What is in the box
A 460cc driver, a fairway wood, a hybrid, irons from the 6 through the pitching wedge, a putter, and a stand bag. That is a genuinely complete starter bag: there is no club a new golfer will reach for and find missing.
The 460cc driver head is worth a note, because it is the number that appears in almost every beginner driver listing. Four hundred and sixty cubic centimeters is the maximum head size the Rules of Golf permit, and manufacturers build to that limit on beginner clubs because a bigger head means a bigger forgiving area. It is a real specification, not a marketing figure, and the M5 has it.
The one omission is a sand wedge. You will be in bunkers, and a pitching wedge is a difficult club to escape one with. Our wedges page covers what to add and which loft; it is an inexpensive purchase and worth making early.
The thing this set gets right
Size and hand options, and it deserves genuine credit for them.
The M5 is offered in multiple sizes and in both right- and left-handed versions. That is unusual at this price and it matters more than almost anything else on this page.
Clubs that are the wrong length change your posture, and posture changes everything downstream in the golf swing. A beginner playing clubs two inches too short builds a stoop into their setup on day one and is still fighting it three years later. A tall beginner given a one-size-fits-all set is being sold a handicap.
And for left-handed golfers, the option existing at all is the whole story. The left-handed market is thin at every price and thinnest at the bottom, which is why so many left-handers are told to “just learn right-handed.” That advice costs people years. Our left-handed page covers the wider problem.
What the price actually costs you
Four things, and we would rather list them than imply the set is a free lunch.
Shaft consistency. This is the real difference between a value set and a name-brand one. Premium sets use shafts made to tight weight and flex tolerances, so every iron feels like part of the same family. Budget shafts are looser, which is why a cheap 7-iron and a cheap 8-iron can feel like different clubs. You will not notice this in your first season. You will notice it in your third.
Grips.Basic rubber that hardens faster than good grips do. This is also the cheapest thing to fix — a full re-grip costs a small fraction of the set and is the best-value change in golf. See our grips roundup.
Resale value. Close to zero. A used Strata sells; a used Precise essentially does not. If you expect to trade up in two years, the more expensive set can be the cheaper one to own overall.
Finish and feel. Paint chips, headcovers fray, and the impact feels less solid than a premium club. None of this affects your score and all of it affects how much you enjoy pulling a club out of the bag.
Notice what is not on that list: forgiveness. Oversized heads, wide soles and cavity-back irons are cheap to manufacture, so a budget set gets essentially the same forgiveness features as an expensive one. You are buying less consistency, not less help.
The bag
Included, functional, and not a bag you keep. It stands up, it has straps, it holds clubs and it will do for a season or two.
If you plan to walk and carry, the bag is the first thing worth upgrading — dual straps that put the weight on both shoulders make a real difference over eighteen holes. Our bags roundup covers what a decent stand bag costs separately. Alternatively, a push cart removes the question entirely by taking the weight off you rather than distributing it better.
How it compares
Against the Callaway Strata.The Strata costs meaningfully more and gives you a real golf brand, better shafts, better resale and a slightly better bag. The clubs in it are not dramatically more forgiving. If the gap is affordable, the Strata is the better long-term buy — our Strata review covers it in full.
Against the Wilson Tour Velocity.Wilson’s value set sits between the two: a genuine golf brand at a lower price than the Profile SGI. If you want a name without the Strata price, that is the comparison to make. Our complete sets roundup lines them up.
Against used name-brand clubs.The genuinely difficult comparison. A used set of two-generation-old branded clubs will usually outperform this at the same money — if you can evaluate what you are buying. Unknown flex, unknown length and unknown grip age are exactly the variables a beginner cannot assess from a photograph. Our used versus new guide works through it honestly.
Who should buy it
Someone who wants to find out whether they enjoy golf without a significant financial commitment. Someone who needs a specific size or a left-handed set on a tight budget. Someone buying a second bag to leave at a relative’s house or at a holiday home. And anyone for whom the alternative to this set is not playing at all — which is a much more common situation than equipment pages acknowledge.
It is also a perfectly reasonable set to learn on. Nothing about it will stop you reaching a respectable standard, and plenty of golfers have broken 100 with worse.
Who should spend more
If you already know you will play regularly. Step up to a Wilson or a Callaway. The shaft consistency and the resale value make the extra money back over three years, and you will enjoy the clubs more in the meantime. Our beginner sets roundup is the right page.
If you are buying for someone as a gift. The brand on the bag matters more than it should when the clubs are a present, and a recognizable name lands better. Our golf gifts page covers the whole question.
If you have already played a season on borrowed clubs.You are past the “will I like it” stage, which is the only stage this set is designed for.
What to do with the money you saved
Buying this instead of a premium set frees up a meaningful amount, and there are better uses for it than better clubs.
A lesson, first — our lessons guide makes that case with the actual arithmetic. Then balls you are relaxed about losing, from our ball picks, and shoes with real grip, from our shoes roundup. Then range time, used properly — our range guide covers how.
That combination will do more for your first year of golf than any set of clubs at twice this price.