I feel like a haven't seen anything but praise for the Navigator except for the rare complaints about rattles (not in my experience) and instability (pull the wheelie bar out completely and pay attention to terrain).
I think your buddy is an outlier.
the dues at my current club that I won't be returning to are going up by about 20% which will make it almost double what they were when I first joined a couple of years ago.
There is talk of a member exodus and I'm here for it
I played last season with a set of Cobra irons from 2008 which were awesome. They're getting bounced at the start of this season for a set of Srixon z565's from 2016 I believe. Those G25's should be plenty playable. And that price seems in line for used clubs nowadays. Good luck!
Range first. It's small so irons only. Start with 5 or 6 swings with the weighted Skilz swing trainer to loosen up and confirm my back is good to go, then 2 or 3 flighted wedges, 2 or 3 full wedges, a handful of flushed 7 irons and I'm off to the practice green for a handful of lag putts to...