Counterfeit 2018 X-Forged irons already out there. Pictures included.

[outgolfing]

I've bought and sold a lot of clubs over the years and I am always careful who I do business with and to inspect what I purchase upon its arrival. These ones caught my attention right away once they arrived but being as they are so new to the market and the overall feel of them I almost convinced myself they were real until I took a step back.

 

I bought them from a seller on ebay, good feedback with 400+ positive and no negatives. They are not an all golf retailer but had some other golf related items. Ad stated they were, "Mint" and that they were, "Traded in right away for a set with graphite shafts." Price was low but not ridiculous for the time of year, they were about $100 less than most other sets. I figured they just wanted to move them.

 

My observations of them:

 

* They look very close to authentic x forged. (I almost believe they are made in the same factory in China and they are possibly factory seconds.)

* The cavity is less refined then authentic clubs, looks like they did not smooth the cavity before plating.

* They are a soft forging, one of the clubs after just carrying them to the range the first day got some bag chatter dings.

* The 8 iron did have a serial number laser engraved.

 

 

Further inspection:

* Shafts were installed without standard callaway collared ferrules.

* The hosels were made to accept collared ferrules.

* Grips were installed without grip tape using some type of glue directly to the steel shaft

* Grips were fake. (compared them with 3 authentic ones purchased from Golf Galaxy that I had on my wedges, *see picture below*)

 

 

I researched some overseas auction sites and located some auctions for "replica" X-forged clubs. The pictures looked almost identical to mine with the "rough" cavity and the options they offered. They sell for around $150-$200.

 

I contacted the seller and requested a full refund upon return based on the fact I believed they are not authentic. I was not accusatory as she may have been duped herself and was just reselling them without knowledge. She was willing to take them back and provided free shipping back to her.

 

Below are some photos with descriptions. I hope this helps anyone buying clubs from the internet. Be careful, things are sometimes not as they seem even though they appear very similar.

 

**Side note** I hit these at the range and they felt better than the demo I hit at Golf Galaxy with the project X 6.0. (Most likely because I hate the project x 6.0 but it gave me a laugh either way.)

 

 

 

Image from auction:

 

 

 

My pictures:

 

Image of "rough" cavity

 

 

 

2nd Image of "rough" cavity:

 

 

 

Image of sole, missing line under the 6

 

 

 

Lack of collared ferrule:

 

 

 

Lack of grip tape:

 

 

 

Hosel (is similar to authentic except that authentic the groove the ferrule sits on inside is cut at an angle and this is cut straight."

 

 

 

Fake grip on left, authentic on right (you can see the counterfeit grip is very similar but has deeper imprints on the diamond pattern, it is also a different rubber and feels completely different.)

 

[Gh05t]

woah.... what are you going to do? hope you don't get screwed on these since you broke them down to verify. unfortunately you had to do to check, but they could definitely hold that against you. hope this works out.

[Jagpilotohio]

Damn.

Almost getting to be you don’t want to even look for “ a deal” on line anymore. So many fakes.

 

I saw a set two weeks ago that I nearly bought that looked too good to be true. They Probably were.

[outgolfing]

woah.... what are you going to do? hope you don't get screwed on these since you broke them down to verify. unfortunately you had to do to check, but they could definitely hold that against you. hope this works out.

 

The seller was aware I disassembled to verify so I’m not concerned. As of right now I haven’t exhausted any other of my options (ie PayPal or Amex) since the seller agreed to the full refund.

[outgolfing]

Damn.

Almost getting to be you don’t want to even look for “ a deal” on line anymore. So many fakes.

 

I saw a set two weeks ago that I nearly bought that looked too good to be true. They Probably were.

 

I agree.

[Lefty1283]

Sounds like you unfortunately may have bought from someone who didn’t know any better.

 

Read this article last year which helped me be more judicious when buying online. http://golfclubbrokers.com/blog/identify-counterfeit-golf-clubs/

 

Could you have taken them to a local pro shop to ask them to verify? Not sure if that’s something they offer.

[brkuck]

Thanks for posting this. Shows that the fakes keep getting better and better. Its almost to the point where you have to look at the real one side by side and see a comparison to be 100% sure.

[outgolfing]

Refund was processed. I’ll be honest though, I’m certain the seller is fully aware they were counterfeit. She has also sold at least 2 other sets that are suspect, one of which just sold tonight.

[AUGolfer32]

Refund was processed. I’ll be honest though, I’m certain the seller is fully aware they were counterfeit. She has also sold at least 2 other sets that are suspect, one of which just sold tonight.

 

Did you report them to eBay?

 

Also, post the link so we can all be aware.

