Genuine vs Counterfeit Ping G400 Driver

OldeDude

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Interesting article put up by a local golf course/pro shop here in the Sacramento area, Haggin Oaks/Morton Golf Sales. They got their hands on a counterfeit Ping G400 Driver head, and decided to do an performance analysis between it and the real deal. Here's a link to the article, the intro that tells how they got the phony is pretty interesting in itself:

https://www.hagginoaks.com/blog/is-a-fake-ping-g400-driver-worse-than-the-real-thing/

This place is great for trying out new clubs, they carry almost everything, and have a very liberal demo policy. Basically you can go in, select up to three demo clubs, give them your drivers license, and they give you a small bucket of balls and access to their driving range. Bring those clubs back, select some more, and repeat. I hope this doesn't get changed due to some Bozo snaking them for a G400.
 
So someone borrowed the read one and returned a fake.. damn that sucks, super shady

#thisiswhywecanthavenicethings

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Good read, thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks for posting this article. Congrats to the Haggin Oaks team for turning lemons into lemonade with their excellent analysis.
 
People are such asses.... Genuine Ping definitely sounded crisper to me. Good read
 
Curious if For a slower swinger who needs launch and spin. I wonder if the fake would have worked out better. Or results have been closer than with a faster swinging scratch golfer.
 
Based on marketing alone, you would have to think that there would have been a larger disparity in performance of the real one vs the fake.

While 14 yards may seem like a lot comparing real to real drivers...it doesn't seem like that much to me considering the other one was a cheap knock off using sub par materials.
 
Before you buy any driver, for instance on ebay, etc. ask the seller to provide you with the serial number of the club he plans on shipping to you, and tell him you want to make sure the club is genuine before you finalize the deal. If the seller refuses to help you in that matter then don't buy from him. You actually can save a lot of money on ebay over the cost of a retailer like Dick's or Golf Galaxy which have to jack up their prices to pay for their large overhead.
 
Damn haven’t seen too many fake Ping drivers nice read thanks for sharing


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Really crappy move by the jacka$$ that did the trade out. Great article and definitely material differences in performance between the two.
 
Before you buy any driver, for instance on ebay, etc. ask the seller to provide you with the serial number of the club he plans on shipping to you, and tell him you want to make sure the club is genuine before you finalize the deal. If the seller refuses to help you in that matter then don't buy from him. You actually can save a lot of money on ebay over the cost of a retailer like Dick's or Golf Galaxy which have to jack up their prices to pay for their large overhead.

I buy and sell a lot of clubs on EBay. There are TONS of counterfeit clubs out there. While this is good advice, some of the counterfeiters have gone as far as replicating legit serial numbers. All they have to do is go to a store and jot down one real one for the same model. I've gotten to the point that when I buy from someone new (for me) that's not an authorized dealer, I'll take the club to the store and study it next to a real version. If there is any discrepancy (font for serial numbers being different is one that almost all counterfeit clubs have) I'm returning it unhit.

eBay backs its buyers. Almost to the point that it scares me as a seller. I've heard horror stories of eBay backing the buyer in instances where they were sold a legit club and buyer returned a counterfeit. I've also seen where they've destroyed a club because they had buyers remorse and returned it, claiming damage.

For these reasons as a seller I take clear pics, including the serial number before shipping. I also try to follow up with the buyer the day it's delivered asking them to confirm that it arrived and they are satisfied with the condition. I want this message from them in case a week later they get buyers remorse and try to return it. If they say they're not 100% satisfied I immediately offer to have it returned, unhit, on my dime. I'd rather be out $20 in extra shipping than a $400.00 iron set.

Long story short, it's important to try to protect yourself as both a buyer and a seller. There are a lot of scam artists out there that will gladly victimize those that don't take precautions.
 
Interesting article put up by a local golf course/pro shop here in the Sacramento area, Haggin Oaks/Morton Golf Sales. They got their hands on a counterfeit Ping G400 Driver head, and decided to do an performance analysis between it and the real deal. Here's a link to the article, the intro that tells how they got the phony is pretty interesting in itself:

https://www.hagginoaks.com/blog/is-a-fake-ping-g400-driver-worse-than-the-real-thing/

This place is great for trying out new clubs, they carry almost everything, and have a very liberal demo policy. Basically you can go in, select up to three demo clubs, give them your drivers license, and they give you a small bucket of balls and access to their driving range. Bring those clubs back, select some more, and repeat. I hope this doesn't get changed due to some Bozo snaking them for a G400.

(PIECE OF ADVICE: If you EVER find yourself in possession of a cheap, knock-off club, let me give you some advice. Do NOT do what this dummy did! And when we find the Rebel scum who did this, we will string them up by their toes and let the crows attack…)

I like them already.
 
I've heard horror stories of eBay backing the buyer in instances where they were sold a legit club and buyer returned a counterfeit. I've also seen where they've destroyed a club because they had buyers remorse and returned it, claiming damage.

