Ara selai

I like the solid, dense head of the 350 as well. I've found my putting at medium distances to be much more controlled and predictable, and the feel at impact is just right. I've probably gained a stroke or 2 with the putter more than (offset at the moment by my learning curve with blades - what the golf gods give, they also take away). In any case, I feel much more confident that I'll hit a solid, accurate shot with the smaller head. The offset doesn't bother me at all!

FWIW, Supo's SB01s are outstanding, if he decides to sell them. I'd take them over the 1957s in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, they're too much club for me!

I suggest you check my previous post comparing head sizes. The 1957/SB01s are substantially smaller. When I tried them, I found I hit a little outside the sweet spot, whereas I could groove in a lot easier with the SB02s. I agree with the previous posters, who said the Miuras are sensational when you're on, and infernal when you're not. Homestly, nothing compares when you're on.

Incidentally, I was at the proshop this morning and checked out the 007 in person. It is MUCH larger than the 350! Looks absolutely gargantuan in comparison, seriously. Like an aircraft carrier compared to a yacht. I was amazed, as I thought they were pretty close in size. That said, I see the appeal of the 007....as long as you're cool with a big head. It really is a thing of beauty. The milled face is beautiful, and the shape at address is classic and refined. I like it a lot better than the 005/006 model, but I stick by my previous post: the 350 is the nicest putter out there by a country mile, provided you like the concept of an ultra-small head. Its density and compact size make it the 'baby blade' of the putter world, in the best sense of the comparison. As far as price goes, which was your other question, at my shop, the 007 is 1.5x the price of the 350. I think it's overpriced, personally, but of you can find a bargain, it might be a nice pick up for a bit of variety. My advice: wait till you play the 350 and see how you like it. I doubt you'll want to go back to a big head afterwards.

Anyone else seen these? I was just in the proshop getting my driver reshafted, and saw them! They look ultra-sweet in black, let me be the first to say. They look slightly more compact at address than the stainless, which is purely optical, but I like it. I play them in stainless (wish I had the raw grind protos), and I think I'd've gone black -against my usual philosophy - if the blacks had been available last year. Anyone know how the finish holds up? FWIW, I compared them to the Chikara wedges, which are very similar in shape and swing weight, and I prefer the RCs. They've both got clean, thin toplines, but the RC shape suits my eye that little bit better. Both sole grinds look niiiice!

The 350 is the best putter I've ever used, and I agree, it's a work of art. I doubt I'll ever use another one. I've relegated my Scotty to the guest house bag. You don't need an 007-you've already got the best.

I preferred the Tours, but I'm about 20 strokes behind you. With your handicap, you can hit just about anything you want. You'll find the Tours an effortless club to work, win a very pure, soft feel. One of the nicest blades out there.

I went for the RC BBD TOUR VS 5W, or whatever they were called. Last year's model. Still love it, and if you find one, I'll bet it's discounted, now that the new edition is out. Great looking club, IMO. Very compact head with a classic shape. It hits straight and long with a textbook flight. Better off the deck than off the tee. I hit my 5W about 190m with tight dispersion. It's just glorious to hit. One of those clubs I love to pull out of the bag. Probably my second favorite club after my putter, although I do love my Miuraism short irons as well right now. If you look, you can find a post I put up a while back comparing the RC to several other contenders.

Like Gocchin says: it's what you want. Do you need a hybrid to replace your low irons, or for fairway rescues, or something more specialized? I agree with the other posters that RC is an outstanding "wood-like" hybrid, and it's my favorite.

But how do they play?

Including the ball, maybe back to Titleist.

