NEW TO THIS - Need some lens help!

I'm purchasing my wife a Canon Digital Rebel XTi very soon. She really likes the features of this camera - and the asking price.

I'm ordering just the body - without the standard lens, EF-S 18-55mm.

We live in a fairly windy, dusty area and I was thinking of trying to buy one lens at first that might meet most of her needs so she wouldn't be opening the camera up much.

What do you experts think of the Canon zoom lens:
EF 28-200mm
•f/3.5-5.6 USM

She will be taking indoor family pictures, outdoor travel pictures; and this weekend pictures of my youngest son playing in a golf tournament.

The golf pictures will be taken from the cart path, as we can't walk out on the course - so we need some decent zoom.

All suggestions will be appreaciated - so please fire away!!!

I am surprised you have not gotten any replies. First of read the stickies. This will give you some insight. I am sure the lens will work, but may not produce the greatest results. Lenses are more important to image quality than the body.

What's your max budget?

Knowing how much you want to spend would really help.

Well, the lens I mentioned above is around $450.00.

I can go up to $1000.00 - but would really like one lens that will give us
high quality pictures meeting the criteria that I mentioned above.

(I guess what everyone wants - a really good lens that does it all).

Will the lens that I mentioned above be adequate? It appears to have the lowest f/stop of any lens in its class.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Your indoor & outdoor requirements make a one lens solution next to impossible. I would suggest that to start you keep the kit lens, and buy a 50mm f/1.8 lens and the 70-200 f/4 L for outside shots. This will leave some change from the $1,000 and get you going until your wife has used the gear for a while and then will be able to best assess her needs for more or different lenses.

I would recommend 2 lenses. One for longer stuff and one for shorter stuff. Canon 70-200mm F4 L at about $600 and Tamron 28-75 2.8 $450

I would recommend to you the Sigma 17-70 and Canon 70-300IS. These 2 lenses give you the best coverage with very good image quality; they also will cost you under your $1K budget. The reach and IS of the Canon lens will come in real handy from the cart path too.

Or the Sigma 17-70 and Sigma 70-300mm. Many say the Sigma 70-300 has better IQ than the Canon equivalent.