Jump to content
Check out the Spin Axis Podcast! ×
Note: This thread is 4010 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

Posted

Looking for any club guru's out there?  I just bought a split set (3-4 AP2, 5-P MB 712) of Titleist irons on eBay.  I scoured over 100s of pictures of authentic irons before bidding, and now that I have the irons in hand, can confirm that by the eye test, these irons pass.

BUT..

There are no serial numbers, anywhere.  The seller claimed they were a custom set (should have a serial number on every hosel), maybe they were off the rack (should be on the 6 iron).  No and no.  The only other possibility I am finding online is they were a "tour issue" head...no serial number?? Any help on this would be hugely appreciated.  I have contacted the seller but no answer yet (shocking)..next step is contacting PayPal/Titleist counterfeit protection.

Any body have any thoughts? I can post some pics.


Posted

seller response:

eBay eBay sent this message to Jameson Kokolis (tmgolfer88).
Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay. Learn more .
Seller has responded to your question about this item
Do not respond to the sender if this message requests that you complete the transaction outside of eBay. This type of offer is against eBay policy, may be fraudulent, and is not covered by buyer protection programs. Learn More
Dear,

First off I'm far from a distributor. I'm a club ho that buys a new club every few months and sells what I don't keep.

These irons were bought off of eBay from another user. He had them listed as "Tour Issue" so assuming that might have to do with the no serial number?

I did notice when regripping them that the 8, 6 and 3 irons had initials, a date and serial number toward the top of the shaft. Again I have no idea what that means but you seem to be knowledgeable about this so hoping it helps.

Thanks

- kinderklubs
Click the Respond button to reply through Messages, or go to your email to reply
Respond

  • Administrator
Posted

Do you have a local pro shop to which you can take it? The local Titleist rep would be interested in seeing them.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted

Yeah, my head pro is a Titleist rep.  I was gonna swing by in the morning.  Also called the local club fitter (he's a Top 100 GD Club fitter, pretty sharp guy), but he said without a serial number there wasn't much he could do.  Other than a magnet test ? on the AP2, which he said was less reliable with the 712 and 714.  I guess the mystery remains open for now.  Also, eBay seller referred me to the original seller HE got them from on eBay who in fact made the "tour issue" claim.  Waiting for his response.


Posted
If those are fakes, they are the best looking fakes ive ever seen.. Id say for sure the mb's are legit... The ap's look legit but who knows...

It is what it is

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted

I mean they look great, and if they feel great, and the seller at least has some reasoning for them not have serial numbers I would probably lean towards them being legit. It's hard to make a good feeling fake forged iron. What kind of shafts are in them? I would compare the shafts to ones you think are legit too. I don't think too many people put premium shafts in fake clubs and vise versa.

If you have recently purchased them and don't trust that they are legit you can make a claim on eBay. Then the seller will have to make you some type of offer that you accept or eBay will get involved with their buyer protection.

I did this with a set of irons that were supposed to be new but had significant scratches on the face. I contacted the seller with a notice to eBay that the item was not as described. EBay opened a case and then the seller and I had so long to figure it out before eBay stepped in. The seller agreed to refund me if I pain the return shipping. I took that deal cause 20bucks was worth getting those clubs out of my hands without too much trouble.

I would take it to some Titleist guys and see what they have to say. May also want to call Titleist and see if they put serial numbers on tour issue clubs. I would also take off one of the grips the seller said had some numbers and initials under them and see if that means anything to Titleist. If they don't trust it then I would get your money back.


Posted

I bought a set of 712 MB's a year ago off e-bay and they all have a serial number located 90 degrees to the right of where it says 712 in your second photo (the 7 iron).  Certainly doesn't mean they're fakes if they don't have it, hell, mine could be fakes because they do.

As David said above, if those are fakes they're the best I've seen.  They look exactly like mine.  So either we're both good or we both bought from the same forger.

Curious about the sellers comment about the shafts though.  One of the first things I did was re-grip the clubs and noticed a sticker on the 6 or 7 iron shaft (can't remember which) that was a hologram type thing that said Titleist (they're project x shafts).  If you're not in love with those grips I'd pull them off and see just what the seller was talking about, might give you some peace of mind.

Driver: R7 425,  3-wood: V-Steel
3H Burner,  4-pw: R9 TP
SW: Vokey, 56-10
Putter: Cameron

Posted

I remember reading that mixed sets special ordered from Titleist did not get serial numbers stamped on them as their regular sets do.

