JayDM

They're a bust, I cancelled my order of a set of MB's and wedges after I waited 3 months had Tario told me they hadn't even started my gear, they also originally let you order heads only, then they all of a sudden decided they would only sell them shafted, shoddy business practice.....

Feel and sound are definitely subjective, I'm a big fan of a muted sound at impact, although I don't really mind a bit of noise at impact as long as it's not an ultra metallic ting/ping that most drivers seem to produce, idk why, but very loud and metallic sounding drivers just turn me off, I would much rather a thwack, thump, or crack at impact, the XV 5 wood delivered exactly what I was looking for, didn't sound or feel metallic at all, just powerful and pleasing, I wish more drivers were made with that sound/feel, sound is such a seemingly small thing, but for me it can 100% be the make or break factor as to weather of not I like a certain driver if it's not a stellar performer.

A seriously good wedge, my first JDM wedges I believe, don't know why I haven't played them much lately. Sole grind is very versatile, but also unique, much different to what you see on most wedges, nice round shape to the wedges, they're fairly small, the finish is attractive and holds up pretty well. Spin wise they're very good, they aren't crazy spinners like the Gekkus, but they definitely generate above average spin, spin control is excellent and where they really shine, very easy to give these the amount of zing you want when the ball hits the ground, as far as feel goes, they feel very nice, better than most, not quite as nice as a few others(Maru's, Fourteen TS), it's not a soft spongy feel, but also not a clicky ultra solid feel, definitely more in the middle of the spectrum, they're soft but not mushy and definitely give you responsivelness depending on where you hit the ball on the face. Overall a seriously good wedge thait works well in most conditions.

Shaft definitely play a huge factor in performance, but some heads are just better suited in certain respect regardless of the shaft. The XV is massively long, I played a few rounds with the stock shaft before I had it rebuild, tuned, tweaked, etc. it was definitely to soft and my ball flight was quite a bit right to left, but it was still extremely long, and the head still felt lovely, even with the more pronounced draw then I wanted, it was still pretty accurate and I have to give it to Syard not only for making a ridiculous head, but for pairing it with an excellent and pretty stable stock shaft that should suit ALOT of people. The original Egg 13* is just plain and simple the longest 3 metal around, from what ive seen anyway, it's useless off the tee, it's a pretty low flight that's difficult to land soft or be very precise with, and the feel.... leaves alot to be desired... but for out and out crazy distance, for long par 5's where your not so much worried about hitting a precise target, but for swinging away and just getting there, it's the best there is. I swore by an older Epon Technity 3 wood for a while, it was good, it felt nice, it was dead neutral, very easy to move about and was fairly long, it broke a little while back, and that started my recent hunt for FW's, as far as something more in the class of the Technity I was playing, I got the Onoff Type S 14*, it's everything the Epon was, but it does it just a bit better, it's longer, feel wise it's hotter but still soft and muted enough for me to really enjoy the feel, just as neutral, just as easy to move about, and slightly more forgiving, a definite improvement for me personally. Shaft wise, all of my FW's get either a Diamana B 80S or a Stinger 70X, the B is almost a perfect production 3 wood shaft IMO, the Stinger feels a a bit nice and performs slightly differently, but on the same level which is optimal for me, the 80 gram weight class of the B is great because in anything but a 3 wood i definitely need the extra weight, even in a 3 wood the extra weight is nice, that's definitely something the B has over the Stinger, the extra weight in the 80, but for a 3 wood, for me personally, the 70 X in the Stinger is heavy enough to perform just as well as the B80. Have tried tons of other shafts in FW's, but those are the big time standouts lately, the Diamana X is very good for a bit of a lower flight and accuracy for guys with the club head speed to make it work, the GD P9003x is also an excellent choice for a FW, and it'll take WHATEVER you can throw at it and ask for more, the Quadra FEX 75SX is another excellent shaft, not quite as demanding as the P9 or the Diamana X, but it still can handle just about anything and it gives you excellent accuracy and ball flight, very neutral and mid.

I have that issue often and with quite a few different woods and utilities, I'm pretty tall at 6'1 but I also have long arms and my hands sit quite low, normally playing them a touch shorter helps a bit, but there's occasionally the case with certain woods and utes where no matter what I try, unless I can bend the lie flatter, I won't be able to make ideal contact because of angle the club sits at.

Yes they most certainly are, that model is super rare, before he went to 8* of bounce in both the 53&59, idk how he played 5* of bounce with his sand/lob wedge though, insane!

If it's barely deep enough off the tee the the 13* Ryoma is going to obviously be the champ when teeing off over the 15*, but the 15* will definitely be a more versatile club in general because of the softer landings, more control off the deck and just more ease of use in general, considering the 15* is plenty long as it is I would say that for 99.9% of guys it's the better choice, if they were a bit deeper and more practical off the tee rather than just being sort of barely deep enough to tee off with and having to tee it so low that the tee is basically just serving as a more stable base for the ball to rest on, on the ground, then it might be a different story, for me anyway, as I would be more inclined to tee off with it and could shaft it accordingly to give me a bit more ease off the deck. This one makes it 3, 3 woods that look interesting to try out, the new Egg 15*, the Syard XV 15*, and this Ryoma 15*, having hit the XV 5 wood, the Ryoma and Egg both will have to be beyond excellent to match up to the Syard, I'm certain the XV will feel head and shoulders better than the other 2, the 5 wood is VERY long, I'm sure the 3 wood is as well, the Ryoma will probably be a bit longer, not certain about the new Egg, the original 13* is massively long, longer than anything I've previously hit, but being a 15* I doubt the new model will get the ball quite as far out as the original, ball flight and forgiveness wise remains to be seen, I know I like the XV 5 wood flight, so I'm assuming the 3 wood will be along those lines. I've never really been a huge fan of FW's, but I've hit a bunch lately that have been such a joy that it's sparked my interest in 3 and 5 woods again, the Onoff Type S 14* is a fantastic FW for control but with enough distance and forgiveness to be enjoyable, the XV 5 wood is borderline magical, and the original Egg 13* has been absurdly long and straight for long tight tracks...

