Demo clubs?

[nm250eff]

In one of the other posts about the rapture, Eracer mentioned that demo clubs might be "special" from the off of the shelf models. I have thought the same thing. If I were to sell a product I would make sure the test model was a perfect example. Do you guys think this is possible? Matched, pured shafts? Club head weighting? Etc.

[Rockford35]

I doubt it. All the shops around here use off the shelf clubs for Demo. Some suck, some are great.

The time that would go into that would be enourmous. Spining thousands of shafts, aligning them, picking heads with the highest COR. Sounds pretty weak to me.

And most guys that buy new buy the club they demo, so i think it's harder to beleive, personally.

R35

[warbirdlover]

The Rapture I hit (and bought) was just grabbed off the rack and taped up for me. Was not a "special"....

[nm250eff]

I started thinking about this after I hit a 10.5 Rapture at my local pro shop. It is a small shop and he only had this demo and no others on the shelf. I hit it and loved it, and told him I wanted to buy that particular club (stamped demo). Not one he ordered in, but that club. He would not sell it to me. It might be he is not allowed to sell the Demo, per Pings rules, but I am scared to spend $430.00 on one that I have not hit. I do not have the option to go to another shop, because we live in the middle of nowhere, 3 hr drive to a larger city. May just have to bite the bullet and make the drive, or just order one in.

[JEFF4i]

Where you from bud? Where abouts New Mexico?

[nm250eff]

Carlsbad. We only have one muni. course and a c.c. The options to hit many demo clubs are few and far between, and forget about a launch monitor. Most of the time it is buy and hope for the best.

[ezra76]

This is why you should demo in a real world situation. I took the Hibore XL out of the shop and onto the course. I knew it wasn't for me because I hit like 20% of fairways. I've read it a few times... .830 is .830 they are all pretty darn near the same, just a matter of what you hit on center and straight more consistantly. Having the correct loft/shaft combo is becoming a lot more important than what head it is in IMO.

[warbirdlover]

I started thinking about this after I hit a 10.5 Rapture at my local pro shop. It is a small shop and he only had this demo and no others on the shelf. I hit it and loved it, and told him I wanted to buy that particular club (stamped demo). Not one he ordered in, but that club. He would not sell it to me. It might be he is not allowed to sell the Demo, per Pings rules, but I am scared to spend $430.00 on one that I have not hit. I do not have the option to go to another shop, because we live in the middle of nowhere, 3 hr drive to a larger city. May just have to bite the bullet and make the drive, or just order one in.

mm250eff

I would not worry about any variation between the demo and an ordered one. If he has some measuring equipment have him check the shaft frequency and have him put that value on the order. It's probably not necessary but wouldn't hurt. So he'd order you a xxx driver with a xxx flex xxx brand shaft with a frequency of xxx. Should be identical to what you hit.

[nm250eff]

and bought a Rapture today. Proshop got a shipment in yesterday and he had a 10.5 reg w/ ping 909 shaft, which is what I had hit on the range. I hit a few balls and it seems to be close to the demo. The shaft seems a bit stiffer? Maybe? Maybe me. I love this club. compaired to my old 975j it is longer and much more forgiving. Mis-hits are not as bad as the 975 and lost distance is minimal. Thanks for the help and info.

[warbirdlover]

Another satisfied Ping Rapture customer!!!

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by nm250eff

I started thinking about this after I hit a 10.5 Rapture at my local pro shop. It is a small shop and he only had this demo and no others on the shelf. I hit it and loved it, and told him I wanted to buy that particular club (stamped demo). Not one he ordered in, but that club. He would not sell it to me. It might be he is not allowed to sell the Demo, per Pings rules, but I am scared to spend $430.00 on one that I have not hit. I do not have the option to go to another shop, because we live in the middle of nowhere, 3 hr drive to a larger city. May just have to bite the bullet and make the drive, or just order one in.

This has happened to me twice. I loved the "demo" club, wanted it, and they absolutely would NOT sell it to me. Why not?

A lot of you certainly know more about the industry than I do, and yes, I have hit demo clubs that were pulled off the shelf and taped up. But I heard (admittedly second-hand from a former employee of a major chain) that manufacturers do supply them with demo clubs that come from the top of the QA curve. Maybe not all the time, but it does happen.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Eracer

This has happened to me twice. I loved the "demo" club, wanted it, and they absolutely would NOT sell it to me. Why not?

A lot of you certainly know more about the industry than I do, and yes, I have hit demo clubs that were pulled off the shelf and taped up. But I heard (admittedly second-hand from a former employee of a major chain) that manufacturers do supply them with demo clubs that come from the top of the QA curve. Maybe not all the time, but it does happen.

I've always wondered if this is the case, simply because of one past experience. Fortunately there are alot of places around here to have them taped up. I will no longer buy a club I have not hit. I usually try out demo or used models if they have them in stock just to find what I like, once I find the one I like I ask them to tape up the one I will buy.

I did actually have one place tell me they wouldn't. I told him assuming it feels the same as the other one, I would be leaving the store with the club. He wouldn't do it, and said that is what the demos were there for. Kinda struck me odd, so I went a mile down the street and bought it from another store.

Personally I doubt I would likely gain great benefit from having one at the top of the QA curve, but I at least want to make sure it feels O.K. I used to buy clubs without trying them first, actually it wasn't until after I filled my first set that I found out you could demo clubs, having bought one I just couldn't stand never again. Then again, I've bought a number of clubs since that I did demo, and after getting them on the course, I couldn't stand them.

Maybe I should go back to the old method where I only had one bad one and loved all the others