Vegaman

Tario can probably help you out with the headweight, you need to get it up in the 205 grams range I suppose? Or maybe even more? The Zero, even though I haven't seen or hit it, seems a perfect candidate for a shorter "control" driver to me. And, again, Tario can probably fix the flatter lie for you too. 58 seems ok, even though I would guess 57 or even 56 would be a better fit for you, keeping your height and the shorter length in mind. It also depends on how you swing, if you have a high hands swing you'd need a more upright lie and vice versa if you keep your hands low through the hitting area. Tario will know.

TM TP clubs used to be something special, I still have, and recently started gaming again, the R510TP head. Back then the TPs really where the same as on tour, these days they plaster "TP" on every other clubs. I remember the R510tp was available in lefty too, then you got the exact same club that Mike Weir used. It was more or less straight from the tour van, only came in 9 degrees and with the same shaft flex Mike used.

Yeah, I also alsways thought that JDM brands have a really upright lie for woods and a very flat lie for irons..Anyway, a longer shaft will for sure groop more than a short one, and a softer shaft will droop even more again. keeping in mind that the ryoma premia for sure is aimed at slower swinger that need the extra long shaft. So that means 47" and a very soft JDM regular for example. In effect a ladies fles shaft if you cpm it, so the upright lie might be a wise thing. Plus it acts a bit like an antislice thing too. That's why you sometimes see that the "tour" or "pro" model heads have a flatter lie, and also usually with a shorter, stiffer shaft as standard. Sometimes the lie changes with loft too, I remember seeing the 8.5 head being flatter than the higher lofted heads, still the same model head.

Some people get less hurt by a longer shaft. Usually players with a bit slower swing and people that doesn't hit it that far. If you don't hit it that far, then even if you hit it off line it might end up in the fairway or maybe in the light rough. I hit it quite far, so a shot that is as much off line as some of my golf buddies end up in the trees, just because it travels farther. But when it comes to dispersion, NOBODY will hit a longer shaft straighter than a short one, it's just that is hurts some people much less, or not much at all. But if you get professionally fitted to one driver that is 43.5 and another at 46 or more, you WILL hit the shorter club straighter on a TrackMan for example. Of course, if you have a club head that is designed to go with a 47" long shaft cutting it to 43.5" will mess up the club because of weight, lie and even loft. But if you get a driver built from the start with a 43.5" shaft in mind, that will be the straighter driver guaranteed.

The blades...Wow. What is the 5 iron length on these 2 sets? A bit longer in the TMs?

Craig So, the longest you have tried among the conform drivers is the original 435? And not the 435II?

Really? Ok, so which country is the largest miner of Ti today? Australia? China? Canada?

Maybe, but for me it's a word for trying to squeeze out some extra yards, going for it basically. I can do it with not much craziness happening with my ancient R510TP with a RIP 70 in stiff. But if I try that with the Crazy LY-02 in X stiff, a real X since it flexes out at 280 cpm. I often lose control. It weirdly "plays" rather soft considering the cpm, but it's also very light and can feel like air in my hands when I try to hit it hard. Odd feeling. Often, what happens is I have a smooth swinging day, ball is going very far and straight, confidence in my ball striking goes way up, and then I decide to really go after it since I'm having such a wonderful day timing wise...? And then, the craziest hook or slice will appear out of nowhere. It doesn't like to be swung hard somehow. I'm not a smooth swinger in general, but can achieve very good tempo at times, and then the Crazy works really well. It's a swingers shaft I guess.

Depends on how long your legs are. What is important is wrist to floor.

Hence I wrote "initially made for". I know the make all the way up to XX these days, but the bend profile (I guess, might be wrong) would still be High Launch/as much carry as possible? So the LY-02 is actually higher launching than the RD? That's interesting, good info.

I always thought the RD was a typical smooth swingers shaft with high launch being one of it's more typicl characteristics. Is it marketed as being low launch? Sounds like a mismatch then, because the RD was initially specially made for senior japanese golfers, not exactly known for needing low launch, roll out shafts. That would sound like a TJ80 or GD9003 to me? What gives?

