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Please scroll down for three postage options and ignore delivery dates given by eBay.
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Club Specs:
Brand: TaylorMade
Model: P790
Year of Release: 2021
Set Make Up: 4-PW+AW
Length: Very likely Standard Length according to TaylorMade (see photo of table and 4th last photo)
Lie: 2 Degrees Upright Lie (Close- see photo of table)
Clubs Are Aimed At: Low to Mid Handicappers
Iron Type: Hollow Body Cavity Back (Forged)
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 S
Weight: 114 Grams (Mid Weight)
Flex: Stiff
Material: Steel
Grips: Golf Pride Z Grip Round (Non Cord)
Size: Standard
I Think These Clubs Would Be Suited To: 12 or so handicap golfers and lower including who measure between 5 foot 9 and 6 foot 1 or so in height and prefer the feel of mid weight shafts in their irons and have a moderate swing speed and tempo.
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All photos are of the actual clubs for sale and none of them have been used since the photos were taken.
14 Day Trial and One Month Warranty Included (Please scroll Down For Details)
Please scroll down if you would like info on eBay feedback removal. Any feedback that I receive in the future that gets removed by eBay will be added to that list.
You do not need to buy from a business seller to avoid buying counterfeit irons on eBay. I go into more detail about this in the 5th and 6th last photo on this listing and further below.
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Postage Info For UK Buyers
Please read the following and choose a postage option on the checkout page.
On the checkout page there will be three postage options on the left hand side under the postage address. The dates given below are the actual delivery dates. Not the dates given on the checkout page. Please choose one of the postage options before making payment. (The free option will be selected automatically unless you click on one of the others.)
The delivery times given below are not guaranteed but are very very likely.
- Option 1- Free Delivery- (4-7 working days after payment.) ParcelForce48- Clubs will be delivered to your house or apartment.
- Option 2- £5- (3-5 working days after payment.) ParcelForce24- Clubs will be delivered to your house or apartment.
- Option 3- £9- (2-3 working days after payment.) ParcelForce24- Clubs will be delivered to your house or apartment.
Option 1 or 2 will also mean that I will very likely post the clubs on a later date than option 3.
I am giving buyers the option of a postage discount for anyone who does not want them urgently which means that I can post at a convenient time for me. (I don’t sell clubs every day) but I am also happy to go and post ASAP if you want to go for option 3.
I live in Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK so there will be no customs or import charges for any buyer who lives there just to be clear on that) but I have found that posting clubs to mainland UK normally takes one or sometimes two days longer than posting clubs to buyers who live in Northern Ireland. I think it’s the distance between sender and receiver that can add a day or two to postage times. I think it might be the same for within mainland UK. Edinburgh to London might take a day or two longer than Birmingham to London.
(I think that 7 working days was the longest that ParcelForce have ever taken to deliver a parcel of mine from date of postage in hundreds of parcels but ParcelForce are usually very reliable apart from the one or sometimes two extra days and they have around a 99% success rate of delivering parcels based on my past experience of sending and receiving parcels but delayed deliveries are possible.)
A refund on postage costs will be given if the clubs are delivered later than these timeframes (including a £5 partial refund on option 1).
A full refund will be given if ParcelForce (Royal Mail) lose the clubs or you don’t receive them because they are stolen by someone outside your house. This is part of the eBay Money Back Guarantee. It doesn’t matter who you buy from. This applies.
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Condition:
Heads and Faces: 6/10
Shafts: 7/10
Grips: 7/10
- None of the clubs have been used since any of the photos were taken.
- Please take a good look at all of my photos on either the eBay app on your phone, tablet or laptop and then use the zoom in feature if possible. My photos will tell you more than my ratings and rating guide will.
- Please scroll down for my rating guide.
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Extra Notes:
- These clubs are available to buy if you can see this listing on the eBay website.
(eBay is the only website that I sell clubs on and I don’t sell clubs in person).
- I think that club weights for irons are very important (for scoring well). As are swing weights (please see one of the photos on this listing showing a photo of a table). The lighter the total weight of the club is, the faster you should be able to swing it. Too light will likely result in more inconsistent ball striking and accuracy. More so under pressure. Too heavy will likely result in slower clubhead speed and will take more out on the body but you may be more consistent. Shaft weight is the biggest thing that you can change to alter the total club weight. For mens iron shafts, I have read that light weight is 80-100 grams, mid weight is 100-120 grams and heavy/ tour weight is 120-133 grams. Under 80 grams is super light weight which are rarely used by men.
If you are wondering what heavy or light is for an iron (see photo showing table of swing weight calculations):
A ‘stock’ Titleist 7 iron aimed at primarily very good players such as the MB or CB model at standard length (37 inches) with a tour/ heavy weight Dynamic Gold X100 shaft at 130 grams (that Tiger used for his whole career to date) plus a standard Golf Pride Tour Velvet or Lamkin Crossline grip at 50 grams will weigh a total of 450 grams or very close to that and will be D2 swing weight. That club will feel ‘heavy’ to swing compared to most 7 iron clubs aimed at amateur golfers which have lighter shafts than Dynamic Gold X100, resulting in 7 iron that is lighter than 450 grams (at standard length).
You could have a standard length 7 iron with a standard 50 gram grip that has a much lighter shaft but is still D2 swing weight because the clubhead is heavier to compensate or the makeup of the shaft compensates for the lighter shaft. That club will still feel lighter to swing than the club with the heavier shaft even though the swing weights are both D2. That’s my opinion based on past experience of me swinging different clubs of known weights and swing weights.
A Ping i230 7 iron (aimed at low to mid handicappers) that I previously had for sale measured 37.125 inches and had a dynamic gold 105 S300 shaft at 103 grams (mid weight) and standard Lamkin Crossline Black grip (50 grams) which weighed 418 grams for total club weight and had a swing weight of D1.5.
Total club weight is as important as swing weight. I disliked my clubs feeling too heavy or too light even though I was not playing golf at a high level. I still disliked it. A big part of my enjoyment of golf was practicing enough so that I was often able to strike the ball well and towards the target, even if that didn’t mean good scores in a competitions. (That’s partly because my short game was terrible most of the time unless I spent a lot of time practicing it. I enjoyed practicing long game more than actually playing rounds of golf and didn’t particularly like short game). A suitable clubhead and shaft combination can help you strike the ball better more often with greater accuracy regardless of how good your swing and technique is.
If a golf club is too heavy for your liking, you could put on heavier grips which will actually lower the swing weight but that doesn’t solve your heavy golf club problem because you are making the club even heavier. You need a lighter shaft in that instance.
Iron sets are designed to have the same ‘swing weight’ throughout the set in order to give all of your irons a similar ‘feel’ even though the long irons are heavier than the short irons. That’s partly why you can swing the long irons faster than the short irons, just because they are lighter. Not just because they are longer in length.
The swing weight of a PW or Approach/ Gap wedge of a standard spec set may be 1 or 2 points higher than the rest of the irons in the set.
Another point to make on swing weights is that many golfers may not notice a difference between D2 and D5 swing weight but will notice a difference when it gets to D8. A golfer who is very sensitive to any changes will likely notice a difference between D2 and D3 or D4.
This is similar to total club weight. It depends on how sensitive and fussy you are to changes and about what you like and don’t like. I was very fussy.
- The ferrules are secure in positon ie I could not twist or move any of them.
(Loose or shifted ferrules on irons and wedges are only a cosmetic problem and will not affect performance but I check them anyway).
If you ever do get a loose ferrule on an iron or wedge, if desired you can pay a club pro around £3 per club to glue it back into position again, or you can do it yourself if you do a youtube search for ‘golf loose ferrule fix’ and watch the first youtube result.
Accuracy of measurements:
- Measurements of Lie angles are almost guaranteed to be accurate to within plus or minus one degree and very likely within +/- half a degree.
- Measurements of Loft angles are almost guaranteed to be accurate to within plus or minus 1.5 degrees and very likely within +/- one degree.
- Measurements of Club Lengths are almost guaranteed to be accurate to within plus or minus one eighth of an inch.
- Swing weight Calculations are almost guaranteed to be accurate to within plus or minus one swing weight point and likely within +/- 0.6 of a point.
(These levels of accuracy are based upon me measuring the specs of new and almost new ‘off the rack’ standard spec Titleist iron sets and comparing them with the standard specs given by Titleist on their website. Titleist are known to have very tight tolerances.)
- For how I measure club lengths, please do a youTube search for ‘hireko golf club length part 1’. That’s very close to how I do it except I have the ruler touching the hosel of the club. I also measure to the edge of the grip cap and then I deduct one eighths (0.125) of an inch from that measurement (pink line in one of the last photos on this listing- alternate method of measuring club length).
I measure club lengths twice to double check that I have not made an error.
Please see that photo for an alternate method of measuring club lengths. If you look at the blue asterisk, brands vary as to how much of the grip cap they include as part of the club length. I think Mizuno measure to the red line (or they used to) and TaylorMade currently measure to the blue line (including dome at top). I think that at least some of the brands measure club lengths using the ‘USGA’ method which gives slightly different club lengths depending on the lie angle of the club. The USGA method uses a measuring tool which has the lie angle at a fixed 60 degrees.
- I have cleaned all of the clubs with water and a sponge or cloth (including shafts and grips).
- I think the grips are all on properly ie pushed fully onto the shafts. I could not feel any obvious overhang when I pushed my thumb against the ends of them.
- I have left small dots and/or lines on the underside of the shafts from marking balance points for doing swing weight calculations. I used a sharpie permanent marker. They will quickly come off with a wet sponge scourer if desired.
- For buyers in the UK: You will not be required to pay any import charges or duties. (I live in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK).
- For buyers in the Republic of Ireland: You will not be required to pay any import charges or duties or taxes unless the value of the clubs is less than 150 euros (collected by eBay on checkout page). You will very likely have to pay a currency conversion fee of around 3-5%. Please message me if you have any further questions about that.
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14 Day Trial
- You have 14 days from date of delivery to try the clubs out at the driving range and/ or golf course.
- To take advantage of this you will need to buy the clubs on eBay at the full price and then a return will be accepted for any reason for a full refund.
- Returns postage will cost no more than £13.50 for buyers in the UK. It will be less than that if you use eBay’s return postage label (ParcelForce).
- During the trial period, you can hit as many balls as you like at the driving range or practice ground and use the clubs for as many rounds as you like but I would ask if you could please clean and dry the clubs after using them to keep them in the best possible condition and keep the resale value as high as possible.
