RIduffer

I pulled the trigger on the FW 50 Sigma Noir in an 8.2. Will see how it plays in comparison to the p9003x on the RC D/S. Should be fun...

Thanks for the info... What do you mean by punchy? Also are you aware of any perf differences between the FW and the standard 50 Sigma Noir?

The RC TRC 14* is a great one too. I know the Supo has been converted to a Yamaha guy now, but... The performance of the RC is phenomenal even with the stock GD graphite shaft and it only gets better with shaft changes.. -RIDuffer

Supo, Have you tried the 50 Sigma Noir at all in the D/S? I am playing the 11.5* with the P9003x at 44" and have been seeing a few balloon balls into the wind. What would you think about the 50 Sigma Noir as a lower spin alternative to the P9003x? Would the FW 50 suffice? Thanks

Definitely looks interesting, should be fun to hear the feedback coming from Stew and others. I however am quite happy with my choice to migrate to graphite iron/wedge shafts. At least until the rave reviews come in, then I'll probably plunk down the grand for a 5-LW set, too.

Safe travels and looking forward to the reviews when you return...

Is the only difference between the FW and standard Crazy shafts the raw length? If not what other performance differences are there? What is the raw length of the FW shafts also what is the raw length of the standard shafts? Thanks, RIDuffer

Hey E, that is a great picture too. Gives a great idea about hw big/small the head really is. Compact can mean different things to different people, but when you have an absolute reference like the ball against it rally drives home what compact means. From an earlier post re the TourStage irons... "Size wise, I think they are a little bit longer heel to toe than the Miura baby blades but a shorter top to bottom. Also they are a tad less arched along the topline from heel to toe." I think my picture was of the 5 iron, but do not remember exactly.

Spoon, Why Sept 8th? Also my vote is for the 11.5*. You don't intend to play it off the deck, so might as well get the distance. Although I have no personal experience with the 13* I can't imagine the extra 1.5* of loft and .5" of shaft length will do anything significant to the accuracy...

Back up set is done too now, get to make another trip to the builder. Back up irons are the Miura Baby Blades with a 1/2 flex tipped Fuji Rombax 115i shaft in S. Hope is they play right between an X and an S flex. That will be an interesting comparison between the Crazy CBI and the Fuji Rombax shafts. Now I just need to unload the two sets of steel shafts that are left naked after the conversion to graphite... One NGS 950 WF and the other is KBS Tour Black both in stiff shaft and set 1/2" long... That should be fun...

Given the amount of shaft swapping that goes on here, I am curios if learning how and investing in club building is worthwhile...

Have another day under my belt with the P9003x and the RC D/S. Hit 6 of 7 fairways where that is my club off the tee. Only bad one I got under and hooked Ended up scrambling okay to save par, but it was one ugly shot... Have to say that is one beautiful combination. Gonna give it another go with the Yonex/Crazy combo in the morning but the RC is going to be tough to beat...

What are your thoughts on the GD DI 95 utility club shaft?

I have been using the ProForce v2 on several heads for a number of years and have to disagree with that assessment. I prefer the UST to the EV6x and 7x in most cases. Although I am happily using the GD EV shaft in the utility clubs, it was more a matter of finding a use for them than thinking they are the best shaft in the heads. Actually, thinking the P9003 might be interesting to try in the OnOff utility clubs

Long winded first impressions continued... I didn't have it in me to play 36 holes again so kept it to playing a couple of tee shots on each hole through one walking of the course... Began finding the full swing timing with the irons. The result was a very stable somewhat highish trajectory at least in comparison to the NGS SP Blue . In my testing with the Fuji Rombax, the Crazy shafts are 10-15% lower. I have yet to really try to muscle a ball, but full fluid swings are yielding about 6-7 yds more length than any previously installed shaft. To be honest, I cannot believe I am swinging an X flex iron shaft so easily, I always thought it would be way too much club for me. 7 iron is traveling about 175 with 10-15 yards between clubs. The wedge shafts are playing a tad short comparatively for gapping the clubs, but think I can have them bent a degree or two to accommodate it. I will have to stew on that choice as the impact will be to introduce bounce to the zero bounce wedges I am using. The P9003x is an absolute winner. Admittedly, I added the Balance Certified AMT stabilizer weight in the butt section based on draw/hook from yesterday. Was putting it consistently 290 and straight. The ball flight was a little bit too high and think I was giving up some distance as a result. I understand that I am using it with an 11.5* club head, but the flight of the FW80 with a 13* head was more boring so I will attribute the trajectory to the shaft. Even had one or two balloon on me. Had absolute confidence with the RC/GD combo stepping up to every tee I can play +250 drives. I am convinced that anyone on the front nine of the course I play could hear my tee shots with the sound of the RC head, like a single ringing of a church bell. The only tee shots that faded were when I got lazy on the follow through and didn't finish the swing. As to the flex, I do not think that it is a true X, playing a little bit looser than that. It could be the weight of the RC head contributing to the feel of the shaft, but I am guessing the trajectory would not be as high if the shaft was stiffer. The GD EV 6x seems to have a lower trajectory with a 9* head as does the EV 7x on a 15* FW than the P9003 with the 11.5*. The EV 6x and 7x and the stock GD stiff shaft on the RC are my only comparison points for GD shafts. I even took a crack with the D/S from the deck on a long par 5. I was able to get it up in the air, but missed the green to the right as I didn't quite finish the stroke. So far the P9003 is beating the Crazy FW80, but if there was an option to lower the flight on the P9003 I would say I found a perfect shaft.

