Every once in a while, golf manufacturers just get it plain wrong. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what kinds of golf clubs to steer clear of, the worst golf club brands, and what mistakes to avoid when buying clubs.
Plus, we’ve thrown in a few specific bad clubs for fun (and to provide good examples of what clubs not to buy).
What Kinds of Golf Clubs to Avoid
We’ll get to calling out specific bad golf products soon enough, but first we want to give you general guidelines on what to look out for when buying your next set. Read on for a few things to stay aware of.
Knockoff Clubs
Knock-off clubs are a general category of clubs that you should avoid at all costs. Not to be confused with clone clubs, knockoffs are typically produced in countries that have little regard for patents and intellectual property fraud.
Knockoff clubs are put together using cheap materials and little-to-no quality assurance. If that wasn’t enough reason not to buy knockoff clubs, here’s another: they’re often illegal to sell.
What’s worse, these cheaply made clubs will break much more easily than actual brand-name gear (if they work at all, and there’s no warranty or return policy to fall back on when that happens.
You’ll often see these knockoff clubs being sold on shady-looking websites or online auction sites, so let that be your first warning sign. You’re much better off paying a little more and going through a reputable retailer such as Amazon, a major sporting goods store, or your local golf shop.
Cloned and Copycat Golf Clubs
Cloned and copycat golf clubs are different from knockoff clubs in the sense that they’re designed to be very similar to the most popular models from the top golf brands. Some clone clubs may even be rebranded “factory seconds” from those big names.
Often, these clubs are produced in the same factories as those top brands are made in, and on the same assembly lines. Good news, right? Here’s the difference: those top brands have strict quality assurance and testing processes that the clone brands don’t.
Misshapen handles, chipped paint, and other small defects are common in clone clubs – sometimes these defects may affect the performance of the club. Do you want to drop coin on a new set of clubs just to have a mystery bag of problems? We didn’t think so.
There are also some companies out there who aim to duplicate the top brands’ technologies and designs, and offer them for less money. Some of the most popular clone golf club brands include Giga Golf, Diamond Tour, and Hireko.
Component Clubs
Component clubs aren’t something to necessarily steer fully clear of, but we thought they should be mentioned on this list as something to be aware of.
There’s an entire industry built around professional and amateur clubmakers that supplies individual club components. Big brands typically don’t want their technology or clubs sold in parts, so you won’t find many recognizable brands in the component club space.
In general, the quality of most reputable component suppliers will be fine, but you’ll need to be very aware of the skill of the person assembling your clubs.
We recommend not bothering with component clubs, as most golfers will find the typical assembled clubs more than enough for their needs and skill level.
What to Avoid When Buying Golf Clubs
With so many factors to consider when buying golf clubs, sometimes it’s easiest to start with what not to buy! Here are a few things to watch out for when buying golf clubs.
Avoid Buying Golf Clubs Beyond Your Skill Level
There’s a reason that manufacturers target different skill levels with their sets of clubs. Beginner sets often favor forgiveness over distance, and pro sets favor accuracy and control over forgiveness. And this is a good thing! Don’t think that buying a top-of-the-line pro set is going to make your game better – in fact, it could end up frustrating you and will likely hurt your score.
Make sure you account for your skill level when buying clubs to ensure you can take advantage of the specific technology in your set.
Don’t Buy More Golf Clubs Than You Need
Do you need all fourteen clubs to play a round of golf? No! Now, we’re not saying go out there and play with a handful of clubs, that’s ridiculous. However, a beginner with four different wedges is not going to see the same benefit as a more skilled player will from that club selection.
Bottom line here is don’t too hung up on everything a set includes. Look mainly for good coverage among your club range, and a good shaft flex that fits your swing speed, and a shaft length and your height.
Check out our guide on how to measure for clubs for a full rundown on how to get a great fit.
Don’t Buy a Set of Clubs Beyond Your Budget
There is a lot of cool golf gear out there. It’s hard to say “no” sometimes! But going broke trying to get the slickest setup is not going to dramatically change your game or skill level at the end of the day – only time spent at the course and driving range will accomplish that.
