Club Conex - What’s going on?

[kjbuckeye]

Been trying to purchase club conex components. I couldn’t order from their website. I have emailed them, called them, left a voicemail, and even reached out to True Spec (their owner) to see what was up. True spec said someone would get back to me. No luck. 

Has anyone had any contact with Club Conex lately? 

Thanks. 

[Hack Daddy]

Did the main guy that owned CC sell to True Spec? I remember a few years back, the owner/inventor was very responsive.

 

 

[3putt-5]

True Spec purchased them a couple of years ago.  I was able to get through and speak with Anthony a couple weeks ago as I was having the same issue with the website not allowing you to checkout.  He informed me that they had disabled their website while their legal team finalized the details on a new business model which would "allow them to serve the customer better" and that details would be sent out shortly.  A few days later I received an email with the details of their new business model.  In order to purchase their components go forward, you must become a Club Conex member which requires a $300 per month contractual commitment for a minimum of 24 months.  That is for your first facility, if you have multiple facilities then you pay an additional $100 per month per facility for the same 24 month term.  This just gets you the privilege of being allowed to purchase their product.  The product pricing itself appears to be pretty much in line with what they have offered in the past.  I know they have struggled with Chinese knockoffs of their adaptors, but I don't see how this does anything to help them on that front.  Requiring a club builder to pay you $3600 a year just to be able to purchase your product is going to do nothing but drive customers to their competitors.  Wish I had better news as I have been a loyal customer since the company was founded, but I will be forced to switch to a competing product in the near future.

[third-times-a-charm]

A terrible company who is lucky to have a patent.

 

Cant wait till it runs out and the market is flooded with options and they go bankrupt.

 

This isn’t the first time their shady practices have been under discussion like this.

[kjbuckeye]

4 hours ago, ThreePuttForePar said:

True Spec purchased them a couple of years ago.  I was able to get through and speak with Anthony a couple weeks ago as I was having the same issue with the website not allowing you to checkout.  He informed me that they had disabled their website while their legal team finalized the details on a new business model which would "allow them to serve the customer better" and that details would be sent out shortly.  A few days later I received an email with the details of their new business model.  In order to purchase their components go forward, you must become a Club Conex member which requires a $300 per month contractual commitment for a minimum of 24 months.  That is for your first facility, if you have multiple facilities then you pay an additional $100 per month per facility for the same 24 month term.  This just gets you the privilege of being allowed to purchase their product.  The product pricing itself appears to be pretty much in line with what they have offered in the past.  I know they have struggled with Chinese knockoffs of their adaptors, but I don't see how this does anything to help them on that front.  Requiring a club builder to pay you $3600 a year just to be able to purchase your product is going to do nothing but drive customers to their competitors.  Wish I had better news as I have been a loyal customer since the company was founded, but I will be forced to switch to a competing product in the near future.

A couple other folks have told me that same thing since I posted this initially. That is the worst business practice ever. 

[Thayneil]

5 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

A terrible company who is lucky to have a patent.

 

Cant wait till it runs out and the market is flooded with options and they go bankrupt.

 

This isn’t the first time their shady practices have been under discussion like this.

Do the chinese care about patents?

[Hack Daddy]

5 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

A terrible company who is lucky to have a patent.

 

Cant wait till it runs out and the market is flooded with options and they go bankrupt.

 

This isn’t the first time their shady practices have been under discussion like this.

 

Unless it's a government held patent, it's easily beatable. Esp w a component like the CC; I could go in CAD and alter a little here, a little there and have basically the same product. It's just having someone who wants to go down that road. 

 

[SwingBlues]

I spoke with Anthony about 3 weeks ago, just happen that he picked up the call that day. That was in mid to late January. In that conversation, the guy that handled the sales just walked away from that position. As well, Anthony said his company was effected by COVID, one of his staff caught it so they had to shut down. As well, they did some audits of the fitters and found they had issues with counterfeits. He said CC was talking with their lawyers to draft an agreement for the fitters but I said to him, I am not a fitter, I am just a consumer that loved his product and now that it was USGA legal for tournament, it seemed like a great product that I can use in my backup driver heads that I liked to play. He acknowledged that in the conversation since, I think his mindset was that this CC was all fitters... Anthony seem to be happy that his adapter is now USGA legal for tournament and he played in one.

