You may have seen some talk online about Calcutta golf balls. Many people have become aware of this brand as they were advertising a one dollar sleeve of golf balls. However most people have complained that they were unknowingly charged some amount of money near $50 after they have purchased the one dollar golf balls. I did a little bit of digging to find out exactly who makes these golf balls as well as if they are a scam or not.
Who Makes Calcutta Golf Balls?
According to the BBB, Calcutta golf balls are made by a company called Swing Bits, LLC. From their BBB page, they have been in business for about 4 years and they are not an accredited business and have about 1 out of 5 star customer rating, which is quite low. There are a pile of customer complaints on their profile as well. Needless to say, the company does not appear to be of high quality based on their profile.
Most of the complaints on their profile are about how golfers paid about $1 for a sleeve of Calcutta golf balls, and ended up getting charged $50 a week later, which we will dive into shortly in this article.
Are Calcutta Golf Balls Good?
There are no outstanding reviews of these golf balls, and according to some of the performance results, there are plenty of better golf balls out there that will give you better results for the same price.
Are Calcutta Golf Balls Legit Or Are They A Scam?
After reviewing different customer experiences, it appears as though Calcutta golf balls are not necessarily a scam. However, it should be noted that their business practices seem to be a bit malicious.
After going through various reviews, it appears as though they entice users with a very cheap sleeve of golf balls. When purchasing these golf balls, many customers seem to unknowingly opt in for a $50 subscription. This subscription begins about seven days after the purchase is made. If the customer does not opt out or cancel their subscription, then they will be charged the $50.
This monthly $50 subscription is to their golf swing training videos. So, by buying a set of golf balls you opt in to purchase their swing training subscription.
Below is an explanation from a customer service representative from Swing Bits, LLC:
“The Terms and Conditions state that the customer will be charged a non-refundable fee of $1.00 plus applicable taxes for shipping of a sleeve of golf ***** and will also gain access to a 7-day trial membership of our golf tutorial website, Swing Bits.
The customer will have 7 days to evaluate the website and if they are not satisfied can call or email customer service for cancellation and will incur no further charges. If the customer elects not to contact us to cancel within 7 days, he or she will be billed a monthly membership fee $49.99 for access to the website.
The consumer will continue to be billed every 30 days until we are contacted by them to cancel their membership.”
Swing Bits, LLC Customer Service
It should be noted that their customer service seems to be very friendly as they have appeared to resolve a number of different cases where users were unknowingly charged.
Are Calcutta Golf Balls Legal?
The USGA has many strict equipment rules that even apply to golf balls. A golf ball must adhere to a number of different standards set in place by the USGA in order to be considered legal. The USGA has a huge database that logs all of the legal golf equipment.
According to the USGA, Calcutta golf balls are not legal. This means that you can’t legally use them in any tournaments or high stakes games.