So make sure you’ve got a budget in mind and you stick to it – after all, the worst golf clubs are the ones you constantly fight with your partner about after spending too much on them.
Watch Out for Club Sets With Gimmicky Tech
Square-shaped drivers, oversized putters, or putters whose face can “flip” to meet different needs have all been dreamed up and overhyped by companies looking to shill new gear to golfers. Sure, there is always a need for innovation, but if something looks too weird, chances are it probably is. If you’re curious about some of these past golf club fails, we’ve got some great examples below for you to enjoy.
Some of the Worst Golf Clubs We’ve Seen
“Hindsight is 20/20”. It’s true in fashion, business, and certainly golf. We may have the advantage here on these former golf club missteps, but let’s use that knowledge to not make the same mistakes again! Plus, it’s always a little fun to see just how far we’ve come.
Read on for some hand-selected choices of the worst golf clubs to ever grace the green.
Worst Driver: The Nike SQ Sumo 5900
The design and shape of this beast defies everything present in modern-day golf tech. And yes, the “SQ” stands for square. Cute huh? To top it off, the sound was just as bad as its looks! We can blame the SQ and similary-shaped Callaway FTi for ruining golfer’s appetites for non-traditional-looking drivers for some time.
Runner Up for Worst Driver: The Bullet Hollow Point Driver
The Bullet Hollow Point Driver got a number of things wrong, from it’s poor “C”-shaped design, to it’s lack of good components and materials, and wrapping up the package with zero forgiveness. If you see this online for auction or at a secondhand store, don’t bother
Honorable Mention for Worst Driver: The Hammer X Driver
Do you take all of your advice from infomercials? Then you’ll LOVE the Hammer X Driver. Sold primarily through TV, this sword-shaped driver succeeded at only one thing: separating golfers from their money.
Here’s the original infomercial for extra fun:
Worst Irons: Cleveland Golf VAS Irons
The hosel design made these irons look like a garden tool – and made the player look like an even bigger tool! To top it off, the irons’ lack of forgiveness and control proved to be just as bad as the tacky purple VAS logo on the back of these suckers.
Runner Up for Worst Irons: Cobra Golf Baffler Blade Irons
We can all agree that irons are, in general, a tough club to hit with. Blade irons are historically much tougher than cavity back irons. Cobra went the extra mile with the Baffler Blade irons and made them out-of-this-world tough to hit with!
These irons had an unusually thin top and zero offset, and even the ladies’ flex version of these clubs was unusually stiff. Looks like they took it a little far when trying to create a pro-level iron if not even the pros could enjoy them!
Worst Wedge: The Alien Wedge
Originally intended for less-skilled players to be able to play their way out of bunkers, this ridiculously-shaped wedge only proved efficient at creating ear-splitting sound no matter how it was hit.
Worst Putter: Ping Doc Putter
Ping created the Doc putter with extreme perimeter weighting and an absurdly large head (6.7” large!)- enough to hit four golf balls at once – in order to help handsy-stroked players perform better. The only real use for this is as a branding iron, and that’s only if your last name starts with “D”…
Runner Up for Worst Putter: Odyssey Flip Face Putter
Odyssey went on their own odyssey when designing the flip face putter. Sure, other companies had made putters with interchangeable face plates before, but what about a putter that allowed the player to literally “flip” the face between a firm and soft putter face?
Convenience and choice in a single package sounds awesome! Except… why would you want a choice in how your putter feels? Most golfers (us included) prefer a consistent standard feel in such a critical area of our game. Did we mention it’s also ugly? Yes, it is.
The only redeeming quality of the Flip Face putter is that a golfer now had something to blame a bad shot on: “Oh, I must have used the wrong insert!”
Take Our Word For It – Conclusion
We hope this gives you some general ideas and concrete examples of the worst golf clubs from several different brands that you should avoid. Again, this is not a definitive list, but rather a “best of the worst”.
We’ve warned you: don’t bother with the bad golf clubs on this list unless you’re running some sort of worst golf club museum or a good white elephant gift for your golf buddies.