nobmontana

I've had my fair share of trial and error with smaller driver heads in the past.... but ultimately the sub 400 heads did not provide the required amount of forgiveness for me. I generally love the shape of those smaller heads but unfortunately too difficult to game on a regular basis. The last sub 400 head I had was the Tourstage P02-6 365cc head which I held on for a long time. Man! I loved that head. Baldo drivers I've tried in the past overall have been excellent in my opinion. The VT511 was one of the best feeling drivers still to this day.

shaft weight availability was probably one reason.. sure. I think the way it works is that you want to try and get a similar feel with all the clubs through the set (except putter) BTW, the iron heads are typically 7g apart. Well... at least the forged stuff I'm used to are. Wood (Driver, Fairway and UT) weights vary by model and brand. Most JDM drivers are typically lighter than current US brand drivers. Swing weight are very different too. D0 to D2 are typical for JDM and US drivers are around D5 these days.

Ultra light driver shafts go down to sub 30g these days. Like the Zero speeder at 29.5g Also you don’t always have to go heavier as you go down your club set. Just use what works for you.

I have the first gen Mfusion shaft pulled from the GX driver. It’s Stiff flex but a weaker flex in my opinion. Let me know if you are interested.

Labworx does the original black finish for Evnroll. The raw finish is really their prepping step before the black painted finish goes on. I believe it is some type of fine bead blasting.

Grandista Driver and 5W are sold!!

Thanks Dean!! The only thing I am still trying to get used to is the softer feel at impact. I'm more accustomed to firmer feel at impact. With the Evnroll I feel like I need to give it a longer stroke to get the ball to the hole. With the Benock, the ball comes off the face a bit quicker. Weight wise, the ER2 is 355g vs the 347g for the Benock. total putter weight differs by about 100g due to the heavy Gravity Grip on the ER2. My initial assessment is that perhaps I would use the lighter Benock on slower greens and the heavier Evnroll on faster greens during the Summer. I am pretty impressed with the Gravity Grip which really helps to let you know where the face is directed. The 80g steel rod they have in the grip seems to be part of the equation for producing a more consistent stroke. I'm also getting my Seven Sandvik VS-R refinished and face milled. Originally sent it to Labworx but they thought that the head was nickel plated when in fact it was just polished.... since they don't do plating at Labworx, they did not proceed with the face milling. I resent the head to NorCal putters to get it face milled with a raw matte finish. It'll have a similar look as the ER2. I should have it back before Christmas.

Guiding consumers of flex information using approximate driving distance can be so inaccurate. I would not think too hard about the discrepancies of those numbers. Who knows. Mitsubishi Japan could be labeling their shafts differently from their global models.... JDM models of the same product can sometimes be different even if they are names the same. Even with launch monitor measurements, results can vary so greatly between different methods and systems. Only way to really find your flex is through an actual fitting. If you have a shop/fitting center close to where you live, go find out if they can fit you for driver, fairway and hybrid shafts. If you are a beginner, unless you've got money to waste🙂, I would not recommend dropping too much money in high end shafts just yet. Wait 'til you have a better understanding of your swing and an understanding of what type of shaft work best for your swing. (kick point , weight and flex. ) As you are a beginner, your swing will likely change over the next few seasons which will mean that you potentially may get fit into a different shaft a year from now.. For beginners in general, my recommendation is to start with the a softer flex. While you can adjust your swing to swing slower if needed, you really can't swing faster to adjust if the shaft you bought turns out to be stiffer than what you needed. As for weight, typically speaking, lighter can also mean less stability if the weight of the shaft is too light for you. For most adult male in their 40's, a 50g range in the driver are pretty standard these days. As for flex, I've seen people in their 40's fit into anything from Extra Stiff to Senior Flex. Not about age, not about past physical activity, it's about how you swing your club and how you hit the ball. Hope this helps.

