Should This be Allowed

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that he'd seen some gorgous looking clubs in his pro shop, so had a couple taped up to try. They were the MP69's and he fell in love with them, so proceeded to buy them via a well known large chain for £700, instead of his golf club pro. I asked him last night how he was getting on with them, and he kicked off about being ripped off. Long story short; he played a couple of rounds with them and was struggling with some clubs, which he couldn't understand. The 5-iron he used in testing and he loved, he couldn't replicate the feeling, strike or ease with his new iron. He had the same problem with a couple of others, but the rest were brilliant. He then went in to a club fitter and asked advice, and found out that 3 shafts were wrong, 5-iron was set up as a 4-iron, 2 clubs were almost identical lofts (6 & 7) and his 3-iron was almost a 2-iron. The fitter sorted him out and bollicked him for not seeing him beforehand, and he's now back in love with his new clubs.

By the way he emailed me and told me to check out the limited edition MP100's, and wow they are the best looking clubs I've seen since Miura. £2k though

I have no sympathy - if he used his Pro to test them then he should had bought them from him......

Most Pro's will match prices on the internet anyway and you always get a good back up.

This year I bought a set of Ping Anser's from my Pro after going to the factory to be tested & fitted. After I had them for a couple of months a weight fell out of the back of one - 5 days before the club championship. It was sent back to Ping and returned inside 3 days .... that's what you get when you buy from your Pro..... It's called SERVICE

One other point - if you don't buy from your Pro then they will soon disappear as they will not be ablest afford to stay.... who's he going to try clubs with then ?????

You'd probably find a lot of peoples clubs being well off what they were fitted at or designed to be after a few years use (I know these were wrong off the shelf). I try to get mine checked every year or so (if I hold onto them that long) to make sure they are right.

GWR, I agree that's why I mentioned the club pro, but think you'll find plenty nowadays will use the club pro and then find the stuff on-line or elsewhere. Sign of the times. Maybe club pro's should advertise more in their respected clubhouses, as they are usually part of a much bigger buying group, that gets them cheap prices. Advertise that to members and they stand a chance, although there are some clubs who are part of the big buying group, but still premium price their stuff because they know they can get away with it, in their area ....

Funnily enough, I'm also interested in changing to the new Mizunos. I looked online at prices and they are typically around £700 but I saw a couple of places advertising them around the £250 mark.

Clearly fakes and woe betide anyone that is daft enough to buy from these places.

But very surprised at your mates set, who did he buy from? I can't believe Mizuno would have such poor quality control. Has he bought a set of fakes too??

Sounds to me like the "well known large chain" your mate bought his clubs from was indulging in a little bit of creative inventory reduction. It would be good if he received a 100% refund.

Whoever clubs are bought from, the vendor needs to be invested in your success with them; in that context, fully agree with GWR.

D4S the chain is AG and they are the real deal, but the fundamental issue with this and similar places, and on-line, is the shaft specs. The fitter my mate used told him that it makes no difference what big name brand or how much you pay, as invariably there will be a problem with either a couple of lofts or shafts. I have heard this from my own fitter, and thats why the only way to guarantee the spec's are correct is to use a fitter.

Have you checked out the MP100's they look creamy, and I know your a Mizuno man

It's my view that if someone goes somewhere to be custom fitted, they should be charged for the service, regardless of whether they end up buying them or not. If they end up buying the clubs from that place, then the charge should be deducted from the price of the clubs.

I have no sympathy for people who get custom fitted at one place, buy online, and then complain when something goes wrong.

As far as I'm aware, custom fitting centres aren't registered charities.

Marcus, Club manufacturers usually PAY to have a presence in the club fitting centre, or it's their facility, and it's usually a requirement that it's booked through a pro and subsequently assumed that if you like the product you end up buying it through the pro. If you buy it somewhere else, the manufacturer still gets a sale.
Often a fee is involved and is taken off the clubs should you buy them.

The fitting centre is just a way of giving them a better place in the market.

I don't completely agree that he deserved what he got for using the pro and then going elsewhere.
Places that offer a free fitting service must build into their business plan that some will buy elsewhere. If not then they're stupid.

Yes it would have been nice to use the pro if he could but if he can't afford that then he has to go elsewhere. That's life. If that stops then he can't buy clubs and gives up the game. So instead of 'losing' a club pro (or forcing him to change) then you lose a golfer. Is that preferable?

ive been using mp 30,s since they came out and i had them costomfitted after i bought them and there was not alot of work required. i had them shortened by 3/4" and strengthened slightly. that was my choice.....but the least anyone should expect when they buy a set of clubs off the shelf is that all the shafts are the same and the lofts are correct within reason......ive mentioned this before....why do manufacturers sell wedges in various degrees of loft and than are allowed 3 degrees of tolerance..????
so your 56 deg sandwedge coude be stronger than your 51 deg gap wedge ?????
quality control needs tightened i think ???

liegerwoods the fact of the matter is simple. The large OEM's will have mass production and a lot of stuff will fall through the Quality control element of the operation. Shafts are the main thing as they can be wrongly marked as R and really be S etc. Clubheads even expensive forgings can be out of alignment if QC is not in place. The stuff looks exactly as it should, but .... Made in China/Taiwan doesn't help

I will only ever buy my kit from a fitter, end of

Doc wrote:
I will only ever buy my kit from a fitter, end of

Doc

are you saying that you won't buy branded clubs in future but instead stick to the likes of Wishon etc?

drive4show wrote:

Doc wrote:
I will only ever buy my kit from a fitter, end of

Doc

are you saying that you won't buy branded clubs in future but instead stick to the likes of Wishon etc?

D4S I've been using KZG for the past 3-years, with the exception of my putter and new Wishon 5-wood. Any club I buy will be through my fitter, whatever the brand

Doc

Just looked at the KZG website, the Japanese blades are pretty hot looking. What sort of money did you fork out for a fully fitted set of irons and which ones did you get?

drive4show wrote:Doc

Just looked at the KZG website, the Japanese blades are pretty hot looking. What sort of money did you fork out for a fully fitted set of irons and which ones did you get?

I have the forged CB III's and they are brilliant, and have a soft feel. The price point for the irons was c£600, but KZG have raised their prices each year since I got mine, and this year have slapped on another 30%. My fitter won't deal with them anymore as he says they've priced themselves out of the market in the UK, as you're now looking at Miura prices. I would choose Miura over KZG, even though they both use the same japanese forge. A mate of mine wanted some KZG's after hitting some balls with mine, but after doing some research he decided to get some in Florida. He decided on the irons, and then contacted some KZG fitters in the area he was going on holiday around the Florida area. he got himself a fitting arganised on day 2 of his holiday and had the clubs made up, tested and purchased by day 5. So his 2nd week was spent using his new equipment. Because of the exchange rate issue and the huge price increase in the UK, he got a set of forged evelotions less than half UK price.

Hmm that's intersting, thanks for the feedback. I'm pretty much set on replacing my irons this winter but hadn't really considered anything other than the mainstream manufacturers. The range that I practice at has a fitter there, he is one of only 10 guys qualified to some stratospheric level in the UK. I've used him a few times in the past and he is excellent. I know he deals with Wishon but not sure about the other brands. I'll give him a ring to find out.

Once again, thanks for the feedback