The typical press release that comes across the wire extends to club debuts, consumer reactions, and player victories. So it was with special attention that I opened a release on November 22nd whose subject read: Major Crackdown on Counterfeit Golf Products. The title continues: Chinese Government Launches Major Crackdown on Counterfeit Golf Products.

Evidentally, a host of US-based golf club companies, under the umbrella of the U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group, is working with the Chinese government to put a dent in the burgeoning counterfeit club industry. The players in this cast are Acushnet Company, Callaway Golf,
Cleveland Golf, MacGregor Golf, Nike, PING and TaylorMade-adidas Golf, no slouches, them.

Seizures amounting to $5 million US were made from Beijing to Shenzhen; if your Chinese geography is sketchy, the former is in the north, while the later lies to the south. Other cities that received attention are Xiamen, Quanzhou, Dongguan, Chang’an, and Zhongshan.

If you consider all the trade junkets to China that are made by US company executives and politicians, this event should suggest that the USA is at least as important to China as it is to us. Even though China holds the upper hand (labor force, geographic size, US currency holdings) in negotiations with the western giant, to work with these American-based golf companies indicates some recognition of the two-way street.

I for one cannot wait to read the follow-up to this release. Golf rarely contacts the shadow world of international espionage, save for a random James Bond movie. Truth is certainly more interesting than fiction in this case.

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