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Are All Custom Golf Clubs Clones?
The short answer is "No, they aren't!". As a custom clubmaker, this is one of the biggest misconceptions I encounter
when I talk to people about custom golf equipment. It seems that many golfers out there believe ANY club from a company they have never
heard of must be second-rate compared to the major name brands they see in the stores and golf magazines.
Once again, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Clubs from the component side of golf generally fall into 3 categories. They are the clones, the knockoffs, and what us
serious clubmakers call the "OED" clubs.
I'll rank these 3 classes of clubheads in respective order as follows: Very Terrible, Terrible, Excellent.
The Clone Clubs
These are pure garbage. These are "black market" golf clubs. They are exact copies of the original design they are ripping
off. However, they are made with scrap metal and their quality is nowhere near the original's level. The individuals/companies that
produce these are the very guys the big name companies go after in the courts.
The Knockoff Clubs
These clubs are the ones I think most people are referring to when they talk about clone golf clubs. These are clubs that
skirt the boundaries of legality as well. However, what the knockoff producers do is take the original "idea" and tweak a couple of things
just to the point where they can't be held liable for patent or intellectual property violations. The knockoff clubhead is still so much
like the original that you can definitely tell which name brand style it is patterned after. Heck, most of the knockoff models are even
named after the orginal design they are ripping off! Again, these are garbage clubs as well.
The "Original Equipment Designer" (OED) Clubs
Now were talking! These are the clubs that us serious professional clubmakers deal with and sell! I wouldn't hesitate
for one second to put these clubs up against anything on the planet as far as quality, design, and performance are concerned. The materials,
manufacturing processes, and quality controls that are used at the OED companies are second-to-none.
Here are some names I want to throw out on the table for you. Tom Wishon, Ralph Maltby, Jeff Sheets, Brett Lindsey, Mike Tait.
You have probably never heard of them before! Tom Wishon has over 40 design firsts/patents in the golf industry. He started his own
company about 3 years ago called Tom Wishon Golf Technology. Tom designed and built the last set of clubs that the late Payne Stewart used
to win the US Open at Pinehurst in 1999. Ralph Maltby is another prolific equipment designer with close to 40 years of design expertise. He is the owner and mastermind behind a company called The Golfworks.
Mike Tait is the head of a company called SMT. His driver heads have won more long-drive competitions around the world than any
other company in golf. SMT has only been around about 4 years!! Brett Lindsey is one of the chief designers at The Golfworks. Jeff
Sheets is one of the design gurus over at a company called Golfsmith. Both are very good at what they do!
The equipment that all these guys design every year is remarkable. In fact, most of them are the ones that come up with the
"innovative" ideas that are marketed to you as being the "next best thing in golf" by all the name brand companies you are familiar with!
Most of the time, it is the big name brand companies that are "borrowing" the design concepts from these guys you have
never heard of! It's not the other way around.
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