- You will not have to pay extra for insurance/ enhanced compensation in case the courier loses the clubs. A full refund will still be given. This offer only applies if you use ParcelForce (who are very reliable and very rarely lose parcels).
- This trial offer only applies to buyers in the UK or Ireland.
- People in other countries can still buy the clubs but you can’t return them unless they aren’t as described as mentioned in the eBay money back guarantee.
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One Month Warranty
- A full refund will be given for any club that breaks within one month of purchase ie a clubhead separates from a shaft or a shaft snaps.
- You will also have the option to send all of the clubs back for a full refund if desired. (Returns postage will be paid for by me if you use Parcelforce.)
- The warranty does not apply if it’s your fault. (For example, you swing a club into a tree trunk or tree root.)
- The warranty only applies to buyers in the UK and Ireland.
- It’s very unlikely that an iron or wedge will break but it occasionally happens.
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How to be sure an iron set is counterfeit+ how to return them and other items not as described under the eBay moneyback guarantee (sometimes you will need it) + how to accurately measure swing weights of golf clubs without a swing weight scale using everyday items that you have at home.
Key points about counterfeit clubs: Counterfeit golf clubs (which include ‘replicas’) are absolute junk and its illegal to sell them anywhere. The people making counterfeit clubs (replicas) are trying to make clubs for as cheaply as possible made to look like the real thing but they will not perform anything like the real thing. The counterfeit irons will have very irregular lofts, lies, weights and swing weights (see 6th last photo on this listing). The club lengths may be wrong as well. Second hand genuine irons from any of the big brands won’t have very irregular specs unless they have been altered but lie angles can shift a wee bit from use. More so than loft angles. Particularly on forged irons.
Buying a set of second hand irons online is safer if you buy them on eBay. You are covered by the eBay money back guarantee. Even if you buy new counterfeit clubs and have used them, you can and should still return them under the eBay moneyback guarantee for a full refund. You have 30 days to do it and you don’t have to even prove that the clubs are fake. It’s illegal to sell counterfeit items anywhere including eBay and that policy trumps you returning clubs in a different condition than what they were in when you bought them. You can still return them no matter what condition they are in.
I think that the bulk majority of iron sets advertised on eBay are genuine (from all sellers) but a small percentage will be counterfeit. Normally, some people will buy them elsewhere for cheap and then try and sell them on eBay and pass them off as genuine clubs for big profits. Or someone might buy a counterfeit set on eBay but not realise that they are counterfeit, try them out and and then sell them themselves on eBay.
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(See last paragraph below for what you need to do to return anything on eBay on eBay under the eBay moneyback guarantee)
The most obvious thing that looks ‘wrong’ to me on any counterfeit set of irons advertised on eBay or online (that I have seen) are the shaft labels (decals). Not the clubheads or grips. (See the 5th last photo on the listing for examples of counterfeit shaft labels vs genuine).
All of the counterfeit iron sets that I bought were returned to the sellers under the eBay moneyback gurantee and the sellers had to pay for my return postage costs using the free postage label provided by eBay.
Also do a youTube search for ‘ONLINE FAKES, WATCH THIS BEFORE YOU BUY CLUBS ONLINE PROJECT LEFT’. That video shows you genuine vs counterfeit Tltieist 718 AP2 irons. You really just need to watch the first 12 seconds plus go to the 5 minute and 37 second mark for the specs. You can see that the shaft labels are much more obviously fake than the clubheads. It also doesn’t matter that the counterfeit shaft labels say ‘flighted’ on them but the genuine labels don’t. Genuine flighted Project X shaft labels look exactly the same as Project X shaft labels apart from the word ‘FLIGHTED’ written on them.
If you buy a set of irons in person at someone’s house etc, you can still follow this advice but I advise to get your phone out and check what the genuine shaft labels look like compared to what’s on the irons you’re about to buy. (Look up irons with the same shafts on eBay from a business seller and compare them to what you see in person).
The 5th last photo on this listing are all photos of photos but I can send anyone the originals if desired. The originals are photos I took of counterfeit clubs I bought on eBay (and returned under the eBay moneyback gurantee). The genuine labels are from irons also bought on eBay. You do not need to buy irons from an online second hand golf club business to avoid buying fakes (almost always). However, when you buy irons from a private seller, they are more likely to not be in the advertised specs (length and lie angle etc). However, there’s a very very big name seller of second hand golf clubs in the UK who advertise all of their second hand iron sets as standard lie angle (that I’ve seen as of November 2025). (Except Ping irons which are colour coded). We’re not talking about random mistakes. I bought a set of Mizuno irons from them years ago which were advertised as standard lie but all of the clubs were very close to 3 degrees flat compared to Mizuno standard specs. I returned them and they paid for it and then I contacted them to try and explain that they’re making what I thought was maybe just an accidental error on their website but I was told that they were in fact measuring the lie angles of the iron sets that they sell which would be very hard to believe based on the huge volume of second hand iron sets that they sell. I mention lie angles on the last photo on the three last photos on this listing. The third last photo shows you how much difference lie angle makes to clubhead position.
My advice of spotting counterfeit shaft labels on eBay only works if the seller has taken photos of shaft labels of the actual irons that they are selling which is not always the case. The clubheads and grips look wrong as well on fakes but they’re much less obvious than shaft labels.
So my advice is to take a look at the seller’s photos of the shaft labels and then do an eBay search for any irons with the exact same shafts and find a set from a big name seller of second hand clubs (who should be very good at spotting fakes) and do a side by side comparison of the photos of shaft labels. You easily will be able to spot fakes just from doing that.
If the seller on eBay does not show or will not send you photos of shaft labels upon request or the shafts do not have any shaft labels on them then be very suspicious.
Sometimes golfers will take the shaft labels off an iron set that they are currently using for cosmetic reasons but that will very likely devalue the clubs if you ever sell them so I advise not to do it. Many golfers will want to know what the shafts are. I used to regrip clubs and sometimes (only sometimes) the shaft model will be written on the inside of the shaft at the grip end but you need to take the grips off to see that. Removing shaft labels also makes it look like the seller has intentionally removed counterfeit shaft labels.
Unfortunately you can’t really go by eBay feedback to work out how trustworthy the seller is or not regarding selling fakes because eBay regularly remove feedback for private and business sellers as mentioned further below.
I think that the most counterfeited irons sold online are TaylorMade P790 irons because they are very very popular among amateur golfers and some golfers are willing to pay a lot of money for them. You can get counterfeits of other brands and models as well but they are less common.
So for example and to be more specifc, if you see that a seller is advertising TaylorMade P790 irons with KBS tour 90 regular shafts, then look at the seller’s photos of the shaft labels (decals) and then do an eBay search for ‘golf irons KBS tour 90 regular’ and look at photos from any of the big businesses that are selling irons with those exact same shafts and then look at their photos of the labels. (There appears to be two genuine versions of that label but that’s rare with shaft labels. I’ve never seen that before with any other shaft label.)
Maybe look at a number of different listings to check that the shat labels all look the same from a big name seller. If you can’t find another listing with KBS tour 90 regular shaft labels then try stiff. They will look the same but will just have an ‘S’ on them instead of ‘R’. Counterfeit shaft labels are often bigger and will very likely be a slightly different colour and the fonts will be different (as shown in the 5th last photo on this listing).
Then do a side by side comparison. If you are on your phone, take screenshots. If on laptop or tablet, use different tabs. Copy and paste links.
Even better is to look at one listing on the eBay app on your phone and then look at the other listing on a different device. Sorry if this all obvious but I would want a step by step tutorial.
A seller could remove all of shaft labels and then somehow manage to get genuine shaft labels and put those on the shafts in which case this strategy won’t work. Or someone could get counterfeit irons and have them reshafted with genuine shafts and grips. But even if someone has reshafted counterfeit clubs, the specs will still be up the left including club weights and swing weights. I saw on a YT video
'Fake Titleist 714 AP2s! what to look out for...'
that a guy tried to alter the lie angle of a counterfeit AP2 iron and applied the slightest bit of pressure to the hosel and the club immediately broke. It was just that badly made. If it was a genuine Titleist forged AP2 iron, you’d very likely be able to adjust the lie angle by at least 10 degrees before the club broke.
Measuring swing weights yourself at home + you can also do this to double check that your irons are not fake.
So if you buy a set of irons on eBay and are concerned that they may be counterfeit then do the same thing but look at the shaft
labels on the clubs you bought and compare them to the online photos. It will be obvious.
If the shafts don’t have shaft labels then take your irons to a pro shop and ask them to measure the swing weights on a swing weight scale and/or measure the loft/lie angles which will be up the left on a counterfeit set. Or do it yourself if you look at photos 22-23 on this listing for loft and lie angles. Or just do the swing weights. If the counterfeiters can’t get the lofts and lies right, then they won’t get the swing weights right.
Watch a YT video for ‘GOLF SWING WEIGHT CALCULATORS/ Top Google Results VS Scale’. That’s how I first learned how to measure and calculate swing weights pretty accurately (to within +/- one swing weight point) using the okrasa site.
Go to the 9 minute mark on that video to see what swing weights ‘elite fit golf’ measured different clubs to be using his swing weight scale (in yellow) versus the different online swing weight calculators by his DIY techniques.
Just to add to his video, it’s easier to weigh clubs accurately if you mark the balance points on the shafts first. You don’t have to use what he used. I currently use a prism but you can also use a pen. Hold a pen out with one hand and balance the club across it with the other. If the club is not close to flat then it will start to slide. That’s why the pen is good. Quickly make a dot/line on the shaft with a permanent marker while looking at it from above and then do it again to double check. Make a bigger dot or line to correct the old one if need be. I like to use a permanent marker to stop ink coming off on your hands.
Once you have done that, then measure the distance from the balance point to the edge of grip cap. You can use a tape measure or metal ruler. You can put the club on the table with the clubface facing down and then put a metal ruler very close and parallel to the shaft and grip. Put the start of the ruler level with your mark and then take the reading from the edge of the grip cap in cm to the nearest millimetre. Or you can put the club over the edge of the table like I do in my photos and do the same.
Then place something like what the guy in the video used in the centre of your kitchen scales (I use a digital inclinometer shown in the last photos on this listing), then zero (tare) the scale and then set the club on the scales with the balance point of the club in the middle of the scale.
The okrasa website would have been even more accurate if he measured to the edge of the grip cap (as the website says) but the guy in the video (who has a number of very useful and helpful videos) was measuring to the very end of the grip cap which resulted in slightly higher swing weights. 3mm= one swing weight point so you have to measure distances very carefully and accurately to get accurate swing weights using this method.
