Golf Club Prices

There was a recent thread on the Golf Channel’s discussion boards about the escalating prices of golf clubs—particularly drivers. And that got me to thinking about whether or not anyone actually paid retail on these clubs, and where the best prices might be. Frankly, I didn’t know. I make my own clubs from components and haven’t really paid attention to the prices of the big manufacturers. So I decided to do a little virtual shopping and see where I could get the best discount golf clubs.

The club I picked for my price comparison is the Taylor-Made R7. Here’s what I found:

Suggested Retail: $600
Local Pro Shop: $599
Half a dozen online retailers: $499
EBay: $321 - $385 (brief sampling)

It turns out that TaylorMade has some sort of agreement that prevents people from offering discounts. So I decided to check another product. This time, it was the Cleveland Launcher 460 Comp. I called the local golf shop to begin my research and got a price: $479 - the same as the suggested retail. Then I went online; everyone was offering it for $379. However, you could find it on EBay for $295 - $355.

I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that Cleveland also has one of those no discount deals.

Checks on five other products found the same thing. The suggested retail price was offered by the local proshop; all the online retailers offered the same price. You could get it significantly cheaper on Ebay.

Frankly, though, I don’t know why anyone would pay these prices. If you want a driver with adjustable screws, you can get one like the Snake Eyes Viper Ti-4 for just $119. Golfsmith is a reputable manufacturer and I have found their products to be uniformly good, if sometimes imitative or uninspired. Add a top of the line Aldila shaft for $87 and glue it together yourself. The whole thing, including the ferrule, glue, and grip materials should run around $225—less than half the price of a new R7. And thats if you go overboard on the shaft.

Fight back against the manufacturers exorbitant prices: build your own.