Dealers Show How to Ensure Golf Equipment Isn't Sub-Par

Vice President Zach Veasey said Global Golf in north Raleigh ships out 25,000 boxes of new and used golf products to online shoppers each month. Before the products are shipped, workers check them and check them twice to figure out if their goods are naughty knock-offs or the real thing.

"If, in fact, we have a product that's replicated or knocked off, we destroy it," he said.

Veasey said the recent scam involving golf products with phony trademarks is bad for manufacturers, dealers and consumers.

"At the end of the day, if they (buyers) want to trade it in or try to get something different after having played with it for a while, it's of no value," he said.

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall warned consumers to be cautious when they shop online.

"They're looking to make their dollars go just as far as they can," she said. "I would really like to ask them to step back and look at it and ask, 'Is the deal too good to be true?'"

"In most instances, that's going to give some indication if it is a valid product," Veasey concurred.

Serial numbers are usually only found on authentic products, and fakes often use slightly different spellings of the product's name, Veasey said. He stressed that buyers need to study trademarks carefully to make sure they are authentic, because those markings are "oftentimes difficult to replicate."

The bottom line from Veasey and Marshall: If the deal looks too good to be true, the equipment is probably sub-par.