nobmontana

Thanks, I've picked up a Labospec R5 and it is working well so far!!

You need to arrange the work through TSG. I believe. If you are outside of Japan, you can't do direct transactions with Gold's as far as I understand.

Here are some pics of my refinished Seven VS-R made of Sandvik Stainless Steel that I just got back from NorCal putters. They did a deep milled face with Tour Raw finish. (This is starting to be my choice of finish for putters!! ) The finish is great and meticulous. The face milling is good but not perfect. When the milling marks interweave each other, it usually creates a nice uniform horizontal line across the face. but mine did not turn out completely uniform. which suggest that perhaps the face was placed somewhat diagonal against the milling bit.... It's not terrible and probably does not affect play at all. I'll get over it. As for the rest of the service, they are very detail oriented. The head was boxed up in an original shipping box that has their logo printed. The plastic bag they used to pack the head was even heat sealed. also included a nice printed postcard size literature with tips on how to perform maintenance on your putters. Their e-commerce site had no issues. All in all a very good experience. I just wish the milling turned out a bit better. If you are looking for just a refinish of your putter heads, I would safely recommend them.

I have now tried a couple of different shafts for this 5 wood. First tried the Loop FW7 in SX which was pretty good but felt a bit heavy. Then tried a lighter ATMOS Black Tourspec 5TX which is the same shaft I have in my driver.... This was not a good match.... Then, I used a Fire Express 2014 Prototype 1 (AKA BX70) and this is working well so far. I'll play this set up for now. Distance is averaging about 210 carry with 15 to 20 yards of roll... so total of about 230 yards which is really all I want from a fairway wood. Glad I made the switch from a 3 wood to this 5 wood!! Now waiting on a matching 21 deg RB-247U Hybrid !! 🙂

Those are the original versions. I have had the newer models PGFW V2. good heads. I think these original ones were a bit more compact and deeper faced.

I had an Evnroll refinished by Labworx. They don't do plating. but their Tour Matte finish is amazing!! I have my Seven VSR with Norcal Putters now.. getting the face deep milled. should be done soon. Also had a Geo Galaxy refinished in Black by Tom Slighter here in Seattle one time. He did a good job.

My R5 arrived today. Went straight to the range to try it out. The shaft is a LABOSPEC Hashiri 50 Stiff which is a bit too light and a bit too flexy. The power trench slit on the top wasn't too bad. I probably won't notice it after a while. While dispersion was all over the place due to the shaft, I saw some good distance numbers close to or about the same as my 3 wood. Feel and sound were pretty nice as well. Not super high pitched. Soft but punchy metallic sound. So far so good!! Will reshaft over the weekend...

Recently put together a forgiving half set (AGAIN) 4,6,8,P 6-P are Scratch EZ-1 V2 irons. Pretty forgivng and feel is nice. 4 iron is a TW737P ... this was actully the biggest surprise for me. The "P" stands for pocket cavity and the TW717, TW727 and TW747 as well as the current TR20P are all multi material with a more springy face. The 737P on the other hand were one piece cast carbon steel. It was surprisingly easy to hit and feels nice off the face. However, it is 21 deg loft. Mid size blade with very small offset. I would totally play a full set of these any day.

Happy Thanksgivings to all who are celebrating today. I hope everyone is staying safe! I really hope we are actually getting closer to putting an end to this pandemic!! I am thankful for all the quality time I have been spending with family as well as the time I get to spend on the golf course!!

I've played them for a season and decided to move them along ... been a while since I sold them. They were good feeling irons. Just not that forgiving.

After pretty extensive search for a high performing 5W... decided to give these a try. Titanium Face and Body with Tungsten Sole plate. Based on available reviews, it is supposedly easy to hit as any 5W but goes as long as any 3W. Will be shafting with a Loop FW7 shaft. I am hoping these will work well!

I have not had too many paid lessons my entire life. Maybe 3 or 4 by a local pro at the course I normally play. I take more of a self exploring approach. Never used the Golf Gopher thing. In my opinion, one instructor who works well with another individual does not guarantee that instructor will work well for you. As you can tell from all the different instruction videos on YouTube, there are millions of different approaches to teaching the golf swing. I feel that it's really a trial and error process to find the right instructor and the right approach/lessons that match your needs. For me, past club fitting experiences revealed a lot about my swing characteristics. Based on the feedback from my fitting sessions, I would go online to find good drills to correct the issues identified from the fitting sessions. Golftec has been a good place to visit once in a while to characterize and analyze what I am "currently" doing in my golf swing. I say "currently" because I believe my swing is constantly changing over time. My biggest win this season was the iron shaft fitting at Golftec. I was fitted with Project X LZ 5.5 in my irons and my iron shots are 10x better than it was before. The main revelation during the session was that LZ 5.5 gave me proper back spin numbers where as other shafts like AMT White just did not give me enough back spin. I was hitting the sweet spot more with the LZ55 to which translated in more consistent distance. With proper back spin, I think my iron shots are much more stable and consistent. I now have a reasonable GIR number. 🙂

I'll have to check out the Kamui Pro. I was considering going back to the Modart FW in 16 as well. They are tiny but somehow so easy to hit. I think it's the shallow face. Most of the RCs ive used in the past were a bit too deep faced for my preference. The SFW Ti was actually pretty nice except it was a bit too anti-slice. :(

I already have a Loop FW Seven for whatever head I get.... 🙂

Thanks for your feedback! Good to know that the 5 wood is good. I am moving myself away from a true 3 wood (15 deg or less ) and moving towards something in the 16 to 18 deg range with a shorter shaft 42 to 42.5 deg. i.e. 4 or 5 wood. Low loft 3 woods for me just cause more issues during a round than it can resolve!!

