fake chinese clubs

[ScottL]

i was showing my buddy the new Mizuno MP68s that are coming out and we both fell in love. Were searching the internet for as many pictures and information as we could find on them. He currently has the MP32s..

Anyway, he came across a store in China that has almost iron set you can imagine for about $200. They even have the MP68.

Knowing these are fake, he still ordered a set. They look IDENTICAL to every other picture we have seen. I keep telling him he made a mistake, and he keeps telling me why? its only $200, what do I have to lose?

I dont know what to tell him to be honest, I keep thinking in my mind that they must not feel or hit the same. Anyone have any first hand experience with chinese knock offs?

is it just a moral thing, supporting a criminal? or are these clubs actually gonna fall apart?

[Joejoe26]

What is the website??

[Golfaway]

Yeah I'd like to see this site.

[plark]

well its not a criminal thing cause its legal in china/japan.. and I could imagine its the same as like taylormade knock-offs here and stuff like that

[Shorty]

  ScottL said:

Knowing these are fake, he still ordered a set. They look IDENTICAL to every other picture we have seen. I keep telling him he made a mistake, and he keeps telling me why? its only $200, what do I have to lose?

The word you should have capitalised is "look".

Your friend is a moron who clearly has no interest in the game of golf, but an interest in having people (who probably don't even know him) thinking that he has the latest and greatest. Q :"What do I have to lose?" A: $200.

[Golfaway]

If that site offers bags, I'd buy. They'll be probably much cheaper, and almost the same quality. Probably even smuggled from the big brands facilities. And afterall, I don't give a **** if my golf bag is fake as long as it doesn't carry a "Hallaway" or a "Bizuno" logo.

[ScottL]

ill post the link when I get to work, its bookmarked on my work computer. they did have bags, balls, shirts, etc

[ScottL]

here is the link to the chinese site. i just heard back from them, she said they are authentic and not reproductions. So either she is lying, its a hell of a deal or they are some kind of rejects from the factory? They send my a pricelist of everything too. Bags are all $115

http://www.feiyanggolf.com/

[dansensel]

Any chance that they aren't actually fake? I mean, things are just cheaper in China. Most clubs are made in china already so these could be straight from the factory and just exported illegally from this company.

Just because it is cheaper doesn't mena it is fake, just means that it is black market.

[shades9323]

  dansensel said:

.

They are fake. Aren't Mizuno's forged in Japan anyway?

[dansensel]

  shades9323 said:

They are fake. Aren't Mizuno's forged in Japan anyway?

So you have purchase a set from this store, done a complete dimensional and metalurgical (sp?) analysis to determine that they are in fact fake?

couldn't be that someone stole them and is now using this website as a fence?

[Muttface]

  ScottL said:

.... So either she is lying, its a hell of a deal or they are some kind of rejects from the factory?...

Do you think she would really lie to you??

The factories that perform the authorized, legal outsourced work would have very tight security to prevent workers from walking out with components and the rejects would be destroyed to prevent them from getting into the marketplace. The authorized factory management would not want to endanger their gravy-train relationship with the parent company by letting the junk get out. One of the magazines had an article about the Chinese outsource factories a while back. They're sweatshops, but workers are passed thru metal detectors as they enter and exit and the eagle eye is everywhere. They're about as real as Pelosi's face. Save your money man.

[shades9323]

  dansensel said:

So you have purchase a set from this store, done a complete dimensional and metalurgical (sp?) analysis to determine that they are in fact fake?

Ignorance is bliss I guess...

[2bGood]

  Muttface said:

Do you think she would really lie to you??

I believe them to be fake. But I have also read that much of the fake merchendise is being produced in the same factory the real stuff is. Company contracts out a plant in China to produce goods. Then the plant makes some of there own. Of course who knows about the quality.

[Bo the Golfer]

I used to work for a company that made a rollerblade type product for sale at toy stores and Wal-Marts. Our product was made at the same factory in China as Rollerblades but when it came time to put the name on the product ours went done one conveyor belt while Rollerblades went down another. Ours wasn't "fake" per se, just cheaper.

[dragonflyin]

Yeah these are fakes. Even though most golf clubs are manufactured in China, authentic gear is usually 50-100% more expensive than what we pay here in the States. So that's one of the reasons you find a thriving businesses like this one. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these clubs performance rather well. As someone already pointed out, usually they are produced in the same factory as the American companies, they would produce these "fakes" on their own time without the quality checks and controls thus to lower costs.

[Fourputt]

It is not uncommon for a Chinese foundry worker to "borrow" the mold patterns for a brand name club and allow it to be copied by a knock-off competitor, then return it.

They are then sold as the real deal, usually with cheap shafts and shoddy assembly, but the heads may or may not be identical. The low cost copies won't have the same stringent quality control, so that can cause some variation, and the steel used in the casting may not be the same grade as the real OEM clubs.

[ScottL]

hmmm, well it has me intrigued to say the least. $212 shipped? Almost worth it to try it out