full set regrip at any golf shop), so don't let worn grips kill a deal on otherwise solid clubs. Price it in and move forward.

Best Time to Buy

Late fall through early spring is when golf equipment listings spike, as people clean out garages before winter or list gear they didn't touch all season. But spring and summer still produce good listings, especially from people upgrading after a few rounds confirm they're serious about the game.

Right now, you'll find people listing gear from last year's "I'm getting back into golf" phase. Those listings are often priced to move because the seller has accepted they're not going to use the clubs and just wants them gone.

Set an Alert and Stop Refreshing

Manually checking Craigslist and eBay for specific club models is tedious and slow. LurkMor lets you set up alerts for whatever you're hunting, whether that's a specific Scotty Cameron model, a set of Titleist irons, or any listing mentioning Callaway in your area, and emails you the moment a new matching listing goes live. For golf equipment where a good deal can move within hours, that speed is the difference between getting the clubs and seeing "listing removed" when you finally check.