 

It was a decent and open conversation.

 

I didn't hear anymore further but I was still anxious to get some Uni-Fit sleeves for my incoming Max LS.

 

And just  like @ThreePuttForePar mentioned, I received an email from Club Conex with that $300 per month agreement. $100 per additional facility. This was not going to fly with me, I am not a fitter, just a regular WRXers like each of you here in this thread that likes to tinker and play golf.

 

I emailed back to Anthony about his agreement saying this won't work for consumers. I am not a business, can't afford a $300 a month, hell, I don't even spend that much on green fees a month. I have yet to hear back from him...

 

Unfortunately, I have 3 of my costly shafts with his tip. With a sleeve for 2 different heads, I think I can survive and if these sleeves or adapters go, I am done with Club Conex. Before this CRAZINESS on their part, it was simple to order and I really liked the concept and product - it's such a pity Club Conex has decided to turn this way.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by SwingBlues

[davo32683]

Well, this brings up the question. What are the other alternatives out there? This obviously won't work for a guy that doesn't own a shop, just has a severe shaft addiction 🙋‍♂️

[taylorx300]

See if True Spec will sell you the sleeves. I have access to the adapters that go on the shafts but no extra vendor sleeves.

[Stuart_G]

56 minutes ago, davo32683 said:

Well, this brings up the question. What are the other alternatives out there? This obviously won't work for a guy that doesn't own a shop, just has a severe shaft addiction 🙋‍♂️

 

I haven't looked into it too deeply, but I noticed Billy Bob's golf looks like they have a fitting system now.

 

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product-category/cmx-club-fitting-system/

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product-category/cmx-reg-universal-oem-fitting-system/

 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Golfrnut]

27 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

I haven't looked into it too deeply, but I noticed Billy Bob's golf looks like they have a fitting system now.

 

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product-category/cmx-club-fitting-system/

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product-category/cmx-reg-universal-oem-fitting-system/

 

 

 

That setup looks pretty legit.  I'm actually intrigued that they have a counterweight system offered also.  Would be good to see those stackable to add multiple weight together, but it's cool to see people coming up with some useful new stuff like that.

[SwingBlues]

3 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

I haven't looked into it too deeply, but I noticed Billy Bob's golf looks like they have a fitting system now.

 

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product-category/cmx-club-fitting-system/

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product-category/cmx-reg-universal-oem-fitting-system/

 

 

 

It looks like they have the main OEM (titlesit, TM, Cobra) but Ping was missing so I just reached out to Billy Bobs - their response was that the website does not show the Ping adapter, its missing but they have that available. Also, the other tidbit is that they are looking into carrying another system and will announce it soon...

Edited February 22, 2021 by SwingBlues

[SwingBlues]

UPDATE on the CMX system. First, thank you to Billy Bob's for the great information on the CMX system. They were so prompt in their reply.

 

Straight up - this system, you need weights at the end of the grip to counter balance the weight of the CMX adapter system. CMX is really 2 parts - it's an adapter that fits into the head and then there is a "screw in ferrule" for the adapter. This screw in part is where your shaft will be inserted into. As such, it appears to be weighty compared to OEMs and therefore, you will need to counter balance this with weight at the end of the shaft. How much is dependent on the length of the shaft but here is a screen shot from Billy Bob's info...

 

 

 

So if you need a Ping, you need some "weight" at the end of your shaft.

