As someone has mentioned, now that carbon fibre rods are standard and affordable, it's hard to find a really bad rod. But when I started out fly fishing aged 15, my father bought me the worst (cheapest) beginner's set-up in the world. Combined with the fact that I had to pretty much teach myself to cast as I didn't know anyone else who fished in this way (or at all, come to think of it), it took me two years of blanking and spending all my pocket money on day tickets to no avail before I landed a fish. And that was with the Hardy Sovereign rod that my mother bought me with which I could actually cast. So essentially, I'm saying one shouldn't risk destroying someone's enthusiasm by hampering them with poor kit.
There's a bit in the famous "Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing" where Mr Crabtree insists that Peter should use a centrepin reel for spinning and not be allowed a fixed spool reel until he masters the former. I always thought that in that instance, Mr Crabtree was being a bit of a knob...