You may want to look at one of the last photos on this listing of the specs that I measured of new counterfeit 2023 P790 irons that I bought on eBay from a private seller who was/ is selling a number of these sets advertised as ‘replicas’. I measured the specs (in black) versus what they should be if they were genuine, new and standard specs (in blue). Even if they weren’t standard, the loft and lie angles are irregular and the swing weights are way off of what they should be. Loft and lie angles can shift a bit over time with use for used iron sets but not to the extent shown in that photo if they started off standard. Lie angles will shift more than loft angles. What won’t shift or change over time are club weights or swing weights unless someone changes the grips or has the clubs lengthened or shortened the clubs but I have never calculated the swing weight of a mens iron to anywhere near B9 or C1. (C2 to C5 is typical for a ladies iron set from TaylorMade with super lightweight shafts so B9 is crazy low for a mens iron.)
Most of what I sell is bought on eBay. I have regularly looked at eBay feedback profiles over the past 7 years and I have never seen a single negative or neutral feedback from a buyer stating that the item they bought is counterfeit. I think that’s largely down to eBay removing any feedback which mentions the word ‘counterfeit’ because it looks bad on eBay if people think that sellers are selling counterfeit items on the website but also maybe because it’s a ‘he said/ she said’ situation so whoever is working at eBay will probably not take the time to assess whether the buyer’s claim of the item being counterfeit or not is true. I think they’ll just remove (hide) the feedback. That’s my experience. If you are looking at the photo of examples of counterfeit shaft labels on this listing (see 5th or 6th last photo), I did not leave the seller of the counterfeit TaylorMade R11 irons negative feedback because I thought they were telling the truth that they didn’t know they were fake. They weren’t selling multiple sets of counterfeit clubs like the other sellers.
Remember, you are covered by the eBay moneyback guarantee for counterfeit items bought on the website (and items not as described which includes bad photo taking. (Seller’s photos can make the item look in much better condition than in reality when you get it) or incorrect specs for golf clubs. Say a seller writes for a set of irons ‘standard length and lie’ on their listing but they are significantly off that (that’s your moral judgement call to decide on what ‘significant’ means because even 1 degree is significant for lie angles, then you can return them under the eBay moneyback guarantee if you want to. You don’t even have to prove to eBay that the clubs are fake or not as described. It’s a ‘he said/ she said’ scenario and eBay will quickly decide in the buyer’s favour but I think eBay will ban eBay accounts from buyers who they think are abusing their eBay moneyback guarantee policy.
You have up to 30 days from the estimated delivery date or actual delivery date (whatever is later) to work out that the clubs you bought are counterfeit and you can return them to the seller for a full refund (even if they don’t accept returns). You don’t even have to pay returns postage costs if you go though eBay’s returns process. (Go to into ‘my eBay’, then ‘purchase history’, then next to the item click on ‘more actions’ then ‘Return this item’). Use eBay’s returns label by showing the Post Office worker the QR code.
It won’t matter if the weight is wrong on the label. You can still use it. You may have an issue with getting the refund if the courier loses the clubs but if the courier is Royal Mail/ ParcelForce for golf clubs then that’s highly highly unlikely. They have around a 99% success rate at delivering parcels to the correct address. As long as the tracking information shows as ‘delivered’, then eBay will refund you even if the courier delivers the counterfeit clubs back to the wrong house. That’s not your problem as a buyer returning something under the eBay moneyback guarantee. That’s the seller’s problem.
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Newer Irons Don’t Mean Better + Advice on buying second hand clubs. (Brand of clubheads is not important for performance).
Key Points:
- Top brands of clubheads will release a new set of irons every two years or so.
- There are around 5 different clubhead models per brand which all vary in forgiveness and clubface size etc. Muscleback irons aimed at the best tour pros at one end with small clubfaces, minimal offset and thin toplines. Very chunky looking cavity back (game improvement) irons designed for maximum forgiveness with large clubfaces, more offset, thick toplines and jacked (strong) lofts at the other end and then there will be 2 or 3 sets in between those with varying levels of clubface size, offset, toplines and forgiveness. A clubhead from any of the top brands will be very similar to one of the clubheads from any of the other top brands.
- The brands that make the shafts are separate to the clubhead brands.
- The most important thing for you in selecting golf clubs is getting suitable clubhead/ shaft combinations for your golf game and shaft weight preferences. Not the brand of clubheads. Also lie angles for irons and wedges but they can be altered later.
- For second hand golf clubs, you are giving yourself way more options to choose and will likely get a better deal if you are open to using clubs from any of the top brands and you focus on the important things which includes what the clubs look like in the address position. That you like the look of them. Not too much offset etc (Maybe do google reviews if seller hasn’t taken photos).
- Tiger won the 1997 Masters with a Cobra driver, Titleist 3 wood, Mizuno irons, Cleveland wedges, Titleist putter and Titleist ball. Tiger was a free agent at that time. I give two more examples of free agents further below. Did Tiger think that one brand was making all of the best clubs in 1997? By 1999, his whole bag was Titleist.
- Most or all of the top brands of clubheads pay tour players millions and millions of dollars to play their clubs and the latest models (most of the time- depends on contracts). That’s passed onto you as a consumer if you buy a new iron set at £$1400- 2000 odd for 7 irons etc. You’re partly paying for it. You’re basically making multi multi millionaires even richer. You also have to pay value added tax at 20% for new golf clubs but you won’t for second hand (in the UK). The price of new clubs affects the price of second hand clubs. This is partly why even second hand golf clubs are so expensive unless you go older, like more than 10 years old. People assume that older golf clubs are worse than the new ones, so many golfers don’t want them which makes them a lot cheaper. You can get old clubs regripped.
- Tiger won the 2019 Masters with the exact same Titleist Scottie Cameron putter that he used in 1999. 20 years earlier. Are the new putters better than the old ones? This was when Tiger was team TaylorMade but he must have negotiated a contract where he could use his Titleist putter. What does that say for TaylorMade putters?
- David Duval shot a 59 in 1999 on the PGA Tour on a par 72 course measuring 6950 yards with a ball that doesn’t fly as far as the ones today. The clubs would be ancient by today’s standards but they were maybe new at the time, meaning no worn groove issue on wedges and short irons (reduced backspin when you want to stop the ball quickly). You can see his scorecard if you do a google search for ‘remembering David Duval’s famous 59 at The American Express’. It was a calm day from watching shots on YT but still incredibly impressive because it’s one of the best rounds on the PGA Tour and it happened 27 odd years ago with the old equipment and ball. And it was in round 4 and he won the tournament.
- Money alone can affect what brand of clubs a tour player uses. It can depend on what brand makes the highest offer. For example, Tiger won 4 majors in a row in 2000/ 2001 with a full bag of Titleist clubs. (Although he changed from a Titleist ball to a Nike ball in May 2000). Less than two years later, 13 out of his 14 clubs were Nike, apart from his Titleist Scottie Cameron putter. Nike first started making golf clubs in 2002 when Tiger was 26. It’s crazy when you think about it. Dear knows what he was getting paid by Nike. Tiger didn’t even go to another ‘big name brand of clubs’. He went to a brand that had never made golf clubs before. I’m not having a go at him. I would have very likely done the same if I was him. The offer must have been absolutely huge (to wear their clothing and use their clubs). Like you just couldn’t turn it down money for him at that time. It mustn’t have been in Nike’s budget budget to pay him him to use a Nike Putter. Putting is close to half of the game and Tiger liked his SC putter so much that even a brand as rich as Nike couldn’t offer him enough to use a Nike one.
Do you think that Tiger and Rory went to TaylorMade in 2017 because they both thought that TaylorMade make the best clubs (for the whole bag)? Rory did not use a TaylorMade club between 2007 and 2016. His whole pro career to that point.
This is not illegal or a scam but brands are paying very large amounts to pro golfers so that they will use their clubs to try and get the public to buy their clubs. As a teenager, I fell for this. ‘I want to use Titleist because my favourite golfers play Titleist and Tiger played Titleist in 2000’. Tiger would have likely won lots of majors with any brand of clubheads. What I didn’t realise at age 17 are Titleist are very rich and could afford to pay Tiger to use Titleist clubs before he went to Nike in 2002, who probably outbid Titleist. Titleist are owned by Acushnet and according to stock analysis are worth $5.11 billion as of January 8th 2026. According to stock analysis, Nike are worth $97.04 billion as of January 8th, 2026 so you can see who even Titleist were competing with when making offers to the world’s best players to use their clubs.
According to multiple websites, TaylorMade are paying Rory $100 million to use their clubs plus ball plus bag for ten years, regardless of how he plays during that time. I assume in order to try and get Rory McIlroy fans to buy TaylorMade clubs. That’s just one player. Then you’ve got Scottie Scheffler and many others. I like Rory and Scottie etc but just knowing that would put me off buying TaylorMade clubs even if I had $100 million in the bank. I’d prefer not to know. I’m not having a go at the likes of Rory. He’s got more money than he could ever spend on himself. Obviously he must be doing it for family, friends and charity (and he thinks the TaylorMade clubs are good enough compared to the other brands). Who he can give that money to but no wonder golf clubs from the big brands are so expensive.
- To bring the price down of club clubs for amateur golfers, there would have to be a rule or law in place to ban clubhead brands from paying players to use their clubs. Other smaller, less rich clubhead brands can’t afford to outbid Titleist, TaylorMade etc to pay the world’s best players to use their clubs so they don’t have the same demand by amateurs to want buy their clubs. They can only compete on the price of clubs. That’s partly how the likes of Caley and Lynx can sell new irons for less than half the price of the top brands. They are not paying millions and millions of dollars to the world’s best golfers or spending millions and millions of dollars on TV advertising and youTube. For example, there’s a golf podcast sponsored by one of the big brands.
- If the new/ latest clubs are better (more forgiving etc) than the previous models or models from the other brands, would they not go public with their robot testing data which would prove that they are better? None of the top brands do that.
- New irons and wedges are only better than second hand models due to the ‘worn groove issue’ in well used second hand irons and wedges. (Less backspin). But if you buy second hand irons and wedges in good condition (not used much) then you don’t have that problem. This is far more important for wedges and short irons when you want to stop the ball quickly.
- Tiger has used the same iron shafts for his whole pro career (Dynamic Gold X100). Tour players don’t really ‘sell’ iron shafts to amateur golfers like they do for brands of clubheads. The average amateur cares far more about what brand of clubheads their favourite golfer uses. Not what brand of shafts they’re using. Golf shafts are all player specific depending on how you swing the club so my understanding is that shaft brands don’t pay tour players to use their shafts. (You can get any iron shaft in any clubhead.) Although, you can get iron shafts that are suitable for a large percentage of amateur golfers, such as the KBS Tour in regular flex (110 grams) or stiff flex (120 grams). The extra stiff is 130 grams.