And remember, just because somebody is tall does not automatically mean longer clubs. If you are tall, but have comparatively long arms too, compared to your body that is, you might only need standard length shafts. Karelin would probably need shafts that are shorter than standard for example..Players that need longer shafts are usually tall and have a bit shorter arms, again compared to their height. It's the height from your wrists to the ground that matters, not how tall you are. Ball striking often suffers when you lengthen the shafts, often it's better to not overdo the shaft lengthening and get your irons bent a bit more upright instead. I played my irons at 1 inch over standard (5 iron at 39) for quite some time, but have now gone to 38.5 instead and adjusted the lie to be a bit more upright, and my ball striking has for sure improved.

I'm tall too, and hit the ball high as well. My buddy is as tall as you are and have a bit of a problem with his trajectory, he hits it sky high at times, and he plays Nippon 950s in stiff. I actually think you could handle the SP blues in regular unless you are a really slow swinger. The Nippon 950s in regular play pretty soft, dont they, especially after you have lengthened them 1 inch, this will make them play even softer. How about trying to go down to 38.5 in SP blues so as to not add too much SW? Or maybe Nippon 1050s or 1150s in regular?

I like those ferrules better than all red, beautiful club, really splendid looking. Inspirational.

I have a TS 703 with a LY-02 Xstiff shaft and I hit it really well at times. But even though its flexes out to 280 cpm I need to be pretty "careful" with it, need to swing smoothly or I will lose it, usually badly left. If I have smooth swinging day it really bombs. Its a very light shaft, only around 56 grams, it plays to 45.5 inches.

As for the source of the raw material, isn't Russia the biggest supplier of Titanium?

I'm actually tempted to pick up an X-drive 460, the older model with that Superdeep face (long before TM too). I find them now and then in Bangkok and usually for not much coin. Just for the fun of it, and fit it with a heavy short shaft. We'll see

My guess is that TS is just as popular in Japan and other asian markets, but maybe the more fanatic side of the golf community (yes, like us) that is active in various forums have "moved on" so to speak to even more "exotic" brands like the ones you mentioned. But, my guess is that even in Japan the average avid golfer don't know what a Ryoma, crazy or JBeam is. I somehow doubt you will find every other bag full of Crazy or Ryoma clubs even in Japan. Brands like TS, Yamaha, XXIO and the other US OEM's will be dominating for sure. Even Honma is probably a lot more common in the bags over in Japan than the brands we think of as "in" brands. And I think TS sells just as well among the "normal" golfers like they did before. I might be wrong though, and Yururi irons, Jbeam drivers and and Ryoma FW is the norm, but I doubt it.

People that have tried this have told me it's really a head suitable for the faster swinger that puts too much spin on the ball, a low spin compact looking cannon.

Nobody have hit this driver?

I have a Roddio W7-WA Xstiff, and a Miyazaki Kusala Black 72X. Both shafts very low launch and low spin which you need in the 151 because it's a pretty medium/high launching head, so a slightly heavier high kickpoint shaft is the way to go if you want some roll on the ball with a medium ball flight.

I've been eyeing a 10 degree Honma TW914 driver for a while. It really suits my eye, has that deep face look that I like and sets up really nice and square. Have anybody hit this driver, if yes how is it? It looks really low launch/spin the shaft in the one I have looked at it is a 3 star UD shaft that felt surpisingly stiff while just doing some "air" swings.

How about SW at 46? Must have been very high with a 207 gram head? Or was the shaft so light that it compensated?

You might be on to something, especially since it's the UL shafts that are the most "mislabeled", they are as good as always labeled as being stiffer than they "should be". No fun for the slow swingers if the stiffest Bassara would be called a "soft regular" and the rest would be like Junior, Ladies, and Senior flex I guess.. That's why there are are these weird names for the softer flexes, like my favourite "Royal Flex", I mean c'mon.

I don't think we will see a single flex system, ever. But within a a certain brand it should actually be expected, why use different standards when it comes to flex between different models? That's just plain stupid. Like, for Mitsubishi: "Ok. for the Bassara series we will call 230 cpm a stiff, and for the White board 230 cpm will be a regular, and for a Red Board, well let's go with SR" etc etc. It just seems so terribly illogical and even misleading.