clone or non-name brand equipment

Many clubmaker websites claim that their non name brand golf equipment is just as good as the big company equipment. In fact many claim that the iron heads and such are all made at the very same factories in foreign countries, ie china. They say that the only reason why the larger companies have to charge so much more is because they have to pay so much for advertising. The small companies not advertising affords them to sell virtually the same product for incredibly lower prices.
Recently I've been looking into buying a set of Nike blades when I came across a clubmaker on Ebay selling "MDC" brand blades. He claims on ebay that they are the same as nike forged blades. When I emailed him about the mdc product he said the only difference is that mdc did not have the u v grooves on the face like the nike.
Does any one have an opinion on non name brand equipment? And in particular, does anyone know about the MDC brand blades?

Thank you

only ping make all there clubs in usa, other inport heads and assemble them in usa, so some will be copys made in same china factory but some are bad copys and made with poor quiality, take your chances some clones reportes as good as real thing.
bill

Be very careful when buying clone golf equipment. Many of these will not have the consistancy in loft, lie, craftsmanship. That being said, I have alot of fun building clubs for my buddies and myself using clones and/or off brand equipment. I have found many components that play well. If price is a major factor in your purchase, then clones can be a way to go. For example, I recently built a set that was on closeout. They are Power Play Select 5000 irons. (They look alot like Taylormades). Anyway, the iron heads were $4.75ea. I put Harrison steel shafts in them at about $4.00ea and a decent Winn grip at $4.00ea. Thats $12.00 a club, and they play well. I think most brand name clubs sell for $60.00-$100.00 per club. Huge difference. Now my favorites are still my Macgregors and my Pings. What ever you decide, make sure that they are fitted for you, whether they are brand name or clones. Good luck.

Consistency as compared to what? Major OEMs? You mean the OEM's with +/-1° tolerances for loft and/or lie, and +/-3g in head weight? Those consistent clubs? :evilgrin:

Now, to be fair, I love building clubs just as much. But I haven't found a clone club that can perform AS WELL as it's OEM counterpart. Yes, they can be hit. Yes, you can play golf with them. But I find that when I put them up against their actual OEM counterpart, the OEM wins. The OEMs are usually longer and straighter than their knock offs.

I'll second that - fitting is job 1. But Dr. Tree forgot to mention the top option, IMO. Components. These are original designs - the same R&D that OEM's put into their clubs, but they don't pay the advertising, and don't pay players to play their clubs. Companies like SMT, Ashton, Wishon, Bang, Geek et al.

Now, don't be confused. PowerPlay, System Q, Synchron, these are all clones. I'd buy an OEM before I bought a clone, but I'd buy the component first - top quality manufacturing with less-than-OEM pricing.

__________________
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

This post made for interesting reading. You could ask the question to 10 different people & you would get 10 different answers.
I play a callaway clone and at about 1/4 the price you could not go wrong.
I'm interested LowPost as to where you get your component heads in Canada?
It is painfull for me to see the prices for component heads in the US and Canada, compared to Australia it is crazy
Thankyou

what category do my clubs fall into?
they are acer step xp cavity backs with true temper tx90 shafts and snake eyes grips.
whatever they are they are great to hit!

I get my SMT stuff directly from SMT (I'm an SMT Elite Club builder), I order GS stuff (SnakeEyes) direct from GS Canada, I'll order some shafts from GolfWorks Canada...

But my main supplier is CustomClub Shop in Mississauga, and when they can't hook me up, I've got a deal running with MyClubMaker out of Gastonia, NC.

Well, to get uber technical, you've got clone heads with OEM shafts and component grips.

But you'd say that you're playing clones. I think the Acers are Callaway clones.

[quote=LowPost42Now, to be fair, I love building clubs just as much. But I haven't found a clone club that can perform AS WELL as it's OEM counterpart. Yes, they can be hit. Yes, you can play golf with them. But I find that when I put them up against their actual OEM counterpart, the OEM wins. The OEMs are usually longer and straighter than their knock offs.[/quote]

I have. I bought a clone of the Cleveland HiBore. I demoed a Cleveland and took it to the driving range along with my clone(Classic Tour Highly). Ball for ball my clone outdrove the original in both distance and accuracy.

