PxExG

I wont post further if there are no responses to this thread. I finally have my clubs: MARU SPEC 8.5* with 652 Speeder SS-03 14* with 869 Speeder MR-23 US Spec CB 2 iron Titleist 670MBs 3 - Pw refinished in Satin & Custom Ground. blueprinted with PX 6.5s Scratch Satins I will review & debate & post pics if people want to see them, but I do not want to bore people either (since no one seemed to respond to my MARU thread) Patrick

thanks for posing the pics - i didnt have the time to wait for them to load up on TMAG :-P damn dial up

Oh I do have pics if anyone wants them! i will email to Tourspecgolfer in the morning if need be. Any questions just ask - hope i didnt bore ye!

Well I finally got to hit it tonight - brought out a dozen Pro V1s on Lahinch and played off a few different tees all with different wind directions. First off let me preface this by saying I am not playing..... I am not the best golfer in the world but I would say I am pretty good, I play off 5 and on any given day can shoot around par. However, I am the type of player that needs to practice every week to remain sharp. This year I have been away at school too much & have only played like 36 holes since August. Indeed tonight was my 2nd time hitting balls since Christmas :'( Everyone has heard that the MARU is a beast of a club, suiting only the best of players & is too tough to handle for mere mortals. With all this in mind, I did approach this club with some amount of trepidation. Yet, its only a golf club right?! Surely it can not be that hard to hit! If looks could kill - this driver would be in prison. Seriously like, I do get sick of hearing the words "beautiful club" "pear shape" et all but its so true about this club. My old driver (983E 9.5* with 661 Speeder) was a good looking driver, but after seeing this I know what Ari meant when he said a "funky" toe. The entire head of the MARU is a work of art - perfetly sculpted with just the right mixture of understated curves and sheer in-your-face perfection. It has quite a deep face but at address it does not appear overtly so. I love the lack of alignment aid on top & the jet black finish screams quality. My normal loft is 9* and I was worried that this might look a bit off at 8.5* but my worries were unfounded. A little about the club: I know deep face, solid feeling, lower spin drivers are the ones for me. The MARU was always a good bet then, however I do not want, nor need, a 4* open face or a 90gram shaft. My driver happened to be hand picked from the Tourstage Tour Van for its square head (absolutely dead square to my eye) actual loft of 8.75* (some vary from 8* to 9*) I had it reshafted with a Fujikura Speeder 652 Stiff, and installed at 44" D4. This happened to work out perfect & also happens to be my preferred playing length and SW. (Work done my Tourtunedgolf FYI) Performance: As I have said, I am not 100% up for the review but I just had to write something! I started off with a few pitches as a warm up & then hit the driver up the 3rd in Lahinch. It was into about a 15-20 mph wind from the right. I like that wind actually, even if its a short wind. Anyways first few shots were nothing to write home about to be honest. I was hitting the ball well out on the toe & not really doing anything (as was to be expected) But after all 12 balls I noticed something: Yes I had only really connected with one, but 8 were on the fairway at about my normal distance. Regardless of how they got there - low "weak" flighted shots - they were still out there & in play. And no ball had missed left. We might be on to something here fellas! Next hole was the 10th - a dogleg right to left with the wind off the right & hurting. I decided to play a draw (my normal shot at this hole) and man was a I surprised. QUACK QUACK QUACK!!! I hit 4 balls in a row about 210 snap hooked. Really ugly shots now - not good at all. I couldnt understand it because I felt I didnt but that bad a swing on them. So I stopped, chipped around for a bit & started afresh. Went back to just my normal stock shot (few yard draw) and it was ok again - getting the ball out there. Then out of frustration/boredom I decided to hit a BOMB. For this I always play the ball outside my left toe + move 65% of my weight onto my right side, swing wide and make sure to get a full transfer on the through swing. BOMB indeed! the ball actually took off. I was like - hey John Daly look out! What actually made that shot was the ball placement. I played to next few between my left heel and toe and they were all good. Some were very good indeed, and all were out there on a good neutral ball flight. On to the 13th - a driveable par 4 of some 270 yards. I hit the green! can I say more? I hit a few more balls and a few broke off left into bunkers & I did block one well right, but nonetheless I was pleasantly surprised with the results. So overall, this club is good looking & set up just the way I like it. I find it inspires confidence at address. However so far the performance has just been good - on par with my 983E to be honest. The ball flight is flatter & I would say with less spin than the E. Workability I can not really comment on for now, I am just not that good/confident yet. Distance is much the same too. Final verdict - certainly lived up to its billing as a great head. I shall not be selling just yet, but I have always been a very good driver of the ball & if it doesnt perform.... can I hear $600?

