# Are online golf stores believable?



## scle001 (Oct 15, 2011)

Hi, where do you buy your golf clubs? Does anyone know any good online golf stores in the US. Are there any pitfalls. It seems even with any duty it's still much cheaper to buy say a new driver and have it shipped. And are they all brand new and original? Thanks


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Read my thread dated today about Counterfeit clubs and visit the site I link to.

In general, if you look at the prices clubs sell for at places like Golfsmith, Edwin Watts, Golf Galaxy or TGW, that will be the lowest price you are going to find. There are legitimate online sellers, and there are legitimate small chain stores, but most of them don't have the buying power of the big national chains and it's safe to say, if you find a club or a set of clubs much lower priced than at the national stores, it's counterfeit. In short, if it looks too good to be true, it is.

Just consider, a national chain is buying thousands of clubs from each name brand. How do you think some itinerant online seller is going to beat their price like an example we had here early last month? The Titleist AP2 irons cost $999 at all the big stores. The online seller was asking $299.

I can tell you from the standpoint that I run a pro shop, our cost as a licensed Titleist dealer is higher than $299. I can also tell you the national chains pay more than $299.

To repeat, if it looks too good to be true, it is.


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## Accufitgolf (Nov 4, 2011)

DennisM said:


> Read my thread dated today about Counterfeit clubs and visit the site I link to.
> 
> In general, if you look at the prices clubs sell for at places like Golfsmith, Edwin Watts, Golf Galaxy or TGW, that will be the lowest price you are going to find. There are legitimate online sellers, and there are legitimate small chain stores, but most of them don't have the buying power of the big national chains and it's safe to say, if you find a club or a set of clubs much lower priced than at the national stores, it's counterfeit. In short, if it looks too good to be true, it is.
> 
> ...


Wise advice.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Accufitgolf said:


> Wise advice.


I've been called a lot of things, mostly stuff I wouldn't put on my resume... 

Usually, when someone calls me wise, it's followed by another word for a donkey.


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## Surtees (Sep 11, 2007)

Yes Dennis a quiet a true word on both your post like most things in life if it looks to good to be true it probably is.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

And the first two new members to comment on it were stupid enough not to believe we might notice? What's wrong with these people.

LISTEN PEOPLE - WE'RE WATCHING AND WE WILL BAN YOU IF YOU SPAM THIS FORUM.


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## Indacup (Sep 12, 2006)

scle001 said:


> Hi, where do you buy your golf clubs? Does anyone know any good online golf stores in the US. Are there any pitfalls. It seems even with any duty it's still much cheaper to buy say a new driver and have it shipped. And are they all brand new and original? Thanks


A lot of the answer depends on what you are looking for.

Are you looking for a place to buy OEM stuff?

Component clubs?

Component parts (heads, shafts...etc)


Custom made items?


Clones?


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Let's make one thing clear here. What is commonly called a clone club is one with a very similar design to a well known brand, but with a name of it's own. You can find very well made clones at a lot of places, the most respected probably being The Golfworks in Ohio.

On the other hand, if you are talking about a club made to duplicate the look of a name brand even to the point that the name brand is copied onto the club, that is a counterfeit, it is illegal and the other mods and I will do everything in our power to obliterate any reference to it in this forum.

Sometimes the words clone and counterfeit are used interchangeably, by mistake. Be aware of the difference and avoid the counterfeits.


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## Indacup (Sep 12, 2006)

I really like tha this website is so open minded.....

I agree with so much ya said...ya also made me kinda "cringe" with statements I felt were misleading.....unintentionally, of course.



DennisM said:


> Let's make one thing clear here. What is commonly called a clone club is one with a very similar design to a well known brand, but with a name of it's own. You can find very well made clones at a lot of places, the most respected probably being The Golfworks in Ohio.


I would not select Maltby's Golf works as a clone based company...I can assure you, he'd be upset....He prides himself on being an innovator...not a copier.

A good Clone company would be Integra....who specifically state which head is similar to an existing OEM head....Yet they also design their own products......some of which, have been well ahead of the industry...

I remember when they came out with a square head......11 months before Nike's SUMO...so these "Clone companies" actually were the innovators and not the copiers.....

Actually, for every "innovation" the OEm's claim, I am relatively certain I can provide proof it was done earlier.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Indacup said:


> I would not select Maltby's Golf works as a clone based company...I can assure you, he'd be upset....He prides himself on being an innovator...not a copier.


Yeah, fair enough... though he does have some iron heads that are pretty close to name brands, he does, in fact, have a lot of variances with well explained science behind them.




> Actually, for every "innovation" the OEm's claim, I am relatively certain I can provide proof it was done earlier.


[/quote]

That may be true to some extent, but a patent held by people like a name brand company tends to stand for a lot more. I wonder if the designs might be purchased from someone who comes up with it because the original "inventor" doesn't have the resources to manufacture and market it?


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## Indacup (Sep 12, 2006)

DennisM said:


> I wonder if the designs might be purchased from someone who comes up with it because the original "inventor" doesn't have the resources to manufacture and market it?


You'd be surprised at how many items are made from an "open mold" program.

Bear in mind there really are only a few foundries making heads who are hired by hundreds of companies and these foundries have rooms of open molds that they will take you through to look at...and if you like one, you pay them for it. Then you provide your artwork and if you want slight changes made...etchings...etc that's extra...but a FAR LESS cost to do than actually creating and owning and maintaining your own mold.

There are many times (It's happened to us on occasion) where a design from a company was so unique and viable, that the foundry offered to create the mold at a reduced cost and in return, asks to keep that mold or design for themselves to re-use (with alterations) for others.

How many times have you seen a club (like a cavity back iron) from a company and think to yourself: "Wow, that looks just like so-and-so's iron"?

Well, there's a very good chance it came from the same open mold from the same foundry.

It's an odd world out there!!!


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