Remember when comparing heads, ESPECIALLY WOODS, the shafts have to be constant or the comparison if not realistic. That's manufacturer, brand, length, weight, torque and flex (and not the flex on the shaft, actual flex frequency). I could put a new shaft (that matches my specs exactly) on an old Ping Eye II Persimmon driver and out drive most of the drivers on the market (off the shelf).

1) Good to see you back, Gord. Where have you been?

2) I was just going to say that.

Keep in mind there is very BIG difference in clones and components clubs. Clones by in large are trash, with some exceptions, components on the other hand are very good, they get the same R&D as the big boys, but as mentioned they don't spend the money on advertising and that savings get passed onto you, plus they are custom built by you, you buy the components, you do the reserch to spec the to the shafts, you put them together, and YOU save the money, usually in the order of 50% to 60% cheaper then the name brands. I have been building and using components for the last 6 or 7 years, and I will put my Logic Tradition forged irons by Maltby up against any name brand, they are quality clubs, a set like this from a name brand would have been well over $1000, I did mine for less then $400. There are many component companies, I use Golfworks, there is also Pinemedow, Golfsmith they also put out thier own designed clubs. I like Golfworks and Maltby because they several series and playability factor included.

LowPost and Gord,

First let me start by saying, in my last post I was only saying that I have found a clone that is just as good, IMHO, as the original. Shaft manufacturer, length, weight, torque and flex were the same. The only difference was the model of the shaft. As far as flex goes, I have a friend who is a golf pro at one of our local courses. He checked the flex of both clubs for me after I had been out to the driving range, and, in his professional opinion the flexes were as close as you could possibly get them. I don't expect many clones even equal the original let alone out perform them, all I was saying is mine does.

Now Gord, as far as your old Ping Eye II Persimmon driver with a new shaft, you'll get no argument from me there. A couple of years ago I hit the best drive that I had ever hit with my old steelhead driver straight down the middle of a par 4, right around 300 yards. This was a proud moment for me since at that time 300 was about 30 yards longer then I usually hit it. The next guy to tee off was my 15 year old nephew. He pulls this old Persimmon driver that his grandfather had given him out of his bag and put his ball 20 yards past mine, and that was with an old steel shaft.

For anyone else out there who is thinking about buying a clone or no name brand clubs, here's a small word of advice. Do not buy anything that doesn't have a 100% moneyback satisfaction guarantee. You might see me bragging a little about how good my clone is, but, I would never have bought something unproven like this if I didn't have the option to return it if I wasn't satisfied. The Ebay store I bought my clone at has an unconditional moneyback guarantee. From the day I received it, I had 30 days to have it postmarked to return for all my money including shipping. Bottom line: I'm very satisfied with my clone/non-name brand driver, you might not be. Also, read any small print on guarantees just to make sure if you don't like it you don't get stuck with a useless piece of metal.

__________________
Golf is a game of inches. 36 inches = 1 yard
I think you put that one about 2160 inches too far right. LOL

Classic Tour Highly High Bore (Cleveland HiBore clone) 10.5 degree, Gramman TP440 stiff 3.5 torque shaft
KZG Maraging Power 9.5 degree steel shaft #1 "fairway wood"
Knight Virage woods, irons and wedges
Knight putter
Cheapest double titanium balls I can find. lol

Good on ya then - a great find. But there's no such thing as a useless piece of metal anymore. SMT has a new trade in program. Go to a participating SMT dealer, and you can trade in your old heads - ANY OLD HEADS (yes, any, except for toy heads and putter heads) for credit towards purchasing a new SMT product. It's true! (I'm listed as an SMT dealer, but haven't joined the program, yet.) It absolutely does not matter what condition the head is in, who made it, or how old it is. If it's a driver/hybrid/fairway wood/iron/wedge head, it qualifies.

__________________
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

I got married this summer and my golfing partners quit golfing! With the combination of that, the addition of two dogs and countless other things that seem to be the part of everyday life, I was only able to make it out to the range twice and I played a whopping 8 rounds of golf this year I was only able to break 90 once, where as before I was normally in the high 70s.

Needless to say, I really don't feel like I can add a whole lot to the discussions.