Long story short, it's important to try to protect yourself as both a buyer and a seller. There are a lot of scam artists out there that will gladly victimize those that don't take precautions.

Excellent point you make
 
I buy and sell a lot of clubs on EBay. There are TONS of counterfeit clubs out there. While this is good advice, some of the counterfeiters have gone as far as replicating legit serial numbers. All they have to do is go to a store and jot down one real one for the same model. I've gotten to the point that when I buy from someone new (for me) that's not an authorized dealer, I'll take the club to the store and study it next to a real version. If there is any discrepancy (font for serial numbers being different is one that almost all counterfeit clubs have) I'm returning it unhit.

eBay backs its buyers. Almost to the point that it scares me as a seller. I've heard horror stories of eBay backing the buyer in instances where they were sold a legit club and buyer returned a counterfeit. I've also seen where they've destroyed a club because they had buyers remorse and returned it, claiming damage.

For these reasons as a seller I take clear pics, including the serial number before shipping. I also try to follow up with the buyer the day it's delivered asking them to confirm that it arrived and they are satisfied with the condition. I want this message from them in case a week later they get buyers remorse and try to return it. If they say they're not 100% satisfied I immediately offer to have it returned, unhit, on my dime. I'd rather be out $20 in extra shipping than a $400.00 iron set.

Long story short, it's important to try to protect yourself as both a buyer and a seller. There are a lot of scam artists out there that will gladly victimize those that don't take precautions.

eBay protects SOME of their buyers. If there's anything I loath, it's a seller that starts an auction at $0.99 (or $19.99 for 2 dozen new Callaway Chrome Soft X balls as was another of my cases) and then cancels the sale after the bidding doesn't go high enough. eBay won't act on that at all.
 
man you gotta have some balls to pull the old switcharoo on a golf shop
 
eBay protects SOME of their buyers. If there's anything I loath, it's a seller that starts an auction at $0.99 (or $19.99 for 2 dozen new Callaway Chrome Soft X balls as was another of my cases) and then cancels the sale after the bidding doesn't go high enough. eBay won't act on that at all.

I'd say it's more the case where they protect the buyer when money/product has been exchanged, than if an auction ends and the seller cancels the item. A few years back I had a similar situation on a much larger scale (won an auction for a car at $10k less than true value) and the seller never completed the sale. After speaking with an attorney about it they pretty much said I was just S.O.L.
 
man you gotta have some balls to pull the old switcharoo on a golf shop

I saw a thread somewhere a while back that someone started where they took pictures of a fake club in the used club rack at Dicks. He informed them it was counterfeit and went back later and they still hadn't pulled it. IIRC, he then contacted their Corporate Office and it took that for them to pull it. I think it was an Epic that they could have taken it over to the rack and compared it and seen it wasn't legit.

But yeah, that's a pretty ballsy move. Almost certainly waited until someone other than the Pro was working the counter, lol. Otherwise he might have beat them to death with it.
 
I'd say it's more the case where they protect the buyer when money/product has been exchanged, than if an auction ends and the seller cancels the item. A few years back I had a similar situation on a much larger scale (won an auction for a car at $10k less than true value) and the seller never completed the sale. After speaking with an attorney about it they pretty much said I was just S.O.L.
Yeah, it's sad that no one values integrity nowadays.

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Curious if For a slower swinger who needs launch and spin. I wonder if the fake would have worked out better. Or results have been closer than with a faster swinging scratch golfer.

Same thing I thought when I read it. For a slower swinger that thinks they hit the ball farther/swing faster than they do the fake may very well have been the better performer.
 
I wonder what happened on hit #9 with the counterfeit.

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I never even considered that there would be counterfeit golf clubs. I can understand it though considering there are fakes for damn near everything else.

Good on the club to turn this into a learning opportunity. Certainly opened my eyes!
 
I'd say it's more the case where they protect the buyer when money/product has been exchanged, than if an auction ends and the seller cancels the item. A few years back I had a similar situation on a much larger scale (won an auction for a car at $10k less than true value) and the seller never completed the sale. After speaking with an attorney about it they pretty much said I was just S.O.L.

Should a person really be obligated to sell something for 10k less than true value. Personally I don't think so. Just my honest opinion and the attorney obviously didn't think so either.
 
Should a person really be obligated to sell something for 10k less than true value. Personally I don't think so. Just my honest opinion and the attorney obviously didn't think so either.

No they should not UNLESS they list it as a no reserve auction and agree to the terms of said auction.
 
Dang I thought they cut this counterfeit crap out at the factories in China. I’ve heard they have security and everyone is searched before leaving the building. I guess that’s not true.


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I’ve seen some Ping fakes in the used bin at Golf Galaxy.
When I took them to the club tech he told me they had to leave them on the rack for sale because they could be “overseas” versions that can look slightly different from domestic clubs. I said really? These are obvious fakes. And he said that’s our policy.

The shaft markings were the tall tell sign. They looked as if somebody forgot to remove the ‘bold’ button.
 
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