Golfsmith’s Clubmaker Magazine is essentially a catalog for their components and tools, but it also has some very good technical articles. This month’s issue, for example, has an article on fitting clubs for length. For a while, the magazine was available only to professional clubmakers and Golfsmith’s regular component customers (of which I was one). Now, however, it’s available online.

The February issue is here.

The Acer XP905 Hollow Core Iron features a hollow core stainless steel body which removes the weight from the center of the clubhead. The oversized iron design is designed for extreme perimeter weighting, offering stability and forgiveness. The face is thin, lightweight, Beta Titanium that offers increased ball velocity. Finally, a rubber backing in the cavity is designed to dampen vibration and improve both sound and feel.

The Acer XP 905 WS is available both as components and finished clubs.

Dynacraft is an old-line component designer and manufacturer that recently was bought by Hireko Golf.

The new Dynacraft Prophet CNC iron is produced with a new technique where it’s stamped from a billet of 1020 carbon steel into an oversized, overweight head. CNC milling is then used to cut the blade into the exact shape needed. The technique allows the creation of a forged blade with an undercut cavity that generally is found only in cast heads. The result is a true game-improvement forged blade.

You can get them as components, or assembled, and they come with a 60 day satisfaction guarantee.

You can’t have too many putters. Or at least that’s what my friend Dave claims. Here’s one he doesn’t have in his collection (yet).

Hireko golf says that its new Acer CB2 putter is “the most advanced putter made for the component market.” It features a two piece consturciton with a lightweight milled aluminum face and center section and a stainless steel outer ring.

The outer ring accounts for more than half the weight of the putter, which allows Hireko to achieve the holy grail of golf club design—a high moment of intertia.

It’s also center shafted, which is my preferred style. I also like the fact that you can get it either assembled, or as a component.

Hireko’s got a 60 Day Satisfaction guarantee.

It’s golf show season here in Michigan (and, I suspect, in many other places, too).  And these shows are often a great place to get good clubs at a tremendous discount.

Unfortunately, the reason some of these clubs are so inexpensive is that they’re cheap knockoffs. But how can you tell?

Here’s a tip: if you’re shopping for clubs at one of these shows, carry a small magnet with you. It’ll be useful for determining whether a club really is what it says. Magnets won’t stick to titanium, so if a driver says that it’s got a titanium face and a magnet sticks to it, be suspicious. Magnets also won’t stick to zinc or aluminum. So if an iron claims to be steel, and a magnet won’t stick to it, be suspicious.

Zinc-Aluminum alloys often are used in beginner clubs and in knockoffs.