Clone Golf Clubs Are Good News For Your Game
In the first place, the chief producers of clone golf clubs are fully fledged golf companies. Their own design departments create club designs that are manufactured using the same materials as the big OEM's. These clubs include the same design features such as club volume, increased moment of inertia and cavity backs, to name just a few.
Club design is dictated by the rules laid down by the game's governing bodies. Club heads have to conform to these restrictions, otherwise they are considered to be non-conforming and prohibited for use in competitive play. That's not only at the top levels of the game. Bagging a non-conforming driver in your monthly medal may well see you being disqualified.
The major producers of golf clones will submit their clubs to the game's governing bodies for approval (USPGA in the USA, R&A in Europe) exactly like the big OEM's do. This takes time, resources and is very expensive so nobody making cheap knock-offs would go to the expense and effort of submitting their clubs, only to see them rejected.
Take titanium drivers for example. For a driver to be conforming, it has to have a volume of 460 cc maximum. It's not enough for a manufacturer to claim their drivers are no bigger than 460 cc. The USPGA and the R&A have to say they aren't. If drivers do come in under the limit, they are listed on the Conforming Driver lists. If they are bigger then the allowed maximum, they are listed on the Non-Conforming Driver lists.
Quick point to note here. Some makers of second-rate knock-offs trumpet their drivers as being conforming and point to the fact that these clubs are nowhere to be found on the non-conforming lists. All that means is that they haven't been submitted for testing. Conforming drivers go on the conforming list. If a club isn't on the non-conforming list, it isn't necessarily conforming.
Designing and creating conforming clubs takes a lot of skill and attention to details. The limits placed by the rules are very strict and it only takes a tiny manufacturing discrepancy to end up with non-conforming clubs. Dimension isn't the only parameter to take into consideration. With restrictions on club-face spring back for instance (the Coefficient of Restitution) being affected by even the smallest variation in face thickness, quality control is vital.
Clone clubs from the top producers built according to the rules of the game and will be a lot easier on your wallet. Using the same quality materials as the big golf companies and with the same (or better) golf shafts, these are premium golf clubs that will make your game that much more fulfilling. As an added bonus, many of the top companies offer their clubs with custom fit options.
What you end up playing is a set of premium, conforming, custom built golf clubs that will play ever bit as good, and usually a whole lot better, than those high-priced off-the-rack OEM's. What you won't get is the price tag.
Not a bad deal for a set of custom golf clubs.
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