Justin66

It's the puttee, not the putter.

Excellent review! I have a soft spot for "informative yet makes you laugh" writings, which you pulled off expertly! I also liked your detail on the durability- it DOES make the pricepoint more appealing. Thanks for sharing this with us!

That blue ball is slick!

I have Acer XK gear. I recently switched my wedges from Acer XB to Inazone Shadows. My gamer putter is a White Hot XG #9. Why do I game them? Let's see: I own a Callaway FT-3, FT-5 and FT-9; a Nike Sasquatch and SuMo 5000; an Adams A3 Boxer hybrid; Callaway X-20 and X-22's (both Tour and non-Tour versions... not whole sets, either); Callaway Big Bertha irons; an Odyssey Dual Force 2 putter (my backup putter; had an original White Hot Rossie, but gave that to charity), Tour Edge Progressive J/Max irons (another charity gift); a Nike NDS 5 wood (3w went to charity); Cleveland 588 and CG12 wedges (56 and 60*); Taylormade RAC (56*) and Rac Satin TP (52*) wedges; a couple of older Vokey wedges (52 and 56*); Adams Watson wedges (52, 56, 60*); Dunlop Pro Combo irons (made from zinc)... you get the idea. I get just as much performance with my Acers as any of the other clubs I've listed, for a fraction of the cost. Gives me more money for greens fees!

In my opinion, both of these are excellent ideas. Wincey's dead-on about the Fowler comment .

I second the skull and crossbones, but I'd also go with the second diamond and the "Star Trek"-like design.

Sounds to me like you're going to have to strip the powder coating off, because it's not in a raw state with it on. With it off, you should then be able to see some change in the finish.

I hit my longest drive of the year Sunday with an X3... 292 yards (thanks to Skycaddie, as well)! It was a 286 yard par 4. I ended up in the rough to the left. I hit a nice touch chip with it and proceeded hack at my birdie putt. Blah. Walked away with par, but it was those "what might have been" moments. I'm still in love with the Pinkie for its overall performance, but the X3 has earned a place right next to it, shoving the TM TP Red to 3rd place. Maybe it was me when I originally tested the X3... I have a tendency to get in my own way. But Sunday the X3 was just ON. All my good shots felt pure; the miss-hits were noticeable, but not overbearing. I put some decent spin on the ball, as well- I ended up saving bogey (yeah, I put myself in poor spots at times off the tee and had to make a recovery shot... I'm getting really good at that, thanks to all the practice) a couple of times with well-placed pitches that seemed to just want to go in. I know what I'm asking for for Christmas- both the Pinkie's and the X3's!

The "major" OEMs aren't like Boz/Vision. On one hand it's sad, but it does make you appreciate the companies like Boz's (at least, for me personally it's like that).

No matter how this ends up, at least we can be at ease knowing MGS is going to be fair and unbiased... If Golf Digest or the like did this, it's be a fair bet that wouldn't be the case. This is pretty exciting!

Not to beat the dead horse, but how about a test? Can we get a clone G10 and the real deal (it can be any brand, really), cut them up and let everyone see what's inside? Same with FWs and hybrids- they have to have welds, as well. I've seen pictures of a counterfeit Callaway driver that had shoddy welding and no weight chip, but I've never heard of the clones doing a bad job... Makes me curious.

We can see that copying between OEMs with the new irons that are coming out with that "Y-Tuning Port" deal that Mizuno had already used. Sometimes it makes me wonder if they think the golfing population is just blind and/or ignorant. I guess I'll really get my answer if Ping comes out with PowerBow technology . Golf Magazine has done an article about the difficulty of naming a club, but they didn't get into the bullying/stealing that OEMs do. Indacup, I hope you can stand up to them, especially given the crap you went through the first time. From my point of view this seems like a flat-out strong-arm tactic by an imaginationless OEM. I know it's just a name, but still... However, with your posts I see where you're coming from in all this- I can respect that.

Unless the OEMs are trying to showcase something, they usually hide what materials they use. It demystifies their stuff if they say "cast from 17-4 stainless" or "form-forged 6-4 Ti", because people can look and see that it's exactly the same as a component brand.

That was the same year they got busted with drivers taht were too hot, correct? If memory serves (and it's hit-or-miss with me, sometimes... LOL) I think that's when it happened. Correct me if I'm wrong, though!

But they aren't "stealing". They are allowed to use those designs, one way or the other. If it were stealing, it's a pretty safe bet the clone companies like GigaGolf, Pinemeadow and DiamondTour would have their equipment confiscated, business taken and website shut down, since they'd be a HELLUVA lot easier to find than the counterfeiters. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I gamed Pinemeadow gear for almost two years and I never had an issue. My driver, hybrid, SW and LW were Pinemeadows. There's a guy on my old league that gamed a full set of Pinemeadows, going on 5 years of having them. He shoots in the high 70's-low 80's, so I'm pretty sure they're still working for him. If people think only the offbrands are using "cheap" material... sorry, but they aren't. The major OEMs do, as well... but it's a loose definition of "cheap". 6-4 and 15-3-3-3 Ti are the two most common materials used- by both the OEMs AND The "offbrands" (just as what indacup said). It's the counterfeiters that use poor material, like a mixture of Ti and who knows what else. is just some inferior mix, they've opened themselves up to a lawsuit... what reputable company would do that? You can't use breakage as an issue, either... So OEM clubs are indestructable? Not likely. A buddy of mine had a FT-3 break on its third usage. Does that make it inferior? No, it's just one of those things... it stinks, but it happens. To everyone, at some point. Personally, I think it's more about having perceptions shattered than anything else. Some people don't like hearing that their $1500 gear won't yield them anything better than the $300 I paid for mine. They get defensive... like trying to justify going out and buying a Lambo, when they know deep down they don't need it. I don't understand that, though... it isn't about what you buy or how much you spent (so long as it isn't counterfeit). If it's fit for your game and swing, you can spend whatever you want. I'm going to restate this, but anyway: more people need to realize that this game can be accessible AND affordable. From talking to people, they don't like feeling like they have to spend $1,000+ just to get started. There's also that perception of elitism still because they hear about the $1000+ gear and the $100+ rounds of golf. They're told they aren't REAL golfers unless they're gaming the Pings, Callaways, etc., or not going to Pebble and St. Andrews. It gets disheartening, and frankly, shouldn't be that way. I tell them about my gear and it changes their mind- not for all, but most. It shows them that there ARE alternatives- quality alternatives- to getting started. @indacup- you might be surprised to know that there are OEMs that use "open molds", as well. Reps from the OEMs go to the foundry and pick out a design they like. It then gets stampped/stickered with their name on it. Maltby has talked about this before, but he, like everyone else, won't name names (much like the "which Tour players are using Miura/Endo/other forgings with their sponsor's stamping on them" discussion)... which is a practice I think should stop. Everyone has the right to feel the way they do, but for me personally, I don't feel this qualifies as "stealing". Yeah, I edited this. After rereading it, that highlighted line sounded pretty freaking superficial and not what I was trying to say at all... Sheesh, I thought I was a better proofreader than that.