Learn how to easily spot a counterfeit Golf Pride MCC grip.
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adam@elitefitgolf.com
all right today we’re going to be looking at how to tell if the golf grips you bought are real or [Music] fake hi everyone welcome back to the channel hope you’re having a wonderful day so I’ve had a number of people come into the shop recently bringing me grips to install and well quite frankly a bunch of these grips have been counterfeit they’ve been fake uh well Golf Pride MCC style grips now this is I will just go ahead and tell you this is probably the most likely candidate to be counterfeited because one it’s very popular two it’s very recognizable so you see it on TV which again adds to the popularity when you see a Rory Maroy or whoever using a grip like this and third it’s an expensive grip right these grips are going to run you say anywhere from 12 to $14 a grip so all of those things line up to be a counterfeitter’s kind of dream setup for something to copy all right I’ve got a selection of grips here some of these are real Golf Pride MCC’s and some of these are counterfeit okay so first off what we’re going to be looking for is what I want you to look at right here on this grip and this is a real authentic Golf Pride MCC grip what I want you to look for here is this edge basically between the top half of the grip and the bottom half of the grip and what I want you to notice as I move in real close is you do not notice any sort of joint any sort of seam of any kind right everything is nice and smooth everything looks very uniform when I take that now and compare it to this grip what you are noticing very quickly I think is this line you can see it very clearly again I’ll put them up side by side here on the top is what is the real grip and what is underneath is the fake is the counterfeit and you can see with that counterfeit this line basically between the two sides of the grip that were glued together okay next up when we’re looking at the real MCC style grips what I want you to focus on are these little rings up here these little lines up here at the top that you’re going to find on all the MCC grips you’re going to find them on Tour Velvets as well but what I want you to notice is and again this is the real grip notice how these lines basically line up on both sides of this little space right here look at another one here this is again a real MCC grip and you see look how close look how well lined up these little sight lines are here at the very top let’s compare that now with one of the counterfeit grips and hopefully you can see here we’ve got a much more obvious discrepancy in how these lines meet this is very clearly not the same as those first two grips I showed you these lines on this side much further down the grip versus the lines on this side also notice there is also a paint thickness discrepancy here and paint thickness is another way or just the overall paint job that’s done on the grip that will sometimes tell you a fake from a reel the good ones are going to be really close on the paint the bad ones are going to be much more obvious these are pretty good but you can see a slight variation in the thickness of the paint but what is more obvious is just these lines do not match up on the two sides okay third way to tell from looking at them between a real authentic Golf Pride grip and a fake is I want you to look at the very tip end here at the very edge and what you’re going to notice is on a real grip and I’m going to put my hand behind it so you can see look how nice and flat and even the top is perfectly flat i’m going to show you another one again here’s the reel MCC align and you can see again nice and flat at the top now let’s compare that to one of these not real one of these counterfeit grips and what you see here is when I put my hand up behind it look at that kind of indention look at that sort of concave shape right here when we look at it again basically it’s the seam it’s that joint between the two halves and you can see the seam here or the point where they connect kind of is shorter than the top and bottom edges so in a real authentic golf pragide grip you are not going to see this it’s going to be nice and even and smooth on the top on a fake you’re going to see some variation some version of this now some of them will be better this one’s definitely a little more aggressive if I take this one which is also fake it’s not nearly as bad as that first one it has a little bit but it’s much smoother but again if you buy a set of these chances are at least you know at least a/4 to a half of them are going to show you some kind of discrepancy or some kind of inconsistency in this top uh lip okay now next up is the feel of the grips now obviously this is going to be hard to do unless you actually have a real grip to compare against the counterfeit grip first off is going to be the firmness you are usually going to be able to tell a difference in the firmness nine times out of 10 the fake grip the counterfeit grip is going to be harder it’s going to be firmer than the real authentic grip so if I squeeze this real MCC Plus4 grip it has a good amount of give to it down here on the non-corded section when I compare that to the counterfeit grip this is a much firmer rubber it is much harder noticeably harder than the real MCC grip now the other thing when we’re talking about feel and this could also go into the looks but we want to really focus on this cord in the real one versus the fake one and what you’re going to notice is in the real MCC grips the cord is much more refined it’s it’s kind of deeper into the rubber you can see it’s less substantial and it’s more understated in the fake what you notice is that cord is very obvious it’s very close to the surface when you rub your fingers over it you can definitely feel a lot more of that cord there versus in the real MCC grip it just feels a little bit more understated it feels a little bit more uh again it feels a little more refined and again if we’re looking at them side by side and you know what you’re looking for again you can see here we have the real grip and here we have the fake grip and you can see just again looking at the quality of how that cord was actually installed becomes pretty obvious now the last way to tell and maybe this is maybe this is the easiest way to tell that you’re buying a counterfeit grip is going to be the price the real authentic Golf Pride MCC style grips basically stay at about that standard price all the time that 12 to$14 range per grip that’s going to be kind of what they are so unless you find them on the actual Golf Pride website or on an actual dealer website with some sort of sale you’re going to usually be paying that full price if you find them on eBay if you find them on Facebook Marketplace if you find them on any of those sort of secondary uh sellers sites at some questionable price I’m going to go ahead and say that the likelihood is very very high that what you’re buying is a counterfeit grip all right hopefully this will help you figure out whether the grips you’ve bought online are the real deal or if they’re counterfeit if you enjoyed this video make sure you go down below like comment subscribe hit the bell icon so you’ll be alerted when I post new videos if you’re interested in a fitting in a custom build in a repair all my contact information is down below and I’ll see you on the next video bye
49 Comments
Adam, have the counterfeits been more difficult to install because they're so much firmer? Or do you not have much trouble with them?