Been using my Benock blade putter for most of the season but wanted to try something a bit more forgiving, still made of solid one piece 303 or Carbon Steel. Have tried many polymer insert type mallets like Odysseys in the past but always came back to one piece putters. After trying an Epon Fortune and a Betti QB8, I picked up a beat up Evnroll ER2 Black and had it refinished in Raw Matte at Labworx. They did a great job making my putter look brand new again!! I've fallen in love the understated monotone look that is all business!! Check it out!! I've regripped with a Gravity Grip which is similar in terms of shape/profile as a Flat Cat grip. This grip fits my hands really well. Seems to help produce very repeatable putts!! I feel like my putting ability has instantly improved significantly.

I've not been too active in buying this year so I don't have too much to sell but a few nice things that may pique your interest. 1. Epon Fortune Mallet 34" Iomic Jyu Mid Grip - Condition is 8/10 some surface swirl on the sole. Magnetic closure head cover is rough but still usable. Your standard mid-Mallet shape, face balanced, made of S20C Carbon Steel, Deep milled. I could totally game this but I found another putter that works better for me. $400 Paypal net to me + actual shipping 2. Grandista RS-D Driver head only 9 deg / 202g w/unused head cover - Condition is 8/10 looks like this head had Hadlass Glass coating and close to the hosel there are wrinkles of the coating due to applying heat for reshafting. Does not impact performance. I have another head with slightly different specs so this one can go. One of my favorite JDM heads ever. Recent Trackman measurement showed, it can still go head to head against my Ping G410 LST in distance. !!SOLD!! 3. Grandista RS-F The III 15 deg 3W head only 210g - Condition is 8.5/10 no head cover Full Titanium fairway. Traditional shape with mid-shallow face. Very nice feel at impact. $125 Paypal net to me + actual shipping 4. Grandista RS-F The V 18 deg 5W head only 215g - Condition is 9/10 no head cover Full Titanium fairway. Traditional shape with mid-shallow face. !!SOLD!! 5. Modus 120 Stiff 4-9 + extra 9 for PW MCC White out grips !!SOLD!! 6. Modus 105 Regular 4-PW !!SOLD!! 7. NS Pro 950GH Stiff 4-PW Masda Slick Fit grips !!SOLD!!

For sale is a rare limited edition Bettinardi QB8 (Queen Bee Eight) 34.5" made of 303SS with the F.I.T. Face option and limited edition 2020 Party On! head cover. Condition is mint with some hairline scratches here and there. F.I.T. face is noticeably softer feeling at impact than the normal micro-honeycomb face. Head over was $85 by itself! SOLD!!

When you say "Moderate swing speed" what do you mean? 90mph? 100mph? When you say "ultra light," do you mean 40g or less? "Karu-Kata" in Japanese meaning "light and stiff" has been kind of the trend the last few years in both irons and woods. Grand Bassara are great shafts. I've tried the Bassara Griffin in 53TS back a few years ago and they were pretty stable for a slight weight shaft. I used to use Diamond Speeder 5X which was great and I currently use ATMOS Tourspec Black 5TX in my driver which is working great at the moment.

Got some range time with the Seven SC PX LZ 5.5 set up and it is good so far. The feel is more solid feeling that uber soft. But it does provide gobs of feedback whether I flushed it or off center. This will force me to hit more in the middle of the face. 🙂 The 5.0 flex definitely softer at impact overall but it felt okay even on off centered hits. Dispersion is defintely better with the 5.5 flex. For wedge shafts, I settled with Modus Tour 120 X flex shafts. They seem to work well. I had some Tour Only WV115's before but those were a bit too stout to my liking.

hey Mags.... yeah... I compared the LZ 5.0 and 5.5 extensively yesterday and it does look like my swing works better with the 5.5. With the 5.0 while I love the softer feel, I think the shaft sags a bit at the impact zone and my impact is not as solid as with the 5.5. LZ 5.5 is really good for me. The Monaco is just another option that I want to use in another set.

