xxio

When companies water down a product (shafts in particular) there is a negative vibe to them even if they probably perform. No different here for the new Epon products. I don't see the need for them to go down this route. They have so many R&D and manufacturing assets at their disposal they could have made totally new products for the guys like me who can't drop $1,200 on an iron set. Rerelease show lack of concern of branding for buyers of the previous models.

Does a product made elsewhere but was designed and intentionally marketed for the JDM qualify? Cameron Bettinardi Byron They made products specifically for Japan. And anyone who is brave enough to put 343grams on a putter head must have extremely good tolerances. I will say my MilSpec 33/350 was off by about 7 grams

I have maybe 8-9 Betts, all heel shafted. My 2012 Japan/International model gets play next month after the member guest.

SS6 ^^

Wow you're right about "leaving a storm behind" then. All those companies are messes. I wonder why it always ends up that way.

Aside from GD and GS what other companies did Takei own/have a hand in?

95% of us are here because we want to know more about JDM golf products. the info and discussions are what has kept TSG alive for 7-8 (?) years. When we ask questions here or spend time to email the company that is research into the product. It's not that hard to do and you become confident in the product more than just the "made in".

As mentioned there are premiums attached to products when they are "made in". I for one am not shy to admit the reason I was initially attracted to JDM was the "made in Japan". Made in Sakata more specifically. Perception or reality, the fact is there is a premium. Yes, I was a JDM snob then I found out foundries like Epon which made the Japanese forgings that I liked also made US forgings. My wallet moved on to those. Would I have been able to gain that knowledge without snooping around? It takes google less time to search endo forging than it takes me to put on my golf shoes. Its up to us to take it from there. Yes "made in Japan" should stand for something. It still does. Sometimes though Japanese products are not made in Japan and it takes research to find that out.

The problem there is some countries have different laws on what constitutes "Made in". I think it is Korea (?) that requires that the "made in" is the country where the finished product was completed. Let us say I get a head from Japan, shaft from Japan, grip and ferrule from the Philippines. Put it all together here in the Philippines into the final usuable product it can say "made in the Philippines". AFAIK Most US companies have a breakdown sticker somewhere, I think that is required by law. a lot of countries don't have that breakdown requirement, just a "made in" requirement. Let's say a forged blank for a putterhead (I assume people have seen those) is forged in China into the intial form and weighs in at about 450grams. The shaping and grinding is then done in California to a final head that ends up weighing 340 grams. That is a lot of material removed to get to the finished product.....Where is the head made? The never answered question on the original 2 batches of TM300 heads. One had "made in Japan" on them, the other Taiwan (?). The story being the finished heads were all done in Japan but due to chroming costs in Japan TM moved the chroming over to Taiwan and the heads had to be stamped "Made in" over in Taiwan despite having only the chroming/finishing done there. I had both and could not tell the difference side by side and feel-performance wise. You could be missing out on quality product or could be getting product that is not up to what you would expect to be for "Made in Japan". IMHO If a person can get on TSG, buy and sell, read reviews, it is not that much more to research and ask around about certain products and how "Made in Japan" they really are. The 90% of the guys buying golf equipment because of an ad or because their favorite player uses it couldn't care less about "made in". Re: comparison to a car. I would think most golf clubs have 4-5 parts at most. That should be easy enough to check in to. We cannot expect to get the best without actually checking into it. Just look at the watch enthusiasts in this forum.

People buy JDM for different reasons. Some are attracted by the bling bling. Some are attracted to the advanced R&D (Tourstage trickle down to Bridgestone, first multi-layer balls, shaft tech) Some are buying because when it says "Made in Japan" it generally stands for a certain quality. That "S" looking logo that is/was on most Speeder shafts is a Japan quality control seal. Japan has one of the tightest QC standards in the world. It is great nowadays that we have the internet (and TSG of course) where we can research on an actual product before buying it. Just imagine 10-15 years ago. I had to rely solely on reputation and trial-error. Case in point my current gamer irons are a US product, but all the literature and research peg then as "SC forged", which implies they have some sort of Japanese connection. I'm guessing Endo because the previous iterations also "SC" had "heads made in Thailand" aka Endo Thailand. Does it make a huge difference to me, not anymore. I have been down the JDM road many times (Honma, Srixon, Epon, Fourteen, Tourstage, JDM TMs and Callaways). The quality difference is still there in some products but it is not a noticeable as before. It is like what you have said.....Knowing what you are buying. The only problem is the 99% golf buying public are not doing research so "Made in Japan" vs "Made in China" still carries connotations and implications. I would probably take some China made products produced by Honma Beres over some JDM products made by boutique companies because of the $$$ that Honma can feed into R&D of the heads and shafts.

I actually play Cobra pro CBs in 5-pw , then hybrids in my 3&4. Whatever works. My best golf was with 301s in the 7-pe then Deep cavity Fourteens in 4-6. My "cut off" for scoring clubs is my 155 yard club (usually 7i). Anything above that has to be forgiving, just trying to hit a green club. That set up in the pics would work for me.