Joe Paradiso

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted

So...The original seller (eBay user who sold them to the user I bought them from), made the assertion I expected he would...They are "tour issue".  And I guess I will admit I believe it.  I have shown them to a handful of people who are extremely familiar with Titleist irons, and the consensus seems to be that they are real... @newtogolf , I guess a "custom order" set will lack serial numbers on every club except for the 6 iron, straight off the rack sets will have serial numbers on every iron.... and supposedly "tour issue"...i.e. built on the tour van/ custom built for a team titleist pro on the lower tours/built for a club pro, tend to lack any serial numbers.. @StrayCat ...The clubs came with wrap grips which I can't stand so they will be coming off soon, and I plan to check and see what exactly the initials/dates are on the shafts.

Most importantly I guess is the fact that the feel off the face/ball flight/feeling of toe misses and thin shots, is exactly what I remember authentic 712s feeling like when I demo'd then a year or so ago off the rack...So I've come to the conclusion that fake or not (hopefully not haha), they still feel good and produce the shots I expect, so I am happy enough.  And can't beat the price, they are practically mint.


Note: This thread is 4010 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up
  • TST Partners

    PlayBetter
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FitForGolf
    FlightScope Mevo
    Direct: Mevo, Mevo+, and Pro Package.

    Coupon Codes (save 10-20%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack/FitForGolf, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope. 15% off TourStriker (no code).
  • Posts

    • Nah, man. People have been testing clubs like this for decades at this point. Even 35 years. @M2R, are you AskGolfNut? If you're not, you seem to have fully bought into the cult or something. So many links to so many videos… Here's an issue, too: - A drop of 0.06 is a drop with a 90 MPH 7I having a ball speed of 117 and dropping it to 111.6, which is going to be nearly 15 yards, which is far more than what a "3% distance loss" indicates (and is even more than a 4.6% distance loss). - You're okay using a percentage with small numbers and saying "they're close" and "1.3 to 1.24 is only 4.6%," but then you excuse the massive 53% difference that going from 3% to 4.6% represents. That's a hell of an error! - That guy in the Elite video is swinging his 7I at 70 MPH. C'mon. My 5' tall daughter swings hers faster than that.
    • Yea but that is sort of my quandary, I sometimes see posts where people causally say this club is more forgiving, a little more forgiving, less forgiving, ad nauseum. But what the heck are they really quantifying? The proclamation of something as fact is not authoritative, even less so as I don't know what the basis for that statement is. For my entire golfing experience, I thought of forgiveness as how much distance front to back is lost hitting the face in non-optimal locations. Anything right or left is on me and delivery issues. But I also have to clarify that my experience is only with irons, I never got to the point of having any confidence or consistency with anything longer. I feel that is rather the point, as much as possible, to quantify the losses by trying to eliminate all the variables except the one you want to investigate. Or, I feel like we agree. Compared to the variables introduced by a golfer's delivery and the variables introduced by lie conditions, the losses from missing the optimal strike location might be so small as to almost be noise over a larger area than a pea.  In which case it seems that your objection is that the 0-3% area is being depicted as too large. Which I will address below. For statements that is absurd and true 100% sweet spot is tiny for all clubs. You will need to provide some objective data to back that up and also define what true 100% sweet spot is. If you mean the area where there are 0 losses, then yes. While true, I do not feel like a not practical or useful definition for what I would like to know. For strikes on irons away from the optimal location "in measurable and quantifiable results how many yards, or feet, does that translate into?"   In my opinion it ok to be dubious but I feel like we need people attempting this sort of data driven investigation. Even if they are wrong in some things at least they are moving the discussion forward. And he has been changing the maps and the way data is interpreted along the way. So, he admits to some of the ideas he started with as being wrong. It is not like we all have not been in that situation 😄 And in any case to proceed forward I feel will require supporting or refuting data. To which as I stated above, I do not have any experience in drivers so I cannot comment on that. But I would like to comment on irons as far as these heat maps. In a video by Elite Performance Golf Studios - The TRUTH About Forgiveness! Game Improvement vs Blade vs Players Distance SLOW SWING SPEED! and going back to ~12:50 will show the reference data for the Pro 241. I can use that to check AskGolfNut's heat map for the Pro 241: a 16mm heel, 5mm low produced a loss of efficiency from 1.3 down to 1.24 or ~4.6%. Looking at AskGolfNut's heatmap it predicts a loss of 3%. Is that good or bad? I do not know but given the possible variations I am going to say it is ok. That location is very close to where the head map goes to 4%, these are very small numbers, and rounding could be playing some part. But for sure I am going to say it is not absurd. Looking at one data point is absurd, but I am not going to spend time on more because IME people who are interested will do their own research and those not interested cannot be persuaded by any amount of data. However, the overall conclusion that I got from that video was that between the three clubs there is a difference in distance forgiveness, but it is not very much. Without some robot testing or something similar the human element in the testing makes it difficult to say is it 1 yard, or 2, or 3?  
    • Wordle 1,668 3/6 🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    • Wordle 1,668 3/6 🟨🟩🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Should have got it in two, but I have music on my brain.
    • Wordle 1,668 2/6* 🟨🟨🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.