148 - Fake Update...

In February I wrote about a guy called Gary Bellchambers who, along with a couple of other people, was responsible for the biggest counterfeiting scam ever uncovered on eBay. Bellchambers and his gang were responsible for over 96,000 golf related transactions through the auction site between June 2003 and March 2008.

The whole enterprise came to a halt after a pensioner reported Bellchambers to the Trading Standards Institute after not receiving a full refund for some tat he had tried to sell to her. The TSI then leapt into action and started Operation Augusta to try and catch Bellchambers and his cronies in the act.

The operation was a success and seven people were arrested. Bellchambers (below) was jailed for four years and three months with his bookkeeper Keith Thomas getting 16 months after they admitting conspiracy to sell or distribute fake goods. A third man, Roy Cottee received 12 months after being found guilty of the same charge with four others receiving suspended sentences.

Bill Adams, Havering Council principle trading standards officer, said: "We are pleased that this gang have got what they deserved.

They made millions of pounds from their operation, selling tens of thousands of fake clubs to people all over the world. Each customer was ripped off by up to £100 per club.

"I've been an investigator for 35 years and never heard of such a massive counterfeiting operation - it was of a scale that has never been seen before."

As I said when I first posted about this, I had a picture of a Del Boy Trotter character, a lovable rogue selling hooky gear from a shed but the truth of the matter is that Bellchambers and his team brought more than six tons of golf equipment into the United Kingdom from Asia before selling it for a massive profit.

Here is another thing, because they have brought so much second rate rubbish into the country it is almost certain that there will still be an awful lot of it doing the rounds on eBay. Keep that in mind the next time you see that ‘too good to miss’ Odyssey Two-Ball putter or TaylorMade R7 driver.

119 - Shake The Fake...

I was reading an article in Golf Whine Monthly recently about the biggest counterfeiting scam in eBay history which saw thousands of fake clubs sold for millions of pounds. Initially I had a picture of a Del Boy Trotter character, a lovable rogue selling hooky gear from a shed but then it dawned on me that I should be very angry at this modern day Fagin.

I, like a lot of you out there I suspect, buy a fair bit of my golfing paraphernalia via eBay as it often throws up the best price. I don’t mind that the gear doesn’t come with a full warranty, that there is virtually zero after sales and that there is a good chance the equipment isn’t brand new. What I do mind is being ripped off by being sent fake goods knocked up in an Asian factory for a few quid when I have paid for the genuine article.

A guy called Gary Bellchambers from Rainham in Essex set up a number of eBay accounts selling the likes of Odyssey Two-Ball putters, Cleveland irons and TaylorMade R7 drivers. He would buy the fake kit from China for as little as £3 before hawking it on eBay for up to £100 (which was still a bit cheaper than the shops but not too much). The pricing was very clever as it didn’t raise suspicion with the buyer for being too cheap yet still had that delicious smell of a genuine bargain.

Over five years his team was responsible for over 96,000 golf related transactions on eBay but it all come to a juddering halt in March 2008 after a little old lady complained to Trading Standards after she didn’t get a refund on a shoddy fake she had been sent.

Normally Bellchambers would refund customers instantly to stop them escalating the complaint but in this case he was out of the country and couldn’t respond.

Trading Standards launched ‘Operation Augusta’ and raided a number of homes seizing computers and 2,500 fake clubs. Computer forensics found emails between the team with detailed lists of which customer had bought what equipment, common complaints for returned goods and how flaws in the golf gear needed to be addressed to prevent the operation being caught out.

Bellchambers was charged with the rather catchy crime of ‘conspiracy to sell or distribute golf clubs and accessories bearing signs likely to be mistaken for registered trademarks contrary to Sec 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977’ and is due to be sentenced any day now. If convicted he and his co-conspirators could face up to 10 years in prison.

Golf by its very nature drives us to strive for constant improvement. The big manufacturers play on this and are relentlessly producing equipment that promises to give us tiny advantages over our fellow hackers but with money tight we are all on the lookout for a bargain. Bellchambers and his crew exploited this situation and merrily ripped off thousands. Loveable rogue? Don’t make me laugh.

95 - Fell Off The Back Of A Van...

My shiny new clubs have arrived, well I say arrived what I actually mean is that I collected them. After conducting a bidding campaign that would have see Napoleon giving me polite applause in recognition of my superlative tactics I eventually ‘won’ a set of Mizuno MP-57’s via the murky world of eBay. Although there are processes in place to protect the buyer and seller there is always a nagging doubt in the back of my mind about the stuff being auctioned.

I’ve bought a lot of stuff from eBay but at £250 the new clubs were my most expensive purchase so I was a little concerned in case they weren’t exactly as described or something happened to them in the post. Fears of a postman volleying them around Liverpool before dumping them in a crumpled mess on my doorstep were quashed when I received an email from the seller telling me he would hand deliver them. Result!