 

Billy Bob's has amazing customer service for sure 👍

Edited February 22, 2021 by SwingBlues

[JohnPaul]

19 hours ago, ThreePuttForePar said:

True Spec purchased them a couple of years ago.  I was able to get through and speak with Anthony a couple weeks ago as I was having the same issue with the website not allowing you to checkout.  He informed me that they had disabled their website while their legal team finalized the details on a new business model which would "allow them to serve the customer better" and that details would be sent out shortly.  A few days later I received an email with the details of their new business model.  In order to purchase their components go forward, you must become a Club Conex member which requires a $300 per month contractual commitment for a minimum of 24 months.  That is for your first facility, if you have multiple facilities then you pay an additional $100 per month per facility for the same 24 month term.  This just gets you the privilege of being allowed to purchase their product.  The product pricing itself appears to be pretty much in line with what they have offered in the past.  I know they have struggled with Chinese knockoffs of their adaptors, but I don't see how this does anything to help them on that front.  Requiring a club builder to pay you $3600 a year just to be able to purchase your product is going to do nothing but drive customers to their competitors.  Wish I had better news as I have been a loyal customer since the company was founded, but I will be forced to switch to a competing product in the near future.

 

I second/confirm this. Its a real d*ck in the Word not allowed for anyone, even for rather large custom fitting facilities. They have 100% cut out any retail consumer who wants a few adapter and a few COGs.  

 

We had a really big order we tried to place for 2 months starting in December and the per-unit price tripled on us overnight because of this new agreement.

 

There is a 'movement' if you will of written pushback that is being compiled at the moment as a last ditch effort.  

 

This is pure speculation.... but I have a feeling that True Spec Golf doesn't want people to buy these adapters. In their dream situation, they would win their legal case against Club Champion (this is public information https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/14286685/true-spec-golf-llc-v-club-champion-llc/ , thanks Freedom of Information Act), put them out of business, and be the only place that can offer fittings with universal adapter. Like I said, I have no facts to specifically support this, just a guess. 

 

I'll try to keep you guys posted on the situation. 

 

If anyone wants to talk about it more, DM me.

[enfuego]

6 minutes ago, SwingBlues said:

UPDATE on the CMX system. First, thank you to Billy Bob's for the great information on the CMX system. They were so prompt in their reply.

 

Straight up - this system, you need weights at the end of the grip to counter balance the weight of the CMX adapter system. CMX is really 2 parts - it's an adapter that fits into the head and then there is a "screw in ferrule" for the adapter. This screw in part is where your shaft will be inserted into. As such, it appears to be weighty compared to OEMs and therefore, you will need to counter balance this with weight at the end of the shaft. How much is dependent on the length of the shaft but here is a screen shot from Billy Bob's info...

 

 

 

So if you need a Ping, you need some "weight" at the end of your shaft.

 

Billy Bob's has amazing customer service for sure 👍

Check out switch grips, they have grips with a place to change out counter weights without having to regrip like you would with tour lock pro. Also Billy bobs counter weight system doesn't look as secure. It's funny club champion doesn't counter weight from what I've read but they fit you with a heavy swing weight because of the adapters and then to get that heavy swing weight without the adapter you need them or someone else to build it heavy.

 

I believe TXG has said they take into consideration the adapter weight and build all of their fitting heads so that it is still a normal swing weight.

 

Someone also approached TXG and said his engineering students wanted to design a better universal fitting adapter for them. Ian said yes but I don't think they have them yet.

Edited February 22, 2021 by enfuego

[Golfrnut]

Yeah, it comes up a lot here, I don’t think there are too many that advocate the counterweighting as a viable option. Yeah, the balance will change, but the heft/Moi is still there. Change weights, shave wrights, drill weights, whatever it takes to compensate for the head weight in other ways IMO. The good thing is, most heads these days have some sort weight option to allow you to alter them in some way. 

[Hack Daddy]

Billy Bob's is a stand up organization. 

 

But the CMX line is absolute garbage. 

[Stuart_G]

12 minutes ago, Hack Daddy said:

Billy Bob's is a stand up organization. 

 

But the CMX line is absolute garbage. 

 

Can you be a bit more specific?   I'd have to disagree based on my experience but willing to be open minded.  I've used tons of CMX adapters (TM, Ping, and Callaway) and the quality has always been equal to or even better than the OEM adapters.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Stuart_G]

1 hour ago, Golfrnut said:

Yeah, it comes up a lot here, I don’t think there are too many that advocate the counterweighting as a viable option. Yeah, the balance will change, but the heft/Moi is still there. Change weights, shave wrights, drill weights, whatever it takes to compensate for the head weight in other ways IMO. The good thing is, most heads these days have some sort weight option to allow you to alter them in some way. 

