How old is too old to pick up golf, and what sort of up front cost can be expected?

You certainly are not too old to pick it up.

The money it takes to start up can vary wildly. You can go very basic and look around for a used set of golf clubs on places like eBay, etc. You can also buy a cheaper new set. You can probably find as cheap as $200 if you look around. You can also get as expensive as thousands, if you get a decent set and get fitted. That's probably not your best option to go that route though, if you don't even know how much you'll like the game (you are probably going to love it though).

Shoes aren't expensive, but also not really necessary.

The answer to how long until you just look like a regular bad golfer, kind of depends on you too. If you are fairly athletic, you can pick it up pretty quickly. You can go the route of getting lessons, and go from horrible to just bad pretty quick. If spending money on lessons isn't your thing, try to find a buddy who is pretty good and have them give you some basic tips. Try to get started with some basic knowledge of what you are doing. If you start out forming bad habits, they are hard to break. So try to at least know what you are supposed to be doing from the get go. You won't be good at doing those things, but at least you will be able to identify what you need to try to fix. Practice more than you play, once you know what your doing.

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That's probably not your best option to go that route though, if you don't even know how much you'll like the game (you are probably going to love it though).

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Yea I don't want to dive in head first- though it is tempting.

I'm a self taught fly fisherman. My first combo was $80. The setup I use most often now was about $1200. You can guess how much the $80 combo gets used now. I might as well have just lit the money on fire. I know an great golf club can run into 4 figures by itself, much less a set- so I probably won't try to find top notch gear. I don't want junk either though that i'll find I quickly tire of or feel limited by. I know there's a fine line and hundreds of options out there. I don't know what you'd even expect "mid level" gear to cost is my thing.

If there were a Kia, Toyota, and Bentley for sale, I would want the Toyota...if that makes sense

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If there were a Kia, Toyota, and Bentley for sale, I would want the Toyota...if that makes sense

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I bought an almost complete set of Callaway Stratas not long ago. It was missing the putter and had driver, 3 wood, 4 hybrid, 6-PW irons. I already had a putter and sand wedge in my old set. The set cost me around $300. I have zero complaints, and it has been a good set. Might want to look into it.

I was telling a guy I played with this today (it was his first ever round. Never even played put put), but golf is the only sport I've ever played where I didn't get a whole lot better quickly from simply playing often. It's a challenge for sure, but as you hit your 30s it fills a competitive need. Even just competing against yourself from round to round. I can't go out and play backyard football without feeling like I got run over by a truck the next day. So golf is perfect, and the fact that I can't master it keeps me driven to get better. It's a great feeling when you do.

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I know an great golf club can run into 4 figures by itself,

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You can have a brand-new top of the line set and not spend anywhere near $1000 on any one club.

Purchasing new, middle of the road clubs, expect to spend
Driver: $300-$500
Irons: $500-$700
Wedges (set of 3): $300
Putter: $100-$300

Purchasing great condition used equipment you can cut the driver and iron cost in half. I wouldn’t buy used wedges though.

I don’t see any reason you can’t build a great set of clubs for under $1000

Look on ebay, 2ndswing, etc and grab some cavity back Callaways X series. I’d say anything from x-14 on up. They run in a series x-14, x-16, etc. These are good “Toyota” level sticks, used with scratches etc. but that will not matter. I’ve played the same sticks for 10 years and bad shots aren’t the clubs fault. Get standard length steel stiff flex shafts. Grab a buddy that knows golf enough, shoots in the 80s or below, and go hit buckets with him a few times, and let him show you the basics. Once you flush one shot, you’re hooked on golf for life and that’s a wrap. After that take a few lessons to get you on the right track. Get a range pass for a year, will save $$$ without a full blown membership. Hitting balls on the range can be just as fun as a round, no waiting, doesn’t take 4 hours, etc.

Pricing below is ballpark.

Used iron set = $200-$500
A bucket of balls = $12
Range pass = $500
Lessons = $100 per hour

A used set of clubs can be fairly reasonable like $700.
Try some putters out and Go to putting green.

Learn to putt.

Then learn to chip.

Then learn to pitch.

Lessons are useful. Most pros will have like a 5 lesson into set of lessons.

You may have talent.

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how long do you think it would take a coordinated, reasonably athletic individual before they looked like a bad golfer and not a first time golfer?

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Being reasonably athletic and having the sports background you do is good. Some people have played golf for 20+ years and just don’t have it on the athletic/coordination side and will never be better than a upper 80s lower 90s player.

It will take some dedication though. Definitely would recommend lessons. If you really put your mind to it you could be shooting double digits within a year.

It can be an expensive game. But you don’t need top of the line stuff to start. It would not help you anyway. eBay is a good place to look for equipment. Maybe look at an old Titleist 910D2 driver and a full set of Ping Eye 2 irons. This can likely be found for under $200 total and they are great clubs to start with.

They can be, but always look through the pics and the sellers profile. Don't buy anything that ships from China, or seems like too good of a deal to be true.

Problem is I don’t know if a deal is too good to be true

Decent clubs, shite clubs, or too good to be true?

The Strata set isn't counterfeit lol. Most of the frauds are higher end clubs, and even then you can spot the fake if you know what to look for.

Personally I'd go through Callaway Pre-owned and buy different pieces than a box set