In my mind, the question comes down to which club or clubs you'd be willing to compromise on: driver, woods, utes, irons, wedges, or putter. To be honest, I don't think I've hit a complete range of clubs from ANY brand. But the one that comes to mind first is... Titleist. None of their clubs is MY favorite, but they've got clubs in every category that would at least have to be near the top of any critically considered list. For me, right now, I'd hate to abandon my Miura irons and putter, so I'd (very happily) take a swag of their K and Y grind wedges, and make do with their driver and woods, which were not my favorites, but I didn't hate. After that, it would be Yamaha, Epon, or Royal Collection. Love Yamaha from the driver through the irons; have never tried their wedges or putters. Ditto for Epon. I haven't found a RC driver I like, but I love their woods, utes, irons, and wedges; no idea about their putters. Yeah, I'd go against the flow and go MIURA, without too much regret.

The K's are PERFECT in the SB02s. I recommend these shafts highly to anyone looking for a no-nonsense, smooth, and pure shaft. Great flight, outstanding feedback, ZERO harshness. Could not ask for anything more. My original question was whether anyone had any thoughts on the Constants, which are slightly lighter.

I'm 6'2", and 33" is fine (for me). I'd played 34.5" until recently. Takes about 5 mins. to get used to the slightly more "stooped" stance. After that, you'll be amazed at how much more feel you've got. Not hard to install a longer shaft if you hate it, though.

I absolutely LOVE this putter. I played a SC TeI3 Newport before and have tried a few mallet and Anser styles in recent years, and this is the best feeling, most bulletproof putter I've ever used. It is beautifully weighted and gives wonderful feedback. Easy to lag putts, and to line up on the hole. What's more, EVERYONE I've played with has commented on its sound, which is a wonderful thock. It's a small head, but as a result, there's absolutely nothing extraneous about it. No bells and whistles, nothing unnecessary. Just line it up and let it do its thing. You will NOT be sorry. It's just magic. My favorite club. Consider getting it cut down to about 33". It's even more deadly at a shorter shaft length. Excellent price, BTW.

@ant. Here's the Google Translate version of the RC website. Not much help.... http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Droyal%2Bcollection%2Bgolf%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ja&u=http://www.royalcollection.co.jp/lineup/index.php%3Fcontroller%3Dlineup%26action%3DshowDetail%26orderNo%3D00004040&usg=ALkJrhhLWK0jKgPiJkJK-mNVTH7q58Al8g The RCs did not feel as special to me as the Miuraisms, but I have Shimada K's Tours in them, which are like a kidskin glove in terms of feel. Would have to guess that the ultimate heavy, compact set would be Miura 1957s or SB-01s fitted with your shaft of choice. Plainly and simply, the Miura small blades are MUCH smaller than anything else (see my other post), and are apparently the same weight as the larger heads in the respective series. Can't confirm that on the web, and I'm not sure how they increased the density, but I'll assume its the alloy. As long as your swing complements the sweet spot on the 1957/SB-01s (towards the heel), you'll be in high cotton, as we said back home. @Vegaman. Do you have the opportunity to try any of these clubs, or is this going to be a "blind" purchase? I'd strongly recommend you try at least one Miura, the AFTs (and maybe the Yururi, which is harder to find), as well as the Yonex and RC. The subtle differences in feel will make your decision much easier, I suspect. Do you play Vegas now? If so, and you like them, you'll probably wet your pants over the AFTs or Yururis.

I'll have to go back to the proshop to compare relative head size and whether the weight is in the head (that's what I recall) or entire club plus shaft. Unfortunately, it may not be for a couple of days. Head size is definitely larger than the 1957s. It's not a small or compact head in that sense. It's no nonsense, though. Just you and the club, with a nicely weighted muscle. The reason I say I remember the heft as head weight is that it was very clear where the head was at all points in the backswing. Sort of like a well balanced hammer.

