bplewis24

Some correspondence from the seller: I'm going to go to the local pro shop and have them inspected. Would they do something like that for free? Brandon

FYI... Just got off the phone with Mizuno USA. They ran the serial number and said "that would be a stock set of MP-68s. Nothing to worry about there." Now, I realize that a Chinese manufacturer could have copied the serial number. So my question is, are there any other questions I can follow up with Mizuno to verify the authenticity of the serial number? Brandon

I wouldn't consider myself a malcontent. I'm nowhere close to a purist either, but it just seems to me like you're not playing Golf if you're rolling the ball, etc. IMO, it's like the NBA's justification of allowing traveling: if it's breaking the rules, it's not the same game. If it's just a casual thing for you while you're out working on your game or just trying to enjoy yourself, I understand that. But if you're taking your game seriously, I don't see any room for it. Brandon

No worries, it happens. When I first registered for this forum it was about 2 days after I won the auction and I happened to stumble across a "are these clubs real" thread by chance. I read the entire thing with my mouth wide open, as I can easily spot fake batteries and counterfeit apparel on ebay, but never thought that there would be a huge market for golf clubs. I immediately felt like an idiot for not doing my due diligence, and sort of felt like I deserved to have been duped. Such is life. Anyway, I am going to call Mizuno with the serial number first thing in the morning just so I can put that in the paypal dispute if it comes back inauthentic. I also used my credit card for the paypal purchase, so I feel safe regarding the cash. Bottom line is if I do end up purchasing this set it's going to be from a local dealer, as the extra $300 or so is probably worth it in the long-run. Brandon

Thanks. I rarely use Driver these days because I just cannot control it and I struggle hitting fairways even with my 3wood. I'm good with my irons and can take full swings with them. But when I take a full swing with the driver so far, bad things happen about 75% of the time. On another note, can you just go into any high-tech pro shop and pay some amount of $$$ to get your swing speed, et al, tested? I know it doesn't help at all that my driver is very likely not fit for my swing. Brandon

That is uncanny. The ad in that link lists the shafts as rifle 6.0, the same as the ebay ad, and also lists "free headcovers" which were thrown into the ebay auction as well. The headcovers are NOT Mizuno, by the way. The irons were a 3-pw set, but you're right that the sticker on the shaft seems to denote something different. Another bad sign. And don't worry, I won't try and justify the authenticity to myself. I'm simply a very analytical person and want to weigh all the evidence before I take any action, especially since that action means accusing this seller of selling me counterfeits. I'm going to email him now. Brandon

Edit: does the youtube embed code not work on this site? Check that out. I think that's an EMS logo. What is EMS, exactly? Brandon

The thing that gets me is the ferrule. I mean, the club heads themselves appear 100% legitimate. My eye is obviously untrained, but looking at them closely for the past 2 hours and looking at pics online, they seem to be the real deal (I imagine I should try and hit them to find out for sure?). But everything from the hosel above looks suspect. The ferrule is different from stock pics, the craftsmanship where the ferrule and hosel meet doesn't appear perfect (should it?), and the shafts aren't labeled. Is it possible this is one of those cases where the heads were stolen from a Mizuno warehouse and a Chinese manufacturer shafted and gripped them? Brandon

I thank those who have responded for the input so far. I plan on doing a few things: 1) Contacting the seller and inquiring about the set and being up-front in being suspicious of their authenticity. He emailed me from his personal (& work) email address to give me the tracking number. I'd like to see what he has to say about where he got them and info on the shafts. 2) I've already emailed Mizuno as their call-in customer service number is down for the day. I will also give them a call tomorrow with the serial number. 3) Taking them up to the pro shop tomorrow afternoon to have a local pro check them out. To respond to a few questions: The box appears to be generic. There is a ton of wrapping/tape around the outside of it, and I'm not ready to peel all that off to see what is written on it. They were bought as a set of 8 clubs (3-PW) from an individual seller in Canada who has 100% feedback. He is not a volume seller, and some recent feedback shows that he has sold clubs before.

$600. Bidding started at $550 and only one other person bid. Brandon

Nuff said? I find this topic very near and dear to my heart. I've only started playing golf over the past 2 years. Over that time I've played about 70 rounds (60 having been tracked with Golfcard). The software only tracks average driving distance over the last 20 rounds. According to that I have a 253.34 average . Now, that average only includes fairways hit. I mistakenly assumed that driving distances on the PGA were calculated that way. I truly think it is still a fair average, as I am still capable of having a 150-yard mis-hit that lands in the fairway, and I do count that in the average. But if it goes 270 in the first cut, I won't count it. Anyway, this is a sensitive topic with me because, having played football for about 12 years I'm used to people embellishing. I'm used to outlandish and exaggerated 40 times, vertical leaps, bench presses, arm strength (i.e., he can throw it 65 yards off one knee) etc. I'm always cynical about the figures I hear a guy brag about. Having played at the highest collegiate level and having performed at combines and seen the actual figures, I know most of what I "hear" is bullcrap. That has carried over into golf quite well as I hear guys talk about how they shot a 75 last week while currently shooting 95 (taking preferred lies? 4 foot gimmes? multiple mulligans?) and when they were 25 they used to hit it 320+ yards regularly (with persimmon woods?). Almost every shred of anecdotal evidence I've compiled thus far suggests that 95% of people who talk about how far they hit it, probably hit it about 50 yards less than that whether it's an average or an outlier. I'm routinely the longest person in a foursome in any given round, an once every 5 rounds or so there is somebody longer. I've cracked 300 about 7 times over the last 60 rounds. 3 of those times were with a tailwind and or a cart path bounce or 3 (longest is 330 with 2 cartpath bounces, from what I could see). I've hit it 295-305 about 3-4 other times on purely good swings hitting it on the screws. And I measure every shot off the tee with a GPS rangefinder. The last time I played with a guy who was longer than me, he crushed a drive with a tailwind. It appeared to go in the 280-300 range from my GPS-accustomed eye. The other guy we played with said WOW that's 330 AT LEAST. I measured it at 295. Some people just don't know the difference. Brandon

