Clones broke!!

[Greg]

I looked at GigaGolf before I bought my irons in my signature, which i guess could technically be called clones, very similar to taylormade r7's but not sold as such. Its difficult to go against the big companies and not sell something similar to what they have, radically different club designs are a tough sell. I found mine on ebay from a company called golfballx and i got them because the price was so good it was worth the risk, $75 + $8 shipping for 5-pw and 56 deg sw(which was a free throw in). I have been using them for about 1 year now and they are a big improvement over my old kmart irons, much more forgiving and easier to hit. I would have purchased r7's but im glad I got these instead. There's no way to know if they're as good as the r7's but I would guess that they're so close that i wouldnt be able to tell the difference, they seem to be well made and should last for years.

[M2R]

This thread is a perfect storm of Bias, Ignorance, and •••••••s....

I think that is just the nature of life on the big blue. I bought a set of Mizuno MP-14s off a local pro back in the mid 90s, 96 I think. When I first played them in the Thursday league I basically got laughed off the course by the guys playing "legitimate" clubs at the time.

Heck even I was disappointed to be playing them as had never heard of Mizuno either (till Jerry sold me his set) and honestly I had my heart set on the Titleist DCI Gold clubs and was disappointed I couldn't afford a set at the time. In retrospect Jerry basically "gave" me the set for free and I'll probably never know why. I can't remember who said it but I once heard "ignorance isn't anything to be ashamed of it's just a place to start" ... sounds smart to me.

[LBlack14]

Simply a price issue. I found a heck of a deal on the Ping G10s. Even if I buy them and sell them, I make a couple hundred.

Show me! I'm wanting me some G10's or G5's even!

I've probably played/owned more OEM's and COMPONENTS than most in this thread combined. The putter is the 1st and only clone I've EVER owned and it works as well as ALL the putters I've used OEM & component. Unless, of course, you call some of Hireko's designs "clones" which I do not. These are the irons and wedges I play now. What is your definition of these?

[Kingfisher]

Show me! I'm wanting me some G10's or G5's even!

The irons look like transformers. Having said that, I don't believe they are clones of anything, because that's the first time I saw irons ike that.

The wedge looks slick though. Not sure if it plays as well as it looks though?

[Kingfisher]

Whole lotta mis-informed folks here.

...is anybody informed? I get the feeling that you're insinuating the knockers are misinformed?

[Kingfisher]

Simply a price issue. I found a heck of a deal on the Ping G10s. Even if I buy them and sell them, I make a couple hundred.

Amen.

The OP, who bought rip-offs because he thought he couldn't afford the real deal has discovered he can easily afford real clubs and has turned to the dark side Price sensitive people please take note.

[Shanks A Million]

What happened to 17-4 is 17-4 is 17-4? Now being forged in the US makes them better?

That was more about not using underpaid labor. The fact they pay American workers a living wage is important. If I could have the choice to buy from a first world country like the U.S. or Japan, then I will. I'm not too hot on the idea of contributing money to authoritarian China.

I don't care if it's The Netherlands, the U.S., Japan, France, England, etc., but I'm not thrilled with the conditions of the workers in the third world. I've seen the Senate hearings.

Well its not entirely on the subject but I did have something break recently(friday) at the range. My driver. My kmart special nitro driver that i had actually gotten to like very well apparently was not very durable. I was finishing up at the range, doing ok, hitting my last few with the driver and whoosh, the head snapped off and flew about 50 yards. I went and retrieved it, throwing around the idea of replacing the shaft but i doubt i will though I do like how i was hitting it, putting in a new shaft would cost more than buying another driver like it. I secretly thought that since I now had a driver I could hit pretty good something would probably happen to it and it did. No surprise but I have 3 other cheap drivers to choose from, well 2 that i would actually use. One has too many battle scars from being my first and looks like it was used in grand theft auto to smash windshields.

I've seen it happen to OEM clubs just as much. My Adams's head popped off. Lots of guys have broken brand new heads at the range. I've seen Nikes, Taylormades, Callaways, and others break.

[LBlack14]

The irons look like transformers. Having said that, I don't believe they are clones of anything, because that's the first time I saw irons ike that.

The wedges play quite well.

[jamo]

That was more about not using underpaid labor. The fact they pay American workers a living wage is important. If I could have the choice to buy from a first world country like the U.S. or Japan, then I will. I'm not too hot on the idea of contributing money to authoritarian China.

Ok, I see what you mean on that one. It's hard to find anything made in the US though. Are Mizunos still forged in Japan? Japan is a lot less third world than most of Asia.

[max power]

I don't think there's anything 3rd world about Japan at all.

[LBlack14]

That was more about not using underpaid labor. The fact they pay American workers a living wage is important.

You may be surprised depending on what you consider a "living wage".

I have seen many myself.

[Kingfisher]

Hilarious? How we all laughed merrily at the nice catch

The attack I made was a retaliation (in hindsight not a good one, because I should be above that) for some punk who could only muster up a "STFU" - in your book, telling to someone to "STFU" in the middle of a discussion is civilised? Now, on to your point about British folk being 'stubborn idiots' who enjoy pushing other people's buttons and trying to be right regardless of of people's opinion - isn't that pretty much what everybody is doing here, or did I miss something?

[Shanks A Million]

Ok, I see what you mean on that one. It's hard to find anything made in the US though. Are Mizunos still forged in Japan? Japan is a lot less third world than most of Asia.

I don't think there's anything 3rd world about Japan at all.

No, nothing at all. It's higher in the Human Development Index and lower in income inequality than the United States. Japan is within the top 10 countries in the world for standards of living, the U.S. is not.

But who said anything about Japan? Mizunos are made in China.

[LBlack14]

Children....PLAY NICE or you'll all go to timeout!!!

[Harry SasQuatch]

Seems like we have a few moralists in here. Some of you don't understand it's business, there is no morality in business. There are a lot of things you don't know about business ethics be it in golf or otherwise. A company that copies a mold and tries to market them as equal to the real club looks like Jesus compared to some other industry practices. Do you get angry enough to have an e-debate every time you walk into the grocery store and see Dr. Thunder placed next to the Dr. Pepper but at half the price? Ultimately it's up to the consumer to do the research and decide if the money saved is worth the differences (if any) in quality. Judging by my clubs I'm obviously a person that pays more for the brand name and the added quality whatever percentage it may be. I do know that a lot of the brand names are all marketing and are really making an inferior product. Bose and Grey Goose are good examples of that, the marketing team at those companies are top notch. You can't fault the company for trying to get their share of the pie, they wouldn't be in business if customers weren't buying the product. Trying to be a moralist on an internet forum isn't getting you anywhere in the real world either.

[Jtjohns]

Amen.

I wouldn't even call it an affordability issue... I'm still not willing to go and spend $1000 on clubs because I can't justify it with my scores.

[sean_miller]

No, nothing at all. It's higher in the Human Development Index and lower in income inequality than the United States. Japan is within the top 10 countries in the world for standards of living, the U.S. is not.

Mizunos are forged in China since when?

[motteler621]

i saw a video of the ceo of mizuno and the factory making them. They took a piece of metal, got it hot and then put it into a mold press and it smashed the metal into the shape of the iron. Then they just did some fine tune sanding etc to it. im pretty positive they were in japan they even showed a map of it.