Purchasing golf clubs on the Internet

Hi,

I'm new at this. I retired from sales and I have a passion for golf. My index is 8.9. I'm 64 and play 4-5 time a week, March Thur Nov. weather permitting. I travel to FL in Feb and March and stay at Gateway golf club Ft Myers. My question is:

Does anyone know anything about ordering golf clubs for the Internet, discountpricegolf.cm or ***********.com.? They over lower prices on what they claim to be original golf clubs,Taylormade, Ping, Callaway etc. I'm looking at purchasing Taylormade r-11 irons, KBS90 stiff shafts. I have been fitted and like the feel of these irons.

Thanks, Walt

Stay away.......FAR AWAY! 100% counterfeit clubs.

Always be wary of huge markdowns like that. Some of their prices are far too good to be true. If your looking for cheaper clubs, check out eBay (be cautious and buy from reputable sellers), RockBottomgolf . com, or wait for the bigger stores to discount older models.

Thanks, I feel it's to good to be true. I will continue to look on e-bay unless anyone knows a better place too buy?

You run the risk of getting stuck with counterfeits. Check out the January 2012 issue of Golf Digest (p. 95). In a test comparing counterfeits to the real clubs, the counterfeits didn't perform very well. Just one test, but the results are interesting.

Used stuff on eBay is likely to be legit unless the original buyer bought fakes. There are a lot of fakes out there and many of us don't even know if we have them unless we bought new from an authorized dealer. Again, a good buyer with a used set, with a history of ownership, may be able to save you some money. I've seen demo sets that look like good deals. It may take a while to find the set you want and that you can be sure are real.

Ebay is fine, just make sure you check out the seller. If they're a long time seller on eBay with a bunch of positive (not private) feedback, chances are they're OK. I personally steer clear of members with less than 1000 feedback or so and/or a rating of less than say 95%. Rockbottomgolf.com has a decent selection at good prices. Golfio.com has a much much larger selection with some decent sales as well. Both sites are legit. There are a couple sites that sell used clubs at a good price (dallas golf, global golf). Check out the For sale forum here as well as try the BST at GolfWRX.com

Globalgolf looks good. Alot of great reviews on there service, and the quality of product. They really do sell you clubs that fit into the quality categories they set up. They don't sell brand new cheap, there sold at market value, then they have Mint, Excellent, Very Good, and a few other categories. They tell you what to expect in each category, and the prices look decent for used clubs. They have a pretty good stock of all brands..

Globalgolf is great, I've bought used clubs and open box clubs from them.  One of the few sites that has a decent inventory of pre-owned and open box clubs for lefties.  The used clubs I bought were always in better condition than described and their customer service was also very helpful.  I'm glad to see they have become a sponsor of the Sand Trap too.

I have had good success with globalgolf as well. For shoes, I have four pairs of Adidas I purchased from golfetail.com....excellent service

I was recently in the market for either G-15 or G-20 irons.  Shopped Ebay but given you are buying used from uncertain sources and bidding against possible straw bidders,  found that the price for used really didnt offer that much in savings compared to just buying new.  Ended up purchasing from Global Golf, and got exactly the lie and length I wanted, plus matching serial numbers.  Even was able to register the numbers on the Ping site, so I have no regrets with that purchase.  Even got them in 7 days, with Xmas inbetween order date and arrival date.

Some would disagree, but I have found Golfsmith to be reliable as well, along with several other sites such as RBG, Mortons, Golf Locker as well as some others.  Never had any issue with shipping as well.  Most offer a tracking number so you can identify when and what shipper, as well as track the progress of the shipment.

The area where I live doesnt have any really nice golf shops that sell much below retail, so rarely do I even bother going in.  I can normally wait for a sale, such as the $31/dozen Pro V1's I got, same with apparel and ball sales as well.  Normally, I also get free shipping and no tax, which is for me at least a 10-12% savings on top of the sale price.

I just purchased a new Taylormade 11 rescue 18* off of Ebay from a private seller.  I won't get into what I payed, but let's just say it is well below what you would pay to carry it out of Dicks or another golf retailer.  Now of course the price raised a red flag, but a a little research alleviated some worries and I went ahead with the purchase.  One was that I found through a Google search of the seller is that they are a PGA pro who works at a country club, and the locations match.  Second they did not have multiple listings of the same club which is said to be a big giveaway.  Of course the club could still be a fake, but for the price and the info I had, I felt I could afford to take the chance, plus Paypal is very good at getting you back your cash if there is a dispute. I'll post an update once I recieve the club.

I guess what I am trying to say is don't immediately jump to conclusions if the price is low, but don't be afraid to ask questions.

I bought new R-11 irons on e-bay. They came from GPPgolf.com Beaumont, TX. The culb are legit as verified by Dicks when I got the lie check and changed. Great savings.

one question; I can't seem to find is what is the bounce on an R-11 sand wedge is,anyone know?

GPP is definitely legit, but if the guy @ Dick's told me it was rainin' outside, I'd still go and look to make sure.

Ok so my new Taylormade rescue just arrived and I am happy to say that everything checks out.  Serial matches up and is in the correct spot, no cosmetic differences from the pics on Taylomade's site or from ones I have seen at pro shops, and had the original Taylormade sticker on the shaft that has been on every Taylormade I have seen in the stores.   even used my iPhone to scan the bar code and that exact club is what came up on my screen.  I think I am safe.  So yeah, not every "to good to be true" deal on Ebay is a scam I guess.

TaylorMade does not publish a bounce angle for that wedge, but my best guess would be 12-14 degrees.

Had a chance to play them yet? It's been a really mild "winter" here in NC, so we've had very comfortable, playable weather through most of January.

Very glad to see positive feedback from SandTrappers about GlobalGolf!

And for anyone else reading who is thinking about buying used clubs online, we recently added videos and images that give examples of clubs that would fit in each of our condition ratings (mint, excellent, very good, good and fair). We've had the text descriptions of our conditions up for years, but sometimes it's a lot easier to see some examples :)

If you're on our site, condition images and videos will appear on the product pages of used clubs, just beneath the condition description text. Or, you can also see them in the Playlist section of our YouTube page .