It turned out that the seller only lives a short distance away on the Wirral and would rather bring them over than risk the Royal Mail. Excellent stuff, hand delivered and a chance to check the clubs are genuine while the guy is there. But things soon started to go a bit weird. It seems that the bloke doesn’t know his way around Liverpool very well and asked if I could meet him somewhere we both could find. Not really hand delivered if I had to drive to get them but I would give him the benefit of the doubt.

I got a bit freaked out when he asked if I could meet him in a car park. That nagging doubt in the back of my mind was suddenly a massive paranoia fuelled migraine! Buying golf clubs from the back of a van in a car park? I must have mug stamped on my head.

I contacted the seller to tell him I wasn’t happy about this but got distracted after speaking to him as he came across as a genuine guy (I know, I am a soft touch).

So, there I am in the car park outside the fabulous museum in Liverpool city centre waiting for this random guy to turn up with my bats but I didn’t have a clue who he was. I sent him a text to ask how I would know him; he replied that his name is all over the side of his van. Sure enough, 5 minutes later a little white van with his name pulled up. When I got out of the car I could see the full advert on the side of his van ‘golf club repairs and fitting’. I let out a huge sigh of relief.

We got talking for 10 minutes and he made me check each club to make sure I was absolutely happy – I was, I was ecstatic. He also asked if I was going to bother getting them fitted for loft and lie because if I was he would do the whole set for £45 which is about £25 less than the cheapest price I was quoted when I inquired about it last time. I might take him up on this offer at some point.

What had looked like the dodgiest of dodgy deals had actually turned out very well. The clubs are superb and were delivered with a lot of care and attention. They are lying in order on my couch right now just waiting to be used, the problem is they are too shiny and perfect to put anywhere near a fairway. I might just stroke them for a few days; it seems a waste not to!

90 - Everything Starts With A Three...

As mentioned in an earlier post I decided to buy a 3 wood after taking Richie’s advice. My first shot can be wild if I use my MX-560 driver which means I tend to use a hybrid off the tee. The hybrid gives me more control but I lose a fair bit of distance and Richie suggested that a 3 wood could be the answer providing more accuracy aligned with respectable length off the tee with the added bonus of being useful off the fairway.

I scanned the online retailers and eBay and eventually bought a second hand Mizuno F-60 for less than £40. The pictures of the club reassured me as it looked pretty much spotless save for a few tiny marks on the face but until it is in your hands you don’t really know what you are getting from eBay, do you? Well it arrived yesterday and I’m very pleased. Exactly as described, less than half price.

I was concerned that it came with a stiff graphite shaft as I’ve never used one before but a few practice swings helped allay some of these worries. The club feels somewhere between the stiffness of the steel shaft on my old John Daley driver and the flexible graphite on the MX-560.

It is a difficult feel to describe, sort of stiff and floppy at the same time (I realise we are getting dangerously close to ‘Carry On up the Fairway again so I’ll leave it there).

Compared to my driver the head on the F-60 looks tiny in fact it doesn’t look too much bigger than my Howson hybrid which came as a real surprise. Although not exactly the same it is obvious that the F-60 is the MX-560’s little brother, there are a lot of aesthetic touches which are quite similar like the polished sole, the colour scheme and head cover which is almost identical.

I’m looking forward to pinging a few balls up the range with the F-60 to see what it can do. Reviews have been quite favourable although the next generation of Mizuno woods have the edge on the clubs I have now. Hopefully I can find 200+ yards down the centre of the fairway from now on and then work towards my PGA Tour card!

81 - 3, That's The Magic Number...

The problems I have been having with my driving have had me thinking – a lot. I’ve decided to use my MX-560 driver only on the range until I can wrestle a bit of accuracy out of it and am therefore forced to tee off with my hybrid for now. Not a perfect solution but the best I can come up with…or is it?

As normal when I have a problem in golf I obsess over it and hit the Internet and magazines hard! It seems that the best thing to do when your drives are wild is to simply use a different club. A few sites suggest the new fangled hybrids as they make hitting the ball long and straight a lot easier – something I can vouch for after using my £10 Howson on the driving range for a year.

Other less progressive sites suggest moving down the clubs and claim that a 3 wood will deliver most of the distance of a driver with the advantage of not being as difficult to control. Right, I’ll use my 3 wood from now on then…when it arrives. Oh yeah, I haven’t got one yet but it is on it’s way.

Continuing my obsession with Mizuno, I had a look around to see what was on offer from the Japanese golf wizards and found that they have just released the MX-700 Hot Metal wood. Fantastic reviews, as sexy as Scarlett Johansson (left) but a bit too pricey for me, even on eBay. I needed a quality alternative.

The MX-700 replaces the F-60, which was Mizuno’s darling of the tee/fairway until earlier this year. Logic dictates that, as there is a new, shiny club on the market the price of the old one should drop. Erm, no, it seems that being a decent piece of kit the price of the F-60 has stayed high (in fact it costs the same as the new MX-700 on some websites) so it was still too pricey.

Another dip into he murky world of eBay revealed yet more expensive clubs but also thrown into the mix were some second hand woods of varying quality. I made an offer of £30 for a slightly battered 3 wood that was going for £50 plus delivery. The seller rejected my offer and did me a favour in hindsight as the club looked abused and came without a head cover.

