Careful mates, bought a cheap set from a local guy in SG - thought I got it on a steal! Yet I was the one who got robbed, sorry, Im new to golf, so I grabbed on the chance to buy a Callaway Fusion Iron set for SG$400 only to find out from a local retailer that they're made in China.
Thats been going on for a while. In 2004 the authorities seized over US$1million worth of counterfeit equipment in Jiangmen, Putian and Xiamen, the brands included Titleist, Cobra, Callaway and Nike. The following year they raided underground factories in Dongguan, Changuan and Guangzhou. This year the activity spread even further to Beijing, with over US$5million worth of couterfeit brand name equipment - clubs, bags and accessories seized.
It is difficult to identify some of the "better" items, so you need to be careful and purchase from reputable dealers in the future.
Remember the old Chinese saying - "good thing not cheap and cheap thing not good!"
I Buy In A Store But They Are Made In China!!
The Only Clubs Are Made In Usa Ping!!!
What he said.
Except Ping, ALL heads are made in Asian foundries.
However, Singapore is notorious for having slightly-off versions of popular OEMs. However, I can promise that they're out of spec completely (and most likely poorly made - cheap or bad welds, and certainly not the same material).
So, there's two answers, IMO.
1) If it seems too good to be true, it is. Better to spend a little more to be sure, than to spend a lot to be wrong, comparatively.
2) Nobody clones components. If it says SMT (or Bang, Alpha, Geek, Ashton, KZG, Wishon, Innovex, etc), you know that it is.
I have purchased a number of clubs from Pinemeadow in the USA who produce clones of all the major makes at a fraction of the cost.
I have to say that wherever they are made they are really good quality and made with high quality materials, they even make them to size. I have been using clones of callaway Big Bertha irons (they don't actually call them by the brand names), Ping G4 driver and Cleveland wedges for around two years and they are great.
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