Ward,
I don’t know what you mean by “alternative”, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter anyway. This gets to the age-old question in golf equipment of whether or not ANY expenditure is worth it. And only Ward can answer that question for Ward; I just know A.G.’s answer.
If your question is whether or not your results with the Kirkland driver will be comparable to your results if you walked into a big box store and bought a driver by Ping, TM, Callaway, Titleist, or Cobra pot luck without hitting it, the answer is, a qualified “Yes, probably so.” I have a LOT of confidence in Costco and the Kirkland brand name, and I can’t imagine that they’d put that name on something that was markedly worse than average, including golf clubs.
That said, the parallel question here is what you want out of a club purchase. If cost is all that matters to you, that’s one thing. But if your expectations for a golf club are higher than that, I don’t think it would be very difficult to find a lightly used driver in any big box store that would give you better results.
Maybe the Kirkland ball is instructive here? Obviously, for per ball price, it’s unbeatable among urethane cover, 3 piece golf balls; it’s significantly cheaper than even the DTC balls like Snell and Vice, and it’s a perfectly serviceable ball if price is all that matters.
The catch, of course, is that the Kirkland ball is one of the shortest, if not THE shortest, balls off the tee among urethane 3 piece balls, probably because it spins like a top compared to other premium balls. So if you want to pay $1 a ball, but give up 7-10 yds off the driver, with proportional yardage losses on other clubs, it’s a great choice. It’s probably NOT a great choice if you want to play your best golf.
I’ve never seen a good player playing that ball, and I sort of expect it to be the same with the Kirkland clubs, including the driver. I don’t mean that to sound elitist; I think I play with people who want more out of golf than the lowest cost equipment can provide.