Ok, I will admit it: I bought a knockoff driver.  However, what makes golf clubs original, and golf clubs clone in some cases, may be in the eye of the beholder.

First, the cheap ones you buy at legitimate retailers are not advertised as anything other than what they are; i.e., low cost alternatives.  They also are usually under $50. 

I actually bought a driver for $19.95 at a large superstore retailer that was a no-name brand.  I bought it because it was an oversize (460 CC) driver I had been thinking about getting to add to my Callaway Big Bertha woods.  I was unsure if I could hit such a bigheaded club, so I figured I would start cheap and work my way up.

The reality was that while the “fit & finish” on this club was not what you would expect from the major brands, the club felt good, so I bought it.

As it turned out, the club was decent to play with, and although I did not make the choice to use it all the time, I could have.  What did NOT happen with this purchase is I was not fooled into thinking the club was anything other than what it was, a low cost replica of a new design, a clone.

If word of mouth is any kind of advertising, consider me a spokesman for occasionally choosing off-brands.  There are deals to be had and you can try a variety of different style clubs in search of that one that works best for you—on a budget!

My neighbor is a retired schoolteacher who is a very good golfer.  He buys all kinds of clubs on e-Bay.  His nephew is a professional club repairman who also used to play on what is now the Nationwide Tour.  He also used to work for a club manufacturer so my neighbor could get deals on new clubs if he desired.  However, he buys a combination of used name brand and no name clubs designed after the big-dollar models and has generally had good success.

The clubs he really likes stay in his bag, while the others end up in his garage sales, or back on e-Bay.  In some cases, the clubs costing hundreds of dollars each are made on the same factory assembly lines by the same people producing the generic clones.  You can save a lot of money if you know what you are looking for and are willing to try a few out along the way.

You will not always get the best of the best, but you will almost never overpay for a club that you don’t know if you can hit or not.

When I bought my first new set of clubs, I had a choice of two sets of irons that were on sale.  One was a set of Wilson FCB’s (Forged Cavity Back’s) and the other was a brand that in 1991 I had never heard of.  As it turned out, I could not have gone wrong either way.  I ended up with what has become a collector’s item. The brand I had never heard of was a graphite shaft set of Mizuno irons.  Back then, I was not aware of them, I thought they were clones. Mizuno have become as popular as most any other brand.

It is very much a buyer’s market for clones, which is not always the case with the top of the line brands.  If you discover that a budget club is really good for you, you can buy the real McCoy’s with confidence.

Practice, practice, practice…Enjoy Golf!

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