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So I'm unboxing my new irons and

SuperStroke
wadesworld said:
Well, that's not to say a counterfeit club (if it is) won't hit the ball decent. In fact, in some of testing between counterfeit and genuine clubs, the counterfeit were not off by much. In some cases, the difference was so small the average golfer might not notice. But the point is, do you really want to have doubts? Even a 1-yard difference in dispersion can be significant.

That's not to say that your club is counterfeit and therein lies the problem; it's almost impossible to know unless you send it to the manufacturer for them to analyze.

But it's a big enough deal that I'm restricting my purchases to only boxed stores or online retailers which are specifically authorized by the manufacturer (verified from the manufacturer end, not just because the website said so).

It boils down to if it seems like too good a deal to be true, it probably is.
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Well a question I got for him is did he take a group of single clubs and just make a set
 
Franklin51 said:
Well a question I got for him is did he take a group of single clubs and just make a set
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Please don't ask him that or anything for that matter, let HIM tell you what he did. If you give him his excuse he's gonna use that excuse and it really almost sounds like you want him to give you that excuse cause you want them to be real and rightfully so, everyone wants them to be real but you want to know for sure 100% or somewhere in the back of your mind you'll have that I'm just not sure thought.
 
The difference in grip brand is interesting to say the least. I can't say I've seen that before. Those definitely don't match.

Callaway went away from putting serial numbers on all the irons in a set years ago. They only put them on either the 7 or 8 iron, so the lack of serial #s don't really tell you anything. It is alarming though if the ones that are "different" are the ones with the serial #.

I am probably in the minority, but I think counterfeiting is greatly exaggerated in the golf industry. It is more likely that most counterfeits are components that were "defective" and should have been scrapped, but instead went out the back door. Are they legitimately sourced through the standard supply chain? Nope. Are they really shoddy? Probably not.

Call Callaway and show them really detailed pictures. I thought I had a fake, but called Cobra and they were able to give me a definitive answer.
 
ryebread said:
The difference in grip brand is interesting to say the least. I can't say I've seen that before. Those definitely don't match.

Callaway went away from putting serial numbers on all the irons in a set years ago. They only put them on either the 7 or 8 iron, so the lack of serial #s don't really tell you anything. It is alarming though if the ones that are "different" are the ones with the serial #.

I am probably in the minority, but I think counterfeiting is greatly exaggerated in the golf industry. It is more likely that most counterfeits are components that were "defective" and should have been scrapped, but instead went out the back door. Are they legitimately sourced through the standard supply chain? Nope. Are they really shoddy? Probably not.

Call Callaway and show them really detailed pictures. I thought I had a fake, but called Cobra and they were able to give me a definitive answer.
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And your basing that off of what? Your feeling. The fact is they have shown proof time and time again that they are NOT that but companies actually making counterfeit clubs. Just think about this, for your theory to be correct Callaway would have to make thousands of mistakes a day on clubs and if the factory did that I'm sure it would close. Is your way of thinking possible, sure anything is and im sure some of that happens but not enough to account for the HUUUUUGEEE counterfeit market.
 
Golf clubs depreciate like stones. If you go to the trouble to counterfeit something, you want to at least be able to make some margins on it for a while. If there are competing foundries doing this, they're having to get the OEM launch club, make a cast mold (trivial), source some shafts, and get it all out through their supply chain before the OEM starts undercutting and making the whole operation a complete waste of time and money. Given the shear volume that these OEMs are pumping releases out and the dumping that they've been doing, is this really that attractive a market? Maybe it is. Maybe $50 a club keeps the whole thing rolling along forever. If so, then I need to go into counterfeiting golf clubs.
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Most of these shops are in China. Labor is cheap, manufacturing is abundant and for the most part, nobody there cares. They can turn out thousands of counterfeit clubs in no time.
The whole thing smells like a big scare tactic by the golf industry to me. If people are scared of counterfeits, then they'll go to the big box store sellers and pay inflated prices. That keeps all the top line sellers happy. The tiered selling price keeps the OEMs happy because they maximize revenue (price discrimination economic theory). The consumer aligns to the price point he feels justifies the risk. Everyone wins, which is exactly the way a market will evolve too.
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If I'm in the industry and I'm purposely trying to scare people, I'm not going to show people that the knockoffs are often such high quality that even the manufacturer has trouble telling them apart at times. I'm going to tell them they're all horrible quality and their game will suffer horribly as a result.

