Golf Forums - "clone" clubs

Hi, I'm thinking of changing my driver and having seen ads for cloned clubs I wondered if anybody has tried one or, better still compared one to the "real" thing

What are 'clone' clubs? If they are 'rip-offs' are they legal copies?

DONT DO IT!!!

At your level you should definately notice the difference between the real thing and a look-a-like! I know they cost more (Trust me I know they do) Shop around on the internet, you won't be able to bring the price down to the "knockoffs" range but, providing you don't do any thing silly, you'll have a resale/trade in value on the club in 12-18months time - You might have a little bit of resale/trade in value in your current club?!

Adam, are you saying that the clone clubs are not the same build quality?

Definately! the likes of Callaway Nike Titleist etc throw incomprehensible amounts of money into research and design for each club (hence prices) and as far as I'm aware don't tend to skip on the standard of the materials either, plus as I said last time providing you dont do anything daft with the club 12 months down the line there is still some trade in value!

I did have a set of clone irons about 5/6 years ago, 2 of which snapped across the hosel, the bit where the ball connects during an unmentionable! I'd not quite had them 12 months at the time and both went in the same round. Granted I was playing something like 3-6 rounds a week then but I got no response to my complaints. So in the end scrapped them and bit the bullet and bought the real thing!

hope this helps!

Um, so based on your experience (and I have none of 'clone' clubs) it would seem that the clones are perhaps a step up from the basically engineered 'introductory clubs' you get when you start the game (eg £99 for a bag, glove, 3 balls and a half set of clubs) but they are not in the league of the main manufacturers.  Fair assessment?

In a nutshell thats about it! I would definately advise buying the real thing if your looking to play some serious golf and/or lots of it! There will always be someone thats had nothing but good fortune playing with clone club but that was enough for me!

Hi Adam, Sorry for the elay in writing, been away, thanks for the tip good advice is always welcome

I purchased a cloned driver (my first ever driver!) from the internet last year. I've not long been playing golf and as such, wasn't keen to pay the big bucks. Now that I'm a capable golfer and have seen the real deal, you can tell the cloned ones are not to the same standard of finish etc as brand names even though it is the same source materials used.