Cost of clubs - No Made in America

[HOBMAN]

Through research and experience, there is little or no "Made in America" today. Just check the labels on the clubs. This is every OEM. I have purchased Titleist irons from DHgate and compared them to OEM's. No difference. Lofts may be a little off but all are anyway. I paid $250 with KBS TGI graphite shafts for Titleist 718 TS3 irons as opposed to $1400, and every component is made in China anyway. Ridiculous. Sponsorships and advertising run up the prices

[golfinnut]

China knockoffs of the original. 

Companies have to make $$ 

[KurtActual]

Sorry dude, you didnt buy Titleist or KBS or any other brand name from DHGate. You bought knock-offs.

[HOBMAN]

From Golf Galaxy. I went there and took photos of most of the name brand clubs. Cobra (graphite shafts)there is no portion made in America (except possibly the grips and the are built in Mexico. So what does buying an overpriced set of clubs support. Lexi, Ricky, Bryson and others. 

[tehuti]

These OEMs are not paying me to use their clubs. I would rather game no-name custom clubs for a fraction of the price.


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[null]

There's no such thing as Titleist 718 TS3 clubs 

Congrats on your cheap imitations 

Did you pay for them with money out of your Guchi wallet while wearing a Rollex watch? 

[tony@CIC]

From Golf Galaxy. I went there and took photos of most of the name brand clubs. Cobra (graphite shafts)there is no portion made in America (except possibly the grips and the are built in Mexico. So what does buying an overpriced set of clubs support. Lexi, Ricky, Bryson and others. 

It's more complex than that. The higher "priced" products (over knock offs) support a lot more than PGA/LPGA Pro's. There's research and development, (which the knock off companies steal), all of the customer support services, the retailers etc, etc.




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[deejaid]

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[romeopapazulu]

18 hours ago, jlukes said:

There's no such thing as Titleist 718 TS3 clubs 

Congrats on your cheap imitations 

Did you pay for them with money out of your Guchi wallet while wearing a Rollex watch? 

You must have missed that release...It was between the 718 irons and TS3 woods.  Feb 29, 2018 if I recall correctly.

I am not opposed to going with off-brands that don't have huge advertising budgets to save a few bucks.  But the counterfeit market just gives me the goosebumps.  I will admit, I have purchased some "Bay Rans" on the beach at an unbelievable price.  Fate would have it that they ended up on the bottom of the ocean a day later when I was bucked off a kayak.

[PlaidJacket]

47 minutes ago, romeopapazulu said:

I am not opposed to going with off-brands

I'm an "off-brand" player if you want to call Tom Wishon an off-brand guy. I don't know Tom personally but he's certainly (or was) producing original designs that are great playing clubs by any standard. IMO just as good as any BIG name brand. Perhaps even better? Debatable. His heads and other items are not mfg. in the US either. That's no secret. My Wishon irons were custom fit and built by a 30 year fitting/building veteran/professional. Now, you might not have access to a top fitter for Wishon in your area like I did and you might not find a Wishon design/model that you like but that doesn't mean they are off-brand or inferior in any way. They're not. There are several BIG name brands which I don't find particularly suitable or to my taste .. in design or play-ability. You can save a fair amount (but not always) buying so called off or boutique brands such as Wishon, Alpha, KZG, Vega, Maltby, Fourteen, etc. etc. My Wishons ended up costing quit a bit where I could have actually saved some by purchasing a fit set of Mizuno, Titleist, Ping, Cobra, TaylorMade, etc. Where my cost went up was with the time spent fitting, shafts, hand-built, and using a boutique shop. But that's ok because I wanted and chose all of that. I think the bottom line is that many guys just don't want a club in their bag that isn't seen on TV/tour. I think perhaps they feel others will see these in their bag and think they are el cheap-o's or that they are not a very good player, a beginner or some BS like that. However, my off-brand clubs have done the talking for me and destroyed that notion. Would I purchase another set of Wishons? They'd certainly be at the top of my list.

