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Japanese Pros and their Irons


gocchin

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Always good to see what the pros play. One great thing about japanese publications is the never ending coverage of what every oro plays.

True to Katayama Shingo's word he is playing the Nike Ignite Hybrid Irons! He has always said "I will play whatever is the most forgiving in the Nike lineup" He's still playing a 10.5* loft driver which is not that common for pros I think. He's got the proto Black G graphite going as well in his irons!

This is just a small sampling as this report was on irons and I only scanned a few pages out of many but still looks like a lot of blades in there...

It's definitely a big battle overall between Tourstage and Srixon irons....

5 irons specs are listed and in some cases shaft specs too...

proirons1.jpg

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Exciting stuff.

Lot's of Titleist irons there - I've tried the 695.cb (not the MB version) and it felt a bit clicky, not soft at all. Almost like a cast stainless steel club. Not the same good feeling that you get from Mizuno, Miura and even Bridgestone - even though the Titleist 695 series should be forged by Endo. Could be, that the finish is made out of town, I guess :tsg_smiley_drool:

Tried a friends Srixon Pro 100 - wow, that's a great muscle back.

I think Rory Sabbatini plays with the same forgiving Nike irons as Katayama does. Just goes to show that even some of the pro's prefer a forgiving iron and still can shape the ball with these.

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T, thanks for the scans! Also, when you get a chance, can you tell us what magazine and issue that came out of? I just picked up one Japanese magazine with bag pics from the US-Am, but I didn't find any coverage of year end bags on the JPGA.

On a more general note... two things continue to surprise me about bags in Japan. First are the putters, as there seems to always be a huge Odyssey following, with Cameron/Yes/Rife covering many other players - a bit of a surprise when there are so many nice 'boutique' lines available here.

The second thing that surprises me is the number of blades still in play on the JPGA, Shingo being the exception to the rule. In contrast, the girls on the JPLGA have a plethora of woods and hybrids, and from the last time I breased through Golf Style, bags with 5 or more woods were fairly common.

Edited by K2_2
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you're kidding right? the 695cb feels clicky but soft and pure to me. it could be the tour concepts i have in them. you hit that sweet spot and it feels really fullfilling, a mis**t is a bit harsh. it could be the shafts you had in them, these are some really nice sticks for retail.

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you're kidding right? the 695cb feels clicky but soft and pure to me. it could be the tour concepts i have in them. you hit that sweet spot and it feels really fullfilling, a mis**t is a bit harsh. it could be the shafts you had in them, these are some really nice sticks for retail.

No I'm not kidding. I've always hated Titleist irons - and this is no exception. Also didn't like the thick top line either.

BTW How do you like your Sonocaddie - I also got one and like it a great deal.

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Although it has been covered extensively before.... the demise of Gauge is an extremely sad event.

What can I say the studio hand mades beat the Tiger...with some help from YE Yang.

My view is it makes no sense for Japanese professionals to use Odyessy putters, with all the choice they have locally.

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the sonocaddie is nice, i don't use most of the features, I'm more interested in distances, and they don't have any good mounting accessories. the clip that came with it broke the first week. overall it's good, not awesome. i think i would still buy it again because there's no membership fee. it does what it's intended to do.

i love the yardage feature so i know how far i hit each club. i got an amazing 280yd drive with roll yesterday, no wind, country club greens, flat elevation. A few times at 270yds with my measly 98mph swing. not normal, but the gps can tell you that.

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I've seen pictures from the WGC-Bridgestone event where Shingo had Nike Slingshot Prots in the bag...he must switched to the Ignite irons since then.

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the sonocaddie is nice, i don't use most of the features, I'm more interested in distances, and they don't have any good mounting accessories. the clip that came with it broke the first week. overall it's good, not awesome. i think i would still buy it again because there's no membership fee. it does what it's intended to do.

i love the yardage feature so i know how far i hit each club. i got an amazing 280yd drive with roll yesterday, no wind, country club greens, flat elevation. A few times at 270yds with my measly 98mph swing. not normal, but the gps can tell you that.

I dislike the small screen on it, but if you want a small sized unit, you have to accept a small screen, but it could have been in color though.

I keep mine in my pocket during the round, this would never had been possible with the Skycaddie or the Sureshot GPS units - they are simply too big.

I really like the electronic scorecard in it - I use it all the time.

And if you use this and go to next hole in the electronic scorecard, the GPS will automatically change to next hole when you enter on to the next tee box :atsg_smilie_roll:

I hope they make a Sonocaddie V.2 with color screen next year - I'll be all over that.

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  • 2 months later...

Choice, Golf Style, Golf Digest Japan, Alba, Waggle, those are all Japanese magazines that frequently do DETAILED what's in the bag, I mean from shafts, flex, swingweight length etc on all JPGA JLPGA and even PGA pros regularly.

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The PRGR 900MD's are a very underrated iron. Great looking; easy to hit; soft and very accurate. I think PRGR produces some of the highest quality clubs I've seen to date.

Agreed. BTW Ben, I see you've gone to the X-Blades... if you decide to throw another set of PRGR's into the mix, the 501's are nice and forgiving, but the 500BL is a true gem, I can't say enough good things about it. On a JPGA specific note, I'm not sure who is playing the 500BL vs the 501 or other models.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My question is, are they playing these irons because of endorsement contracts or because they feel these are the best clubs? Why are they not playing Epon and Miura irons?

Always good to see what the pros play. One great thing about japanese publications is the never ending coverage of what every oro plays.

True to Katayama Shingo's word he is playing the Nike Ignite Hybrid Irons! He has always said "I will play whatever is the most forgiving in the Nike lineup" He's still playing a 10.5* loft driver which is not that common for pros I think. He's got the proto Black G graphite going as well in his irons!

This is just a small sampling as this report was on irons and I only scanned a few pages out of many but still looks like a lot of blades in there...

It's definitely a big battle overall between Tourstage and Srixon irons....

5 irons specs are listed and in some cases shaft specs too...

proirons1.jpg

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