Yeah ok ... that sounds fair... Thanks Stu-san.

So here is an experiment that I am currently thinking about.... All you builders let me know if this is too risky. I have a set of TT Monaco Stiff 2-PW shafts that I recently acquired. Straight in would be just too stiff for me. I am thinking about either a soft step x 2 or even a soft step x 3 to see if it would work for me. Just a bit worried that too much soft stepping would possibly mess with the kick point etc... too much. Flex wise I think it would be right where I need them. Thoughts?

The teaching pro who did the fitting today was actually a KBS user... so he probably mixed in a lot of his personal preferences. Maybe he even gets paid commission for selling more irons with KBS shafts? My problem with KBS is that I have heard regularly occurring quality issues with their shafts. I've assembled my irons now and taking them for a test drive tomorrow. I am really hoping that the LZ 5.0 in the Seven SCs are going to work out for me.

OK back from my fitting. It's been a while since I've done a full on fitting with irons. Told them my story and we started trying different shafts based on what I have tried recently. The head I used was the Mizuno MP-20 MMC ( one with the Titanium Insert on the back ) looks like the loft was 32 deg which is similar to my Seven SC (31.5) and a bit stronger lofted compared to my Seven CB Proto (34) Shape wise pretty similar to either with slightly longer heel to toe blade length than my sets. We tried these shafts: - Dynamic Gold 105 S - Lowish spin / lower ball speed / higher launch NG - Project X LZ 5.5 - Good back spin / highest ball speed / higher launch (1) Best fit - KBS Tour 90 S - Lowish spin / lower ball speed / higher launch NG - Modus 105 S - Good back spin / high ball speed / higher launch (2) Second best fit - KBS $-Taper Lite 110 S - Lowish spin / lower ball speed / higher launch NG - KBS Tour S Soft Step x 1 Good back spin / good ball speed / lower launch (3) Good fit but a but less distance. possibly more consistency So there you have it. Got fit into a Project X LZ 5.5 .... hmmm it's funny because I just tried the PX LZ 5.5 2 days ago and I thought it felt really stiff. I also do have a set of the 5.0 that I was going to try anyway.... So I think what I will do first is to install the 5.5 in my Seven CB Protos and there 5.0 in the Seven SCs and play them for a bit. I was pleasantly surprised by the Modus 105 S and how good it felt with the Mizuno head. I remember the 105 S being a bit more harsh. If somehow the PX LZ's fail to satisfy on the course, I may try a 105 S as my next test. I am glad that I did this fitting because it turned out that I was not terribly off with my own experimenting but now I don't have to wonder about whether my selections are really the right ones.

Last season, I played the PRGR IDBL shafted with Dynamic Gold AMT Tour White S300 and I was playing very good golf.... then the pandemic happened and I started shuffling my clubs including my irons. While I was never a great striker of the ball to start with, I was at a point where I could hit the ball decently 90% of the time. After coming back from 3 months of not swinging a club at all, my swing somehow took a big blow and I could not hit my irons very well. went on a couple of free fittings to evaluate my swing/ club set up and found that I was losing a lot of swing speed and I was adding loft at impact ..... I pretty much used the entire season trying to get my swing back in shape. scores tanked to high 80's at times and felt like I really needed to redo everything... finally after using up the entire season, I think my swing is better again to a point where I can consistently hit the ball fairly well. Woods are now very consistent and satisfactory. Wedges are fine as long as the shaft is not too heavy. With heavy shafts (DG) , fuller shots are bound to be pulls to the left. 120g less so and 105g I can keep it straight even on full shots. Perhaps this symptom alone is telling about my swing? Anyway, My current irons are Seven SCs and Seven CB Protos. I've tried over 8 different shafts in the last 5 months and while some worked better than others, I still feel that I am not hitting things as good as I was last season. Here's a list of shafts I've tried and results, DG AMT S300 - Long irons were okay.... short irons feel too heavy and easy to pull left feels okay DG 105 S300 - Just okay over all. okay feeling okay performing. Modus 120 Stiff - Great soft feel off the face, occasional hooks (too much draw). not very consistent Modus 105 Regular - Great feel off the face, dispersion is a bit too much. not consistent. NS Pro 950GH Stiff - Great feel off the face.. fairly consistent. Feels a bit too light. Project X LZ 5.5 - Felt quite boardy and could not hit the ball well. I think it's too much shaft for me... Project X LZ 5.0 - Quick test yesterday and feel was pretty nice. This one could be good. Crazy CBI-80 LTD - Feel is firm and not great. Hit the ball pretty consistently but could be better. Anyway... I decided I pay a visit over to golftec today and do an iron shaft fitting. I want to test out some extreme things and hopefully identify the type of shaft that I would do well with. General weight, kick point and flex information is what I want to pin down for my current swing. I think I can then go look for shafts to try more confidently with better chance for success. Playing on the course with little confidence whether I'm playing appropriate setup with my irons is just frustrating and not fun for me. I will report back with my results later today...

