jamnguy1

For "feel," it would be quite a feat to beat a 1 piece blade and the right shaft with a multi-piece head design. The trade off is obviously forgiveness.

I don't know if I'd be flattered to be copied ... http://r11golf.com/products/?i=22

This is really true. For forgiveness in a club head design, it is harder to achieve with a 1-piece and easier to achieve with a multi-piece design. Heavier materials in the hosel and sole, perimeter weighing in a pocket cavity or hollow head, and face materials are some of the things that can be done. Much harder to achieve this with a 1-piece design. When Karsten Ping came out with the cavity back by grinding out a blade, that was revolutionary for forgiveness. There are things that can be done with a 1-piece design, but there is a limit in terms of the physics and values that define forgiveness. The next level is with multipiece designs as so much more can be done. Of course, one would expect a multipiece design to cost more in manufacturing. "Performance" of a club head design ... that is not a measure synonymous with "forgiveness." Performance depends on the end user.

I believe SDJ non-conforming, while the other two are.

Honma has some of the best stock graphite shafts you can get albeit they all play softer than flex. Some of the forged irons were not the equal of companies like epon and tourstage. But there are still lots of good Honma/Beres stuff and quite easy to hit. Ultimately, it's what ever fits the player. I have a garage full of clubs, you name it, epon, tourstage, miura, honma, prgr, royal collection, etc., that just sits there. But I wouldn't call it trophies.

my prayers to the people of japan T, im glad your and your wifes health is ok This is the largest earthquake this century

If u grind the head, u would have to refinish it. Some women clubs r made with lighter heads, but im not sure which.

TJ-46 worked out best for me, followed by LY-02. I got different models to try to find which worked best. Very consistent kickpoint in all of them. I got the same distance and dispersion with Quadra FE, but I liked the feel on the Crazy better. Feel on the Quadra is like a very high-end Matrix shaft. Crazy has this very glassy feel that is unique to it.

What's with the labeling. That's really a 2 driving iron. Looks nice though.

You sound like me. Went through LY-01, LY-02, TJ-46, couple of flexes, Quadra FE. I wish I had the chance to attend the show to demo the new ones that they now have.

I appreciate your review. I would trade distance for forgiveness (as long as if the distance loss is not too much). Just trying to figure out which ryoma driver I should get for the summer, D-1 or D-1 v-spec. I'll talk to T about it.

The ryoma is the 2nd picture at the bottom? It looks very closed at address. Also, I see you're playing the same ball I'm playing.

I'll throw in something that hasn't been mentioned. Honma Beres TW904. Compact head, thin top line, very minimal offset, soft feel.

Definitely looking forward to your review. Both drivers with similar concepts in design which is to place as much of the center of gravity and weight as far back as possible with the ryoma taking it to the extreme. It would be nice if they both had the same shaft.

Interested in knowing if a standard screw in spike would work? Also from anyone who knows if this would apply to the newer models as well.

In the same way player's irons are geared towards the better golfer. But it's primarily in appearance and workability. Workability can also be built in a 435, 440 or 460cc head as well. Tourstage x-drive and the Crazy drivers that are 435+ cc are very workable. Even when I look at a 435cc driver, it does not look terribly smaller than a 460cc driver like a sub-400cc driver does.

For those who are discerning enough and have enough experience with lots of equipment, the quality in the crazy and quadra shafts can easily be appreciated even if a particular shaft doesn't work for one's swing. I bought several crazy shafts in different flexes to find the right one. I compared it with the quadra as well and found I liked the crazy better.

I'm playing a crazy shaft. Played the quadra too, but I think the crazy shaft is better for me.

Professional players have all the distance they need, and they often work on accuracy to improve their game. They often play with 44" to 44.5" shaft lengths for the driver. They would also play with smaller driver heads if those were made by the companies that sponsor them. If you ever see the ball marks on a pro driver head, it looks as if they hit in an area the size of a Susan B. Anthony dollar. For the amateur, the ball marks are everywhere on the face. For the vast majority of us players who play golf as a hobby, a 460cc driver makes sense. IMO, going to a longer shaft makes less sense to try to get more distance for a regular joe golfer.

A properly weighted club makes a huge difference for the right person. It allows one to have a sense or feel where the clubhead is in space during the swing. It allows for proper swing path and also proper release. One can always swing a lighter club faster, but at some point the gains in clubhead speed is outweighed by inaccuracy. If the club is too heavy, it has the same problem as a club that is too light. A heavier club also has a higher moment of inertia, and statistically will hit the ball further. However, this is minimal. Testing done shows that the greatest gains in length is due to clubhead speed, and this is achieved through lighter clubs. But this is up to a point and one WILL lose distance and accuracy if the club is too light. What is too heavy or too light depends on the person making the swing. No clear research that I have seen, but club head aerodynamics optimizations have not shown to be a big advantage. Last year, Williams from formula car racing fame started making clubs, the driver in particular, with claims that they know all about aerodynamics. The gains I think are nonexistent or minimal at best. But manufacturers just have to keep on trying and try to push the envelope. With the rules limiting size to 460cc and COR to 0.83, manufacturers have to be creative in club head design as to material, MOI (mainly for forgiveness), placement of the COG. The one big area that I think can give one a significant advantage for increasing distance which is not restricted by the USGA and R&A is having the right shaft.

I think if you can maintain your concentration for 18 holes and put in a good drive, it doesn't matter what size head you use. A smaller head may force you to concentrate harder and that might not be a bad thing. For accuracy, there's no doubt a shorter shaft length will help a great deal.

Old Egg has a high trajectory compared to the new Egg. It's due to the head design and also the stock shaft. The old egg shaft is softer than the new one. But I did change the shaft on the old Egg and it still launched high and goes far. As for hitting off the tee with the new Egg, I have to tee it low and it becomes a bullet.

The research that came out in the past that I saw showed that the advantage of 460cc drivers over sub-400cc drivers was in forgiveness. Also research shows and no one doubts that a longer shaft will increase head and ball speed for the same ball strike. Of course, if you cannot hit the sweet spot, it does not matter what driver you use and you will lose serious distance. I think one can make an analogy to players and game-improvement irons. Golf is a psychological game, and the appearance of equipment to a particular player can have a significant effect. It took me a while to go from a 390cc (Miura MD390) driver to a 460cc driver. But the forgiveness characteristic of a 460cc driver cannot be denied, and it has allowed many players to use a longer shaft. A longer shaft usually means longer distance (assuming you can control the longer shaft). The average driver shaft length used to be 44" but it is now 45" because of the larger head. Now it has become 46" for some drivers and that's due to companies marketing that they are making the longest driving drivers out there. As a side note, even at the PGA show this year, Boccieri Golf is marketing a "Heavy Driver." The total weight is 375g. The claim is that lighter weight drivers can cause loss of control and thus reduce driver distance. So a heavy driver will actually improve distance despite all research to show that lighter weight drivers increase clubhead speed. It's all marketing and it depends on what angle you are looking at. The basic concepts are still that: 1. A well struck ball will go further than a poorly struck one 2. A larger driver head is more forgiving than a smaller one 3. A longer shaft will provide more clubhead speed than a shorter one

From my own personal experience with some of these shafts, in particular the ATTAS, Ilima and Fire Express, the numbers seem to ring true. The ATTAS launches the lowest, the Ilima the highest, and Quadra in between. I had the worse experience with the ATTAS because of it's low launch. I did not notice one shaft significantly longer than the other except the ATTAS gave me poor distance. It was also quite boardy in feel. I ended up throwing that shaft away.

I don't think any shaft "won." That would be a personal judgment.