[outgolfing]

Yes, they were reported to eBay ( I’m sure they will do nothing though)

 

Here is a link to the set that sold today:

https://m.ebay.com/itm/MINT-2018-Callaway-X-Forged-Irons-3-PW-KBS-Tour-C-Taper-90-Shafts-Winn-Dri-Tac-/222876008802

[Big Ben]

Sucks! I'm glad you recognized the inconsistances and the seller refunded your money. BB

[Dpak05]

I guess 400+ positives can't really be trusted either....what a shame.

[outgolfing]

I went back through her feedback and looked at the other golf items she has already sold. I found two sets of x forged irons, two 917f2, and two 917 d2 that were all fake. The 917’s were good knockoffs but the serial number font and slant/location gave it away. I reported all the items to eBay, I hope they do the right thing and contact the buyers.

[Sfd732]

all the sights they are selling are listed as clone, I have to wonder if everything they are selling isn't fake

[Double Gee]

I remember buying a new TaylorMade burner driver when they just came out.

My pro happened to look at it and saw it fake.

eBay were great. Suspended the sellers account then closed it, refunded me. Other than getting police involved in not sure if they could have done anything else.

[sixtysevensixtyseven]

I could tell they were fake just from the finish. The Callaway satin finish is pretty unique in that it isn't a brushed finish like most other companies use. It's more like a peened finish and you can tell right away that the finish is not from Callaway.

 

It's unlikely that they came from the same factory. I do a lot of work with machining and castings and those look like they were cast. It's a lot cheaper to make a cast copy of them than to machine the tooling necessary to forge them.

[peteyang]

I looked through the sellers "Completed Items" and it seems like most of the golf clubs that he has sold in the past are counterfeit items. The Ping G30 irons were terrible fakes with fake CP2 grips. The M2 irons look counterfeit as well.

 

I hope the seller gets his account shut down. He seems to know what he is selling since a lot of the golf clubs that he sells (his face is reflected nicely in the M2 iron soles picture) are near-new as if he bought them from AliExpress or the like to flip on eBay.

 

https://www.ebay.com...=p2047675.l2557

[outgolfing]

Adding some of my pictures back to this thread.

 

As you can see in these pictures these are the fake X forged. In the picture of the grip the one of the left is the fake.

[n'play]

My friend also got a set of fakes a month ago and did not know they were fakes until he compared them with my retail ones.

The ebay retailers are mostly from Mira Loma and around the inland empire.

A good way to check before you buy is that most of the fakes are being called Japan versions and are being sold with the older callaway grip the japan market is not selling them with the dated 2012 grip.

When they arrive you will be be hard pressed to see they are fakes right away even after hitting them as they are very soft however the finish on the cavity of some of the heads looks a little ruff , and the trailing edge is straight not with a slight curve, the stamping is not as direct as the callaway stamping is deep and deliberate.

[Joose]

Hi, 

I realize this is an old thread, but I’m trying to identify some possible fakes I may have bought. If you happen to still have your original photos that you posted, I would love to see them. They aren’t showing up here any longer. Thanks!

[rynobucket]

5 hours ago, Joose said:

Hi, 

I realize this is an old thread, but I’m trying to identify some possible fakes I may have bought. If you happen to still have your original photos that you posted, I would love to see them. They aren’t showing up here any longer. Thanks!

You might have better luck if you post pics of your irons and have people give their opinion. The chances of somebody still having pics from 3 years ago are slim. You could also try a google search, plenty of results come back of fakes with pics.

Edited July 10, 2021 by rynobucket

[dcfball88]

While we’re at it, the Gh05t above in this thread isn’t the guy from that crazy BST problem DOND thread, is it? Thought dude was banned.

[the bishop]

8 hours ago, dcfball88 said:

While we’re at it, the Gh05t above in this thread isn’t the guy from that crazy BST problem DOND thread, is it? Thought dude was banned.

It's the same guy.  Look at his posting history.  Hasn't been on the site in nearly a year though.

[grm24]

16 hours ago, the bishop said:

It's the same guy.  Look at his posting history.  Hasn't been on the site in nearly a year though.

That last visited date for Gh05t of last August isn't really a log in date. It's the date of the the migration back to WRX original software we a currently using. There are many user profiles here that have August 11, 2020 as their last visited date. When all the profiles were moved back to this software that date was used as a default.

[outgolfing]

On 7/10/2021 at 8:13 AM, Joose said:

Hi, 

I realize this is an old thread, but I’m trying to identify some possible fakes I may have bought. If you happen to still have your original photos that you posted, I would love to see them. They aren’t showing up here any longer. Thanks!

unfortuantly I do not have my original pics any longer and they have been removed from the site.  If you post pics of yours I can take a look and let you know, I remember the details of the fake vs real ones.