Goodsie

I thank Bogeydog for entrusting me to put together and Tune his Yamaha Tour Limited Irons. This gave me a chance to get an up close view of these wonderful clubs. In short, the 2009 Yamaha Tour is definitely an improved design over the 2008 model (which was outstanding). Yamaha was clever in reducing the bulk of the metal on the bottom of the cavity. The over all weight of the club is still there but neatly distributed in the" horns" that frame the hitting zone. This little tweak will help lower the ball flight without sacrificing the feel of the Forging. This "horn" design also allowed Yamaha to control the balance and COG through out the entire set. The Spec's, as published, were "spot on" in each head and the fit/finish is excellent. Bogeydog is a lucky man to have a set of these Irons plus his decision to put the KBS Tour (Black Nickel) shaft in these babies only enhanced the pleasure of playing these surgical golf instruments. Actually, I think Yamaha screwed up one thing with this Iron......they just didn't make enough of them.

The TS701 is flat out a terrific Iron design!! Plus the workmanship and finish is nothing but top notch. The Spec's are very tight and the COG is dead center on each Iron in the set. TourStage really has the "mojo" working this year with their Iron offerings AND their superb 701 Driver/FW. The TS701 Iron coupled with the KBS Tour shaft has moved into the No. 1 position in my playing bag with ease. This Iron is forgiving yet very workable with plenty of "controlability" <--- is that even a word?? But you know what I mean. Further, the TS901 Blade is, also, a very well designed Iron and again the Spec's are very tight with each head being +/- 1 gram....amazing!! I hope you get to go back to the Sony today, T, as those "on site" eyeballs are invaluable to those of us who want to know what the top guys are playing. Thanks for sharing.

Bounce Angles are: 3Iron- 0* 4- 3* 5- 5* 6- 5* 7- 5* 8- 6* 9- 8* P- 8* Hope this helps. Goodsie

Epon AF201 15* 3 Wood with a Graphite Design Tour AD MD7s shaft. This club is in excellent condition with only the usual buffing on the sole and a clean scratch free face. No scratches on the body as the paint is deep and glossy. The MD7s Shaft has been Pured/FLO'ed and is tipped 1". The headcover (included) was replaced after each shot. This club would be a great addition to your bag as is. Asking $380.00 plus S/H charges. PayPal preferred. Goodsie

TourStage X-Drive "Limited" 9.5* HEAD ONLY. The Limited head is set 1* open and weighs in around 290grams. This X-Drive is a rare find as it was definitely limited when first offered. This head is used but in 9.5/10 condition with a deep, shiny paint job. The face is in great condition with only slight signs of impact thru use. The sole has the usual buffing. This head was played for one season and was always cared for and the headcover (included) was always replaced after each shot. Asking $399USD plus freight. Let me know if I can box it up for you. Goodsie

Idrive is spot on with the Blue Board recommendation. I would expand on his rec by saying that a 75g Regular would fit your swing stats to a tee or "T". The 75g shaft would tighten the dispersion greatly and the additional weight over the present 65g WB would help minimize the left side.

Interesting idea, however; asking an OEM to forge two heads of each club offered in each category to meet your suggested lofts would raise costs out of sight. No OEM would be interested in trying to peg stocking levels and draw down levels on their inventory. Each OEM is desperately trying to hold costs down as it is. Further, they aren't overjoyed right now with special requests either or we would have 2*flat FW's to chose from.

Tario, you are exactly right that the Japanese OEM is going more upright with their Lie Specs in the Woods and that is putting some of their potential customers in a quandary. It seems to me that the OEM should, at the least, have a few Wood heads set aside without the hosel installed. This way they can respond to a flatter lie request by just welding the hosel into the head at the requested lie angle. Viola!! Customer Service!! With the OEM's using more and more Titanium in the body of the FW head, the OEM is taking "after market lie bending" off of the radar screen. The risks are high for cracking the head/welds because you have to heat the hosel and the inside edge of the face so high just to get Ti to respond to the bending pressure.