[romeopapazulu]

11 minutes ago, PlaidJacket said:

I'm an "off-brand" player if you want to call Tom Wishon an off-brand guy. I don't know Tom personally but he's certainly (or was) producing original designs that are great playing clubs by any standard. IMO just as good as any BIG name brand. Perhaps even better? Debatable. His heads and other items are not mfg. in the US either. That's no secret. My Wishon irons were custom fit and built by a 30 year fitting/building veteran/professional. Now, you might not have access to a top fitter for Wishon in your area like I did and you might not find a Wishon design/model that you like but that doesn't mean they are off-brand or inferior in any way. They're not. There are several BIG name brands which I don't find particularly suitable or to my taste .. in design or play-ability. You can save a fair amount (but not always) buying so called off or boutique brands such as Wishon, Alpha, KZG, Vega, Maltby, Fourteen, etc. etc. My Wishons ended up costing quit a bit where I could have actually saved some by purchasing a fit set of Mizuno, Titleist, Ping, Cobra, TaylorMade, etc. Where my cost went up was with the time spent fitting, shafts, hand-built, and using a boutique shop. But that's ok because I wanted and chose all of that. I think the bottom line is that many guys just don't want a club in their bag that isn't seen on TV/tour. I think perhaps they feel others will see these in their bag and think they are el cheap-o's or that they are not a very good player, a beginner or some BS like that. However, my off-brand clubs have done the talking for me and destroyed that notion. Would I purchase another set of Wishons? They'd certainly be at the top of my list.

Wishon, Maltby, even Hogan, Sub70, Lynx, and Tommy Armour etc. were exactly what I was referring to by "off brand".  Anything that you won't find in a PGA Tour SS or Golf Galaxy.  I certainly wasn't referring to them as being inferior.  My bag is nearly full of them.  At first glance, a counterfeit will will probably get less sneers on the first tee as any of these, but these guys are at least paying someone (whether internally or outsourced) to do their development work.  Lynx had some models eerily similar to some other brands, but if they went through the proper channels to get the rights to use those dies/moldings, then more power to them.  Stealing the work of others and selling on the cheap is not a route I would want to go.  Just because components from the big brands also come from China doesn't mean they are cheap copies of someone else's work.

[ODogs Driver]

I have a Guchi watch and a Rollex ring! Pay what you want. Play what you want. America the Beautiful

[azstu324]

I'm a regular at PGATSS.. that said, I'm primarily there for the hitting bays and some occasional re-grip or adjustment work. I've got nearly the entire staff questioning their own religion with my Maltby DBMs.

Nearly half the staff there has hit them. From time to time I'll have guys stop by the bay to say what's up and ask to take a few swipes. These are guys who have access to every big name club the modern world has to offer.. yet they remain hilariously intrigued and thoroughly impressed with the Maltbys.

I kid you not the last guy that hit them said "these play better than Mizunos". I've hit most of the latest Mizzys.. he's not wrong.

the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..

[tehuti]

I have mostly Gigagolf in my bag and I will most likely be replacing my irons with Maltby KE4 Tour+. Custom fit clubs at a fraction of the big brand price is fine with me.


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[ED13]

A number of years ago I purchased a set of Vokey wedges from a website at a descent discount.  When they did not arrive after a few weeks I contacted the company and they sent out replacements.  A couple of weeks later I received both sets within two days.  The logos did not look as crisp as I thought they should on a few of the heads and grips so I contacted Titleist.  I asked questions and they had me check details right down to the smell of the grips to determine they were counterfeit.  Ended up buying from a local store and received a full refund for the counterfeits no questions asked.  Still have them in my basement never hit.  They might be OK to use but not by me.

When my kids started playing I went to a custom builder and they both ended up with Maltby  KE4 irons and my oldest with a Wishon driver she can hit farther and more consistently than me.  Everything was older stock the builder had since I was on a budget as I was not sure how much they would play.  I would not hesitate purchasing Maltby or Wishon clubs in the future for my kids or myself.

As far as where the equipment is made I don’t care.  There are crap and quality items manufactured in the US, Europe and Asia.  Buy brands you can trust at the price point you like.