Why Fake Golf Clubs Are Too Good To Be True

They really are, no I mean really – Fake Golf Clubs Are Just Too Good To Be True.

Like any other fraud, scam or rip off golf club copies are very good – very good copies, but never the real thing. I recently, well last year actually, purchased a set golf clubs reasonably priced from Ebay (I’m sure it could have been anywhere else also).

I’ll try to give a brief but full appraisal of what happened…

The listing was advertised as someone who had bought 2 sets of Callaway golf clubs, one with stiff shafts and another with standard flex. They were keeping the standard flex so were selling the stiff shafted set. The seller said the clubs had serial number on the 8 Iron and were genuine. It seems that a common way to identify fake Callaway’s is by the missing serial number on the 8 Iron (more on that in minute..)

Anyway, the sales and payment process was smooth at the time, although shortly after the seller (who I will not name) seemed to have some problems getting the clubs delivered, perhaps a couple of weeks or more went by and I tried to contact the seller who did not reply. I contacted Ebay with the details and ask the question “when should I hit the panic button”, they responded with “just wait another few days – the guy might be on holiday”. So that’s exactly what I did, just waited, and sent the odd question about delivery to the seller every couple of days.

About 3 weeks later the seller contacts me saying that he had indeed been on holiday, he seemed genuine about that I have to say, but said there were problems getting the clubs through customs! ALARM BELLS. The clubs were advertised as being already purchased and his possession so I thought why would they be stuck in customs? I ask the question and apparently he had purchased both sets abroad and was bringing them back into the UK – seemed a reasonable explanation so my pressure level dropped to normal.

The seller wrote back to me after a couple of days and said the clubs were still in customs and would refund my money if I wanted to, which again settled my nerves, and being more comfortable with the situation I said I would wait.

About three days later the clubs arrive, I unwrap them and inspect every aspect including checking the serial number which was present. I researched fake clubs on the net to see if I could get an insight into what to look for in case they were fakes. I found a few articles some more helpful than others but on closer look my clubs appeared to be ok. So I thought I would register the serial number with Callaway Europe, you can do this through their web site. I was thinking if they write back and say sorry that number is invalid then at least I’ll know for sure. Next day Callaway confirm the registration of the clubs and the serial number and add me to their mailing list and newsletter.

So by now I’m thinking I’m in the clear, thank goodness. I take the clubs up the range and hit a stack of balls – actually pulliing a muscle in my side in the process which meant I couldn’t play for about four weeks. So, eventually I get out on the course and play a couple of rounds with them and I am quite chuffed, the smaller heads were taking a bit of getting used to as I’d gone for tour sized heads this time.

After about six weeks or so, I was getting comfortable enough with the clubs to want to have them adjusted and tailored to suit me (loft and lie etc). So I go to the Direct Golf Shop that I’ve used for the last few years, I tell the Pro what I’m looking and he suggest I go out on the range and hit a few balls while he watches. We get talking and I mention the clubs are new and were a good deal, more than £100 cheaper than in the shop.

So he takes the first club for adjustment and is gone for about 5 minutes while I wait on the range. He comes back with my 8 Iron and another 8 Iron from the shop, and says to me “I can’t risk adjusting your clubs as it looks like they are fakes!!!” he shows me the club from the shop and the difference whilst subtle was actually obvious. Here is the list of what we found different:

The more obvious fake attributes:

• The styling of the text on the grip was different
• The pattern in the grip was subtly different
• The colours in the Project X label were very slightly off and quite a bit brighter than the genuine club
• BIGGY: The label was on the wrong side of the shaft – i.e. It was facing me when I addressed the ball, whereas on the geniune club it was underneath and not visible when addressing the ball.
• The last groove had a whiteline in it, whereas the genuine had no white line on any groove.

The not so obvious fake attributes:

• The badge on the back of the club head was very difficult to tell apart from the genuine club
• The shape of the club head was almost indistinguishable from the real thing
• The overall weight of the club was indistinguishable by holding a fake in one hand and a genuine in the other
• The styling of the shaft identical
• The shininess of the shaft was subtly different but you would never pick it out without the real thing in your hand to compare.

The aspect that really got me

• When I hit the real thing I could have wept, the feel of the shots was very different
• Shaping shots was much easier with the real thing even just off the range mats
• It just felt much more engineered – and it clearly was.

The lesson to be learnt

• Never buy clubs off Ebay or any other auction site where the seller is not a certified Original Equipment Reseller, unless you can view the clubs yourself and the seller has the original receipt AND will give you the details so you can check it out with the store.
• Get the serial number of the clubs beforehand – if the seller won’t privately give you this then you should assume they are fake. Unfortunately this puts the decent resellers at a disadvantage because you could be a serial number hunter in their eyes – its catch 22 but you have to protect yourself. Never ask a seller to publicly state the serial number because fake makers will get their hands on it, ask for it in a private email or by post (this may be more difficult internationally).
• When you get the serial number go the OEM (the manufacturer) and ask them if its a genuine serial number and if it has already been registered. Don’t expect them to give you the details of the person that registered the serial number – this would be against data protection laws.
• You have to do everything in your power to check the genuineness of second hand clubs. Stick to the age old saying “If it’s too good to be true then it probably is”. I have no idea if the seller from which I purchased knew the clubs were fake or not, if I had to err on one side I’d guess he did know they were fake.
• If someone says they have a product in their possession and later it turns out that they don’t have it in their possession, then quit the process immediately and go elsewhere. If you’ve already paid then ask for a refund.
• For safety, stick to good quality High Street name shops or verified online shops that are well established and authorised resellers – I can’t overstate this enough.

Finally, after twelve months of playing with my clubs I have become accustomed to them in a fashion, I play well with them but get limited joy from them as I know every time I take one out the bag that it’s a fake. Eventually I’ll get a new set and stick to the rules above next time. I’ll probably give these clubs to my step son as I would never sell them knowing they are fake and that’s another lesson to learn, you have no part exchange value with fakes – they are 100% dead money. But I have to take my hat off to the fakers as they really are very good – worthless pieces of zero engineered iron.