TopFlite’s tour level ball, the Strata TL Tour has been marked down from $29.99 a dozen to just $11.99 a dozen at GolfSmith.

Power Max KC2

GigaGolf’s PowerMax Kc2 Fairway Woods offer a thin, hot faced technology in a very reasonably priced club. For as little as $38.50 you get a club with many of the technologies that make the name brand clubs so popular. The KC2 has a sole designed to work well in both rough and off the fairway, and it has four adjustable weights that allow you to configure the club to the ideal ball flight for your game. Better players will appreciate the neutral face angle, which allows a player to “work” the ball flight. If you’re a slicer or hooker, though, you can use the weights to compensate.

The PowerMax is a GigaGolf exclusive.

Acer XP 905 Tour

The Acer XP 905 Tour is a sharp looking set of clubs designed for the low to mid handicap player. It’s similar to the XP 905 with its undercut cavity and perimeter weighting. But it also offers design features for the better player, such as a reduced offset hosel that offers more ability to work the ball.

The face of the club is forged carbon steel that has been welded onto a 431 stainless steel body. This offers the feel of a forged iron at a fraction of the price.

Acer XP 905 Ti

GigaGolf’s Acer 905 Ti is a 460 CC driver with a thin beta face technology. The club is designed with a deep profile and rounder face, which Giga says optimizes energy transfer to the ball. GigaGolf says that the coefficient of restitution (COR - trampoline effect) on this club equals the USGA’s limit.

Starting at just $88.50, this club is a real bargain for a titanium driver. As a clubmaker, I can’t make them that cheap.

Like all of Giga’s products, this club comes with GigaGolf’s playability guarantee.

A Post from The Bargain Bunker:

I ran across a site called Coupon Chief  that has a page with online coupons for Sports Authority Coupons—one of my favorite stores. And right now, they’ve got a teriffic deal going, with 25% off any single item. That would make that new-fangled high tech driver that you’ve been coveting all summer long almost affordable.

They’ve got other online coupons there, too.

Acer XP Fused

GigaGolf’s Acer XP Fused Ti 400 fuses a lighweight composite crown to a titanium face and body. The weight savings from the crown are moved to the sole, making the driver very forgiving. More weight in the sole means a higher ball flight and less spin—and more accurate drives.

You can get a driver with a composite head from a manufacturer like Callaway for $300 or more. Or you can get this one from GigaGolf for $99 and use the extra money to actually PLAY golf.

GigaGolf

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Teacher’s Comments:

I recently decided to replace the five iron in my bag with a hybrid. Normally, I’d head to Golfsmith, get the parts and do it myself. I’ve been making clubs for years, and derive great satisfaction from the work. However, as I had recently been given a gift certificate to GigaGolf, I decided to order a hybrid from there instead.

GigaGolf is an internet-based company that assembles custom golf clubs from components. In this, they fill a definite niche in the golf market. They don’t offer original designs backed by hundreds of millions in R&D like the major manufacturers, but they also are light years ahead of department store brands such as Knight, Golden Bear, and JP Lann.

In using parts from major component manufacturers, GigaGolf places itself squarely in the “smart follower” category. Most of the component companies don’t do original R&D (Golfsmith and GolfWorks are the exceptions), but are content to seize upon established technologies from the big boys. Thus, what you are getting is often last year’s design.

And that’s where the cost savings come from. Because they don’t spend millions on R&D, the component guys can offer clubs at substantially reduced prices without skimping on material quality. Parts from the larger name component guys are constructed from the same steel and titanium as the name brands. (not so from the department store clubs, which are often made from cheap alloys.)

The GigaGolf site is relatively easy to use. On the main page, a series of slide-out menus allow you to narrow your selection by hand, club type and model. I had a little bit of trouble keeping the menus in position, so I eventually used the alternate method and clicked on a link in the sidebar that said “View All Clubs”