Small thing.
Clearances are nice and not breaking the bank is also nice.
But if those are your only 2 factors as far as figuring out who to buy a puppy from, you are probably missing out on the biggest point of getting a golden vs other breeds. That is if you are buying a puppy who is going to be your dog for the next 10-14 years (average length of life for a golden retriever)...
That point is "selection".
Meaning that the breeders are SELECTING dogs they breed to for a purpose.
This purpose can be what the dogs DO, as in the case of performance bred dogs. And mind you this has nothing to do with shopping deep into a pedigree to find some titles from the 90's and prior. Performance bred dogs by definition are dogs who have been deliberately and focused bred for results. This means one or both parents have titles, grandparents have titles. And many of these titles are higher than basic novice. Some big name performance dogs are costing closer to $2500 too....
Same thing with dogs bred for conformation. Somebody on this forum was asking about a stud for a litter she's checking into. There are no pictures of this stud dog and it seems he's not well known outside of where he's competing in obedience and agility.... that said, looking at his pedigree, it seems very likely that he's going to look typey for a golden retriever. Because both sides of his pedigree (his mom and dad) have grandparents who were show dogs and the breeder in question is somebody who has shown their dogs. The dog himself is not a show dog and might have disqualifying faults (too small and missing teeth, for example), but he's likely to look typey for the breed.
When you go with a breeder who does absolutely nothing and you have 3+ generations of dogs who have no connection to the show ring (ie never been shown), it gets dicey as far as those dogs having a more typey look. An experienced breeder who has close ties to the local breed clubs will very likely be producing typey dogs, and or they produce dogs who have a very certain look that you can guarantee your pup will have. But an inexperienced breeder who is breeding everything they have and/or can get, it going to be more of a gamble. In these cases, you get a golden retriever who might have more faults than most people like.
I think in nonspecific breeding (when people breeding whatever), the first things "to go" are heads (shape of heads become more narrow), pigment (brown noses and eye liner), bone (longer and leaner bodies), and coat (softer coats that are not always related to whether or not the dog has been spayed/neutered). <= All these areas are areas which a good breeder is fixated on keeping in what they breed. Pigment is a really silly but miserable trait when you lose it in what you breed. And heads are another thing which has some breeders (including good ones) pulling their hair because their dogs do not produce typey heads.
All of this may go right over the typical person's head, but bottom line is when you are picking out a puppy and are basing your preference for this breed on WHAT YOU SEE in the books and dog shows, you need to keep in mind that all of the traits that you may like in dogs in the books or shows are not there by accident or matter of course. There is very deliberate selection involved.
This is why some breeders charge more than others and the product is not all uniform.
My own dogs, for example, look ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like my neighbor's dogs even though they all are purebred with pedigrees. Both my guys were average price when purchased ($900 was an average price 10 years ago, $1200 was an average price 5 years ago, currently the average price is about $1800-2000). My neighbor's dogs were purchased for about $600-800, that I know of. With my one neighbor having a heart attack when I told him that my youngest guy was $1200. It breaks the brains of some people spending that much on a dog. As much as they admire a dog and see the value of the dog, it's still in some places beyond the realm of reason for the average joe to spend that much on a dog (and keep in mind that a lot of average joes grew up thinking the only difference between a show dog and a pet was papers and a lot of them may look at one dog and the next and not see much a difference)... <= I get that and I'm "normal" enough that I feel the same panic when I see prices jumping so much and so quickly so I think regular normal people will be unable to enjoy this breed if things continue the way they are... but I'm saying that there is a big reason why I spent average cost to purchase my boys vs scraping the bottom of the barrel for whatever I could get at the least cost possible.
Bottom line is clearances are the first thing you look at when looking to buy a puppy. Whatever breeder you look at, this should be standard requirement before they breed any dog. The clearances should be there.
The next thing after that though is selection. And basically, understand the value of some dogs who might cost more. Greeders complicate matters when they produce really crappy looking dogs and charge a lot because they say and claim they are charging as much as the next guy. You have to weed out those people, for one thing. But there are good breeders who are charging a lot for a good reason.
***One thing I suggest is that you take a visit to your bank and sit down and talk to an account manager about setting up an account for a project like a puppy. I currently have an account going right now which is actually more for buying a car, but you can do the same thing for a dog. If you just have $100 moved to this account out of each paycheck you get (if paid 2x a month), you will have more than enough money to a puppy after a year. Even if you are just moving $50 out of each check, it will make a difference down the road when you actually buy the pup. And this way as well... you are getting into the habit of putting money aside. Because it's a huge deal when owning these dogs and things come up.
<= The first 8 years of a dog's life are probably the cheapest if the dogs comes from good healthy stock. The senior and geriatric years of a dog's life though - yikes.
My Jacks cost very little in his first 8 years. He was an easy keeper. Not to much crazy stuff. But the last year or so, he's had health issues that have cost a ton. He basically ate up the funds I'd put aside for the next pup that I had been planning on bring home this year. Between May and August of 2017, we spent almost $3000 on vet bills for him. And fortunately, it was not anything REALLY BAD and the $3000 was not part of an ongoing expense as it would have been if he actually had cancer. I have a friend who went back to work after she'd already retired, because her dog has cancer and they are taking care of her. The girlie is going on 2 years post dx and she's doing well. A lot of that was initially aggressive cancer treatments and now regular therapy to maintain her success. It is all costly but the type of situation where the dog is doing well enough that there is no reason to put her to sleep. It would be a stab through the heart putting this dog to sleep just because the cost of cancer treatments and care was too much. So just saying dogs are pretty expensive if your first thing is you can't put aside $200 per month.