it realy depends on the person mate,
like how big they are, there phiscal strength all that sort of stuf
we have groups of beginers out all of the time, poeple who have never fished before and havent got a clue about the sport,
we use 2 diffrent size rods depending on the person, we use a 9ft shakespeare tide water peir rod, there perfect for the beginers, nice and stiff but easy casting, and for the bigger people we use 12 ft shakespeare tide water beach casters, once againg nice and stif for the wind but realy easy to cast, and they have a good cast on them, there fixed spool rods and there rather cheep, whos the rod for mate?