GigaGolf

Grade: A-

Teacher’s Comments: All in all, a very pleasant and pain free buying experience. Great communication and quick delivery. My first impression of the club is that it’s well assembled and has top quality parts. The website could use a little more tweaks in usability, however.

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”

Gigagolf is offering 30% off select products if you use the link below.

That means you can get an Oxygen S Driver (Ping G5 Clone) for as low as $69.

If you don’t need to have a name brand, this could be a steal.

Gigagolf’s Turbo Power XQ 460 Ti offers many of the features of the Nike Sasquatch driver at a third of the price.

With a 460cc footprint, the XQ460 Ti is huge, and nearly as deep as it is wide (USGA specifications actually require that it be wider than it is deep).  The result is a club with a very low center of gravity and a high moment of intertia that gets the ball up quickly and keeps it on line.

The best part of the club, though, is the price. Even with a UST Proforce 75 shaft, the cost is just over $100.

Repeat after me: Golf does NOT have to be expensive.

With the Gigagolf online fitting, you can customize the grips and grip size, shaft type, club length and lie to fit your swing. And Gigagolf offers a 30 day playability guarantee so there’s no risk for trying.

Turbo Power XQ 460 Ti

The Gigagolf Powermax GX920 packs a lot of golf technology in an inexpensive package. For as little as $121 (depending upon your configuration), you can take advantage of many of the features of the Callaway X series.

Gigagolf says that the thin face on its GX920 maximizes ball speeds even at slower speeds, while the wide sole positions weight at the bottom of the club, producing a high trajectory. The notched rear cavity is designed to move weight low and away from the impact area, providing a high moment of inertia (resistance to twisting), and thus straighter shots.

Like all Gigagolf products, you can customize the grips and grip size, shaft type, club length and lie to fit your swing. And Gigagolf offers a 30 day playability guarantee so there’s no risk for trying.

Power Max GX920

The Acer XP Hollow Core offers many of the features of the Callaway Fusion Irons at a much lower price.

The unique iron design features a thin beta titanium face for increased rebound and added distance, and a hollow core stainless steel body which removes the weight from the center of the clubhead and dramatically expands the area of forgiveness. A unique rubber backing dampens vibration and improves sound and feel.

With GigaGolf’s online fitting system, you can have your set assembled to your specifications, modifying grip size, shaft type, flex and length and lie angle.

As with all GigaGolf products, this one comes with a 30 day playability guarantee and a one year warranty.