I bought some MCC grips, not thinking they were anything but knockoffs, because I wanted practice installing grips before assembling some Maltbys. It surprised me when they came branded Golf Pride. They've been a struggle to install and I don't know whether to blame the grip or the grip tape and solvent kit I bought (Champkey). I use copious amounts of the solvent on the tape and inside the grip itself. Like you demonstrated, I am intending to push the grip onto the shaft all in one motion, no stopping. But every single grip locks up about 3 inches onto the shaft. I have resorted to twisting them on, because they won't go on otherwise. I'm actually pleased with the grips themselves, but install is tough.
I am thinking it's the tape. I wanted to try the SpecTape that you're using to see if it's any easier. Can you let me know which SpecTape you're using?
Thanks.
Golf Pride used to be very affordable, no longer. I have been regrouping with an alternative for a number of years and have had no issue. In my opinion, the major manufacturers of golf grips saw an opportunity to gouge the weekend golfer, no thanks, I'll continue to purchase grips made by no name companies until Golfpride and others realize golfers aren't buying their product.
I know my grips are real… no one would DARE copy these $1.89 beauts.😎
I bought fake golf pride grips off eBay once they were good for about a month and then got so slippery I had to cut them off.
€36 For 13 grips from Temu are absolutely perfect.The mark up up on golf grips is crazy.
You must be on WRX. 😆
Have some fakies on the way, good enough for half the price lol
I've been using these for sometime and for 12 for the price of 2 genuine ones they're absolutely fine. I can't justify the cost of regrips worth as much as the clubs they're going on. Especially if you're experimenting with different types midsize plus 4 etc etc
$36 bucks off of aliexpress vs 130+ anywhere else.
Anything that sells for $70 or more will be counterfeited. I see bike tires that are fake.
Theres really no downside to cf grips. Sure the qc might be lacking and they tend to be a little stinker, and the weights can vary by +/-5g from one to the next, but for the price, really a no brainer… especially if you change grips twice a year like I do. The cost savings outweighs the rest.
Used counterfeit grips and have no problem playing them. Golf is already expensive as it is, played cord, tour etc and They literally feel like quality grips you would pay $100+ for 10. Certain things you can’t cheap out on for golf equipment and grips you can.
Crazy that eBay has all these bogus listings? Years back I listed software which is mine, a product that I developed and sell exclusively on my websites. I listed a few on eBay and the listings were taken down due to copyright violations. Yes, I was violating myself! Yet there's endless listing for bogus grips? LOL
I’ve been buying the fake golf pride mcc for a while now. I find very little difference in the quality of the most recent ones. I’m down to a 3 index so it isn’t doing me any harm. The “real” ones are way overpriced. As for the lines not matching up, I’m never looking at them when I’m swinging the club….
I’ve been in the industry for over 50 years as a PGA member and in wholesale/ manufacture. Throughout the factories in China there are counterfeits of pretty much everything and despite an army of lawyers etc it cannot and never will be stopped. The majority of comments here confirm that people know they’re buying and using fake products but at the end of the day, they don’t care as long as it’s cheaper.
Those little discrepencies shouldn't add up to > $70. If you cannot tell from the feel, they ain't far superior.
My fake grips from AliExpress are softer then the real MCC. I love the feeling. Lol
Are these all made in China anyway? Maybe some are sold to resellers that are “blems”.
They are the “off the market” golf grips that is why they’re cheap.
Was there a weight difference between the two? I wonder what the fake CP2 wraps look and feel like as well as if there is a weight difference.
I didn’t notice until I changed the grip at home, noticed the “new” MCC+4 grip felt smaller/thinner. The align strip didn’t stick out as much on the fake it felt almost just as flat as the rest of the grip. I also noticed the red paint on the fake Align strip didn’t have the same metallic shimmer as the real one. I bought the fakes on eBay then bought more on Amazon and those turned out to be fake as well. I gave up and just buy straight from the local golf shop now, I check those out too just in case when I buy
So what you're telling me is the differences are very tiny and I should absolutely keep buying the cheaper ones.
Where I live in Canada there are dozens of pop up shop scammers buying the temu ones and installing them for 90 percent of the real retail ones. It's becoming a real problem and no one is cracking down on these scams. I have tried all sorts of grips and must say the fake ones dry out really fast. Now that being said you can regrip your clubs 4 times for the price of 1. The only issue again is the guys trying to pass fakes as real. What you do with your own clubs is fine but you have to be really pathetic to install fake grips on someone else's clubs and charge them for real ones.