Long winded first impressions.... Played 36 holes today, played as a single with the first tee time so I was able to play a couple of balls on each hole the first time around the course. Was trying to compare the RC D/S with the Yonex 13* as well as get used to the Crazy iron and wedge shafts. 2nd time around I left the RC at home and only played the Yonex. The comparison between the RC P9003x combo and the Yonex Crazy FW80 combo was interesting and getting into too much detail now is premature. So far however, the distance achieved with the Yonex is up in the high 60s with a couple of the latter drives getting to 290ish. Need to work on a couple changes to my address and swing that seemed to produce the longer carry and rollout. The RC, similarly will require a couple of modifications to the address position and take away and managed to put it consistently 280s. The sound of the two clubs couldn't be more different, Th RC giving a metallic almost hollow tink sound while the Yonex was a muted thud and almost silent when hit on the screws. Shaft wise the P9003x and the FW80 both felt great but had different behaviors. Not sure if it was due to the head shaft interaction or just shaft differences. The P9003x had what I would consider a GD characteristic of truly knowing where the clubhead was at all times through the swing. Where as the Crazy, I couldn't necessarily feel the head but I had complete confidence it was in the right position. It will be curious to see if after tomorrows round I will feel the same about the P9003. With the P9003, my misses were a hook which kinda took me by surprise considering it is an X flex. I think it had more to do with the closed face of the RC D/S and not the shaft. Hence the comment regarding changing the address position to open the face up a little as well as not to roll my wrists through the impact zone. Ball flight was a little higher than I am used to, but much lower than with the stock S Flex GD shaft. Definitely a step in the right direction. Am looking forward to getting a few more holes with it tomorrow. The Yonex Crazy combo performed admirably today although the misses were equally fades/slices and draws/hooks. I will absolutely need more time with this club to figure it out. The sound at impact is very muted, but that does not mean the feel was dull. I could tell where on the face I made contact, what position the face of the club was in through the impact zone and what kind of flight I was going to get out of the contact. I was able to adjust the trajectory of my shots for some low stingers into the wind as well as the higher, ride the wind, drives. Overall I was very satisfied with club and am looking forward to continuing the shootout. Crazy CBI-02 Evolution Iron Shafts These are going to take a lot of practice for me as this is the first time I have ever played an X flex in an iron shaft. What I really liked about these and am thinking it is a Crazy characteristic is the absolute stability of the shaft through the whole swing. I never doubted that the head would return exactly as it should based on my swing, no deformity whatsoever. I managed to play a smooth swing(90%) all day and was getting distances consistent with the NGS 950 WF S Flex that they replaced. The ball flight with these shafts was a mid trajectory flight and sufficient spin to check up fairly close to the ball mark with the short irons. What I couldn't get was the timing of the release when I wanted to go after it. I finally got a clean full swing on the 35th hole. It was playing 169 and I went for it with a hard 8, knocked it stiff about 5 yards beneath the hole. I think that was the best contact I had all day with the irons. The first time through I played a knock down 7 iron hole high, but left. The sound of the contact is also very different from what I am used to with the steel shafts, much more of a thwack coming from the Crazy/TourStage combo. I did skull a few although I am not sure if it was a timing issue or I lifted up on the swing, either way my arms did not pay the vibration penalty they would have with steel shafts. Which is the real reason I am going down the graphite iron path. Should be fun getting to know these. Also it is going to be interesting when my back up set is complete, Miura baby blades with tipped S flex Fuji Rombax 115i shafts. These are not conforming but the perf differences should be a blast to uncover. Crazy Black Wedge 110 X shaft For me, not a low launch shaft but good spin and an extremely stable ball flight. Similar to the other Crazy shafts, had confidence in the head returning and the ball flew directly to where I was aiming. Unfortunately for me. I have a tendency to aim right as with the NGS 950 S flex shafts that were in there before the ball would invariably end up left of my aim point due to SS. When my aim point was not too far right and I was still able to hit the green I was getting about 5 yards of back spin which is nice. Considering I hadn't been getting any with old shafts in play, I would actually play for ~10 yds of forward progress after the bounce with the wedges. Chipping was great with theses, had several run right over the cup and a few stop just a few feet short. On one hole the owner of the course was playing in a foursome 5 holes back but his fairway and my green abut. They were looking for a ball that went through their fairway and all stopped to watch and root my ball into the cup from a 30 yard bump and run with the 52*. The couple of floppish shots I hit had nice flight and about 5-10 yards of forward roll after landing depending on the distances to the landing area. Very happy with the performance of the wedge shafts. As a complete aside I was happy to get back to using the GripMaster leather grips again. Using the mishmash of stock grips for so long had begun to take its toll on my hands and I actually needed to start using a glove again. With the leather back in play, the gloves are off, literally... Will follow up tomorrow with results of the RC 9003 combo...

