Pretty well all summed up with some great advice. All I would add (apologies if already said) is that you may well save money by planning your adventure equipment wise. The pro shop is full of every trick in the book to get you buying stuff, and fair enough on that. I would say though that you can get to Master with starter gear. If I were doing this again, with what I know now, I would look at the following:
L35 Ghost putter - Great value and a little gem IMO. Will do you til Legend by which time you will know more to decide on a more exacting choice. Forums are full of advice on putters.
L59 G20 Irons - First bought set you really need. Again will see you through to Legend;
Wedges - Three evenly spaced L40s ping ones. Great value and will see you through to Legend. The hybrid is soon a superfluous club for this game.
Look in the forums and you will be able to see how many XPs are needed for each level. It becomes apparent you can eat through levels pretty rapido for a good while provided you get your daily XP. You can do the latter, on bust days, with one hole via community link.
Balls - no need to go mad for a good while. Look at some of teh WGT ones.
Woods - loads to choose from. No need to jump in too early.
Each to their own and above very much FWIW.