Goodsie

Over the past year, I've noticed a slight shift in the use of the Hybrid/Utility Club. More and more Golfers are putting 3 Wood length Shafts in Hybrid heads and retiring their real 3 Wood to the closet. At this time, there are two leading OEM's that offer Hybrid Lofts in the 15*/16* range which would work as a 3 Wood replacement. When Shafted up with a 3 Wood Shaft length, these Hybrids become beasts as to distance, dispersion and feel. I've thought about it for a while as more and more of my better players wanted me to build them a "3 Wood Like Hybrid", so I Shafted up an Adams 16* Tour Prototype head to check out the performance versus a 3 Wood. The Hybrid won that test hands down. The small compact head and the easy to hit face produces winning shots time after time. When faced with a long approach shot from the rough, the small head of the Hybrid just glides through the grass and produces controlled and long shots that amazed me. And, Mama Mia, it really saves strokes when coming out of a Fairway Bunker on a long Par 5. Even around the green, chipping with the Hybrid is easier to control than the 3 Wood. Several of the PGA Pros are using this deadly combo (Hybrid 15*/16* @ 3 Wood Shaft length)....just more validation that a shift is taking place and the Hybrid is moving into the Spotlight. It might be time to approach our JDM friends to start offering a 14*,15* or 16* Hybrid head. The Hybrids that are being used the most are the ones with little or no offset such as the Adams Pro Series and the Nickent 4DX Series. Give this slowly rising trend some thought and even test it out for yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised that a dinky Hybrid head can be so lethal from 245 yards out to a well guarded green. Yeah....Baby!!!

Put everything down on the floor and be safe. This brings a whole new meaning to "Rock and Roll" doesn't it?

(Care to take a guess which setup you think is going to win????) The EMS will remain as the "top dog" IMO, however; if you were to put the Quadra in the EMS, you would definitely get the best of both Combo's.

Hey "C" A paint job will make it look like new. No more pain....nothing but smiles and a worthy place in your bag. Goodsie

I would want to know because there is about a 54% difference in the price from China to Japan.

Take a gander at this beauty on Ebay: Tour Stage GR 9.5* (new - head only) with a starting price of $299.00. Ships from Hong Kong....just too many clues, Oh yeah!!!

Shazaaaammmm!! We all are looking for that "lightening in a bottle" and every now and then some design engineer put together a very special design that breaks through the barrier and takes us to the next level.....by a whole two yards....Wow!! Its the pull of the unknown that is always eating at me that this may be the next "Lightening Bolt of Genius" with the next offering/upgrade.

The Fi-2 MB was a great Iron. A very good customer of mine made me an offer to buy my Fi-2 MB's (after he demo'ed them) as they were all Pured/FLO'ed with KBS Tour Shafts and as it often happens around here, I sold them to him. He was very happy with his purchase and still is. I was missing the Fi-2 and was thinking of repurchasing them when "T" put up his post about the CNC milled Fi-1. I jumped on these Irons immediately and they have been in the Game Bag ever since. Kyoei makes very good gear and IMO is a well kept secret, especially in the US Market. Send Tario (Gocchin) a PM and get yourself some of these brilliantly made and designed Irons and they, too, will be a fixture in your Game Bag.

Extra care is "needed" for both the Crazy Shaft and the Quadra Shaft. Having fine tuned many Crazy and Quadra Shafts in my Shop, I have observed that in the tip section, the walls of the Shaft are thinner than other exotic Shafts. This is clearly visible when prepping the tip (.335) as the hole is larger. This is probably the result of the engineering/design of using the 80T Carbon. Remember, also, that both of these Shafts have glass particles in the tip section instead of the usual rubber particles. One of my customers did break his Crazy Shaft by leaning on his Driver as he bent over to put the tee in the ground. We've all done this....using our Driver as a prop as we tee it up. Just be aware of the thin walled tip section and don't put downward pressure or lean on the Shaft as you can up the odds of breaking the Shaft in the tip section. When I ship Clubs with the Crazy or Quadra, I take special care to carefully pack the Club to avoid any pressure on the head. For those of you who travel a lot and take your Clubs, put the head of the Driver down in the bottom of the Golf Bag then put it in the Travel Case. We all have experienced the lack of care that Airlines/Shippers have shown when we give our Babies to them for safe keeping........

I've always had excellent results wearing the Mizuno's Golf Cap. They offer light weight and clean 6 panel crown. They come in the standard Navy, Black, White. They are cotton twill and are cool on the hot days and they even hold their shape if you are ever caught in a downpour.

I totally agree with Gocchin about Nippon Putter Shafts vs UST. I would recommend the B-2 which is the heavier of the two .370 Shafts. The heavier weight helps with the feel and makes for a more solid contact. Heavier is better!!

Epon AF102 8.5* with Graphite Design Tour AD P9003x...Bazooka!!

Very curious that the two a'hina charts (bend profile, trajectory) do not mention or add in the Profile of the Whiteboard. Hmmmm!!

The TourStage X-Drive certainly fits your description and is a winner when coupled with a quality shaft. "Out of my cold dead hands" is a quote from one of my customers that still games the X-Drive.