The BS Tour B RX that I play normally are soft enough I can probably use it through the colder weather. However, I just tried the Chrome Soft yesterday and shot 73. They felt really nice especially with my irons and wedges in 40 deg F temp. I may try the AVX this weekend to see how they compare. Tour B RXS is on my list to try as well.

All Shafts are sold. Only have Grandista 3W head and Epon Fortune putter left.

Closed? the spec is 6 deg open.... I always questioned how face angle was measured for PRGR. Their RS-F drivers were supposedly 3 to 4 deg open but I only see a pretty square face with mine. RS is usually their athlete line.... but lately all brands are going less fade bias I think. "Tsukamari" seems to be what they are going for with everything.

They do have lie angles on the spec sheet. 3 and 5 woods are 57.5* 7W is 58*

Been watching a bunch of YouTube reviews on PRGR RS5 series of woods. While the slight improvement in initial ball speed with their RS5 drivers is not so surprising... I mean they always have been good since the start of the RS series dating back to the RS Nabla 01,02 ... but what was eye catching were the RS5 fairway woods... Carbon Crown, CNC milled Maraging steel face, Slot on the sole .... these are all technology pretty much all companies are using these days. The ball speed of the 3W in 43" length is really getting close to driver speeds like 70m/s. I really hope they have not created something that goes beyond allowed COR... again 🙂 In any case, if any of the guys here have tried the RS5 woods already, I want to hear your impressions. Now that I have my primary bag sorted out to about 95% , I'm starting to put together my backup set. May do a full PRGR set up this time for real!!

From more recent ones, TM P7MC were surprisingly very very good when I tried them. Near Epon "Soft" Reminded me of the R7, R9, TP forged back in the day!!! Also Honma 7x7V as well as TR20(slightly stronger lofts) are very good looking heads which I would play any day.

PRGR IDBL are phenomenal with "true lofts" as you say. Bridgestone J015CB (not J15 CB) are also some of the best CBs I've played.

Very nice price ... but you did forget to put your hand written name/date tag in your picture(s). 🙂 I had an AF505 #4 and #5 in my bag to combo with Epon SUS316 last season. These heads are quite forgiving but with plenty of workability along with nice feel at impact. Very much like the Seven SCs I am currently gaming from that regard...

Thanks all for your kind words!!! Another theory I had was the bundle of clothing I had that morning ... which obviously can restrict some free movement in your swing. I was thinking perhaps a bit of limited movement has put my swing in check ... not allowing me to over swing even if I tried. Yea... I used an older Ping "Gold" grip (+1/32" @ 58g ) plus added a 2g strip of lead tape underneath the grip. Otherwise it would have been D7!! The shaft itself is not counter balanced. Not sure what it is with this build but the natural shots are a baby fade and very consistent. I can straighten it or draw it with a stringer grip and flattening my swing. Even then, it will never be enough to hook. The ATMOS TS Black is not the best feeling shaft ... especially coming off from Syncagraphite Loop .. Have gone back and forth between the Loop and ATMOS and ATMOS is so automatic for me it's a no brainer from a performance perspective. Still have a Loop shaft in my Grandista RSD which has lost playing time lately, but still a keeper. Have you tried the new G425 yet? So why did they release this first in AU JP and KO this time around? So many "unused" brand new, head only parts being sold on YAJ... Gut says more than half are fakes.... That's what I was thinking too. I mean... I tell myself at the start of the season "I want to score low..." and yet I go and start trying new clubs which works completely opposite against my scoring goals. Even now.... I'm itching to try the G425 family of woods as well as TSi .... Gotta stop this! Could I set these feelings aside for next season? Not sure... but I should really really try! 🙂 I have nothing against JDM woods. I still love them, but for scoring low, I need ample forgiveness.

Tee off today at 8am was around 39 deg F here in WA. Front 9, I had 2 birds and a bogie = 1 under. Back nine... 2 bogies and 2 birdies = Even... overall 1 under 71. At the end of the round, the temperature was still under 50 deg F... This was only my second under par round ever! And ironically, it was right around the same time last year when I had the other under par round. The Summer was a struggle finding the right combo with my clubs and getting into the rhythm. Finally about last month found a Driver shaft that really worked well followed by a putter and then 2 weeks ago got my iron shaft woes taken care of. The only club in the bag now that still needs a bit of adjusting is the 3 wood. But I think I'm pretty close. The fairways are really soft and greens are quite slow. Distance performance was severely challenged due to the low temperature and almost zero roll... Just had to go up a club on pretty much every shot. One thing that was easier for me was the fact that I didn't have to worry about wild bounces when the ball landed. Was a good day today!! Next stop... sub 70s!! My current set up: - Ping G410 LST Driver / Atmos Tourspec Black 5TX 45.25" D4 Standard hosel setting 9deg. Neutral weight position. - Ping G410 LST 3 wood / Atmos Tourspec Black 5TX 43" D2.5 16 deg loft setting. (still needs tweaking!!) - Adams A12 Pro Hybrid 20 deg / Crazy STP 85 40" D3 - Seven SC 5-PW / Project X LZ 5.5 Standard Length D3 - Cleveland JDM RTX 2.0 Precision Forged (Matsuyama model) 50 - 54 - 58 / Modus 120 X, D3 to D4 - Evnroll ER2 Custom Finish 35" w/Gravity Grip or Benock Blue Dragon II 34.5"