Most stickers on authentic clubs are placed on the underside of the shaft up by the grip or down next to the ferrule. As a result counterfeiters have followed suit, but they are not putting it in the same location.

Many of the major manufacturers have started putting a holographic sticker on the shaft.

See our post on a counterfeit G15 Hybrid we received to see an example of a graphite shaft. Check out our counterfeit Titleist AP2 Iron Set Post as an example of counterfeit Project X steel shafts.

The colors may be off on the shaft bands or the graphics if the club has a graphite shaft.

Many of the shafts will feel flimsy or not as stiff as the flex stated on the shaft.

Also, they could be in a different place between clubs for an iron set.

Counterfeit shaft bands tend to peel up and are not straight on every club.

The counterfeit Scotty Cameron grip on the bottom is totally different than the authentic. The paint fill is not solid and the grip is smaller than the authentic one on the right. This counterfeit grip was a design used on TaylorMade Irons from several years earlier.Ĭounterfeit Ping Grip on the left.

Many of the counterfeit grips we have seen on counterfeit clubs have also been smaller around like a ladies size grip.

See our TaylorMade SpeedBlade post for an example or look at the image below. Sometimes the grip design will be from an older model club.

If there is a brand logo, many times the paint fill will be coming out and the font will be slightly different.

The grips logos may also not be aligned properly when the club is sitting at address.

May have a strong rubber odor like a swimming pool float or a bicycle tire.

Since you normally don’t have a known authentic club to compare to, let’s get started with some detailed analysis of the differences starting with the grip. If held side by side with an authentic club, it will be easy to identify the counterfeit golf club because of the inferior quality. The first thing you will notice about a fake club is the quality doesn’t compare to the real deal. With this in mind, let’s get started with some general tips on spotting the differences between a counterfeit and authentic club. We hope to contribute to the decline in counterfeit club sales by giving you all the information you need to identify counterfeit golf clubs. Thankfully, the counterfeit golf club issue has slowed some in the last couple of years thanks to people being more aware of the problem.

By the end of this article you will have a better understanding of how to identify counterfeit golf clubs. Have you ever bought a club on eBay and thought to yourself, “I sure hope this club is authentic and I didn’t just throw $300 down the drain?” Well, you have come to the right place because this article has pictures and details of many of the counterfeit clubs we have encountered in our Golf Trade In business.

Ping club models by year