Golf Club Clones

Good Golf For Life.com "Learn It, Play It, Love It"

Lyle Slovick

Instructor, Level I Affiliate Member

United States Golf Teachers Federation

Golf Club "Clones"

Here is an excerpt from and article that appeared in Golfweek magazine a few years ago, and is more valid today than ever. It's quite eye-opening, really.

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Made in China: Quietly, Club Manufacturers Reap the Benefits of Globalization

by Gene Yasuda, Golfweek Business Editor

Date Printed: 1/26/2002

...at least 70 percent of all high-end clubheads sold in the United States are now made in China. Foundries located here are producing clubheads for virtually every major U.S. and Japanese clubmaker: Among them: TaylorMade (90 percent),
Callaway, Cleveland (80 percent) , Cobra, Adams, TourEdge, Wilson, Maxfli, Never Compromise, Titleist, Mizuno, Daiwa, Maruman and Yonex. Also note that 30 percent of Aldila's top-quality shafts are made in Zhuhai, China.

Add Nike Golf to that list. Most of the companies inaugural clubs debuting at this weeks PGA Merchandise Show are forged products - still primarily the handiwork of the Japanese. But one of its new drivers is made in China, and when Nike rolls out greater volumes of cast irons later this year, expect them to be produced exclusively in China. "We have the capability to source products from anywhere in the world, and as we looked into the club business, we started with a clean slate.

All markets and all companies were open for consideration," says Mike Kelly, Nike Golf's director of golf club business. "But we're focusing on China because that's where the technology, the expertise and the capacity all are." "We're in a global economy today. All kinds of industries, the computer industry, the semiconductor industry, you name it. They're already in China because they have to be. We're no different," says Barney Adams, whose company, Adams Golf, is supplied exclusively by Asian foundries.

"Every day the golf industry gets more competitive, and it's incumbent upon manufacturers to find ways to stay alive." So don't let anyone convince you that the quality isn't in the Asian foundry components and the same goes for grips and shafts some of which we sell on this site, it's truly the only way to provide the best quality with the reasonable prices that let golf be a fun game for everyone, giving everyone an equal shot at great equipment. So the next time you see someone who obviously has the money to spend top dollar for their set of pro line clubs and chooses to do so, you can smile to yourself and know that your clubs are providing you with as much fun and many of the same qualities and features as their high priced cousins.

For clubs that are not clones - they are original designs - but play like some of the major companies products, visit my other site, Golf Bargains Online

You won't be disappointed!