I spent a lot of time in your beautiful City. I was there one time when a Flare was sent up for a call to a Sea Rescue team. What sight watching those brave guys hit the waves heading out into the North Sea. I would recommend that you keep the AF101 but change the shaft to a Graphite Design Tour AD MD6r. When that is done, just tee the ball a little bit lower to maximize the engineering/design of the face of your AF101. You should get a good penetrating ball flight that will carry farther. Get some of those impact stickers and do a little testing to find just the right height to tee the ball and, bingo, you will have what you are seeking. Good luck and down the middle...

J Outstanding !! You picked from the very top of the tree by getting the whole line up of the 901 TourStage game changers!! Well done. Goodsie

TourStage is slowly moving their head profiles closer the wonderful Ping G5 shape (for shame) but really, that head worked with tremendous results for something that was welded together on the mountain in China. I put quality "Tuned" shafts in these heads all the time with amazing results. Several guys have bought multiple heads and put them in the drawer for future insurance against them disappearing altogether. With Japanese engineering and the swift improvements in Driver face technology (Spider face design, triple "X" design, varying thickness designs, heel/toe chemical milling) plus the fantastic improvements in laser welding, some JDM OEM should pull out the G5 head and put one of these hot faces in it, then stand back and watch the reviews laud the way this Driver would perform. TourStage seems to be moving in that direction with their new line up. So TourStage should have a very good year in 2009 with their new Drivers, in my opinion.

Here is my take on shaft distances, which I have studied, charted and played in many different sets of irons to gather this info. I have it all logged by weight, stiffness and shaft length, and Brand so I can refer to it when a discerning customer wants answers. I used the Zelocity Launch Monitor, the Golf Buddy GPS distance feature and the old faithful, the Bushnell Laser Rangefinder 1500 Pro. So, here are my findings: You can throw a "King Size" bed sheet over the whole lot of them in distance, with the Project X being at the top of the sheet and the TT Black Gold at the bottom of the sheet with everything else falling in between, that's just two strides difference. Now, for the second most important stat for an iron shaft. Dispersion off center line. Wow, big variances here. The KB Tour shaft wins this one hands down with an accruracy rate of .5% followed closely by Project X at 2.3%. With worst being as high as 10.6% off line either side of center, that is a 38yard spread, guys! These measurements were made with a 6 Iron. So besides those two winners, all of the others fall in the 3% out to the embarrassing 10.6%. I can remedy some of these off line shafts with my Puring/FLO process. But, when I Pure/FLO the better shafts, they become laser like launchers. Really stunning results... Finally, "FEEL". The underlying thing is that a lot of golfers use feel as the standard (not accuracy) in judging shafts. Well, here is what I've found. KB Tour #1, Nippon's(all) #2, BlackGold, Project X, Tour Concept, TT X100, Shimada, and DG all very close together as to feel. I've worked many a Demo Day here by my Shop and I have had, by far, the largest number of guys hand me a Driver saying this is the "one" because it felt the best, without any regard whether it went straight or not. Further, the feel of a shaft can be improved greatly when it is aligned and installed properly. I find too many shafts installed poorly and this produces results that fill a variance chart from corner to corner. This post is about STEEL shafts....Graphite is for another time. Ha!!

The better golfer does not necessarily need grooves in the hitting area of the face. Even though the grooves on the face of the T1 are wide apart, the grooves still produce back spin on the ball at impact, spin that can cause the ball to elevate or "B". Kinda surprised to see this feature on such a good looking "players" Driver. Not a deal killer, mind you, but just my opinion.

The shaft tip isn't as lively as Tapered, plus the feel and feedback is dampened more with .370 bore.

It's an exciting time for JDM golf as the engineering and tech advances are really something to behold. Better ball flight, tighter dispersion, etc. but some players may blink when looking down at this club head at address. Now is the time for keeping your eye on the ball. Ha!! As an aside, Epon has done terrific engineering also, but they seem to work hard at engineering the inside of the club head to get better ball flight, tighter dispersion, etc while staying a little closer to the traditional look, IMHO. Goodsie

Does Miura have a Worldwide list of Creditable Clubmakers? I pity the poor guy in Nigeria that just bought some of these misbored club heads. This whole thing does not make sense, again!! But, I'm on the hunt to find out what is going on and the trail is getting twisty, to say the least.