Cool!! thanks for that info.

I currently have the G410 LST in my bag as my main gamer and wondering if the Japan/Australia release G425 are exactly the same as the US bound G425 line up expected in early 2021. My guess is that they would be the same. Hard to imagine a Japan / Australia only PING models.

So looking at the list of candidates, I would say that Seven SCs actually fall right into this category with modern lofts and very playeresque design, appearance, feel as well as performance. I am loving mine and have been tinkering around with different shafts. I probably tried 3 different shafts over the last 3 months. and going on my 4th this week. Crazy CBI-80, AMT White S300, DG 105, Modus 120 S and now Modus 105 R. I am also playing Seven CB Prototypes with NS950GH S which I feel are a great match and is a perfect set to carry around in my Sunday bag. My Seven CBs are not the CNC milled type but the first generation made of S15C. Very compact with longer hosel which implies slightly higher CG.

I thought they were in Thailand.

TM demo was at the range so I tried their SIM drivers and irons. For the driver SIM driver gave me the best numbers but to my pleasant surprise, my Grandista / Loop GK combo gt similar numbers on Trackman. The SIM driver was 3/4 inch longer than my Grandista .... I did not like the shape of the head .... it's too much pear shaped. Sound was better with the SIM MAX. SIM had a high pitch sound. Obviously Grandista driver wins big on looks feel and sound by a gazillion miles!! Irons... P770 and P7MC were the ones I tried. What I really wanted to do was try one of their irons using a Modus 105 in Regular flex. Going in, I've had previous experience with 105 Stiff and was not a fan of the rather harsh feel. Am I glad I tried the regulars. They feel as good as Modus 120 S. Trajectory is definitely higher than the 120 S but not by much. And best of all I was getting really nice numbers. P770 head I actually was not too impressed with. It just has a hollow feel even with the Speed Injection. Not my cup of tea. Then I tried the P7MC which is a Solid 1025 forged muscle cavity back. The shape really reminded me of the R9 forged. pretty nice looking other than the horizontal milling they did in the cavity area. There are no plastic badges which I like... and even the "T" logo is part of the milling. on the Japanese website it says it is made in Vietnam. if the heads are forged in Vietnam.... well I am quite impressed. How does it feel? It is in the same league as Mizuno and Srixon forged.. Very very good. Traditionally lofted at 34* 7i and 47* PW I did not expect much distance. But with the Modus 105 R combo. I was getting 5 yards more than my normal distance. Perhaps the Modus 105 is slightly lower spinning. Anyway, P7MCs were a pleasant surprise in this demo session for me!!

I don't think Miura irons are inferior to Epon even from a feel perspective. As a hobby club builder, I find Miura hosels the most precisely centered of all heads I've tried in the past. As Hutchy says, Epon's design seems to be getting worse each model year.