RIduffer

Been a 5-PW person also for a while although the hybrids are new. Usually played a 7 wood and would choke down some/swing a little easier to get that 4i distance. Now I am gaming the 21 and 24 deg OnOff Pro Specs, very nice indeed. I agree with Spoon, play what you like and let the boys laugh all they want especially if they are handing over the coin after the round...

Had a fitting for some iron shafts the other day and also tested the impact of the balance certified weights in the grip section. They definitely did some good things, improved distance, smash factor and club head speed all while improving the dispersion on the 6 irons I was hitting. Two things came up as a result of the testing I was doing... 1) Over time would you need to increase the amount of weight in the grip section in order to offset the increase in muscle strength that the weight is going to cause to develop? In other words, will you eventually get used to the different weight distribution and need to increase it in order to continue to derive benefit? 2) It seemed the inner diameter of the heavier graphite shafts was too small to fit the weights. Would boring out the shaft to allow for the weight insertion adversely impact the performance of the shaft? Thanks for your thoughts...

Could the Honma graphite iron shafts be that good? Here I thought the Crazy shafts were expensive....

Went to the range today after swapping out the stock shafts for a GD Tour AD EV7X. I had the lengths of the shaft adjusted to 0.5" long on the spec measurement. Wow what a difference it made. 240 yards with the 21* and 230 with the 24*. The shafts never played quite right in the Yonex Nextage woods they came out of but with the heavier head of the OnOff utilities they are a masterpiece. Play laser straight with the ability to put a baby draw on it. The trajectory is a consistent climb and when it peaks it falls like a dead bird, which I kinda like out of these as it should allow for soft landings on the green. Looking forward to getting some course time with this setup...

Sorry, who is Frank? I haven't had a chance to play them since the initial post, bad weather followed by a work trip abutting a vacation where I keep a second set of clubs so they didn't travel. I should be playing them this week and next to give a more thorough evaluation. Although I did discover they were cut to the wrong lengths so distances will be a little bit off. I should be receiving replacement shafts over the next week or so. After that I will be able to give a complete follow up including distance comparisons... RIDuffer

Don't forget to add the Yonex Ezone or Nextage to the party. I currently game the Nextage 15 18 and 21 and am quite fond of them. Will be testing out the TRC to see if it can supplant the Yonex...

Sadly I am away from my bag right now as I am in San Diego for a visit. Moved the Blade Golf irons and Miura woods out here so when I visit I can play familiar clubs. They are replacing an old set of Taylor X-300 Prototypes, what a great cavity back those were... I am looking forward to see which woods have arrived in my absence. Also in taking a closer look at the utes the lengths are the same although the spec calls for a 0.5" difference between clubs. Am currently waiting to see how OnOff wants to handle it. Minor nuisance but nuisance none the less, I will keep on playing them just to get comfy when I return...

I prefer lower launch shafts, as I am tall with monkey like arms so the ball gets up in the air fairly well anyway. On the woods, my tendency is a slight draw while the driver is straight as an arrow. I am happy with those characteristics and would be perfectly amenable to keeping them.

The nice thing about the p9003x is that Supo said he would buy it from me if I didn't like it...

All these heads and no idea what shaft.... Avg SS is a smooth 110-112MPH Any help? Yonex Ezone 380 9* Yonex Ezone 13* Yonex Nextage 420 9* RC TRC D/S 11.5* RC TRC 14* Gracias...

Thanks So just to make sure I understand... For the 380 the GD and the Nextage 420 the quadra? To think I just heard about a great deal on a Crazy LS2 7.7...

Thanks I was gonna wait for another year on the wedges. I just got the Marumans and have been really enjoying them so other than the objective for conforming there is no real impetus to change now. Talking out of both sides of my mouth at once on the conforming bag is tough, but.... The copper transformation hase been fun. I have a set of Blade Golf irons with the "copper cushion" exposed and those patinad in a very different way. The face and bottom of the club is still fairly bright whille the rest of the club has just dulled not quite the blackening you see on the putter...