For Pete's Sake!! Just because that is the way Miura has "always" done it, does not make it right!!! They print spec's then don't follow them and we just sit on our hands and do nothing. Apathy is one of the last stages before we lose out totally on freedom's, the right to think and act. I probably stand alone here because I challenge the Holy Grail of Golf, but alone I will be because Miura is at fault for putting out less than a desirable finished product. I can't tell you how much email I've received telling me that the clubs are great and that they have had to make adjustments to the undersized hosel just to play them. What is up with that? Water drip torture has won out here?? It is as simple as having Miura get a slightly larger drill bit when the Spin hosel slugs are almost finished. That isn't too hard of a thing to do...right?? Instead Miura pushes out crap hosel dimensions and we just think that's great. Baloney!! I'm gonna do my part with a reverse water drip torture to Miura. Excuse my rant here but enough is enough.

TBone, Nothing yet from Miura as they are translating a fairly surly email from me. Unfortunately, my disappointment in their QC was on high alert when I wrote them. The overall quality of the head is superb and the finish is first class so I await some sort of response about the less than superb hosel dimensions. This may explain why they charge so much more if you ask them to shaft up the clubs!! Thanks for asking, TBone.

On the Spec sheet on the original listing, when you posted and announced the intro of the CB2006, it clearly states that the hosel is 9.1(9.3) which is .355 (H). Mirua then doesn't bore to that Spec? Is that what you are saying?

T, FYI. The CB2006 heads that I received have misbored hosels. They average .342 which, as you might guess, is a far cry from the .355 Tapered. I have already sent a strongly worded email to Miura about this. The hosels must be rebored for these CB2006 heads to be usable. I am angry that Miura could make such a glaring mistake. Miura advertises that the CB2006 is made in Japan, but with this mistake, it makes you wonder!! Goodsie

ALERT!! The CD2006's heads just arrived from Miura and I began building the set. The hosels are misbored. They are only .342 average with the worst head at .340 and the best head is .350, a far, far cry from .355 Tapered. For me to put KB Tour tapered shafts in these heads, I have to mill down the shaft tip (not good) or machine bore the hosels to at least .355 OR send them back. I gotta tell you, I am not too happy with Miura that their QC Department would not catch such a mistake. So, be warned that if you don't have a good clubmaker, these CD2006 heads will pose a problem for you and they can't be shafted right out of the box. I am going to do further investigation to find out where these heads actually came from to just make sure they are" Japan made Miura's". Chris, you need to contact Miura about this situation, I have already sent them a searing email about this huge error.

T, I should be able to give you a Review of the CB2006 by Friday at the latest as my set of CB2006's should hit here any time now. I am excited to put these puppies to the test...launch monitor, distance and carry, feel and above all dispersion, then on to the course (if the weather holds, Sic) for a playing condition shakedown. Goodsie

Blader-X The Smoke Wedge Shaft by KB Tour is a true performer and is eye popping in appearance. The quality of the finish is superb unlike some other smoke shafts that are prone to scratching and paint chipping. I have installed alot of these KB Smoke Wedge Shafts recently (alot of TSG'ers, too) and to the man, they all praise the shaft. I have these shafts in my wedges now and can back up their claims. Good distance control and very accurate (especially when Pured/FLO'ed). I recommend the Smoke Wedge Shaft by KB highly. Sorry for taking this off the titled subject but felt compelled to toss in an opinion. Goodsie

I just ordered a set of these puppies. My gut feeling is that these CB2006's will be closer to the Gold's Factory CB in feel, forgiveness and flight and if they are, Wow!! Will suit them up with KB Tour Stiff Shafts when they get here. Goodsie

Good catch, xchangmanx!! The new TM Burner should be showing up on Tour any day now plus the Callaway FT-9. The clarity and sharpness of the HiDef TV picture is giving us a real chance to get up real close with these guys. I saw a lot of Project X shafts, that unmistakable blue label is everywhere. Diamana shafts are in alot of Drivers also. The wedge shot Sergio hit out of the Fescue grass on 17 was a sight to behold in HiDef. The ultra slow motion clearly showed the torque and warp he put on that shaft at contact. It was something the shaft engineers should replay over and over. It was something!! I continue to learn how the shaft reacts when it is faced with a difficult situation and how it delivers the club face back to the ball when shown on replay. It only enforces to me that the engine to the club must be "tuned" to perfection. Thanks HiDef TV for the concise picture, especially on those ultra slow motion shots. Goodsie