The notch is for the paint shop tool so they can put all those pretty colors on properly. Of the many, many Shafts that I have Tuned, not many come out on that notch. Each Shaft of the same Brand/Model has its own fingerprint, so to speak, and none of them are totally alike. Machine rolled Shafts also use that notch during the wrap process before cooking the Shaft.

Every Shaft, especially Graphite, needs proper alignment (Puring) for best performance.

The Cleveland JDM CG15 Forged Wedge is a great feeling Wedge, so much so, it made the Game Bag. The grind is versatile and works well off the fairway, deep grass and really shines when you roll it open for those explosion shots or flops. Cleveland has improved the leading edge with a slight bulge to the face that is square the hosel and with the rounded sole makes this a very workable Wedge. The mini grooves milled in between the complying grooves is an interesting addition to the face and seems to help with adding more spin to the ball. My CG15 spec'ed out at D5.5 when coupled with the KBS Tour Wedge Shaft. This Wedge surprised me but it performs at a high level. Give this Wedge a "look see" as it might surprise you too.

You have selected a terrific Shaft in the 9003 however, one word sticks out to me in your post...and that word is "spined". Actually, a Spine is defined as the "the intersection of two ascending angles" and if, in fact, the spine is aligned incorrectly, shots will have a tendency to spin off line almost each and every time you swing. Its just mother nature at work and not the Shaft or your swing, its possibly the Shaft orientation. Graphics label installed down or underneath is not necessarily the best orientation of the Shaft...actually, the graphics are only paint and not necessarily fitted to the fingerprint of that specific Shaft. This opinion is just my observation by reading your post and by having a first hand experience in Tuning Shafts for best performance. Goodsie

Fake Shafts are easy to copy, especially Graphite Shafts .....a coat of paint and there it is...an $9.00 Shaft painted to look like a $450.00 Shaft. Now, that will really make you mad when you discover you are playing with a Fake Noodle and not the mighty thunder stick you thought you bought. What is happening more often now are Fake Iron sets. The Counterfeiter is "buying" or "printing" high end Shaft Labels and applying them to cheap Shafts. Hot deals on Shafts found on the popular Auction Sites are usually Fake as Fake can be. These Fakes, its sad to say, are starting to show up in some of the BST Forums too (but not TSG's BST). Our TSG'ers are honest and stand behind their offerings. I get phone calls all the time from guys checking on my prices for Shafts only to be told that they can get "X" brand for less than I can buy it Direct as a Distributor, now shouldn't that tell you that you are buying a Fake....it would me!! Do your "Due Diligence" before you get sucked into the "Deal of a Lifetime" on your Golf Equipment.

I played the Fi-2 (MB) for a while until one of my customers demo'ed them. He loved them so much that he made me an offer I just could not refuse so I sold them to him. Both of us found the Fi-2 to be an excellent performer with a solid feel. The setup at address has a thin top line, rounded toe, short hosel to toe length, excellent spec's with excellent weight progression per head. Kyoei is turning out excellent designs with huge advancements in CNC head drill outs of a single forged hunk of metal. I am now testing the Fi-1 (Dual Forged) and it's also a CNC finished head with a superb finish. The design is a Cavity Back with the back weight focused behind the Sweet Spot rather than spreading the weight distribution to the hosel and toe, SO, this design is for a good ball striker who loves to control the trajectory, ball flight and still have some of the forgiveness of a Cavity. Anyone who chooses to play any of the "Fi" offerings under the "Zestaim" name will be rewarded with an excellent set of Irons that perform.

Hurray and a big "Attaboy" T for your Rant!! I've seen first hand some of what you are talking about and it breaks my heart to have to tell the customer that the Gear he brought in is Fake. Counterfeit R9's are everywhere now and at prices that should SCREAM out to the Buyer..."I'm a Fake". Also, in the area of Golf Shafts (both Steel and Graphite), I've seen more and more FAKES becoming available, so I would like to add them to your Rant as well.

TSG wins, hands down. Very dependable, responsive to your needs and they will go that extra mile to find those hard to find items for you. I trust TSG and I send them big $$$$ with complete confidence. FYI....Lately, though...the US Customs apparently has changed the "Value" rate charged for Foreign Imports as the last few shipments received here have had an extra charge that the Postmaster must collect for the US Customs. When this has happened, you have to pay an extra Postal Fee for the PO's handling of this collection for the US Customs Department. Mind you, this is not TSG's fault but a change in the US Customs value rate.

I played the Zestaim Fi-2 Muscle for a while and if the Fi-2 Toe/Heel model is anywhere near the Muscle (which I think it is) you would have a winner. The Forgings of the Muscle were great, the feel is tremendous and coupled with the KBS Tour Shaft the shot results were phenomnal. One of my customers demo'ed my Zestaim's and "insisted" that I sell them to him otherwise they would still be in the Bag.

OZIK F7M2 S or X will keep the ball down with low spin and very tight dispersion. This Shafts profile is very similiar to the WB.

Mr. "C", I, too, am puzzled by the lack of reviews or comments about the AF302 Iron. On the landscape of all Golf Gear, the 301 is considered to be one of the very best Iron designs for feel and performance so it follows that the 302 should be an improvement and "raves" should be flooding in. Hmmmm!!