But how do they proforma?
Ha! I just checked mine I bought off a private seller on eBay. Fake! I had no idea!
They were super hard to get on too.
😂
Interesting vid, I buy my grips from what I think is a reputable supplier or get my pro to fit. I’ve assumed they are all genuine but can not be sure as the differences seem pretty minimal.
I noticed in the film that the genuine grips had a white surround to the Golf Pride logo, and the fakes had red; is that an indicator of a fake or does the colour vary? I’ve never really paid much attention to the paint fills before
It would be easier to identify the quality grips as real . They're expensive ( too expensive)
Reading all the comments it's clear to me that 1. no one feels good when another company counterfeits a brand or product, that is wrong. 2. The quality of the knocks offs are very good and the price bump from the real brand is not nearly worth it. I'd like to see these counterfeiters roll out grips under their own name and people will buy them. Whomever made my "fake" Golf pride MCC4 made an excellent grip and I would absolutely continue to buy that product. $170 for a set of rubber golf grips is utterly absurd.
I like the feel of a winn grip, specifically, the jumbo with less taper… and I did buy some "winn" grips from temu… and they felt so different… not tackiness… just smooth… and while the squishiness in the hands was similar… in now way were they even remotely passable for the real thing. So… returned… really not a big deal… but I thought I'd let ya'll know.
While I'm at it… I just want a grip I like. If it's counterfeit… fine… as long as it feels good in my hand. I REALLY don't care about the name on the grip… though I appreciate the counterfeiters know that if they slap on a brand name, they can sell it for more. But… give me a no name grip… I'm not trying to impress people on the course… I just want to hit the ball in the direction I intend.
Another great video, thank you !
Was hoping you would have put them on a scale just curious
Hint #1 – if you bought them off Temu, they’re probably counterfeit …
I have been using Champkey. I liken them to the Takomo of grip manufacturers. Certainly taking cues from the high end clubs, at a much more affordable price.
Thanks for the insight … I don’t come across a wide range of grips to truly be able to tell the difference.
great video, but the best and fatest way to tell fake is you smell it, if it smell SOLVANT then it's fake. due to regulations the real grip manufacturer has to remove all solvant from the grip
I bought some Plus 4’s off fleabay a few years ago and got the fakes. They felt alright, and I noticed the seam issue you showed. Problem was they got very slick after about 3 months. Never again.
I bought some Plus 4’s off fleabay a few years ago and got the fakes. They felt alright, and I noticed the seam issue you showed. Problem was they got very slick after about 3 months. Never again.
I've used the fake ones and didn't know they were fake. They held up good and felt good. I have the mc+4 aligns and they are good grips.
Maybe the real ones are even better? I'm sure they are, but these are good grips.
The counterfeits usually don’t weigh to specs some can be as much as 60g which completely mess up your swing weights. There are class A counterfeits that weigh the standard 50g but deviation is high. But the problem is originals are a rip off, last a year at best for regular players. Best option is to go for unknown brands that have grip weights within specs, rubber quality can’t go too wrong unless you use ribbed grips and quite a few layers of tape where uneven stretch of the rubber could cause ribs to be crooked.
Like some of the other commenters said, I go with Champkey grips from Amazon. With work, family, and life in general I don't get to practice or play enough to tell the difference. If I can pay 20% of the cost and get 90% of the performance, that's more than good enough for me. I've never thought "if I only had a Golf Pride grip, I wouldn't have shanked/fatted/thinned that shot".
You pay extra for that Thialand grip vs the China grip
I have friends that buy counterfeit grips off Temu and ask me to put them on. The lower quality is definitely noticeable and recently I did a set of Temu bought " CP2" Grips and the Paint was falling off when I slipped them on the golf shaft….. Counterfeit grips are NO BUENO.
The comments from the " I don't care if it's Intellectual Property Theft" are why companies have to lay people off. The Chinese STEAL everything !!!!
The comments definitely express that almost everyone rather buy counterfeit over real. The real rub here is when you pay genuine price for a counterfeit grip! I am surprised you did not performance test them, I would guess there would be no difference for the average player. Buy Champkey, you know what you’re getting. You can change them every year and not break the bank! No counterfeit Champkey😂!
Like fake boobs 🫣 some feel soo good
With counterfeit grips being so good it points to the obvious fact that genuine grips are overpriced.
I have a suspicion that a few years ago I purchased fake Mizuno MP 20 HMB clubs. Can you help identify fake clubs?
How can you Called it fake it all made in China 😂😂😂.
I’m not good enough to care or feel a difference. So counterfeit grips all day everyday 😂
I buy Champkey grips from Amazon. I work in a Pro Shop and even with my discount, the Champkey grips are a better deal. I play 2-3 times a week and am very happy with the Champkey. They are a great value compared to the Golf Pride with no difference in performance IMO.