TourSpecGolfer

another teaser for you guys of the Neo Mallet:

I promise you this, what we are working on is going to be good news for Epon, Miura, Vega, etc.. fans not bad news, more coverage from more sources when we include the USDM side of things.

The before and afters on this one should be awesome.

This has nothing to do with any particular brand, this is about TSG's plans to expand certain areas of the site and up coming new sites while at the same time preparing for the future based on our projections of where the JDM market is heading. Trust me when I say that more value, education and entertainment will be created around all of these brands so you will see more Epon, more Miura NA and the others as well as the new brands that shift toward the Global market. It goes much deeper into the long term vision than you may think. You know me, I run a tight ship and won't allow things to be watered down and mainstream even if it is USDM. And no we aren't gonna sell USDM. And yes the customer who buys the RBZ from golfsmith is a very important conversion to introduce to JDM brands and TSG. In the background TSG undergoes changes on a weekly basis that some may not notice from our recent rewards program, to Zopin Chat, live translation, multi server CDN, bill me later, enhanced security and compliance at the highest level, and even today the entire search system was overhauled in the pro shop and will continue to evolve, check it out. Anyway back to TourStage, hopefully they stick around as a smaller sub brand of Bridgestone, better yet open it up as components (wishful thinking)

Bridgestone must have been planning this for years, in hindsight its obvious with the taper down of tour sponsorship and product releases. Im sure it is great gear but I also think it cant be as good as the TourStage products as now they must globalize pricing, using less tech, changing manufacutres and materials, Not sure how this all plays out but it would be nice if they continued TourStage as a small segment of the Bridgestone brand positioned for the higher end athlete player. TS never really sponsored the big winners, they went with strong Japanese personalities, Honma on the other hand regardless of nationality hunt down and sponsor the top ranking players similar to what U.S brands do on the PGA.

"Products" sold exclusively in the Japan Domestic Market (JDM) no matter from what brand will always remain in the JDM forum, that of course includes Epon and the other brands mentioned. For example ONOFF should be considered USDM but their Labo Spec is JDM. Endo produces mostly USDM products with their biggest customers being Titleist, Callaway, Cobra and others so including those brands into the JDM forum because they are produced by Endo yet manufactured in Thailand just isnt the way. Miura NA would be the most justified to keep in the JDM forum as its fully made in Japan by Japanese hands but we must stick with the terms USDM and JDM while the Japan Only models "Giken" are JDM.

The New Tour Van

More pics

Working with Craig on these putters is always a pleasure, this time it's a Gauge Design Japan Tera model which was a forged carbon putter with very soft feel at impact. Always when tearing apart putters their secrets come out and in this case it was very surprising, The Tera head was originally 340 grams, but when Master Sasaya removed the face insert he found additional pieces installed which have been drilled to reduce weight, it's a real mess in there and our best guess is that the Tera without these holes would weigh in around 420 grams and that GDJ had the manufacturer remove a whopping 80 grams! What's inside was not pretty, this putter is obviously not made in Japan. That said it still felt great at impact and rolled the ball really well, especially for the price. The good news is now Craig doesn't need any external weights whatsoever which will not only save him money but keep the sole and stamping of the putter looking clean and original. The solution which is something we are still discussing is to use tungsten and glue to bring the weight up to 370g, Stay tuned for more on this build:

Here is an image showing one of the unique features the 535 has, I'm awaiting specifics on the purpose of this in relation to performance but this same angular taper has been carried over to the new RX-FW which is a stud as well.

In it's natural form the design promotes less spin and a more piercing mid trajectory so for you I would suggest the 14* custom ordered loft.

TSG now has these in stock, we also have a few custom spec heads such as 9* with -1* open face at 198g, 10* Square 198g etc.. One of the hottest drivers out in Japan, Jbeam has been climbing the long drive circuit, it's a 2 piece head made of a composite titanium that is supposedly hotter than even DAT55G+ I can't tell in play that it's hotter but I can say it's no worse that's for sure. The J-Beam 535 is a 445cc head but hides it's size extremely well especially looking down at it as seen in the pictures. What's interesting is how that edge on the back curves down toward the neck on this club, something we haven't seen with many other brands. I've got some good time in with this head, It's very Jbeam in feel and compared to the 435 feels much better at impact and also is more forgiving with a similar flight characteristic. I don't have the 435 to test it against but I did have the TRPX D013 to go head to head with it and the 535 is the better driver in all aspects. Enjoy the pics, and email [email protected] if you have special head spec requests.