What's the driver she's using? I like the sound, very muted.

I've got one, the non conforming type bite, not certain if I want to let it go though, they're excellent wedges, let me know if your interested, I'll take it out for a spin in the next couple of days, see if I want to keep it.

Best choice I made all year was to get the 5 wood, never hit a club before this that's been soooo far and away better than ANYTHING I've tried in this loft, it blows all of my other 17*-19* clubs away.

That's a beautiful golf swing....

4 items lately have been performing far and away above everything else, the XV 5 wood/Diamana B80, the older set of Fourteen MT28 TS Spec wedges 53* and 58* with X100 Tour Issue and the Yururi 2010 Flatback PW with NS Proto DP. I've been trying to put together 1 single gamer bag of my best all around 14 clubs, normally I have some sort of a rotation, but I've been testing all of my top gear head to head and those 4 clubs are what has come out on top so far, I might not always play this bag, but it will be nice to have it set when I need it. The XV 5 wood has been leaps and bounds better than ANYTHING else ive ever hit in the 17*-19* range, it's longer than most 3 woods, insanely easy to hit, very forgiving, easy to control, and it feels exactly how I wish every wood in my bag felt.... Just cannot possily say enough good things about this club. Have been testing irons for a while and it's been tough to pick a favorite overall, tougher than I originally thought, at first I had figured it would come down to the IDBL's/NS Proto 2g18's and the Yururi Flatbacks/NS Proto DP since they've been the two sets that I've enjoyed the most the past few months and have definitely had the most bag time, but there have been 4 sets that have been basically equally wonderful for the past few days while I've been testing them head to head against each other, those 2 sets I mentioned above, along with the TR500's with Monaco's and the AF Tours with S200 Tour issue in the 4 and 5 irons and X100 Tour Issue in the 6-PW. I hadn't played the AF Tours in a while and ive been surprised how great they've been lately and that they're staying with the other 3 sets. Drivers are difficult, my preference changes alot based on how I'm playing(more so than any other club) and it's tough to pick one clear winner. The 3 wood slot will be between the original Egg 13* spoon/Stinger 70X and the ONOFF Type S 14*/Diamana B80S, the Egg is the longest, easiest and overall best off the deck, but useless off the tee, the ONOFF is solid all around, and wonderfully easy to control and move around, but the Egg will probably get the slot because of the length of the XV 5 wood, if I need to hit FW off the tee, the XV 5 wood is only very slightly shorter than the ONOFF 3 wood. Utility wise I'm not even close to certain, but i tjing the Egg I's should have it. As far as new gear for 2014, all we've really seen so far is the new Yamaha lineup, and I'm not super impressed with it, I'm not a big fan of adjustable woods, and moving production from Endo just for the adjustable function seems like the height of foolishness, as far as the irons, while I'm sure they're wonderful clubs, they don't do a ton for me, the 2013 blades are great clubs, but they play much more like a cavity back than a blade, the new MB looks even less pure and direct with too much going on stamping and design wise, the CB looks very offset, too much for my taste, at some point I may try the MB, and I have NO doubt it will feel and perform well, but I highly doubt i'll prefer it to the previous models. Other than that, there are a few things not really considered 2014 but still fairly new stuff that I'm quite interested in, the new Egg 15* looks like a winner since it seems deep enough to hit off the tee, the Yururi PDG looks great, the Flatback have long been a favorite of mine as well as my go to iron set and I'm interested to see how the new model compares, lastly, the TRPX drivers, Ive got a ton of drivers at the moment, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about some of them, haven't really been thinking about trying anything else, but I've yet to hear a bad thing said about the TRPX gear so I will probably give them a go at some point.....l

Maybe a 10* 435, would give you a higher launch than the V Spec and tons of distance, might want to think about the Syard 388 in 10.5, the 9.5 is a fairly low launcher, but the 388 head gets way out there and goes DEAD straight, it feels and sounds wonderful as well. For a real bargain that performs like an absolute champ I agree with Stew on the previous models of the Yamaha Tour's in 10*, you can find them at silly good prices, performance is top notch and feel is outta this world, not the most forgiving drivers around, but excellent performers, if you can find a Yamaha 440 Power Length from 2011, that would be a winner, more forgiving than the tour models, and VERY long.

Tip weighting that might help a bit.

Most good builders will know how to trim most driver shafts for FW wood installs, just tell them beforehand to trim accordingly. I've never had alot of luck with FW shafts and have almost always used heavy driver shafts, Nob mentioned the Thump FW that was just released, that looks like a promising option, comes in an 85g class as well, which is nice, my biggest quip with driver and FW shafts has been lack of options in the 85-95 gram range.