Custom Golf Clubs

Clones Vs Brands

Submitted by Joel on Mon, 17/12/2007 - 15:46.

So whats the idea behind clones? First though whats comes into your mind when you of clones? Perhaps a negative thought, thinking that the product is trying to be exactly like its brand counterpart or rip people off. To us clone is actually a positive word, read on and you'll see why. But to help us all understand exactly what we mean when we say clones consider the car industry. Now have you ever noticed how so many cars, MPVs and 4x4s look very similar and at times you can’t even tell the difference. Many of these companies take from each other and "clones"each other’s design concepts and this is done legally, ethically and with great vigour.

And yet we know that they are not exact copies of each other and that these companies are not trying to confuse the consumer into thinking so. But we also know the Car makers copy the same features, performance characteristics, and customer benefits from each other to keep up and also try and get ahead. Well, that’s the same with Golf Clubs.

The most popular name brand companies in golf today are Callaway, Ping, Titliest, TaylorMade, Nike and Cobra, with several others typically coming in and out of favour. These companies and Pinemeadow are just like the carmakers — leap froging each other with innovative new product concepts, materials and fashion statements. Well, it is the same thing in golf. But the goal of Clones, in golf and cars is to provide all of the performance features of a big name brand with a better value to the consumer.

Clones are not to be confused with the branded products, but they are made from essentially the same materials and design principles, use many of the same shaft and grip suppliers, and perform similar to (or often better than) the name brands. The important point is our heads, shafts, and grips are made by the same small community of golf manufacturing suppliers as the big brands. We provide performance but offer you a BETTER VALUE. To prove it just compare the features and prices to the big brands.

Are Some Golf Clones Illegal?

In short YES! Illegal knockoffs and counterfeits have been and continue to be a significant problem in the golf industry. The Name Brands talk about illegal clubs ripping them off, but counterfeiters also rip you off too, the consumer. No one should buy products from an illegal counterfeiter. An illegal knockoff and/or counterfeit is a product that violates the legal trade dress rights, trademarks, patents or copyrights of another company.

Historical examples of violators were the makers of the "king snake" which was an illegal knockoff of Cobra's King Cobra, the Tommy Mann Bummer, the Big Burser — you see the point. An illegal knockoff confuses the consumer and in some cases seeks to fool the consumer into thinking their product is actually the Name Brand Company's product. It rips us off because we play by the rules and lose business to shady operators who fool consumers into thinking they are buying a legitimate product. It rips you off if you buy their products because you have then violated the law and are holding illegal goods.

That could very well negatively affect your game — and, we at Direct Custom Golf do not want that to happen. We are very careful not violate the valid rights of other companies by the products we sell. However, we do examine carefully the claims of companies and work hard to get into your hands the best products at the best price.

Why Are Brand Name Clubs So Much More Expensive?

Advertising, overheads, and middlemen.

The amount actually spent for research and development by the golf club industry is not nearly as large as the money spent for advertising trying to convince you to buy the name brand clubs and paying the middleman to get them into your hands.

What About the Cost of Name Brand Advertising?

Independent surveys show that up to 70% of the retail price of a name brand golf club goes to support the advertising and brand name development. These advertising and brand development costs are legitimate — they provide advertising revenue to the major golf magazines, they provide many millions of pounds of licensing revenue to PGA Tour professionals, they provide even more millions of pounds to the major television networks. The money spent in advertising builds status and peer pressure to buy a name brand.

Every advertising pound spent by the name brand club is targeted to make you feel better (or justified) in paying more money for the brand. Some people raise their self-esteem by buying a name brand club for more money.

Our customers on the other hand raise their self-esteem by getting the best performance for the best value and knowing their name brand buying friends got a worse deal.

Let Us Tell You About Overheads

The big name brand companies are usually publicly traded, higher overhead environments. They have lots of overhead expenses we don't have. They pay people to pay people to let their own people know who their people are — hope that makes sense. Because we do not have expensive retail stores or huge depots stocking 10s of thousands of pounds of stock we are able to keep our overheads to the absolute minimum which in turn means we can pass huge savings on to you the consumer.

Then theres the middlemen who as the name suggests are the people between the brand and the retailers and take a cut or payment for their services. This has to come from somewhere and so adds even more cost to the products.

Ron Williams & Luka Cvrk