Thought you might like a teaser... My WTIB as you requested I have the woods from last year and liked them a lot. They replaced a set of Miura Precious editions. A step up in distance, down in sound at impact and in place on feel... I thought about the Yonex MBs but wasn't sure about the head size. I mgiht take a crack at them depending on the price they go up for... Also still hemming over the RC irons... I am stlll exploring shafts for the irons, and Ezone 380. Not to mention I should be getting the 11.5* and 14* RC woods and the 13* Ezone. They arrive next week while I am out of town. I am impressed that from a blurry front passenger shot of a wheel and a bumoer you picked out it was an Audi 6 series... Don't drive enough miles on it in a year to justify the RS, it is a lowly A6 with the 4.2 engine. 4yrs 28k miles, my most common trip in it is the weekday morning ride to the golf course...

I since the new groove rules went into effect I wanted to start playing by those rules, even though I have no ambition to play sanctioned events. Just wanted to... The last non-conforming piece of the puzzle are the wedges, but that will probably be a next year thing unless something amazing falls into my lap... Here is what it looks like when first removed from the car... Then one of these will get used from the first tee... Yonex 380 is awaiting a shaft so am trying a tipped Fuji Blur 005 in the Nextage 9*, the 18* has a UST ProForce V2(my goto shaft for trying a head) and the Utes or the OnOff ProSpec Fairway Wings 21* and 24*. Followed by... TourStage 905 MB limited edition 5-PW Next, since I almost never hit this green in reg.... Maruman KS Zero Wedge 52*,56*,60*. Would love it if they would put out a conforming version of these, they are my favorite as compared to Chikara V2, George Spirits Prototype and Scratch And lastly... My own custom putter as made by Slighter Golf. 420g of copper center shafted with a UST FF putter shaft absolutely phenomenal... Unblemished copper shots provided from Slighter golf website... And after a couple of years of play it patinad to this... A couple more miscellaneous pics... The bag... Iron back... The shot I wish they would put in all the reviews of clubs... Great perspective on actual club head size...

Just for you Spoon

I got the 905 MB limited as a 5-PW. So far they are working out very well. They came stock with the NGS 950 and am in the process of evaluating shafts to put in. They are replacing a set of Miura Baby Blades so my criteria were smallish head, blade and soft. The reason for the change was to move towards a conforming set.

For the most part I have good success with the 76g UST Proforce V2 I have used in all of my drivers and fairway woods. Admittedly, I have started to explore a variety of shafts and might even push the envelope with a couple of high end JDM too. I did try the EV6 and EV7 in the Yonex Nextage Driver and FWs, but they sit pulled from their heads in the shed at this point... As mentioned earlier, just put the hard stepped Fujikura Blur back in the Nextage 420 head and will be giving that a whirl soon. Once I have figured out the OnOff utility clubs that just hit my bag...

When I ordered the Tourstage irons I also purchased the OnOff Tour Utility clubs and they just arrived although I have been playing the irons for a couple of weeks now. Looks like tomorrow will be restricted to a woods free round so I can get some time in with these clubs. Will probably start off using them off the tee but might also take some 6 and 7 irons from the tee to leave myself some distances to hit from the fairway too. My golfing partner is gonna look at me funny when I do that... I am hoping that they will fill the 3 and 4 iron void from 5-PW Tourstage irons and I won't see the huge distances like those being commented on with the RC UT. In hand the club exudes quality although the stiff LaboSpec shaft seems a little bit loose. That is probably due to the heft of the heads. The weight should help from the rough should I ever not hit a fairway... Hit the range for a quick bucket, although I could not gauge the distance to effectively given the random mix of crap balls at the range. The clubs feel very stable and the shaft prefers a fluid swing over an aggressive one. I was able to get my baby draw going fairly well and with subtle changes to the swing timing was able to change ball flight pretty easily. At first blush on the distance when comparing to hitting the 5 iron intermingled with the 2 utes they seemed well matched. Will wait for the course tomorrow, assuming the weather holds out, with real balls and real lies before making any judgements there. The launch trajectory can be manipulated but happily I was unable to balloon the ball at this point. A little porn..

