fake ft-5 or not?

[5ironkid]

hey guys. i got a used callaway ft-5 driver today. i am wondering if it is fake. i saw a video that say since where the saft is on the other side of the head theres a mark and since the ferul is metal it is fake. thanks

dont know if u can see but the serial #            bottom of club. can see mark where shaft is

top of club                                                  shaft

[BigAl5150]

I would call Callaway's customer service # and relay the serial number to them.

http://www.callawaygolf.com/Global/en-US/CustomerService.html

[5ironkid]

ok. i already emailed them it so hopefully they can tell my the info

[dhanson]

is that where the shaft is exiting the head?

[5ironkid]

it would be right near the bottom right corner where your reflection is

[dhanson]

Originally Posted by 5ironkid

it would be right near the bottom right corner where your reflection is

right, i had been scouring google images looking at and comparing other heads to yours. the vast majority of photos didn't have the shaft coming through the bottom like that, but there were photos that looked like yours. those that did have the shaft coming through the bottom were either links to ebay auctions or "spy pictures" from when the club was released. at first glance, i thought that it was a clear indication of your club being different from others and a reason as to why it might be fake, but i was wrong.

also, i can't quite tell, but is your serial number arched? the closeups of serial numbers i've seen on other clubs has been straight across:

edit: i don't know if a different ferrule is a distinguishing factor. i don't know what the stock shaft offering was on the club, but it could've been changed at some point and different ferrule could've been put on.

edit 2: and, no, according to this article that is certainly not the stock shaft.

[5ironkid]

yeah my serial # is arched

[dhanson]

found this post somewhere else:

Quote:

It sounds like an Opti-Fit head. From what I have read, all the heads from the fitting carts got sent back to Callaway, they refinished them, installed an aluminum sleeve (glued and screwed) into them, and installed a cheap RCH shaft for resale. These heads can be easily identified by the bore-thru epoxy seal on the sole, see attached image.

I unknowingly bought one of these as well with the intent on reshafting. I ended up drilling the insert completely out. This left a large diameter section on the top that stepped down to a smaller diameter (approx .335") near the bottom. I had bought the .335" ferrule for the FT-5. This by itself fit very loosely in the head. I installed the ferrule on shaft so that the tip of the shaft would slide all the way into the smaller bottom section providing a tight fit. This provides proper alignment of the ferrule in the head. I just made sure I had enough glue to fill in the extra space between the ferrule and the head. I then filled in the bore-thru hole on the bottom with expoy.

I have played about 20 rounds with this club with a swing speed around 120 MPH and haven't had any issues. However, in hindsight I would have just cut the shaft above the ferrule, drilled out the shaft, and installed the new shaft into the sleeve.

[5ironkid]

this sounds exactly like mine. however is the serial number usually arched? mine is

[5ironkid]

kinda need to know this as soon as possible because i would like to try it and would only do that if it was not a fake so i could send it back

[dhanson]

a search of "callaway ft5 optifit" immediately brought up this Amazon page with a good picture with a serial number that is arched like yours:

edit:  is that a grafolloy prolaunch blue shaft? did you pick the driver up from ebay seller: 3ballsgolf? if yes, it's probably not fake.

[5ironkid]

it has a prolaunch blue but i got it from a place called dallas golf

[jpalermo]

take it out and hit it. you'll know if it's fake. it will sound and feel horrible like a tin can on the end of a stick.

[Gresh24]

That club is not fake.