Playing from the Women's Tee - A Little Golf Humor

Have you ever played from the women's tee? Have you ever hit your drive only just farther than the women's tee only to say to your golfing partners, "Well... at least I know where it is." This is certainly a funny video that brings a lot of that frustration home. I can't help but laugh every time I watch this. It has near Caddy Shack humor in it.

- Skip

Counterfeit PING Clubs

Above: A genuine PING G15 Driver.

From a Facebook post to the PING page...

SKIP:
Be aware of fraudulent PING clubs. If you do buy used, do your homework first. This is the result of just surfing for a few minutes and doing a quick comparison of the serial number in a Google search. Serial numbers do not always prove the product is genuine. If you are shopping for used club, buy from an approved dealer or if not from a dealer, call PING and given them the serial number. They can give you the details of the club. Never buy a club from someone you don't know or trust.

Fraudulent PING G15 Driver
This is a counterfeit G15 driver. The painted designs on the sole are not correct and the alignment aid is not correct either. The alignment aid is the same one used on the G5 and G10 drivers, not the G15. Who ever copied the club did a really poor job of trying to pass-off this club as a genuine PING product. The price they are asking for this is $169.99 with free shipping. You can't buy PING clubs at a discounted price unless PING says that the retailer can sell it for less. This would not be the case with this current production driver, which retails for $299.99. This is a complete fake - don't walk, run away from it as fast as you can and don't support manufacturers and those who sell counterfeit merchandise.

A counterfeit of a PING G15 Driver. Note the markings on the sole are not correct, nor is the alignment aid on the crown of the club. Also, note the serial number in the right-most image... 728672D3.


The serial number obtained from the photograph of the above mentioned driver in the Google search noted above pointed to this G10 driver recently sold on ebay in the UK. We don't know whether this one is a genuine PING driver or not either.
The ebay item number is: 270528488753
Details from the posting on ebayUK...
Item location:Havant, Hampshire, United Kingdom
PING G10 Driver.
10.5 deg.
TCF 129D reg flex shaft.
Excellent condition 9/10.
Used only 3 rounds in summer.
Complete with head cover.
As new.
Serial no 728672D3

A PING G10 driver sold on ebay's UK site. The serial number matches that of the fraudulent G15 driver noted and pictured above. One or both of these are fakes.


PING's response on Facebook:
Thanks for sharing that...it's a real issue out there. For all of you PING fans, protect yourself from online counterfeit scams. Read the warning information posted on our site at http://www.ping.com/clubs/counterfeits.aspx, and use the dealer locator tool to make sure you are dealing with an authorized PING retailer, http://www.ping.com/dealerlocator/default.aspx.

Skip's advice: Enjoy golf. Buy the real deal. If you don't want to or can't afford new equipment, try buying used equipment from a reputable dealer such as Callaway Golf Preowned. They have wonderful customer service and will not sell counterfeit merchandise, whether it be Callaway or other brands they also have available. Your best bet is to, however, take PING's advice and if you want PING clubs, buy from an approved PING retailer for complete peace of mind. Buying from unknown sources only leads to the age old saying, "caveat emptor"... "Let the buyer beware."

- Skip

New PING ANSER Forged Irons

Here's a great use of the Neil Diamond song, "Sweet Caroline." Every time you pick up your PINGs and head to the course is a, "good time!"



Enjoy!

- Skip

PING G15 Driver, Fairway Woods and Hybrids

This is a review by Golfalot.com. I liked it and have posted it here. I've just purchased a G15 10.5 degree driver with the PING TFC R-flex shaft. I'll post my review from my first round this weekend afterward. Until then... here is a very good review.
- Skip

Pre-Owned PING M/B Wedges Refinished at PING Repair

These PING M/B (medium bounce) wedges were both purchased used. The 52 degree wedge was purchased from Callaway Preowned (www.callawaygolfpreowned.com) and the 56 degree wedge from ebay. The 52 degree wedge was in fairly good condition but the 56 was barely in fair shape. In both cases these wedges were purchased only for the club heads. The intention was to do the following:

1. Have both wedges completely refinished.
2. Have them both re-shafted (+1/2 over standard length). It goes without saying that when they are re-shafted that new grips are also applied. The grips chosen were the PING NTS grip, gold color (+1/32 over standard).
3. Have the lie angles on both clubs changed from zero degrees flat (black dot) to two degrees upright (green dot).
4. Have new weights installed on both (the 56 degree wedge was missing its weight when purchased which was not an issue due to the intent of having it refurbished).

The clubs came back looking brand new, with newly re-finished surfaces, new paint on the marked parts of the clubs included new green dots where the black ones had been. The clubfaces looked like they had never been hit before.

It was easy to have them refinished and brought up to the new measurements that would fit me. The standard PING repair form was filled out from PING's website, which is linked at several points on this blog. The form was included in the box with the golf clubs when sent to PING. The time to send to PING, repair and ship back was about two weeks or a little less. For that time I wasn't playing golf as it is winter and has been very cold, snowy or raining. Not playing was not and issue.

PING does an excellent job and is easily the club repair facility of choice for all our PING clubs. Zip will have his clubs re-gripped locally, but our local golf shops don't carry the off-size PING NTS grips and besides PING does not "eye-ball" grip placement on the shaft. The have a laser-guided grip fitting and alignment tool. As such, Skip prefers to send his clubs to PING for such a repair. Besides, PING, once they have your clubs, always does some amount of cleaning of them and they come back looking much better than when sent. Their customer service is also quite good and they are always happy to answer any question you might have.

You might be asking yourself what is the bottom line. The bottom line is that the 52 degree wedge was $42.00 from Callaway. The 56 degree wedge was $14.00 from ebay. Each club cost $32.00 for the re-shaft plush other work. The new weights were free of charge since other major work was being done. Grips were also included in the re-shaft/refinish price. The total out the door and in my bag price was $128.00 including the approximate $9.00 shipping cost to PING. The cost of these wedges when new was $100.00 per club. Today, since they are not in current production each club is a special order which PING is only too happy to fill for you but will set you back $145.00 per wedge. I have both of these in my bag for about $128.00 in full - for both!

You're probably asking yourself, "How can I do this?" The answer is... shop around for great club values in lots of places. They are out there you just have to look. Look in golf shops, garage sales, used golf stores, country clubs, municipal golf course pro shops and online retailers. Make a stop at the used club rack every time you go to your favorite local golf store. Prices are always negotiable on used clubs in stores and sometimes online. Be careful however and don't buy fakes, because then all you have is a fake and PING will never repair counterfeits. Always ask for the serial number of any clubs you buy online from places like ebay. If they won't give it to you, skip it. There will always be another one. Callaway Golf Preowned is a great place to buy online and they are a fine retailer that is centrally located in Austin, Texas. Standard shipping is pretty fast to nearly any part of the United States.

Again, shop around and have fun finding that club that would be a great bargain and wonderful to have - or that you've always wanted. That's what it's all about... having fun!

When's your next tee time?

- Skip

Upcoming: Review of Mansfield National Golf Club - Manfield, TX

Coming soon we will review Mansfield National Golf Club in Mansfield, TX.

Thanks for reading!

Coming Up Soon... PING and the USGA: It's all about grooves.

Our next article will cover the new groove rule. PING Golf and the USGA continue the discussion. Phil Michelson takes the non-conforming but legal PING EYE 2 wedge out of his bag.

- Skip