Will do on the 9003... The course I play most is shortish and with the distance I have been getting with the D/S most of my approach shots are 9 iron or shorter so I don't carry a driver. The competition for my driver slot is between the Yonex 13* or the RC D/S 11.5* loser hits the BST unless the loser is still north of 280 in which case I might both of the Yonex drivers. With 280 yds off the tee I am still long enough on most if not all courses with the oppty to score. Right now the 17* is just an expectation and is not actually in the bag so I still play 14 clubs, just not legal for USGA events which I don't play in anyway. I still have to change out the wedges and think I found a set I am going to go after once the season ends. Gonna start shedding some unused clubs once I am done with the migration to a conforming set. I have 5 sets of irons at home and a number of wedges and woods with no real reason to hang on to them all. A couple are collectors items so will probably pull the shafts on them and keep the heads but still...

Thanks... Yeah, there is too much sexiness for me to look at all at once. Have to take it one step at a time... Just got all new shafts in place up and down the chain, sans putter. Crazy shafts all the way through excluding a few GD shafts, 2 on the OnOff utility clubs and on the RC D/S have the P9003x. I will update the pics once I get the real camera back...

Picked up the clubs today and they look great. Only camera I have lying around is an iPhone one and does not do them justice... Sadly, I could not hit at the range today as the uilder told me they needed to finish curing and that I had to wait for the morning round. Told me to bring them inside as well so the humidity doesn't effect the process. They will sleep soundly neer the back door waiting for my usual early AM round. It will be interesting how my distances change and what clubs I need to adjust/add to my bag in order to have a consistent gapping between clubs. I already think a 17* hybrid will be in my future. The lineup will probably be 11.5* D/S or 13* FW for the driver then 17*, 21* and 24* utility clubs followed by 5-PW and lastly a 52*, 56*, and 60* wedges... Doubt I will sleep well tonight, feel like a kid on Xmas eve...

I am getting giddy like a school girl. Supposed to pick them up tomorrow afternoon on my way home from a business trip. Actually packed some practice gear, violating my travel as light as possible rule, so I can hit the range when I get them... Luckily, the club builder I use is one of the best and works with several touring pros. So I have complete confidence in the trimming and assembly. Funnily, when I brought the Crazy Shafts in, he had commented that one of his touring pros had previously brought in a few of their shafts to try. I did not find out the outcome of the trial but appreciated the story none the less...

Been playing the 11.5* for a couple of weeks now and find it a great club to use assuming the shaft is right. I got it stock with a stiff flex shaft, which was most likely a mistake. I have found that I cannot go after the shot like I tend to, but when I remember to be fluid the ball flight is long straight and a decent height. Off the deck the ball flight is significantly lower for me with a lot more roll out and much less carry. But i have not had a need to hit it off the deck too much. When I make good contact off the tee the sound is a reassuring metallic tink(complete opposite of the muted sound on the Yonex woods) and the ball screams off the face carries about 250 with about 10-20 more yards of roll/bounce. When I go after it, I get the hook and then the subsequent swing will be too light resulting in a power fade. I really like the setup on the tee, although the face seems a little bit closed to me. The size of the head front to back is good and the face height is fantastic. Tee it up about 1/2" and voila fairway finder. Am having the GD P9003x put in it over the next couple of days so I should game it over the weekend and be able to give some comparisons...

Getting that much closer to finalizing my irons for the near future. Received the Crazy CBI-02 Evolution iron shafts in the mail this morning. Will hopefully get them back on Friday installed into the Tourstage X-Blade 905 Ltd. Should be a stellar combination and am very excited to see how the profile changes with these heads as compared to the NGS 950 shafts that came in them. Will also be having the P9003 put into the RC 11.5* D/S(Per Supo's recommendation) and a Crazy FW80 into the Yonex 13*. That should prove to be an interesting shoot-out for the almost driver. Oh, and I neglected to add the Maruman wedges are getting Crazy wedge shafts as well. Will be interesting to see the spin rate and launch angle change with the graphite shafts. This will be the first time I have had graphite shafts up and down the chain. Sans putter of course.

After a hard fought game Japan takes the title in PKs...

My intent is to find the weight I like and then put them under the grip in a final build of the club. This set of clubs should last me quite a while and as such am going the extra mile in the setup. There is a set screw that compresses a rubber against the inner wall of the shaft prevenig it from rattling once set. As long as I can get to the set screw I should be able to tighten it should the need arise.

I did ask the guys at Balance Certified Golf, but I also like to get opinions of people that might have tried something similar in the past. Not always willing to give complete trust to a manufacturer. The response about needing to adjust over time was that most people do not keep their clubs long enough and since every club set is different a different weight could be required anyway.