RE: buying my first bow?
Black Stick, I think those are allreally good recommendations except for the bow. A bow with a brace height of almost 9" long is a bit long in my opinion. I think 7" to 7.5" is a more realistic brace height for any beginner. It's true that a 9" brace height is going to be more forgiving but mostly because it's losing 2" of power stroke which is going to slow down the arrow and simply have less kinetic energy which is going to make the bow more forgiving by virtue of power loss. I understand that there is less torque on a longer brace height but the good teachers he has will set up his form correctly from the beginning so that should not be an issue.
I recommend that a beginner archer reduce draw weight over leaving power stoke energy on the table. 2" of power stoke left on the table equates to about 10Lbs of draw weight loss, which means a guy has to pull 7-10 more pounds to get the same kinetic energy/speed back.I think there are a ton of bargains out there for beginner archers but I don't think you gave us enough information to be able to recommend some bow models to try. 1. How old are you, are you going to need a bow that's going to grow with you? 2. What poundage range are you looking to first get into. 3. What's your draw length? Answer those questions and it will narrow the field.