I was about to give up when I spotted a little cracker. A barely used F-60 with a stiff graphite shaft complete with a head cover going for just £35. I was tempted enough to put a maximum bid of £40 in to test the water. It was sufficient to win so I’m now the proud owner of a Mizuno F-60 3 wood.

I’m expecting good things from this club. I’m hoping for the distance of my MX-560 driver and the accuracy of my cheap Howson hybrid but I’ll bet anything that I just end up with another club that infuriates me to the point of expletives. I'll keep you informed.

60 - No Vokey No Cry...Well Maybe Just A Little...

I have only gone and done it; I’ve turned my back on the Titleist Vokey and bought myself two Mizuno MP-R wedges instead. I feel a little sad, but after the snooping around my blog by the manufacturers of the world most popular golf ball I felt I had to take a stand. It had nothing to do with the fact that the Mizuno clubs got rave reviews in Golf Whine Monthly or the fact that I got them at a knock down price, no Sir!

After searching the internet I found the wedges cost around £90 each and come in all manner of loft and bounce options depending on what you need. Personally, I needed the cheapest I could find to be perfectly honest as I hadn’t budgeted for wedges in my running total. When you need crap at discount prices there is only one place to go; eBay! Boy was there some crap on eBay.

After a couple of weeks searching I was almost ready to give up. The clubs on offer were either brand new and cost the same as in the shops or had been battered into submission by cack-handed municipal hackers who were trying to convince gullible tools that the scrapes, dings and wear actually provided more spin. I know clubs designed to oxidise help increase spin but chrome clubs that have been abused just don’t.

All I was after was a club that had been used for a few months, had been looked after and was being sold because the person was getting a new wedge for Christmas. As I was about to give up my search I found a pair of clubs that were new this year, had been looked after and were being sold because the person was getting new wedges for Christmas. Spooky.

The more observant out there may have noticed I said ‘pair of clubs’. That’s right; I had found two bats that fitted the bill. The seller had a 52* and a 56* up for sale in the same auction and the best part was that they were up for sale at a reasonable price. What’s more, he was even willing to accept a ‘Best Offer’ for them that would save me 18%. It sounded too good to be true but I decided to take a gamble and bid on them.

After a couple of days I received an email saying I was the winner. Result! I paid and then waited for the clubs to arrive. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t best pleased to hear later that day that staff at the main sorting office in Liverpool were planning strike action over the proposed closure of the facility (oh I agree with them 100%, just not when I’ve got golf clubs winging their way to me!!!) but I hoped they would arrive before the staff started sitting around burning oil drums at the main gate.

I got a phone call yesterday saying that a box with Mizuno had arrived. Whoohoo! I was certain that the whole deal was too good to be true and that some battered auld crap would fall out of the box when I opened it but I was delighted to find that the clubs were exactly as described and showed little sign of wear. You can tell they have been used but it doesn’t look like very much, in fact the 52* looks almost brand new. I’m a relieved man.

New, the clubs cost £90 each but I had managed to get two in excellent condition for just £65. I honestly cannot complain. In fact if the clubs had been a bit more battered I STILL couldn’t complain at that price. The face of both clubs is excellent, the grooves are still sharp, the shafts are unmarked and the grips look virtually brand new. I’m a happy camper today but still have a tinge of sadness about turning my back on the Vokey.

03 - My hero, Lucky...

After the debacle that was my first soiree at the driving range I decided to get back as soon as I could to shake off the urge to wrap my clubs around someone’s neck and burn down a clubhouse. Instead of going with someone who knew what they were doing I went with my mate Lucky (well deserved nickname but a story for another time) who is also very new to golf.

Lucky, real name Paul, is a case (in the nicest possible way). I told him about thinking of becoming a golfist and he went all hysterical screaming about always wanting to play golf but never having anyone to go with. Within hours he had bought a set of clubs from eBay because “the driver looked like a Beluga whale and the shafts are Titanium”. He is my hero.

Over the coming days all manner of stuff was ordered by him including balls, shoes, a trolley, shirts, a rain suit. When he gets into something there is no stopping him. His enthusiasm is infectious though and soon I was looking forward to disappointing shot after disappointing shot. Bring it on!

When I arrived Lucky was already there, practicing on the putting green with his lad. He came bounding over, all excited, ready to smash the ball straight and true. You know what happened though, don’t you? After an hour he had gone through 100 balls and a fair chunk of his patience. It was comforting to see that it wasn’t just me who was as much use as an arse pocket in a vest when it came to golf.

I on the other hand was much improved. I was hitting a fair few straight and things were starting to feel more natural (like that stupid interlocking finger crap everyone does). I was connecting a lot better and hitting it roughly where I wanted although from time to time my shots were pissing off towards the fence on the right. Not perfect but better.

I left the range feeling good. Lucky left feeling frustrated. I could see he was going through exactly what I had the week before and told him so. He looked at me like he was about to burst into tears, gave me an eerily cheery goodbye and ragged his car out of the car park like he had robbed it. I could tell my words had made a difference. It was a good day.