Yes exactly Bresse Chicken. Isnt terroir products usually at Rungis daily? Are you in France?

Amazing Setup! Congrats on a great bag sir!

And this is the blank sole version...

The Glorious is Glorious, I'm gaming one while on vacation vs the 535 its a tuff battle because we can order the Glorious with square face angles at lower lofts custom, it's pretty darn impressive. I gotta say Jbeam 535, Glorious, and the new FW and putter are freakin fabulous! Right up there with Modart, TRPX, Crazy and our other TSG favorites

These do not look JDM, at first sight without knowing and by looking at the fit and finish I could guess they were not Endo made, that doesn't mean they aren't good, I'm sure coming from bridgestone the homework was done and they perform admirably but I have a feeling that Bridgestone will produce global models and not JDM/USDM models separately. Which is fine as we need to work on our USDM forum section anyway. on that note guys we are considering moving some JDM brands that now have an official U.S presence into the USDM forum after we enhance that section. JDM clubs should be unique to the JDM market or at the very least a limited release that's not available in the states. This would include brands like Bridgestone, Fourteen, ONOFF ( non labo ), Epon NA, Miura NA, etc.. If you have any thoughts on this or if someone is interested in moderating and contributing we can compensate for that, it's pretty dead right now buy we have a road map to make is a great section that provides value.

These are the real deal, If a few members want to try them I can provide an "early adopters" price to get the word out on how great these irons really are.

This town is special for me, Wifey and I got engaged in Paris and our baby coming was conceived in Paris, They know the good stuff like Japan does. I'm a partner in an online startup venture that will be exporting the highest quality ingredients directly from the Rungis market each morning to the customer overnight, exciting times See that picture of the chicken? those are the best chickens in the world easy. 70 bucks per bird but cook it with minimal seasoning and enjoy with just a glass of room temperature water for palate sensitivity and it is absolutely sublime! I used to think how hard is it to cook a bird? harder than a steak that's for sure. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the pictures, this is not now btw, its mostly from the 2013.

I think you will like this one more because it's for "all of the serious player" and with model names like YO and GanGa how can you not ;)

And it's no longer made at Endo... www.bs-sports.co.jp/press/2014/g0714_bsg_dr/g0714_bsg_dr.pdf www.bs-sports.co.jp/press/2014/g0714_bsg_iron/g0714_bsg_iron.pdf www.bs-sports.co.jp/press/2014/g0714_bsg_fwut/g0714_bsg_fwut.pdf www.bs-sports.co.jp/press/2014/g0714_bsg_wedge/g0714_bsg_wedge.pdf www.bs-sports.co.jp/press/2014/g0714_bsg_ladies/g0714_bsg_ladies.pdf

Will TourStage and Bridgestone become one? Looks to be the case and it explains why TourStage has let go many of their JPGA tour players. It also explains why they were missing at the Japan Golf Show for the first time since its inception.

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It all started with Gauge Design Japan, former employee creates the offshoot Gauge Design USA, another former employee creates Gold's Factory, then another former employee creates RomaRo. George Takei then started G-Field Golf which went under, then George Spirits, and now (not owned by him at all) GTD = George Takei Designs btw George Spirits still lives on. GT is strictly the designer for this brand and it's obvious, in March i sat down with their owner and GT in Tokyo to provide feedback on the designs... much work was needed. The versions advertised on TSG are somewhat influenced by us. Much of the product was already made, all we could do was exclude certain text and change the finish. I'll be updating this thread over the next few weeks as I shoot the samples. Starting with this putter, the: YO ( I didn't name it :)

I'm not sure of the head weight, I would assume light around 190-192ish grams.