With the advent of the shady online retailer, I don't doubt for a minute the problem is quite real.
 
As I've brought up before, it's not that hard to get into the ... business thanks to new global exchanges like alibaba.com. If I wanted to get into the counterfeit golf club business, all I really need is a mold. From there, it's just a matter of finding a supplier in China, which is actually pretty easy these days. In fact, here you go casting services -
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=company_en&CatId=&SearchText=casting+foundry

Now I'm going to source my shafts -
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=golf+club+shafts

Bam, now I'm in the counterfeit club making business.

In a matter of 5 minutes, I already started putting together the supply chain for clubs. With a little more effort, I can get a real counterfeit operation going.
 
Not sure we need a how to sell counterfeit clubs tutorial
 
Aaaand now I am paranoid to buy anything off eBay again
 
This was the response I got from the guy. Answer was what I thought it would be.

They are authentic, we bought them as bulk singles directly from Callaway on a closeout deal. I can refund you $15 for the mismatched grips if you would like for me to. Thanks
 
mikedean441 said:
Not sure we need a how to sell counterfeit clubs tutorial
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That's not what he was doing, he's addressing the fact that it was brought up that it's hard to do and he's showing how easy it actually is.
 
I just talked to Callaway and they said even as singles the 8 iron should have a SN. I outa curiosity had them check the driver I bought from the same guy and he says nothing in the system. Ive emailed the guy back telling him what Callaway told me and see what he says. Callaway did though recognize he was a Callaway dealer that they sell too.
 
Sounds like rolling dice on ebay and crapping out. I hate to hear this. But stories like yours make me feel better about paying more and buying from an official source
 
Where exactly is the serial numerous because I bought my irons from Callaway preowned and I do not have a serial on my 7 or 8
 
Xarraan said:
Where exactly is the serial numerous because I bought my irons from Callaway preowned and I do not have a serial on my 7 or 8
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suppose to be on the 8 iron. That's for the set though. Mine are supposedly closeout singles he made a set from so its confusing to me.
 
Franklin51 said:
suppose to be on the 8 iron. That's for the set though. Mine are supposedly closeout singles he made a set from so its confusing to me.
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Where on the 8 iron, I'm not seeing one
 
Franklin51 said:
On the hosel
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Just FYI, I just looked at my X-Hot Pro 8-iron, which I 100% know is legit (since it came direct from Callaway to my house), and it does indeed have a serial number on the 8-iron. It's small and hard to see, but it's there.
 
wadesworld said:
Just FYI, I just looked at my X-Hot Pro 8-iron, which I 100% know is legit (since it came direct from Callaway to my house), and it does indeed have a serial number on the 8-iron. It's small and hard to see, but it's there.
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Ok maybe I need to look closer. I wonder though if singles would have a sn
 
Xarraan said:
Then callaway sold me knockoffs as mine does not have a serial number
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Look really closely - it's not easy to see. If it's not there, you'd have to check with Callaway - they may not have done it with every model or might have done it on different clubs.
 
Get a refund and send them back.
 
wadesworld said:
Look really closely - it's not easy to see. If it's not there, you'd have to check with Callaway - they may not have done it with every model or might have done it on different clubs.
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It's not there I already sent an email asking about it
 
It would be impossible for me to play that set. The mental side would screw me up. I had a bad shot. Is it because the clubs are fakes?

No thanks!
 
If the guy is an official callaway dealer, then whats all the fuzz about? Just get the $15 refund and enjoy your set.
 
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