A few points I should make: 1) I actually won this ebay auction before I signed up here and read about knock-off and counterfeit clubs. If I knew then what I know now... 2) They were sold to me 'new' with rifle 6.0 shafts. I don't see any stickers labeling the shafts as "Rifle" as I assume the "R" is for "regular" flex. 3) Note the ferrule in picture 4. I haven't seen a ferrule of that kind on any of the stock Mizuno picks (my local pro shop is closed at this hour and the clubs just arrived, so I can't go compare until tomorrow). 4) Is that Chinese lettering on the sticker in picture 5? Well, let me know what you think: If I never signed up at this place I may have never started worrying about whether the clubs were authentic or not. I guess it's true: ignorance is bliss . Brandon

I honestly don't care how you play the ball. My only beef is with people who take preferred lies and then talk about what they shot that round. If you play the ball "up", roll it, take preferred lies or whatever the hell else you want to call it, don't keep a score and don't talk about how many birdies or pars you had. Period. Brandon

Does nobody here play the Callaway Tour i? I use them and I've read some ProV converts say they last longer. But based on some of the comments in this thread I guess it's likely that they wear at the same rate. Brandon

Agreed. If the details of the original story are correct then this thread isn't in bad taste at all. You can't fail to deliver on a promise that helped make the sell and then be upset when the purchaser has the audacity to ask for what was promised. And the volume of emails he receives is no excuse. Brandon

All of you should be thanking me for your AAAAA balls. I have an uncanny ability to lose a new ball the first swing I take with it. Brandon

I tell ya, Roy must hit some of the highest shots known to man. His shots stay in the air FOREVER. Brandon

I tee up most iron shots. I tend to hit a lot of 3 and 4 irons off some par 4s and 5s because I struggle with the driver so much. In that case, I'm teeing it up a bit higher than a typical iron tee shot for a par 3. On par 3s, I tee up everything except the shortest par 3s that require a 50*+ wedge. Sometimes if there is a fine enough broken tee I'll use it, but unless I find the tee box in really bad shape or uneven, I'll hit it off the turf. Brandon

True. Tiger isn't really all that impressive. It's just a relative thing: compared to most golfers when he started out on Tour, he was in great shape. But now look at a lot of these young guys, especially the europeans...they're in great shape. Some guys are just skinny, but others are lean and have pretty good muscular builds on them. Brandon

Thank you. I got such a good laugh out of them talking about his "core" work this past weekend. He definitely has a lot of chub on him and he is nowhere near being in "wonderful" shape. Let's stop being afraid to call a spade, a spade. It doesn't mean he isn't a great golfer or one of the longest/most impressive hitters on tour. And hopefully we can stop confusing "works extremely hard [at golf]" with working extremely hard in the gym/weight room. And yes, some lineman in the NFL are fat too. Brandon

So I guess this means the "Tin Cup" movie shouldn't be used as a rules reference? Brandon

I have a callaway warbird bag with 8 dividers (I think). I have regular sized grips and if I don't put the clubs in the right way they can become stuck, so I agree that if a person has oversized grips they should maybe look at a bigger bag. The other downsides to the callaway is that is has no slot for extra balls on the exterior of the bag. It would also be nice if it had one of those putter holsters. Outside of that, I love the bag as it is very light, so far very sturdy (about 60 rounds) and has enough pockets (including water bottle pocket). Brandon

^^ I like the posts with pictures the best :) And I love the look of the Titleist irons as well as the Mizuno 62s. I just ordered the 68s myself and can't wait to go to the range with them.

New guy here. I'm a project controller (read: accountant) for an international real estate development company that is based here in Sacramento. I also coach high school football, but I consider that a hobby since it doesn't pay much. However, at least it pays something, while Golf just eats a hole in my pocket :) Brandon

Hello. I have often perused this forum for information but never decided to register until now so I could respond on this topic. I suggest people looking for a GPS/Smartphone App look up GolfCard as one poster here has mentioned. I tried out 2 different free ones and GolfCard (24 hour refund policy on Android) before sticking with the latter. 1) It will NOT drain your battery in one full round unless you stay in the GPS rangefinder screen for the entire round (which you shouldn't be, because otherwise you won't be able to enter your scores). 2) It does allow people to map courses through PC software (I've done it for private, unmarked clubs and it works fine). I know you can map courses while walking them also, but I don't know if that updates the oobgolf database where the courses are stored or not. 3) As one poster already mentioned, it is a good idea to let some of the more serious golfers you end up playing with that you are using a golf app on your phone. I overheard one guy complaining about me to his playing partner before I addressed it. 4) It does cost money ($8 I believe), but IMO it's well worth it. I've used it for well over 50 rounds already this year. 5) I know for a fact it's available on the iPhone, because when I was checking out the website they touted it as one of the top iPhone apps as rated by People Magazine (or some other mainstream mag). Brandon