I have read that most amateur golfers prefer iron shafts in the mid weight range which is 100-120 grams. I think the KBS Tour is a great feeling shaft to swing so if you were to gamble a bit and buy a second hand iron set on eBay that you’ve not tried before, then I’d recommend doing an eBay search for ‘golf irons KBS Tour regular’ (or stiff) and see what comes up. You may need to use google or YouTube to see what the clubhead model looks like in the address position. KBS tour also comes in a lighter weight version at 90 odd grams or 105 gram but shaft labels will tell you that and google. Some iron shafts are very player specific and you’ll maybe hate them unless you’re that player. Extreme example is Project X 6.5 or 7.0. Iron shafts that Rory has used that are designed for players with high swing speeds and fast tempos (how you swing the club ie speed of backswing and whether there’s a pause at the top or not and speed of the first half of downswing). With Rory, his whole swing is fast and he starts his downswing with the lower body before the backswing is even finished. That’s a fast tempo. With Tiger in 2000, that wasn’t the case. His backswing was slower and had a little pause at the top. He had a moderate tempo but the swing speed was fast at impact. Project X shafts wouldn’t have been suitable for him.
The ‘Tour Issue’ version of Dynamic Gold X100 (or S400) just has tighter weight tolerances but it is the exact same shaft today that Tiger was using in 1996. True Temper (who make Dynamic Gold shafts) now offer this shaft in different weights. That’s the difference between now and 1996 for shafts. Lots of different shafts in many different weights which affects how heavy the clubs feel to swing. Flex can also affect that.
- The issue with getting irons and wedges longer or shorter than standard length is it changes both the club weights and swing weights. I have more info on this in my last photos on my listing and in ‘extra notes’. Clubheads are made for clubs at standard length. That’s why most tour players play standard length clubs or very close to it. In circa 2007, Ernie Els at 6 foot 3 was using irons at 1/4 inch longer than standard according to his website.
Scottie Scheffler at 6 foot 3 uses irons at around 1/4 inch longer than standard based on a tour truck video spec sheet. Luke Donald at supposedly 5 foot 9 said in a YT video in 2009 titled ‘In the Bag: Luke Donald’ that he played standard length and lie mizuno irons.
I’m not sure if Luke Donald is even 5 foot 9 because the PGA tour website used to say that Rory McIlroy is 5 foot 10 and there’s no way he’s 5 foot 10 because I’ve stood very close to him and he was significantly shorter in height than I am. (I’m 5 foot 10 and a half). Just based on that.
-Some tour players might intentionally go longer or shorter with their club lengths to intentionally increase or decrease club weights and swing weights. Tour players then have lie angles adjusted to suit their stance and swing or change their stance to suit the clubs if they don’t want to make their lie angles too upright or flat (see last photo on this listing). That’s what 10 degrees upright looks like for Bryson Dechambeau as an amateur. One length irons and wedges all the length of a standard length 7 or 6 iron from a variable length set. 10 degrees upright feels far too upright for many very tall golfers so they change their stance instead of making the lie angles more upright. You have to change your stance anyway depending on the length of the club. More upright lie angles in wedges and short irons compared to long irons to driver partially compensates for club lengths but not fully. The longer the club, the taller you have to stand in the address position and impact (for standard spec lengths and lies). You can see this if you watch YT video ‘Amazing Footage of Tiger Woods 2000 Bangkok Complete Day 4 Warm-Up Routine uncut’. Some pro golfers may change lie angles if they want to keep the same stance for every club.
- If you choose to buy irons or wedges at longer or shorter than standard length but you don’t want to change the club weights and swing weights, you can then alter the shaft weight to compensate but the problem is that it’s educated guesswork regarding if the clubs are going to feel too heavy or light for your liking unless you are buying second hand irons and the seller gives club weights and swing weights.
- If you are buying a second hand driver, wood or hybrid online, I advise doing some research first as to what is heavy, mid or light weight for shafts and then checking what weight the shaft is of the club you are buying before you buy it.
- If you are buying any second hand golf clubs in person then I highly advise taking practice swings with them before buying. Hitting balls would be better but the next best thing are practice swings without a ball. You can tell a lot from that.
- For irons and wedges, almost every club pro and big golf club shop will have a loft/ lie machine to make adjustments if need be but you may have an issue with getting loft or lie angles adjusted beyond 2 degrees for forged irons (softer metal) or having lie angles adjusted at all for cast irons (harder metal). I think this is partly due to club pros being scared of breaking your clubs. You may want to watch a YT video titled ‘HOW FAR WILL GOLF CLUBS BEND/ FORGED vs CAST’ by elitefit golf. He altered the lie angle of a cast iron by 7 or 8 degrees before the club broke. He altered the lie angle of a forged iron by 12-14 degrees before the the club broke. That’s a good video for any club pro to watch who is unsure about adjusting lie angles by more than 2 degrees.
-If you pay someone to alter loft or lie angles on your irons or wedges, I advise checking their work yourself before you strike a ball (see 2nd and 3rd last photo on this listing). Then you can ask for a refund if they have not done it right. Which is possible based on what I’ve heard and read.
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More info:
The top brands of clubheads are very very likely doing robot testing to test forgiveness levels and yardages etc for their new model clubs versus old model.
The golf robot can bit the ball on the exact same position on the clubface time after time. So brands can test the difference between centre and toe strikes etc in terms of yardage and degrees offline on one iron versus their previous model or an older model or competitor’s model to pretty much the exact mm on the face for fair comparisons. Are the newer models more forgiving on off centre hits than the older models? If so, why aren’t the clubhead brands going public with their robot testing data and saying
‘Our latest cavity back irons are the most forgiving irons yet and more forgiving than the other brands. Here’s the robot data to prove it.’ No, none of them are doing that. You just have to take their word for it that the latest, new clubs are better since their robot testing data is not getting released to the public. So the newer irons are not necessarily any better than the older ones.
It’s condition that matters in irons and wedges and getting suitable clubhead/ shaft combinations for your golf game, as well as lie angles (which can be adjusted on any second hand set- I plan to write a short essay on DIY length and lie angle custom fitting at some point).
With club condition, it’s the clubface condition that’s the most important ie how sharp the grooves are. Irons that have hit thousands and thousands of balls will have worn grooves resulting in less backspin. For example, you can see photos online of Tiger’s 8 iron in 2000. It has a small ‘penny’ wear mark in the bottom middle of the clubface. Some golfers will want that as a sort of badge of honour. ‘Look how good a ball striker I am’ sort of thing but it results in less backspin. This is a far bigger issue for the short irons and wedges when you want to stop the ball quickly on the greens or rip the ball back so that’s when newer is better but only condition wise. Sometimes people will buy a set of irons brand new (and/ or wedges) and hardly use them and then sell them years later. Tiger had no penny wear marks on those clubs. Older irons and wedges with sharp grooves ie clubs that haven’t been used that much are the best value for money because they will cost much less because many people won’t want them just because they are ‘old’ or not the latest model. That lowers the price but I don’t think they will perform any worse than the latest models unless they are really really old.
For value for money in drivers, woods and hybrids, I advise going older as well because you don’t have the worn groove issue. However, the adjustable driver, woods and hybrids first came out around 2010 in terms of adjusting lie angles, lofts etc with a wrench to change ball flights so if you go older than that then you have one setting and one setting only. I played the 2003 TaylorMade R580 driver as a teenager from around 2006 to 2013. (I was born in 1993). During much of this time I used my Dad’s old Callaway Odyssey DualForce Rossie II putter from 1994 which was too light for my liking. Good putter but I couldn’t make a good putting stroke when nervous/ under pressure for putts under 10 feet or so.
I could only normally hole putts under 4 or so feet. I wasn’t a naturally good golfer and that was the putter I was using for my best round of golf of 4 over par in 2010 with a triple bogey on 17. Bit of a choke but I hit the wrong club into the green. Fried egg lie in the front left bunker. (Long of the green was ok- should have hit one more club to take the front bunkers out of play. Bad course management). Took three to get out of the bunker. Parred 18. That was the competitive round of golf that I did the most practice for. Particularly short game. I spent many hours practicing it on the lead up to that round. I stopped playing any competitive golf at 18 and never practiced anywhere near as much again.
I actually bought a new dunlop mallet style putter in my early 20’s for £15 ish after making practice strokes with it in Sports Direct which was a heavier putter and clubhead and I putted much better with it than the Callaway putter and as good as any Titleist Scottie Cameron demo putter available to members to try out on the practice green at the club that I was a member of. I’m not joking. The heavier putters + heavier clubheads ‘swing themselves’ more versus the lighter ones so they are much easier to make a good putting stroke with if you are very nervous. Even if it’s a Dunlop putter.
To give y a couple of examples of pro golfers using ‘older’ irons and what clubs a ‘free agent’ uses (like Tiger in 1997).
Bryson Dechambeau was playing with 2017 One Length Cobra Forged Tour irons in August 2021. The newer model (Cobra King Tour Mim) was released in late 2020 yet Bryson chose to play with the older model for the majors in 2021. This was probably much to the annoyance of Cobra who were likely paying him large amounts of money to use Cobra clubs (for the whole bag excluding ball) and would have wanted him to use the latest model to help try and sell the latest model. Bryson eventually did switch to them in late 2021. Bryson no longer uses any Cobra clubs but he did win the 2020 US Open with them to be fair to Cobra. It’s not like they were making bad clubs. They just weren’t his first choice.
His Cobra contract ended in 2022 so in 2023 he was free to use any clubs he wanted.
He chose a TaylorMade driver and mini driver and Ping irons and wedges. That doesn’t even mean that he thought Ping were making the best irons. It could be simply that he liked the look of the Ping irons the best when the clubs were in the address position in terms of clubface size, shape, offset etc and/ or the sound of the ball off the face compared to the other irons he tried.
All of the clubhead brands likely want their tour players to use the latest equipment to help try and sell the latest equipment. They are maybe forced into it depending on contracts and what the top players are getting paid by the clubhead brands.
The same was true with Bryson for his golf ball. He used Bridgestone golf balls for 7 years because he was likely paid large amounts of money to do so for at least some of those years but chose to use a Titleist Pro V1X left dash ball in 2023.
