Nearly 800 Better Business Bureau complaints trace back to one unexpected problem: golfers buying the RS1 Putter who discover surprise charges on their credit cards weeks later. Here’s what’s happening at checkout and how to avoid it entirely.
The Performance Golf RS1 Putter has earned genuine praise from serious equipment reviewers. The club is well-built, the technology is real, and the 365-day return policy is among the most generous in the industry. None of that is in dispute.
What is worth understanding before ordering - especially directly from Performance Golf's website - is a separate billing pattern that has caught hundreds of buyers off guard weeks after their putter arrived. Fairway Tips and News has put together a complete guide to buying the RS1 Putter without subscription headaches, covering the checkout flow, cancellation steps, and the cleanest path to buying the club without any trial enrollment risk.
Performance Golf, LLC, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has accumulated nearly 800 complaints with the Better Business Bureau over the past three years. Billing and collection issues are a significant contributor to that volume - the overwhelming majority of complaints describe the same experience: a customer purchases the RS1 Putter, and weeks later finds an unexpected charge on their credit card. Product issues, service complaints, and sales and advertising concerns also appear in the BBB data, though billing-related filings dominate the pattern.
The physical putter is not the problem. Independent equipment platforms like Plugged In Golf and Breaking Eighty have reviewed the RS1 favorably, with no financial ties to the company. The complaints trace back specifically to how digital subscription products are presented during and after the equipment checkout process.
Performance Golf operates two genuinely separate business lines that share the same storefront - and that overlap is where most of the confusion begins.
Business Line 1 covers physical golf equipment: the RS1 Putter, the ONE wedge series, and other clubs. These are tangible products with real engineering behind them. Business Line 2 covers digital instruction subscriptions: the PG1 Membership, the Scratch Club program, VIP Coaching packages, and other online content delivered through a recurring subscription model.
These are distinct products with distinct pricing structures. The trouble is that Performance Golf's website presents them as part of the same purchase experience.
When a golfer visits Performance Golf's site intending to buy the RS1 Putter, the checkout funnel simultaneously presents digital subscription trial offers - as pop-ups, upsell screens between checkout steps, post-purchase confirmation page offers, or in follow-up emails after the order is placed. Customers who click through quickly, believing they're accepting a free bonus, often don't realize they've enrolled in a subscription with an automatic renewal clause. By the time the charge hits, the original purchase feels like ancient history.
The process follows a consistent pattern documented across BBB complaints and customer reviews:
Trial periods range from 7 to 30 days depending on the specific product or offer. If the trial is not actively canceled before that deadline, the subscription converts automatically. Reported charges vary by product tier - the most commonly cited is a $299 charge associated with the PG1 Membership or Champions Pass, though some subscriptions convert to a monthly fee instead. Because this charge arrives weeks after the original putter purchase, many buyers have completely moved on from the transaction - which is precisely why it catches them off guard.
Performance Golf maintains a page on their own website (shop.performancegolf.com/pages/credit-card-charge) that acknowledges unexpected charges and provides contact information for resolution, referencing online video training programs, Scratch Club membership, and VIP Coaching membership as the products involved.
Finding an unexpected charge doesn't have to mean accepting it. There are two straightforward paths to resolution.
The fastest first step is reaching out directly:
Be specific: state the exact charge amount and date, explain that the subscription was not intentionally activated, and request both cancellation and a refund. Use email where possible so there's a written record of the exchange from the start.
If Performance Golf doesn't resolve it satisfactorily, the next move is a formal dispute with the card issuer. Automatic renewal charges that weren't clearly disclosed are frequently upheld in the cardholder's favor. Bring documentation of any communication with Performance Golf - it significantly strengthens the case. Filing a BBB complaint at bbb.org is also an option; Performance Golf does respond to BBB complaints, and the complaint creates a paper trail.
For anyone who enrolled in a trial and wants out before the charge hits, time matters. Act as soon as possible - don't wait until the last day.
Check the inbox used for the RS1 Putter purchase. Look for emails from Performance Golf referencing PG1 Membership, Scratch Club, VIP Coaching, or any free trial. The trial period end date should appear in that email - that's the hard deadline.
Contact Performance Golf customer service (email or phone, same details above) and explicitly request cancellation before the trial ends. Then ask for written email confirmation that the trial has been canceled and no charge will process. Keep that confirmation permanently. If a charge appears anyway, that email is the single most useful piece of documentation for a dispute or refund request. Monitor the card used for the original purchase for 30 to 60 days after cancellation to verify nothing posts.
The cleanest solution is also the simplest: purchase the RS1 Putter through an authorized third-party retailer rather than directly through Performance Golf's website.
A third-party retail transaction is a straightforward one-time purchase. No upsell funnel, no embedded trial offers, no digital subscription enrollment. The putter ships, and the transaction is complete. The same manufacturer's 365-day money-back guarantee on the physical club applies regardless of where it's purchased - so there's no trade-off on the return policy.
The only thing not included is access to Performance Golf's digital instruction content. For golfers buying the RS1 specifically for the putter technology, that's typically not a loss. Anyone who genuinely wants the digital coaching content can enroll in it separately and directly - with full, deliberate awareness of the trial terms and cancellation deadlines.
The RS1 Putter is a legitimately well-engineered club. Chris McGinley's Forward Axis Weighting technology is grounded in real physics, and the positive reviews from credible independent platforms aren't paid placements. For golfers who struggle with face rotation or inconsistent short putting, the RS1 has a genuine performance case.
The subscription concerns are real - but they're concerns about a business practice, specifically around how clearly trial enrollments are disclosed during a combined physical-and-digital checkout experience. That's a separate issue from the quality of the putter sitting in the box.
Performance Golf makes a good putter and runs an aggressive digital marketing business around it. Walk into their checkout process informed, or buy through a retailer, and the purchase is straightforward. Walk in without understanding the subscription model, and a billing dispute six weeks later becomes very likely. That outcome is entirely avoidable - which is exactly why this breakdown exists.