not bad :-P

i have never seen a personal site as good as casey's. its www.paul-casey.com for the record. some really cool pics

Pictures: and if anyone knows how to get a grip like that I would love to know *Irish Pride*

I loved this on Golf Digest: I don't tinker with my clubs much. I'll change my set makeup occasionally -- sometimes a 4-iron is the longest iron in my bag -- or add a fourth wedge, but mostly, I leave all that work to the guys in the TaylorMade van. I want my clubs to look and feel a certain way. I'm a traditionalist, so I prefer the look of blades. But I know cavity-back long irons feel better. Still, it's not something I spend a great amount of time worrying about. Instead, I focus on getting my swing and game ready to compete, and there's one thing in my bag that helps me do that well: It's a little black book where I keep all my notes from talking with teachers and other players and where I jot down their tips. I've had it for about seven years, and I've picked the brains of just about everyone, including Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Vijay Singh, you name it. It's a great reference guide, almost like getting those tips all over again. Driver It's my favorite club, a TaylorMade R510 with a 44 ½-inch Graphite Design YS-9, X-flex shaft. It's actually an 8.5-degree driver bent to 9.5 degrees. Irons This mix-and-match set was the first combo set TaylorMade put together on tour. The 3- through 6-iron are rac Combo cavity-backs, and the 7-iron through pitching wedge are rac MB. The shafts are Royal Precision Rifle High steel, 7.5. My long irons are bent 3 degrees upright to help me draw the ball. My short irons are bent 1 degree flat to help me fade it. Mallet Matters I gravitate from a blade to a half-mallet putter. I switched to this Rossa Maranello mallet at last year's Tour Championship. True Colors My tees come in the three colors of the Irish flag: Orange and green on the short tees and white on the long tees for the driver. The tees have "Big D" (my nickname) printed on them. Heavy Duty With a swingweight of D-6, my driver's a little heavier than my other clubs. This lets me feel the head better during my swing. My Foursome I opt to go with four wedges because they give me better spacing in my distance gaps. I also have them built with a lot more bounce to keep them from digging. Irish Pride I play the Titleist Pro V1x, and I always use numbers 1 through 4. I never use a ball with a high number. I mark my ball with a green shamrock, and on the green I'll mark my spot with a 10-pence coin. Gripping I had a special grip made with a shamrock on it. Of all the things to look at right before I putt, I figure a shamrock is as good as any.

that is exactly right primo!i know my 58* is great when I am "on" but where it really shows is when I take the ball just a little heavy. I am also a sweeper-slider so with a "bad" grind this would kill me. However now when executing a flop shot (I like to play this almost like a bunker shot&take ball and turf close2the same time) I dont have to be as perfect to get really good results.... not sure if i explained myself too well there - any questions just ask!

heya Jwill - I sent ya a PM.hope things are good with you!

you know after seeing more pics of the Ignite and realising the "I" is not that distracting, I think I just might pick one up IF the MARU doesnt work out so good for me. Any word on a tour head around 350cc? I think 380cc could work but I need conforming.

400cc

nice pics chris - the RC blades look sweet IMHO. and i am glad to see zodia lost the bet on the most words written on a clubhead :-P

well my TM300s have no serial numbers but are very much retail. and i have heard of certain people filling in the "forged" on the RAC MBs and refinishing & then passing them off as super rare tour clubs....

well I had TM300s and switched to MP-33s. Tms were nice but i prefered the -33s and am on the 670s now. without a doubt, regardless of rarity or forging house, an over priced iron for me

count me in for 2 as well. best wedges for me period. finish grind and feel are better than anything i have played * read Vokeys, 588s, 900s, RACs, Callys, Nikes MacGregors etc! :-P *

my opinion - if you are thinking about putting steel in your driver, play a 3 wood!