Another example is Ludvig Aberg. Ludvig is not getting paid millions and millions of dollars to play one brand for the whole bag (that amateur golfers would have to pay for when buying clubs). Thank you Ludvig. He must want to use different brands for different clubs. His bag in January 2026 includes a Titleist driver, TaylorMade woods, Titleist irons, wedges and ball and a Callaway putter.
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Advice on getting your clubs regripped + it may be better to do it yourself if you are fussy as to how grips are put on.
Key Points:
-Grips are often put on badly (based on me buying 800+ second hand iron sets).
-If you are paying to have clubs regripped and you would like the grips put on properly then you are in a better position to come back afterwards and ask them to re-do the job or ask for your money back if you mention any of these things first:
-You would like the grips pushed fully onto the shafts.
-You would like the grips on straight and not twisted ie alignment logos in the centre of grip when the club is in the address position.
-You would like a ribbed grip (one with a ridge on the underside- similar to GP ‘align’ grips) but you would like the ridge directly on the underside of the grip and you would like the ridge to be straight (ribbed and align grips are often put on badly- off centre and not straight).
-Wait for at least 24 hours after you get your clubs back after regripping before putting them into your golf bag or grip solvent may leak into your bag causing a sticky/ greasy mess. Or check with your regripper how long ago the clubs were regripped. The grip solvent may already be dry and therefore the clubs will be ready to play with straight away.
-Your handicap or golfing ability is irrelevant. You are paying someone to do a job. If you would like the grip on properly, you deserve the same service as the best players at your golf club who are very likely also playing golf for £0, just like you (unless they are a youtuber).
-If you have been playing golf for a long time and/or think that you will be playing golf for a long time then it’s worth learning how to regrip clubs yourself. Particularly if you would like grips put on properly. I give some tips below from when I used to regrip clubs. I don’t currently do so but I may offer regripping services again in the future.
-If rinsing or cleaning clubs, I advise to make sure that you dry clubheads, clubfaces, shafts (and grips) thoroughly with a towel afterwards to avoid rusting and pitting (and to keep the re-sale value as high as possible if you ever sell your clubs in the future). Then I advise storing your clubs in a dry room of your house. Not your garage. Particularly over winter time if you are not using them for ages. This is more so if you live in the UK or Ireland. Any moist air in your garage can make your golf clubs rust.
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More detail:
If the grips on the clubs advertised on this listing are in really bad condition or you want them regripped for any other reason and you are paying a club pro or golf shop to do that for you then it may be worth reading the following first. I also recommend reading this if you would be interested in regripping clubs yourself and haven’t done so before.
If you are fussy or care about anything mentioned below then it’s worth mentioning to who you are paying to do the job before they do it so you are in a better position to ask them to re-do it for free it if it’s not done right the first time. Your handicap is irrelevant. A 50 handicapper is entitled to the same re-gripping service as the best amateur golfer at your club who also likely earns $0 from playing golf unless they are a youTuber. Their golf is no more important than yours. You deserve to have golf grips put on properly if you would like them on properly and you are paying someone £3-5 per grip to do it for you.
Just to learn from my mistakes when paying people to regrip clubs:
When I was 17 (in 2010), I paid to get three of my clubs regripped in a proshop and this was at a very big name golf club near my hometown. If regripping was an issue at this proshop, then it could be an issue anywhere.
I was getting three clubs regripped (driver, 3 wood and putter). All three grips were pushed fully onto the shafts but there were other issues so I never got clubs regripped there again. At the time, I wasn’t confident enough (particularly at that club) to go back into the shop and ask them to redo it or ask for money back.
If I were a very low handicapped amateur golfer at this club, it would have been very unlikely that this would have happened to me but I should have received the same service as if I were a very low handicapped golfer because I was paying the same amount of money regardless.
I asked for two standard size golf pride tour velvet grips (driver and 3 wood). One of the grips that was put on was ribbed (the 3 wood). (I forgot to ask for round). I wasn’t offered round or ribbed and I forgot to ask for round- my mistake.
A ribbed golf grip has a ridge on the underside of the grip which some golfers like and some golfer don’t. I actually liked the ribbed grip but the grip wasn’t put on straight so the rib wasn’t in the correct position. It’s the same problem with ‘align Golf Pride grips’. I often see on those that they are either not in the right position ie not on the underside of the grip when the club is in the address position (and the clubface is square) or the grips are on a bit twisted in which case the ‘align’ ridge is not straight, which defeats the purpose of those very expensive grips if they aren’t on right.
The ridge is supposed to help you grip the clubs properly. It should be dead straight on the underside of the grip unless you prefer it slightly off centre as if the clubface is slightly open or closed at address. The most common mistake with align grips not being on right is because the regripper has not checked both top and bottom of the grip while the grips are still moveable (before the grip solvent dries).
One of the grips that I got regripped had a jumbo sized grip put on it (on my driver). I had a lesson with the head pro a year later who questioned why I had a jumbo sized grip because I had a fade/ slice problem at the time and I told him that someone in his shop did it for me when I asked for standard which lead to an awkward moment. I gripped down my driver a bit to turn it into a standard size grip. That kind of worked and it actually wasn’t a big deal for me at the time because actually, my 45 inch driver was too long for my liking anyway. Many tour pros actually have their driver at shorter than standard length. 45 or 46 inches can decrease accuracy with no extra clubhead speed. Tiger played a 43 inch driver in 2000 but that was with a steel shaft. Jimmy Walker (who won the 2016 PGA) played a 42 inch driver at one point and he’s 6 foot 2. The issue with gripping down on drivers is that the club feels a bit lighter. You basically make the club lighter by doing so. The swing weight changes as well and the shaft becomes a bit stiffer which may be an issue but it wasn’t much of an issue for me because as a skinny 17 year old my driver was a little too heavy for my liking anyway at the full length 45 inches. Gripping down helped with that but I still would have preferred a standard size grip on it at the full length if I had the choice.
I had my putter regripped with a Golf Pride grip that wasn’t put on straight. It was significantly off centre when the club was at address position which really annoyed me but I was that frugal that I just used it anyway. It was a standard design putter grip with a mostly flat top to it so with those grips it’s important to to put them on straight.
I played with all three clubs straight away after getting them back from the pro shop but I recommend waiting at least 24 hours after regripping before playing with the clubs. Don’t put the clubs straight into your golf bag or sticky/ greasy grip solvent will probably leak into your bag out of the holes in the ends of the grips if the solvent hasn’t dried. I think I got lucky in 2010 because the clubs were likely regripped days before I collected them but I wasn’t told or warned about that in 2010 or in 2013 when I next got a club regripped at a different shop. I put the club straight into my golf bag and solvent leaked into my bag.
What I liked to do when regripping clubs was set clubs against the wall (grip end up with clubheads on the ground in a very upright position) to give the grip solvent a chance to fully dry and avoid leakage. You will be able to play with clubs straight away if you pick up clubs from the shop days after they regripped your clubs so a tip is get your clubs regripped at a time that you don’t plan to play golf again for several days. Maybe ask when collecting clubs when they put the grips on. If they are not sure, then be safe and don’t play with them straight away and don’t put them in your golf bag. Put the clubs horizontal in your car and take them home to make sure the grip solvent has dried before you play with them.
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What I notice sometimes with grips on clubs are that they haven’t been pushed on fully. If it’s not an experienced re-gripper who knows what they are doing or they are trying to do it as quick as possible, then it can result in some of the grip hanging off the end of the shaft which I would find annoying if it were me. It may be worth checking before getting the clubs regripped that they will be pushed fully onto the shafts. Grips hanging off the end of the shafts will only happen if you don’t bang/ push the ends of the grips down into the ground after putting pushing them onto the shafts. When doing that, some grip solvent can leak out onto the floor so you may want to put some cardboard or something down on the ground first.
Grips not being put on straight are much less of an issue with round grips compared to ribbed grips but even with round grips, if the grip is not on straight then the that alignment logos will not be on top of the grip when the club is in the address position. That’s a common issue but it depends on how fussy you are about any of this.
Grips can also be put on a bit twisted. Another common issue I see. Again, that’s more of an issue with a ribbed grip but it’s not ideal and it’s a bad regrip job and you would be entitled to ask for money back or for it to be re-done.
I used to regrip clubs and don’t currently do so because it’s time consuming to do it properly if you don’t have professional equipment like tour trucks have and I don’t particularly like doing it because it can be a bit messy with getting grip solvent on your clothes etc.
You can regrip clubs yourself easily at home if you know what to do but if you’ve never done it before it’s much less hassle to pay someone to do it unless it’s something you might like to do for yourself regularly in the future and you would like it done right then it’s worth learning how to do. You can teach yourself from youTube videos but in my opinion, many of the ones I watched don’t go into enough detail and don’t include all of the information written in this essay but they’re worth watching to see someone regrip a club and the technique involved. I will just give you more detail.
Do a YouTube search for ‘How to Regrip a Golf Club with Brampton HF-100 Grip Solvent’ but this video does not give you enough detail.
What you need are:
-Vice+ clamp plus rubber thing to put in between the vice to keep shaft in place. (You can buy vice + clamp that attaches to a table. You do not need one that is mounted to a workstation).
-Grip solvent (Brampton HF-100 is good. See below.)
-Heat gun to remove grip tape.
- Good quality grip tape.
-Vinyl gloves if you want to protect your hands if you have sensitive skin.
(You don’t even need a vice+clamp but it’s easier and quicker to do the job properly if you have one).
- Towel or kitchen roll.
You have to cut old grips off using the hooked blade knife. If the shaft is graphite, you will score it if you don’t cut the grip off correctly. You don’t want to dig the blade into the shaft. Have the blade at a bit of an angle to avoid that happening.
Brampton HF 100 solvent is very good compared to other solvents because of the following reasons:
-You don’t have to use as much of it compared to white spirits.
-It’s also odourless and non toxic.
-It also takes far longer to dry than other solvents so you have several minutes to check that the grip is on right after you put it on and you can make changes to the grip’s position on the shaft during that time if need be.
You spray Brampton HF-100 grip solvent onto the grip tape (instead of pouring like with with other solvents). You need something under the grip to catch excess solvent. If you have a suitable container, you can then re-use that excess for cost saving purposes if you would like but it’s not that expensive even if you don’t re-use it.) Grip solvent will drip onto the floor if you don’t have something under the grips. You could use a large cardboard box on the floor and put a big bin bag inside it or line the bottom of it or tape it using parcel tape with tinfoil etc. Like the good quality parcel tape that golf club businesses which are double the width of sellotape and much stickier.