Can you let me know what company you can use to ship a club to the Philippines for $35? That would be a great help. USPS is the cheapest but is hit or miss on delivery times (sometimes 1 week-sometimes 3 weeks) and is a lot of customs work unless the shipper really does send the purchase receipt as proof. UPS, FedEx are about $80-120 for a single club exclusive of duties..

Very possible. That means $100 each way. I have sent items to the US and they have cost an arm and a leg, sometimes more than $100 depending on where in the US. For some reason sending the same item from San Francisco, CA to Cebu, Philippines is usually half the cost of sending the SAME item from Cebu, Philippines to San Francisco, CA..

Good luck on the new home

Anyone with a link to the actual episode?

Where were those cast? Does ENDO have a casting facility? That would be an interesting angle for Endo (eventually Epon). Ultra soft castings.

SC25 is a Japanese designation, 1025 is the American designation for the carbon content. Theoretically the same, but in all things designated JDM you can be sure of the tolerances of that SC25.

C, Not all the time. I played in a private course maybe 17-18 years ago. I put my watch, my then girlfriend's watch and earrings in a small pouch then stuck it in my golf bag. There was a brief shower so the pouch could have fallen out while the caddy was bringing out the raincover. Found out it was missing after the round. Caddies couldn't find it, it wasn't anywhere near where the raincover was brought out and put back. To their credit the club sent out 2 guys in a cart to scour the course for an hour. I kept calling that club for 2-3 weeks after. No dice. I still refer to that day was my most expensive round of golf ever.

Why doesn't he want it sent in? If it bothers him enough to complain out in the open, it shouldn't be an issue to send it in especially if GF is willing to cover shipping. Spectacular customer service on GF's part to do that, doing that will probably have them lose money on that single purchase.

No question on the repair of defects. I think GF will repair the problem with no charges to the customer. International distributorships and dealerships. The warranties/coverages are usually in the fine print. The product is intended for sale in the Japan DOMESTIC Market. If you take it out of that market you are now responsible for the shipping to get it repaired/replaced in that same market. Local warranties and repairs are plugged into pricing/costs. There is a reason why Epon/Fourteen/Yamaha dealers in the US will have higher prices than in Japan. They have to cover the shipping for any warranties, they have to pay duties, etc. There are also restrictions that go with it, cannot sell in other markets, etc. That is true for any product, not just golf equipment. If the product does not have a dealer/distributor in your area and you still choose to buy your product overseas than it is your risk when it comes to warrantying items. That is why TSG has a lot of satisfied customers. They bridge that gap from the JDM market to the overseas buyer. If you buy a product from them, they will work with you. Some products have terrific customer service. I have had a couple of watches that I bought overseas (one was even pre-owned). The local dealer cleans, warranties, and treats it like it was a local purchase. Although my wife has an older watch (bought elsewhere as well) that she brought in to fix and since they don't carry that model/parts they would have to send it back to Europe and the shipping would have been charged to my wife. That is part of what you pay for in some brands. For electronics I have bought overseas I always buy "International Warranty". It costs a little more but it guarantees that I will not have problems. It would be great to have International Warranties to be automatic but it is not that simple and I am sure it will jack up pricing even more for brands that do not have extensive dealerships throughout the world. I for one know that when I buy something JDM unless I buy it from a local dealer, any shipping to have it fixed will be on my dime.

Such is the problems when buying overseas. I used to be a JDM addict the companies are great to deal with, even for aftermarket service. However when something is off the shipping to them and back to me would jack up the initial purchase price. It would be unfair to expect them to shoulder shipping.

I don't see any pics, but if you're talking about that thing that looks like a pouch I've seen it used this way. The player puts 4-5 irons (heads first) inside the pouch and then take them to the range. I have also seen players put them over the irons to help as cushioning before closing the bag for travel/heading home. I have not seen them used as iron covers for play.

525/725/925 drivers and irons (one of which is a modern blade-muscleback with muscle low in the back). The pics in the magazine look good, unfortunetaly I can't read the descriptions. Interestingly in the last Golf Classic most of the AMs that made the matchplay mostly played Srixon and Tourstage irons.

The mediocrity of the Rombaxes and the "hotness" of the MRCs happening at the same thing did a bit of damage to the Fuji name. The Speeder VCs are great shafts. "7 ply". The damage was done and newer shafts have entered the market to further muddy up the picture in the $300 and up shaft market.

I've probably played 1,500 rounds of golf in my life. I've only broken par 4xs. I am in the 8-12 handicap range, with a brief 1 year stay in the 5-6 region. So it is luck more than skill . I compared the cast version and the forged versions, but never got to hit the cast versions. The cast versions seemed to look more rounded/softer lines. I think it was the sole grind that made the TB1000s more forgiving for me. I just couldn't make proper divots with the TC1000s.