I hit these when I was demoing blades. I went through a long list of contenders, including the RCs, AF-Tours, Miura's whole blade line-up (SB-01, SB-02, 5003, 1957LEs, and TBs), Tourstage 901 musclebacks, Yururi raw flatbacks, Mizuno MP-67 and 68, and a Vega anniversary blade. I also tried the 2011 Yamaha Tours (which are actually more of a CB); there are a few others you might want to consider in this semi-blade camp, like the Miuraism SC-01, Epon AF-302, and Mizuno MP-57 and 62 (but that's another topic). After trying all the blades over the course of several weeks, I eventually went with the Miuraism SB-02s, which were unearthly good for me. I love the "chilled butter" (firm but soft) feel of Miuras, and the SB-02s are my preference of the bunch. In my case, I hit more towards the toe than the heel, and I had more fades and slices with the smaller heads, which have a centered impact spot closer to the heel. Honestly, though, I'd be happy with any of them, and am hoping I can eventually game the SB-01s as well as the 02s. After the Miuras, I'd put the AFTs and Yururis ahead of the RCs, which would be ahead of the Vega, Tourstage and Mizunos. I really like the feel and heft of the RCs, and they are beautiful, clean clubs to look at, like Gocchin says. They're very consistent performers, and a truly excellent club in all regards. (I use RC utes and FWs, and love their products.) At the end of the day, though, I slightly prefer the classic "warm butter" softness and almost effortless feel of the AFTs and Yururis to the more straightforward feel of the RC irons. I want something that feels special, and I get that in Muira, Epon, and Yururi. For what it's worth, in comparing 7-irons, the Epons had the highest flight and longest carry of all the clubs I tried; the RCs and Tourstage were true to loft; the small-headed Miuras (SB-01 and 1957s) had the lowest flight. I didn't notice a huge difference in distance with any of the clubs - they ll went plus or minus 5 yards of my expected yardage for the 7-iron. I can't comment personally on the Yonex blades, but I do know someone who bought a set after having them recommended over the RCs. He gamed the Yonexes once, tried his partner's AFTs in the same game, and sold the Yonex to buy his own AFTs. He's a long-time user of Miura 1957s, and he prefers the AFTs to both those and the Yonex. Completely converted. If you PM me your email address, I'll put you in touch with him. You might check my other thread on this topic for more info: Hope that helps get you started. I'll add more specifics another time.

Farther down the same post, there's a comparable document from Cleveland. http://www.clevelandgolf.com/pdfs/Cleveland_Golf_Srixon_Custom_Catalog_Spring_2011.pdf

All, Found a very useful link at golfwrx to a huge (and seemingly unbiased) fitters database of specs and relative launch/spin characteristics for driver, fairway, hybrid, and iron shafts. Suspect many of you will have found it as well, but I hadn't seen a link to it here. Sorry if repost. http://www.titleist.com/images/products/pdfs/2011_Titleist_Custom_Options.pdf

The SB02s just arrived. Right off the bat, I can see one difference: the Tours are stepped; the Constants are tapered. Not sure if that equates to any difference in flight or feel. Thanks for any feedback anyone can provide.

The other consideration is that they'd run around $400 installed with Iomic sticky 2.3 grips. Seems pretty pricey!

I'm definitely keeping the Tours in the SB02s. Too sweet a setup to ever consider messing with! Stew is spot on in his previous posts. I was thinking of changing the NS Pros out of the CBs for the Constants. Bit more weight, and they felt really great in the Vegas.

All, I'm getting a set of Miuraism clubs from Supo with Shimada Tour shafts installed. I love the way these felt when I tried the clubs, and am looking forward to the combination. My other set of clubs that I use regularly are Miura CB-2006s with Nippon NS Pro 850s installed. In retrospect, they're too light for me. I was at the driving range last night and found a set of Shimada Constant shafts installed in a set of Vega VC01s. The Pro Shop is willing to pull the Constants and install them in my CBs, but I was wondering if the slight increase in swing weight (98 vs 85 g) is worth the hassle, and whether the Constants have any other differences to the Tours, or the Nippons?

@ant. Thanks for the reality check. I re-read what I'd written about swing plane and centered strike point, and it made no sense to me either. I deleted the sentence from the original post.