If you don’t use enough HF100 solvent ie you don’t evenly coat all of the grip tape with the solvent then you will struggle to get the new grip on. You may only get half the grip on and then have to cut it off and waste a grip so too much is better than too little but the more you use, the longer it takes to dry. The man in the Brampton HF 100 video says at least 20 minutes but that’s not long enough. You need at least 24 hours based on my experience of using it.
If the grip tape is very sticky (like the pre cut grip tape strips supplied with ‘Champkey’ branded grips) then you have to use far more grip solvent and you have less time to make changes to grip positions after you have the grip on. I bought Champkey golf grips on a site run by JB as a pack of 13 grips that came with a re-grip kit with solvent (I didn’t use it). You had no option to buy the grips without the kit and it was still cheaper than what Gamola Golf was selling them at if you were buying 13. The regrip kit came with a hooked blade knife and the pre-cut grip tape strips were very very sticky as mentioned. An advantage of very sticky grip tapes are that they are better at keeping golf grips in position after the solvent dries ie no moving or twisting of the grips. This is much more of an issue if the ‘core’ size of the grips are slightly bigger than the shaft and it depends on how fussy you are about that.
When pushing golf grips on, grip solvent will leak/ spray out the ends of the grips so if you put kitchen roll or a towel on the ends of the grips before pushing them on then that will stop any solvent getting onto your clothes. Don’t use a tee in the ends of the grips because when you remove the tee solvent will all spray out.
Before putting on new golf grips, you’re supposed to remove previous grip tape under the grips. I used to use a heat gun in order to get it off but sometimes you can take it off easily without a heat gun just using you pr fingers to peel it off.
A time saving thing to do is to put new grip tape over the old grip tape which makes grips feel very slightly thicker but only slightly but if clubs are regripped multiple times then layer upon layer of grip tape under the grips will make the grips feel much thicker than they should be and also firmer.
Not removing grip tape becomes more of a problem if the previous grip tape has partially come off when removing the old grips in which case you could feel the unevenness under the grip when you are griping the clubs but some golfers may not notice it unless it’s multiple layers of grip tape that have partially come off.
You need a heat gun to heat up old tape to make it much easier to peel off but you can burn your fingers if you are not careful. Brampton’s ‘Uneek scraper’ has very mixed reviews. I haven’t used it but someone wrote words to the effect of that it only works for a short time before it stops working. In which case, you need a heat gun. I bought an alternate scraper blade to remove old grip tape but it was terrible even if you used a heat gun. Using your fingers was much better but you can burn fingers if not careful (after using the heat gun). You may have to use the heat gun multiple times to get the old grip tape hot enough to peel off easily. (It will cool down quickly).
You can buy re-grip kits which contain Brampton HF-100 solvent plus a spray bottle, the rubber thing to put between the vice to keep your club in place and avoid damaging shafts and a hooked blade knife to remove the old grips and individual grip tape strips pre-cut to the correct lengths. You don’t even need a vice + clamp but it’s much easier if you have one.
If you buy a big bottle of HF 100, you need a spray bottle to pour it into. Like the spray bottle ones for watering plants. You can buy those for cheap on eBay.
(I once bought a large bottle of Brampton HF 100 solvent off of eBay from a business seller who is on eBay as well and I was very sure that what they sold me was not Brampton HF 100 grip solvent. I bought a single golf grip from that seller one time which was not the size that I ordered. I returned it and left negative feedback about it being the wrong size. eBay removed it. Those were the only two items I bought from that seller. I mention eBay removing eBay feedback further below. The solvent came in an unbranded bottle and was a different consistency to the Brampton HF 100 solvent that I bought before (that came with a regrip kit in a spray bottle) and after (large bottle bought from Gamola Golf.) Two of the three bottles came with Brampton HF 100 logos on it. Brampton HF 100 is quality solvent so you want genuine HF 100 solvent.)
I would recommend Gamola Golf for old models of lamkin grips if they have any for sale. I bought 100 golf grips from them one time which were the old model of lamkin crossline 360 grips at a very good price compared to what the new model costs. I bought them on black friday so I got an extra 10% off. I paid £3.60 per grip after the discount. After I bought 100 of the grips at £4, they upped the price to £5. My apologies.
(The old model was still a very good quality lamkin grip and actually better than the new model in my opinion). I very carefully counted all 100 grips and the exact number was 99 and I was still pleased with my purchase. Gamola Golf used to sell old models of lamkin grips or lamkin grips with cobra or taylormade branding on them etc but they only have ladies grips advertised in October 2025. I would also recommend the golf grip tape rolls sold by Gamola Golf. I bought their cheapest one which was sticky enough but not not too sticky. The rolls are much better value for money than the pre-cut strips that come in the regrip kits if you plan on regripping many clubs yourself over the course of many years.
Grip tape can be good or bad quality. Some tape I bought was not sticky enough. It wouldn’t properly stay on the shafts and that tape will result in your grip not staying in position properly on the shaft throughout the golf swing ie some twisting of the grip but in writing that, I remember in a Titleist tour truck youTube video that Zach Johnson didn’t even like any grip tape under his grips. They would just use some ‘starter tape’ with him to get the grip on. I think the twisting issue is more of a problem if the shaft is not clean enough under the grip ie its too is greasy or has greasy old grip grip tape underneath it.
Golf grips from the top brands are very expensive but a problem with some of the cheaper brands are that some are not true to size compared to Golf Pride or Lamkin or they can have quality control problems ie imperfections in some of the grips that you wouldn’t get with any Golf Pride or Lamkin grip. You can be lucky or unlucky with the imperfections with the cheaper brands depending on what batch you get.
Golf Pride Tour Velvet Grips are the most popular golf grips in pro golf but the big problems with them for amateur golfers are that they are expensive and have really bad longevity. They get very slick when worn and it doesn’t take long for them to get worn. Tour players on the big tours dont’t have to pay for them and can have their clubs regripped as often as they want.
GPTV are great grips if you are rich but since they get very worn very quickly I do not recommend them. Even if you are rich, you will have to get them replaced regularly which is time and hassle especially if you are on the receiving end of a bad regrip job. Lamkin Crossline grips used to have excellent longevity but then they unfortunately changed them to a new synthetic rubber compound which I don’t think are as good as the old ones and are worse for longevity. The old model had this rough texture on them which held up over lots of years without the grips needing replaced. I used my Dad’s old Lynx irons for about three years as a teenager which had Lamkin Crossline grips. My Dad used the irons for years before I ever used them. The grips were still good for those three years. No issues in the rain. I had no desire to get new grips installed. They were still that good.
The new model of the Lamkin Crossline grip does not have the same texture. The current version of Lamkin Crossline Black grips are very good though. I think the current Crossline black is closer to the old Lamkin Crossline (black and white) and you’ll get much longer out of those than the new Lamkin Crossline or Golf Pride Tour Velvet or the 360 version. Lamkin Crossline black 360 used to be very good but they’ve changed it as well. Golf grips with a rough texture are better for longevity and value for money. Just to be clear, from buying and selling hundreds of second hand iron sets, I think Lamkin Crossline black beat Golf Pride TV 360 black or the black and white version or GP TV for longevity. That’s for tackiness when the clubs have been well used.
Most tour players use Golf Pride grips but they don’t have to pay for them or some may be paid to play them. Not sure. Justin Rose is one player who uses Lamkin grips and there are a number of others. Golf Pride MCC or MCC+4 beat any other Golf Pride grips for tackiness over time but they are really expensive. Apart from maybe Golf Pride Tour Wrap grips but they are really bad in the rain or if your hands sweat much.
Karma black or blue velour ‘lamkin crossline black’ style golf grips are true to size, cheap and I think good quality so I recommend them. However, some people on online reviews were saying black ink was coming off on their hands or glove but I didn’t notice that with any karma grips I bought. The Karma logos are also slightly too high up the grips for my liking so if you are someone who ever grips down then you will feel the logo under your right thumb but you could put the grips on logos down which will help with that. I only recommend buying Karma grips if they are less than £3.25 per grip. The main issue with those grips are that the standard and undersize grips do not say standard or undersize on them (years ago when I used to buy them) so the seller could send you out the wrong size and you can’t prove it. I think the midsize and Jumbo grips say midsize and Jumbo on them from memory but I’m not sure.
I can’t remember if Champkey grips are true to size or not but I think they are but I really liked their MCS grips (their similar version of Golf Pride MCC+4) but Champkey’s version are a little bit firmer than Golf Pride but less than half the price. I bought the Champkey victory grips as well (similar to GP MCC) but they were nowhere near as good as the MCS grips in terms of quality in my opinion.
At the time of writing this you can buy 13 of the grips for £49.99 on a site owned by JB which comes with grip tapes, knife, solvent and rubber thing to put in between a vice and clamp but I only tried to use the grip tapes which were very very sticky so you have to use a lot of solvent or you risk getting grips only half on. If that happens you will have to cut them off. I used the cheapest grip tape rolls that I bought from Gamola Golf. They were very good. Sticky but not too sticky.
‘MrShortGame Golf’ on YT really liked Champkey’s ‘premium rubber golf grips’ but some golfers might not like them because of the design of them. They have different textures on different parts of the grips if you do a google search for them.
When I regripped clubs, I would end up getting some grip solvent on the shafts and clubheads because I would inevitably get some onto my hands. I started wearing vinyl gloves because an issue with Brampton HF 100 grip solvent is that the solvent is a bit greasy/ soapy so if you get any on your hands or gloves and then you touch the grips, shafts or clubheads afterwards. (You need to put the gloves on after peeling old grip tape off). The HF100 solvent contains some of the same stuff that’s in dish soap/ washing up liquid so you will make your grips and clubs feel a bit soapy even if you wipe it off so I used to leave a club to dry against the wall after regripping but place the clubhead on some cardboard etc to stop carpet or the floor from getting soapy or any grip solvent on it, then wait at least 24 hours and then rinse the whole club and then dry thoroughly with a towel (grip, shaft and clubhead) to avoid rusting. Then I would leave the club against the wall again for at least 24 hours to be properly safe but you could put clubs into your bag at that time.
Before rinsing a club, I would put a tee into the end of the grip first (plastic ones are best- plastic ones for irons on par 3’s that allow you tee it up at the same height each time are good- right thickness). This stops water getting into the shaft and causing rusting.
(I tested this with a new lamkin crossline black grip. I put the plastic tee in the end of the grip and filled the grip with water. No water leaked out the end.)