 

^^^^ This.  Counterbalancing is not the way to compensate for a heavy fitting system.  The only proper way is to reduce the head weight.

[trhode]

On 2/22/2021 at 7:36 PM, Stuart_G said:

 

Can you be a bit more specific?   I'd have to disagree based on my experience but willing to be open minded.  I've used tons of CMX adapters (TM, Ping, and Callaway) and the quality has always been equal to or even better than the OEM adapters.

I used the CMX fitting system for a while when it came out around 6 years ago. Ran into the issue with lefties right away. Not willing to invest in 2 of every shaft to be able to fit RH and LH.

Edited February 27, 2021 by trhode

[davo32683]

1 hour ago, trhode said:

I used the CMX fitting system for a while when it came out around 6 years ago. Ran into the issue with lefties right away. Not willing to invest in 2 of every shaft to be able to fit RH and LH. All-Fit is the way to go! 

Which system are you using these days?

[knudson81]

Man, I am going to be so bummed if I can't get anymore Uni-Fit stuff. I have gone kinda all in on that system and from the looks of the Billy Bob's CMX design, I don't want to mess with headweights and counter weights with all the procut I am swapping on the range. 

[trhode]

On 2/23/2021 at 7:37 AM, davo32683 said:

Which system are you using these days?

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by trhode

[davo32683]

1 minute ago, trhode said:

Mostly All-Fit. Still have Conex Fuse-Fit on the irons, but that might have to change because of this. 

Thanks. Do you buy the All-Fit directly from them? Might need to look into their system a bit.

[trhode]

On 2/23/2021 at 8:17 AM, davo32683 said:

Thanks. Do you buy the All-Fit directly from them? Might need to look into their system a bit.

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by trhode

[SwingBlues]

2 hours ago, knudson81 said:

Man, I am going to be so bummed if I can't get anymore Uni-Fit stuff. I have gone kinda all in on that system and from the looks of the Billy Bob's CMX design, I don't want to mess with headweights and counter weights with all the procut I am swapping on the range. 

Dude - you're the one that inspired me to switch to Uni-Fit with that FANTASTIC YouTube video you did... the exact length and no CB was one really nice aspect of Uni-Fit

 

 

I'm going to email Anthony and see if he'd like to have some input into this discussion.

[knudson81]

37 minutes ago, SwingBlues said:

Dude - you're the one that inspired me to switch to Uni-Fit with that FANTASTIC YouTube video you did... the exact length and no CB was one really nice aspect of Uni-Fit

 

 

I'm going to email Anthony and see if he'd like to have some input into this discussion.

 

 

Now I feel pretty bad about the recommendation! DIdn't know they were going this route.

[SwingBlues]

On 2/23/2021 at 8:02 AM, knudson81 said:

 

 

Now I feel pretty bad about the recommendation! DIdn't know they were going this route.

 

Don't feel bad, we can't predict the future and Uni-Fit was around for years (I believe) and honestly, I didn't think I would go this route until I had to 2 Blue Velocores sitting in my garage and it was time to streamline things with my shafts/heads. I don't think anyone knew except Club Conex (Anthony). I was able to purchase all the parts in December and then the gate shut in January.

 

Hopefully Anthony comes and gives some input. I think I will reach out to parent company True Spec as well as some have done here.

Edited February 28, 2021 by SwingBlues

[Hertsjoatmon]

10 minutes ago, knudson81 said:

 

 

Now I feel pretty bad about the recommendation! DIdn't know they were going this route.

Ah, you found the thread then. This is such bad practice from a business point of view. If they had marketed their system differently they could have had so much more consumer engagement rather than just focusing on fitters. I know so many golfers who love to tinker and had no idea of this system and now its pretty much off limits as they are pricing everyone out.