Driver heads made by non brand name companies

[Valleygolfer]

Does anyone know how well the "smaller" company club heads (specifically driver) compare to the big name companies? Can some one point me to legit 3rd party literature?

Thanx

[Blades4me]

Depends on the company. If its Maltby, Wishom (sp?), Alpha, KZG, SMT. there are more good componet companies, but those are the ones that come to mind frist. The aforementioned companies have excellent products.

[Danattherock]

If you spend $500 on a driver, it won't be 5x as good as a $100 driver. With that said, sometimes you get what you pay for. Then there is the quality of the shaft of course. One good way to pick up clubs on the cheap is in the marked down items on websites like Edwin Watts, The Golf Warehouse, Golfsmith, etc.. Also, Callaway Preowned. Got most my clubs from there and all were brand new in shrink wrap. Just buy items that are listed as "like new". Many ways to get premium drivers without buying a HAMMER. Ha ha... Pooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip forward to the one minute and ten second mark...




BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



-Dan

[Danattherock]

Here is a good looking deal on a Callaway Diablo at TGW...

$199

http://www.tgw.com/customer/category...ttrVal2/driver

[Beretta_Shooter]

There are some excellent component manufacturers. The companies that Blades4me mentioned are all excellent as well as Snake Eyes from Golfsmith. Over the past 1 1/2 I have come to play exclusively Maltby products as I like his designs and the quality is excellent. I have two of his drivers:

I use this driver head in a Motore F1 shaft. http://golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_MA0124SW

Golfworks has it marked down to $44 which is an absolute steal. I bought mine for $99 a little over a year ago.

[Valleygolfer]

I am looking to build my next driver. I am not sure how much a maltby head vs a Ping head would make a difference. I have been shopping ebay but they warn people about buying just the head. I would really like to get a 7.5 Ping G10 head. I guess I have all winter to shop but if there is good literature out there showing a club making company with comparable or better to mainstream ones I would definitely consider it.

[dbwood]

The problem with finding good or 3rd party literature out there is that most of the information is either bought and paid for by the companies, (big or small), and most of the rest is written by mortal humans trying out clubs who may mean well but suffer from being human. Ping, Taylor Made, Cobra and the other big companies make very good stuff, so do Maltby, Wishon, SMT, Alpha, Geek, Bang, Nakashima and many others. At a local golf course here one of the pros builds Wishon clubs, he also is big on Ping and of course sells many other brands. A friend of mine tried out both a Wishon and a Ping driver. He told me that time after time he hit the Wishon longer and more accurately than the PIng. He bought the Ping anyway because he admitted he couldn't get past the idea that Ping had the big name and the big price tag so it had to be better.
I'm currently hitting a R9 that I just got and I love it. Is it "better" than my SMT or my Maltby? Of course not, the longest drives of my life have been with the Maltby but the R9 is new and shiny and I'm a club ho.
You might want to at least have a conversation with someone like Rory at Indacup Golf, Ken at Victory Custom Golf, or Dave at Slickstix Golf. I've dealt with Rory personally and he's an informative and helpful guy, Ken and Dave both have good reputations from people I know. That's only 3 of many good shops across the country. They will all have their opinions and biases but you'll still learn something.

[Valleygolfer]

The problem with finding good or 3rd party literature out there is that most of the information is either bought and paid for by the companies, (big or small), and most of the rest is written by mortal humans trying out clubs who may mean well but suffer from being human. Ping, Taylor Made, Cobra and the other big companies make very good stuff, so do Maltby, Wishon, SMT, Alpha, Geek, Bang, Nakashima and many others. At a local golf course here one of the pros builds Wishon clubs, he also is big on Ping and of course sells many other brands. A friend of mine tried out both a Wishon and a Ping driver. He told me that time after time he hit the Wishon longer and more accurately than the PIng. He bought the Ping anyway because he admitted he couldn't get past the idea that Ping had the big name and the big price tag so it had to be better.

Thanks for the information. I am definitely going to pursue knowledge from those guys. I am just trying to gleam info until I make a comfortable decision. Obviously having the R & D behind TM or Ping is very alluring however I may not be able to tell the difference talent wise. I would like to see some unbiased iron byron tests.

[WUTiger]

We get into the problem of what's a name-brand, and what's a niche company which makes quality clubs for a small, limited clientele.

Tour Edge products the Exotic driver and fairway woods (FW go for about $200 each) and has been around for 20+ years. Bridgestone makes golf clubs, such as the J-series irons. And, you have Scratch golf, best known on this site for its wedges; Scratch also makes irons which go for $1,000 + a set.

Does the club manufacturer do its own research and have decent quality control, like Maltby and Tour Edge, or does it primarily make clones of other's clubs from three years back? If the clones are durable, that's OK, but quality control is always a problem with the lesser club makers.

One big eason to stick with brand-name clubs: You can trade them in. Established golf shops won't even look at Brand X clubs at swar-out time. Clubs must be in the "PGA Book" (?) I think that's what it's called.

[Sing Golfer]

If you are looking for a driver - I can't recommend the Nakashima brand highly enough. Japanese American based out of the West Coast. Playing casual rounds with friends my buddy and I offer "big brand driver" friends a hit of our Nakashima's - next week they have one in the bag.

Oh, and I am not involved with the company or know anyone from the company.

[jamo]

Golfworks has quite the selection of heads. To be honest though, I don't really like the look of any of them. So much of what the OEM companies do is appearance, but it seems like component companies don't do any of that.

[Valleygolfer]

If you are looking for a driver - I can't recommend the Nakashima brand highly enough. Japanese American based out of the West Coast. Playing casual rounds with friends my buddy and I offer "big brand driver" friends a hit of our Nakashima's - next week they have one in the bag.

Thanks, I will check them out.

Golfworks has quite the selection of heads. To be honest though, I don't really like the look of any of them. So much of what the OEM companies do is appearance, but it seems like component companies don't do any of that.

I agree, they are not very attractive to look at which is somewhat of a deterrent sadly.

[Leftygolfer]

I've heard great things about KZG. They make some really top quality stuff.