Your Buyer's Guide
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Author : dcss Date : 03-Feb-2006
What are the most recommended brands?
STEP 3
In the equipment market all companies compete with each other by manufacturing each others clone products or knock-offs. They all do this legally, ethically and with great vigor. It is a game of leap frog. While we sometimes find it hard to distinguish one clone from another, we know 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 clone makers copy the same features, performance characteristics, and customer benefits from each other in a marketplace of continuing innovation.
The most popular name brand companies in golf today are Callaway Ping Titleist Taylor made and Cobra, with several others typically coming in and out of favor. These companies are just like the auto makers - leap frogging each other with innovative new product concepts, materials and fashion statements.
When talking generically about Golf Clubs most consumers describe products in terms of general product families, just like when auto consumers say that BMW has a "Mercedes look", or that Mercedes "looks like a BMW". Well, it is the same thing in golf. A golf clone is similar to the concept of a PC clone (at least that is how we think of it). Earlier PC clones were introduced into the personal computer market. Some of them, like Compaq, eventually became brand names. But the goal of clones, in golf, computers 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 they may seek to flatter, 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 the name brands. The important point is we buy our heads, shafts, and grips from the same small community of golf manufacturing suppliers.