This is the same thing you need to do when cleaning golf grips with water and a face cloth and/or a ‘smokers’ toothbrush which are good for brushing grips because they have longer, firmer bristles but it’s still a nice compact brush that’s easy to brush grips with. You can use them for clubfaces as well but a normal cheap toothbrush will do the job with cleaning grooves with water.
When rinsing the whole club, there can be an issue if you get water onto the ferrules or on the shafts near the ferrules. Particularly warm or hot water so I would use cold or barely luke warm. Epoxy or glue from under the ferrules can leak. TaylorMade are the worst for that (whatever they use compared to other brands). Water can get under the ferrules and cause rusting or epoxy/ glue leakage but irons are built to handle that. If you play in the rain, that’s hard to avoid. Water is going to get under the ferrules. So what I would do is rinse the whole club under an outside tap two different ways:
First way- hold clubhead and place shaft under the water near the ferrule (to keep water off the ferrule) so that the water runs down the shaft onto the grip.
Second way- hold grip and place clubhead under the tap and try and keep water off the ferrule.
Then for the ferrules and the shaft next to the ferrule, wet a sponge scourer (cheap 5p ones at asda are good). Squeeze it out a bit and go over the ferrule part of the club and shaft with the sponge scourer to minimise any water getting under ferrule. Or do the same thing with a facecloth.
The alternative way is to rinse the club with a bucket of water (£1 buckets from B&Q are good) as if you were just cleaning the whole club as mentioned below.
The only potential performance issue with shaft rusting is that the clubhead can separate from the shaft but only if the rusting is really really bad. That’s only happened to me once when playing golf regularly for 20 odd years (I don’t play golf anymore) and it was with a 10+ year old iron with significant shaft rusting and pitting. It even happened to Rory McIlroy one time but that was likely due to the number of balls he hits and his clubhead speed. Not shaft rusting. Do a youTube search for ‘McIlroy’s club head goes FLYING down the fairway!’ At least one of his playing partners had said he’s never seen that before. It’s very rare.
When I clean clubs, I don’t like using any dish soap etc because you get the same issue when regripping clubs without rinsing. Unless you are very very thorough with the rinsing, you will leave the clubs and grips feeling soapy. Water is all you need. I use a £1 bucket from B&Q and a cheap sponge scourer to clean the shaft and clubhead/ clubface and to take off any sticky residue from shafts or just to clean them. Just remember to put a tee into the end of the grip before dunking it into the bucket. Wooden ones are too thick which is why I use the plastic ones designed for irons on par 3’s/
When cleaning the ferrules (if they are dirty or sticky etc), wet a sponge scourer. Squeeze it out a bit and go over the ferrule part of the club with the sponge scourer to minimise any water getting under ferrule.
A sponge scourer will also take off rust specs on steel shafts but that just visually makes the shafts look better. Rusting leads to pitting (tiny holes in the chrome layer of the shaft which if it gets really bad leads to holes in the shaft). Scrubbing too hard will lead to scores on the shafts (more so with graphite than steel) but I don’t think that will damage shafts unless you scrub very hard. You may need to do to remove tape residue. (Some online sellers including business sellers use tape directly on clubs to secure irons together inside box, leaving a sticky mess when removed. Even masking tape can do that).
The only performance issue I know of with rusting or pitting on shafts is if it causes the clubhead to separate from the shaft as mentioned.
I then use a 12.5p toothbrush from Sainsbury’s to clean the grooves but the smoker’s harder bristled brush may be better/ gets the job done slightly quicker but costs more. The smoker’s toothbrush has longer bristles than a normal toothbrush but the cheap toothbrush does the job. The smokers toothbrush is good for cleaning golf grips along with water. You can also use a face cloth;(40p at Asda).
I advise to make sure that you dry clubheads, clubfaces, shafts (and grips) thoroughly with a towel afterwards to avoid the rusting (and to keep the re-sale value as high as possible if you ever sell your clubs in the future). Then I advise storing your clubs in a dry room of your house. Not your garage. Particularly over winter time if you are not using them for ages. This is more so if you live in the UK or Ireland. Any moist air in your garage can make your golf clubs rust.
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Actual eBay feedback as of October 2025:
- eBay regularly remove feedback based on my experience of buying and selling at least 1300 items on eBay. You can’t trust anyone’s feedback page.
I will include all feedback that ever gets removed from my account below. I leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers around 10-20% of the time. That’s 130-260 odd feedbacks and more than half/ most of those were removed by eBay.
I bought two new counterfeit P790 iron sets on eBay from a seller who was selling multiple sets (advertised as TaylorMade P790 Irons). The lofts and lies were irregular. (9 iron loft stronger than 8 iron etc). I left them negative feedback for one of the sets mentioning in the feedback comment that the clubs were counterfeit. eBay removed the feedback and I was unable to leave feedback for the second set. eBay didn’t allow me to do so. The seller sold more sets with supposedly 100% positive feedback. I couldn’t warn anyone that the seller was selling fakes. I was pretty sure that the clubs were fake before I bought them but not certain because of dodgy photo taking. I was interested in measuring the specs of both sets to see how up the left they were. I can provide that info for anyone who wants them. This was before I knew how to measure and calculate swing weights or I would have done that as well.
- eBay give significantly reduced eBay fees for certain business sellers but their website does not tell you about the significantly reduced eBay fees or what the criteria is for it.
The wrongful and regular eBay feedback removal harms small businesses and private sellers a lot more than the large businesses who already have a large following.
I don’t want to get banned from eBay but all buyers and sellers on eBay should know all of this information so I am willing to risk writing about this.
- There’s two negative feedbacks on my account that you can’t see.
- Other than these two instances, my feedback page shows all feedbacks that I have ever received.
One negative feedback was removed/ hidden by eBay. I didn’t ask eBay to remove it.
(The courier lost clubs that were being delivered to a buyer in the USA. This was a sale done through eBay’s global shipping programme. The courier that eBay chose lost the clubs.)
The other negative feedback was left by a buyer who wrote that the lie angles were up the left. This was many years ago before I started measuring loft/ lie angles. I bought the clubs from a head pro of a fairly big golf club that has joint hosted professional golf competitions on the DP world tour and challenge tour who told me via messages that he adjusted the lie angles to standard. I put that information on my listing for the buyer to read. The buyer ‘revised’ their feedback from negative to positive after I offered them a £20 partial refund in exchange. I did this because I thought that their negative feedback was unfair and that it would hurt my future business. (This was also before I knew that eBay regularly removed feedback so it may have been removed anyway). The buyer agreed to the £20 partial refund and was happy to keep the clubs and did not want to return them.
I regret asking them to revise their feedback. I’m sorry. They were entitled to leave negative feedback even if it was unfair.
- I know what I have written below is very hypocritical because I stupidly paid someone £20 to revise their negative feedback as mentioned in the above paragraph but I think that all buyers on eBay have a right to know all of this information about eBay feedback wrongfully being removed. It’s very frustrating as a buyer on eBay because you can’t trust any seller’s feedback page because of it. Particularly because the feedback removal is inconsistent.
- You can see how many times a seller has had feedback revised by going onto their feedback page and looking at the top right hand corner (see one of the last photos on this listing).
- Regular and inconsistent eBay feedback removal by eBay harms small businesses and private sellers a lot more than the very large businesses who already have a large following. This is because many people will buy from large businesses because they are ‘big names’ or because they have bought from them before and had a positive experience but anyone who knows about eBay’s regular and wrongful eBay feedback removal and looks at the feedback page of a very small business or private seller (who only sells items on eBay and could genuinely have 100% positive feedback) will probably not believe that the seller actually has 100% positive feedback. Such a seller could be doing a better job at selling than the very large businesses and people will choose to buy from a very large business on eBay because they don’t trust the eBay feedback page of the small business or private seller. Whereas if eBay never removed feedback except for bad language or hate speech then buyers on eBay wouldn’t have that problem. It’s a great online website to buy from because of the eBay money back guarantee.
- The eBay inconsistently and unfairly removing feedback issue is kind of like the golf handicap issue. It’s misleading. Say you have two golfers. Golfer number one shot somewhere between level par and 4 over par for all of his last 20 rounds and averaged 2 over par for his best 8 rounds. He has a 2 handicap.
Golfer number two shot somewhere between 2 under par and 2 over par for 8 of his last 20 rounds and averaged level par for those 8 rounds but then averaged 20 over par for the other 12 rounds because he’s really inconsistent. He has a scratch handicap. (Since golf handicap is an average of your best 8 rounds in your last 20). Who’s the better golfer on their average day based on their last 20 rounds? Golfer number one by far but he’s got the higher handicap. Golfer number 2 is an extreme example. Unlikely but possible.
I think that golf handicap should be an average of all of your last 20 rounds or whatever the right number is because that would make it much easier for golf clubs or schools etc to pick golf teams fairly based on handicaps or amateur golf tournaments to fairly set entry requirements based on handicaps. There will be an issue for lots of times that golfers have a really bad hole who want to pick the ball up and move on to the next hole but why not just make an uncompleted hole a 3 or 4 over par hole etc for everyone and therefore handicaps can still be some sort of an average of your last 20 rounds. The current (or old handicap system) in the UK doesn’t accurately measure golfing ability. It’s just what you’re like on a better than average day. In theory you can be bad or terrible on your average or worse than average day and still have a low handicap. This is partly responsible for ‘boys club’ teams at golf clubs or schools and colleges (group of friends rather than the best golfers). You can’t even pick the best team based on handicap which gives more of an excuse for amateur golf teams to be a ‘boys club’. If that’s a common issue for a US Ryder cup team, it’s probably going to be an issue at your golf club. Some of the best and most consistent golfers at the club are likely not being picked for the team because they are not friends with the other members of the team. It’s not fair.
- I have more than one eBay account but I only sell golf clubs from this one (my very small business). I buy many different things on eBay but most are golf clubs. Nearly all of the 1300 odd items that I have sold on eBay were also bought on eBay from one of my accounts. Most of the time I do not leave negative or neutral feedback but when I do, most of the time it gets removed by eBay. I reckon it’s around 10-20% of the time that I have left negative (or neutral) feedbacks which would be around 130-260 feedbacks. More than half of those got removed by eBay. Even though I don’t think that any of their policies regarding feedback were broken. It was also inconsistent feedback removal. I didn’t know why some were removed and some weren’t.
I think that wrongful eBay feedback removal is more likely if you return something under the eBay moneyback guarantee for a full refund for receiving a wrong item or it not being as described.