Do you think that the same shaft will perform comparably in a similarly weighted and shaped head, given launch angle will be different? So are you sticking with the heavier weighted shafts now? The thing that struck me with the super light shaft was how good it felt to hold and swing, so I don't think it was a mental issue. In talking with my fitter for a little while, we decided to tip it and add an extension for length. The effect should be to stiffen the flex some and see if that brings the timing of the shaft release back into synch with my swing. So I got a probable answer, going lighter might require a change in flex to facilitate the properly timed release of stored energy from the shaft.

Wasn't it PRGR's marketing material for the 2010 Egg Impact that said shorter shaft and heavier head yield better quality shots and faster ball speed off the face? That is if you believe marketing hype... So I agree that the UT should be easier to hit as it is shorter and better out of the rough due to the head design and mass, but I think the extra distance makes sense for the same reasons. Better quality contact with more mass behind the ball... As an aside I am awaiting delivery of the 21* & 24* OnOff UTs later this week as 7 wood and 3 and 4 iron replacements, so some of my arguing is rationalization on my part related to that purchase...

I have both the Nextage 420 an the new Ezone 380 both in 9*. Also picked up the Nextage FW last year to replace a set of Miura Precious Edition FW and driver. The Yonex are definitey longer the the Miuras feel is comparable but sound is worlds apart... Feel and sound is similar between the Yonex although I prefer the 380 to the 420. I like the look of smaller heads and a mental block on trying to close the face on bigger ones. I am dying to find a 9 or 10 degree loft in a sub 180 cc head. In the meantime am looking forward to doing a similar exploration as you with the RC D/S in 11.5*. Am also gonna give the 13* Yonex and 14* RC a whirl as driver replacements for shorter courses...

Pardon my NOOB like question but having never played a UT club... Isn't 18* a standard loft for a 5w, so barring significant differences in shaft length shouldn't a 17* UT fly as far or farther than a 5 wood? Also given that it is a heavy head wouldn't that add to the distance achieved with solid contact? Thanks, RIDuffer

If the "dead feeling" is attributed to the carbon crown, then I would assume the feel is similar to the last year's Nextage FW. Having played those for the better part of a season I would not say the feel is dead, but rather the sound is muted. By comparison I have played the Miura FWs and get a metallic tink when struck where as the Nextage are more of a dull thud. Feel on the other hand is quite clean and you can definitely discern the location of the ball on the face at impact. Again this is assuming the feel is similar to the Nextage fairway woods... -RIDuffer

I have been building a new bag this year and in so doing have begun to explore different shaft options for both the irons and woods. On the irons side I have dipped my toe in the water of graphite shafts and compared a couple of the US Fujikura options against my existing steel lineup of NGS SP Blue and 950 WF and the KBS Tour Black all in stiff flex. The two Fuji options I tried were the Motore Speeder(76g) and the Rombax 9E05(90g). Overall trajectories were in order, high to low, Speeder->950->Rombax->KBS->SP Blue. What surprised me was the distances achieved with the various shafts, 950->KBS->SP Blue->Rombax->Speeder, longest to shortest. The first four were fairly tightly grouped with maybe 5-10 yds of difference on individual shots but 2-3 yds on average. The Speeder, however was markedly shorter by about 15-20 yds on what I felt were pured shots. I had a similar experience trying the Fujikura Blur in 55g weight. I was hitting the sweet spot of the driver almost every time, straight with a nice trajectory, but 20-30 yds of lost distance compared to GD Tour AD EV 6, UST ProForce V2 and the Axivcore Tour Green. So my question... Is it possible to have too light of a shaft? Is there an offsetting characteristic to the weight, like stiffness, that will bring a too light shaft back into a performant mode? Thanks for your thoughts, RIDiffer

How would you compare the launch of the LY Neo to the NS950WF, percentage higher or lower? Would a 38.5" 5 iron effectively soft step the flex? Given the SS numbers to flex in the CBI info page, is that an iron or a driver SS they are listing? If iron SS, how much increase would you expect by lightening the shaft by 30g(in the case of CBI) or 50g(in the case of LY NEo)? Lastly, what is the cost on the LY Neos? Sorry for the flurry of ???'s Thanks, RIDuffer