Just got this dea from Golf Digest, and was thinking that maybe we should do it for our own bags. Well here is mine (yes - I do have too much time on my hands 8O ) Driver - Tourstage MARU - SPEC US - Drive 8.5* with Fujikura Speeder 652 Stiff at 44" D4. This particular head was handpicked out of the Tour Van for its square face angle, and I had the actual loft measure & it comes out at 8.75* Es gefállt mir echt gut! The low spin deep face type drivers go down well with me. (I had a 983E before hand) The heavy is quite heavy + I was quite lucky that it happened to spec out perfectly for me - I love my drivers short, with a heavy heavy/SW (D4) and a reasonably light static weight (with the 65gram shaft) 3 Wood - Sonartec SS-03 15* with Fujikura Speeder 869 Stiff at 42.625" D4. Everybody knows that Sonartec make great looking 3 woods, and I have no problem elevating the ball. This is the 3 wood for me: solid, flat trajectory, long, workable, and the shaft just makes me stand up and take notice. Irons - Tourstage MR-23 CB 2 and Titleist 670MB 3 - Pw these are probably a one of a kind set. I love the look of the 670s but the solid grind did not suit me. *I am a picker* I spoke to an expert about this, and since I play my irons long I could afford to grind some of the head without messing up the SW. I had a good friend strip the chrome, grind the soles flatter + sharpen the leading edge, then refinish in Tour Satin and put black paintfill in the Titleist Script and 670 but leave the iron number blank. They look amazing + fit me perfectly. Of course the MR-23 CB is a well documented iron, and looks amazing at address + it too has the satin finish. All clubs were blueprinted with Rifle Project X 6.5s soft stepped once at D4. Specs: 2 iron 19* 39.75" 59* 3 iron 22* 39.25" 60* 4 iron 25* 38.75" 61* 5 iron 28* 38.25" 62* 6 iron 32* 37.75" 62.5* 7 iron 36* 37.25" 63* 8 iron 40* 37" 63.5* 9 iron 44* 36.75" 64* Wedge 49* 36" Wedges - Scratch Golf Forged NOT just another golf company. I am good friend with Ari and was one of the first to hear about Scratch. They sounded amazing, and they sure delivered. I got 2, a 54* and a 58* The 54 has 8* bounce & is quite like the grind on the Vokey 254.10 except with a slightly wider sole and slightly less bounce. For those of you that do not know me, I play out of Lahinch + we got hard fairways + really soft sand (a strange combo) so the less bounce is good for the firm fairways but the wider sole makes it more playable out of the bunkers (Talking to Ari is always an education) My 58* is freaky. No other word for it! The heel grind, trailing edge and leading edge suit me perfectly + makes it play like a 60* when I need it, but also has superior distance control to any other LW I have tried. Satin Finish on both, Rifle Standard 6.0 at 36" D5 and D6. Putter - Scotty Cameron Del Mar 3.5 I got this putter and immediately went to work on it. I send it to George Palombi (www.geoputters.com) and had him work his magic on it. I find the retail PP to have quite a busy sole, and I always wondered about a blank sole. Turns out Geo can do it! everyone else I spoke to could not. So now the sole is blank, and I got him to apply a Flat Black finish to it, put while paintfill in the T-Sightline, Titleist Script and Cameron. In the 3 dots, I got green white and gold (our Tri-Colour) and then reshafted at 35.5" with that new Winn grip thats on the Ping putters (in grey) He was great to work with, and the work actually brought the putter headweight up a few grams. I like heavy putters + it now specs out at D8. Besides the putter, all clubs have Lamkin Crossline Sof-Cord +1/32" Round Well thats all I gotta say about that! lets hear yours :roll:

Cally Pre Owned are amazing. you can get a SHIII with a nice high headweight and even a pretty good shaft (NV say) for >$200 and as said, it does have a warranty. unlike TMs tour DUMP on ebay, the heads are weighted + solid as opposed to empty POC. there always seems to be a nice tour driver too with a Fuji SIX (amongst others)

yeah if you need like 10* loft then the MARU is definitely not the driver for you. it sounds like you need a higher launch + maybe a little more spin. that E should have worked out good for you, except for the sound! the 390 does launch pretty true to loft, if not slightly lower so if 9* is tight, it could be risky. course you could get an R7 and solve all your driving worries!....

well if you are looking for a really solid high end driver you might want to give the MARU Spec a shout. mine should have been here a couple of weeks ago - damn irish post!

shuurup!i connect at 42 at best

thats a strange one. i cant understand it personally. arent Maru's family connected with crews?

yeah outside means longer. just translating for the irish folk here ;-)

well my 983E had a 661 in it factory and it was really solid feeling close to the D in feel.