- I previously tried leaving positive and neutral feedbacks which contained both positive and negative comments within the same feedback review in order to try and avoid eBay removing feedback. Most of those got removed as well. eBay think that they can remove positive or neutral feedbacks due to their vague policies simply because they contained a comment that was deemed negative by eBay. (Positive feedback that contains a negative comment breaks eBay’s ‘feedback policies’). Likewise, a negative feedback that contains a positive comment also breaks eBay’s ‘feedback policy’. What their policy is for neutral feedback is guesswork.
From eBay’s website as of October 2025:
‘We remove all feedback that contains any:
Negative comments with positive ratings, or positive comments with negative ratings’.
That’s one of the bullet points among many others. That is very vague which I think gives eBay the right (in their eyes) to remove basically any feedback that they want. So you can’t even leave ‘positive feedback’ for a seller that contains at least one negative comment (or could be deemed ‘negative’ even if most of the comment is positive. The same for leaving negative or neutral feedback. You can’t mention anything positive in your comments or else eBay may remove it.
- One time I bought two counterfeit iron sets on eBay that were advertised as TaylorMade P790’s by the seller ie the seller wasn’t saying that they were fake or counterfeit. I bought them both from the same seller. I thought that they were very likely fake before I even bought them just by looking at the seller’s photos but this seller was selling a significant number of these sets and I wanted to warn people about this which is why I bought them so I could leave negative feedback. Counterfeit iron sets are absolute junk because the lofts and lies will very likely be irregular based on my experience and the YT videos I have watched. Swing weights as well. Selling counterfeit goods is illegal on eBay and anywhere else anyway.
I measured the lofts and lies of both sets which were irregular (9 iron loft stronger than 8 iron loft etc). This was before I knew about the Okrasa swing weight calculator or I would have done the swing weights as well but if the counterfeiters couldn’t even get the lofts right, they’re not going to get the swing weights or club weights right. The shaft labels were clearly fake (KBS Tour 90) on both sets compared to another set of Lynx irons that I had at the time which also had KBS Tour 90 shafts. The supposedly Golf Pride grips were obviously fake to me as well just by the look and feel of them but you can also do a smell test with grips to identity counterfeit ones. These ones smelled like cheap car tyres. A really unusual and very strong smell for a golf grip.
I returned both sets to the seller under the eBay moneyback guarantee and provided strong evidence to eBay that the clubs were fake with photos of shaft label comparisons (Lynx irons/ vs the counterfeit clubs ) and the spec sheets of both sets that I measured.
(I did not buy the clubs from this account because I was scared of revenge purchases and returns from the seller).
I left the seller negative feedback for one of the sets stating that the clubs were counterfeit. That the lofts and lies were irregular etc and this negative feedback got removed by eBay. I tried to leave negative feedback for the second set but was unable to. eBay blocked me from doing so. The seller sold more counterfeit p790 iron sets since then with supposedly 100% positive feedback. I couldn’t warn anyone with the negative feedback l left because eBay removed it.
- The first and only negative or neutral feedback that I left for a seller on this account as of 24/10/25 got removed by eBay in October 2025. The feedback was left for a set of irons aimed at a low handicapped golfer (both clubheads and shafts) who is more likely to care about the following information.
The exact feedback comment that I left was:
‘Clubs were advertised as 1/2” longer than standard but club lengths were a bit irregular. Listing advertised new GP velvet grips. Some were badly put on. (Some stretched and not put on anywhere near straight). This was not shown in photos. Seller’s photos showed only one grip. One of the shafts had a stone etc inside the shaft causing a rattle. Not mentioned on the listing. Seller offered a max of £10 partial refund but didn’t actually refund me the money and then ignored my messages.’
I intentionally made sure that the whole comment was negative so that eBay could not remove it for it being a negative feedback with a positive comment or else I would have mentioned something positive in the comment but it still got removed.
(The club lengths were irregular ie three of the irons were close to the same length.) I gave the seller more than a month to respond to my message whilst they had sold other items on eBay during that time. I did not receive a response.
I have a screenshot of this feedback including the seller’s feedback page and ID before it got removed which I am obviously keeping to myself at this time because I don’t want to get banned by eBay.
The seller is a ‘private seller’ who has sold just under 750 items on eBay and currently has 100% positive feedback since 2017 from just under 400 feedbacks received. Nearly all of which are from golf clubs or golf items. That’s why I was harsher with my feedback. It wasn’t just a private seller selling their clubs. This seller has not got a single negative or neutral feedback on their account since 2017 when it was opened which I find hard to believe. How many other feedbacks has eBay removed for this seller? Not a clue. You have no idea.
I did not return these irons under the eBay moneyback guarantee partly because I thought it would make it less likely that the feedback would be removed. I still have the clubs.
I have screenshots of other past instances which I will also obviously keep to myself because I do not want to get banned from eBay
- I have read that feedback removal is not just a problem on eBay. This a problem on other review sites as well. (Review systems that you’d think you would be able to trust). Negative reviews get removed.
I don’t know about another popular online site run by JB. The difference between that site and this site is that on eBay, nothing is bought directly from eBay. eBay is a marketplace with lots of different sellers (both business and private). Nearly all items are covered by the eBay moneyback gurantee regardless of who the seller is. (Cars aren’t covered). The problem is you just don’t know what sellers to buy from because eBay feedback pages aren’t accurate and eBay feedback removal is inconsistent.
- A solution to this for people who regularly buy things on eBay is to make a list of notes of negative or neutral feedbacks along with usernames of sellers that you have bought from that you don’t want to buy from again. (Since you can’t check your ‘feedback left for others’ list if eBay have removed any of it. You can then check your own list before buying an item from a certain seller.
Unfortunately you may have to waste your time doing that because you can’t trust any seller’s feedback page because of the wrongful eBay feedback removal.
- The other thing about private sellers on eBay selling golf clubs is that many of them are businesses with a private account partly because some of them think that they will be paying reduced eBay fees. That’s because if you look at eBay’s website stating fees for businesses sellers, it says that the rate is 10.9% for sporting goods. This is not a complaint for me because that figure is nowhere near what eBay are charging me. If it were, I would be earning a lot less than minium wage and I would go out of business tomorrow and therefore I would no longer sell on the site. I would sell golf clubs elsewhere. That’s because 10.9% is supposedly the final value fee for any item in the sporting goods category and comes out of your total turnover on eBay. Not your profit. 10.9% could result in you paying eBay 70% of your profits depending on what price you are buying items at.
If eBay are charging me significantly reduced eBay fees, the same must be true for many other business sellers on the site but eBay don’t tell you that on their website if you are a new start up business seller on eBay. (Only 10% off is mentioned if you are an eBay premium seller). You only find this out if and when they start charging you significantly reduced eBay fees.
According to eBay’s policies, business sellers ie anyone selling items for profit must sell from a business account but the website does not tell you about these significantly reduced eBay fees for business sellers or what the criteria is to get them. I’m annoyed for other business sellers who are either choosing not to sell on eBay (due to them thinking they will have to pay 10.9%) or business sellers on eBay who sell from a private eBay account because eBay are not upfront on their website about what exactly their fees are for all business sellers and what the criteria is for being charged the fees that I am being charged.
Very small business sellers with a private eBay account do not realise that they may actually pay less in eBay fees with a business account than they will do with a private account. Business sellers have to pay just to advertise on eBay which private sellers don’t have to do but I’m talking about final value fees and if you are selling golf clubs with an annual turnover in the thousands or hundreds of thousands for the big businesses then those final value fees are huge. I have a screenshot of my annual turnover on eBay over the past 12 months and exactly how much of that was paid to eBay in fees which again I am obviously keeping to myself because I do not want to get banned from eBay.
- This is a note for eBay who may read this. Please do not ban my account because of the latter photos on this listing and what I have written above. I think the eBay website is great as a website to buy and sell from. Especially the eBay money back guarantee (because sometimes you need it). Apart from what I have mentioned above because I think that it’s unfair and inconsistent to both buyers and sellers who are selling on the website. It’s a huge problem for buyers trying to make informed decisions as to what sellers to buy from to avoid time and hassle of having to return items under the eBay money back guarantee.
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Rating Guide
- I’ve already mentioned this but it’s important to know that by far the biggest performance issue on second hand irons and wedges (excluding grips) are that grooves gradually get less sharp over time after hitting lots of golf balls. Sharp grooves means the highest and most consistent backspin levels possible. This is more important on your wedges for when you want to stop the ball quickly. So clubface condition is the most important part of an iron or wedge. Shaft rusting or pitting just increases the risk of a clubhead separating from the shaft (which is very rare). It shouldn’t happen unless the rusting or pitting is really bad. The grooves will almost always get very worn on an iron or wedge long before the club breaks.
- Even some Tour Pros will use an iron set for several years without changing them, resulting in penny wear marks on the clubfaces of the most used irons.
- I’ve not tested this out so I don’t know but supposedly some brands are better than others at making irons and wedges with grooves that will hold up over time, even after hitting lots of balls over several years.
This rating guide initially came from a big name seller of second hand golf clubs but I have significantly changed it. My ratings are not the same as theirs.
Head and Face conditions:
10: New- Never been used. Cellophane still on all of the clubheads.
9: Excellent- Showing extremely light usage marks. One round or range session at most.
8: Very Good- Showing light usage marks. Five rounds or range sessions at most.
7: Good- Clubs could have been used for a number of years but have been well looked after.
6: Fair- Showing increased wear marks.
5 and below: Poor- The clubs will still be usable but the clubfaces will be showing big wear marks and the grooves will likely be very worn.
Shaft conditions:
New: Never been used. Unmarked.
9: Excellent- May show signs of very minor marks. Shop display condition.
8: Very Good- Showing slight marks. Steel shafts will show no specs of rust.
7: Good- Shafts could show some marks and wear to shaft decals (labels/ stickers). Steel shafts may have a few specs of rust but no pitting.
6: Fair- Shafts will show more marks and/ or increased wear to shaft decals. Steel shafts could show increased numbers of rust specs and also light pitting but no big rust spots.
5 and below: Poor- Steel shafts will show rust and/ or heavy pitting. There may also be big rust spots but they will only be present if shown in the photos. Graphite shafts will show big marks (bag rub).
Grip conditions:
10: New- Never been used. Cellophane still on the grips.
9: Excellent- Grips feel almost new.
8: Very Good- Lightly used. Five rounds or range sessions at most.
7: Good- Grips could have been used for several rounds and range sessions but still in good enough condition to use for most golfers.
6: Fair- Grips will have lost tackiness and could show minor depression marks. Many golfers will be getting the clubs regripped.
5 and below: Poor- Grips will be very worn and could have major depression marks. New grips advised.
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