TourSpecGolfer

Gravity Golf was originally part of a celebrity management agency. The division's main business was to manage Pro Golfers and celebrity golf coaches. Maintaining a steady revenue stream from those professionals depended on how they performed on tours. In pursuit of a more consistent business, they made the decision to enter the golf equipment market. Gravity Golf founder, Harada-san is a veteran of a large manufacturing corporation. Working in product R&D as well as product marketing, he is an expert at producing products that appealed his target audience. The product that Harada-san selected to pursue was golf equipment. The golf club market is already flooded with new products each year. To succeed in this competitive market, he needed a very unique design concept unlike anything else. Harada-san at the time was personally fighting the effects of aging in his golf game; mainly in terms of losing distance each year. A very common issue that many mature players want to overcome. Gravity Golf decides to pursue equipment that would allow golfers to realize their dreams of driving longer than they ever have!! Around the same time, Harada-san discovers a driver shaft from a very small company that generated explosive trajectory. This is when he reassured himself that "The shaft is what determines the distance performance of a club! " There were already tons of so-called "distance shafts" out in the market. To differentiate his product from existing distance shafts, they wanted to develop an ultra light weight shaft that was extremely easy to swing. Harada-san believes a well thought out weight distribution was essential to his unique shaft design. He had remembered Taylormade's Bubble shaft which had a heavier weight at the mid section and while it succeeded in creating a steel like bend characteristic, the weight around the butt section was too light and resulted in inconsistent swings for most people. This gave him some ideas around weight distribution in a shaft and how it affects performance. The design that Harada-san developed was an ultra light weight shaft with the weight distributed on the tip section as well as butt section. They named this "Pendulum Balance" design. It was the first of its kind, aimed at players to gain extreme yardage like no other on the market. Here the "Waccine" shaft was born. ("Waccine" is taken from the English word "vaccine." ) Harada-san believes that their primary mission as a shaft manufacturer is to provide longer and explosive distance to players; a shaft that lets players out drive their fellow players is ultimately what will capture the loyalty of their customers. Have distance woes? "Waccine" is the cure!! Next Blog - Gravity Golf "Waccine" shafts

Based on my experience both are soft. Based on user feedback overall spread over many brands i.e Yururi etc.. Most people mention feel more positively when it comes to raw grain black. Carbon shafts help a ton. Even steel if its a nice good flex and weight for you.

Last week SEVEN revealed their new cavity back irons and today the brand continues with the new SEVEN AG model putter. The best thing about this putter is its a modern throwback to the anser with perfect flowing lines. Its made using the same SM490A known for perfect soft touch thats in between carbon and stainless. All 1st run SEVEN putters feature a blank sole and minimal engravings. By making the top line a little thicker we were able to add a little bit of extra mass while keeping the putter heads size relatively compact. The stock head weight is 360 grams for more of a heavy sensation during your putting stroke. Because SM490A putters will wear much like a carbon putter does SEVEN applies a plating and in the case of these photos its nicr brushed satin which further improves feel. The 1st Runs have a simple engraving theme with the sight line aligned to the logo on the top blade which helps the player visualize the proper line while assisting in keeping the putter head at the proper angle to the eye. Of course SEVEN offers many custom options you can request a variety of different finishes, paint fill, custom specs and builds to your preferences. In the below image we highlight black boron with red paint fill in the engravings.

All of Waccine Compo's shafts are counter balanced. Very high quality made by Fujikura but with Harada-san's own designs. Most high end shafts have 10-12 layers waccine has 15-21 layers. Harada-san used to handle design and making of Taylormades tour players custom shafts.

Start by posting clear images so we can help. Contact Epongolf (Japan) by email from their website with those photos and the serial #s

I dont play them either and when I did in the past I would tinker with it a couple of times and never touch it after. Besides looking ugly imo adjustable hosels also limit design because you have some extra added weight for the male and female parts all near the neck so to balance that out weight must be added somewhere else. Same thing with all those cut away soles and cavities in the drivers, this can all be done internally and is more for looks and marketing but also create new challenges for the designer to overcome. The fact that you can change anything on a club is definitely a selling point. In the domestic market brands stay away from material, manufacturing, cost, and quality conversations while in Japan they dive deep into it. It takes a lot to move the CG by a mm but it can still create bias and for sure they will have to compensate or adjust in some way to make up for the extra added weight.

They are selling very well. The Japan only Epic star driver and fairway orders in some lofts are backed up until mid may already while other lofts are shipping fast. Many of our customers own the standard epic and just cant stand the look of an adjustable hosel so they end up with the star version and are very happy.

In several months sir.

Im not aware of any geotech irons forged by Kyoei. G-Field went under many years ago. It was a venture by George Takei. No idea who forged the G-Fields.

The new SEVEN CB is totally different than the 2016 Seven CB. The difference is night and day. from materials, to the design, the CGs, the way its manufactured etc.. totally different. If you liked the 16 CB you will love the new one tons more.

No they are not the same. Tario helped partially design the grindworks MB which was influenced/copied by his knowledge of the SEVEN MB. Grindworks/Chujo was not even a thought when the SEVEN MBs were made. Originally they were called Chujo Craft but the investor Kamui Pro pulled out and so they rebranded it to Grindworks. Logo is a play off of the website nippon.com . The Grindworks is mass produced and pressed by Endo. Its flaw is imo the face shape, everything else is nice about it. The SEVEN MB is forged by a co called Oichi then the back face is CNC milled by Kitada, then the heads are ground by Shingawa-sans son, then sent back to Kitada for engravings, then finished by Kyoshin who also finishes Miura's irons. There you have the scoops!

There is a 1 day validation period on new members so any posts done in the first 24 hours dont show. - Saqra not so good, hollow, bad paint fill and finish. I literally couldnt sell the sets i had and gave them away. This club is 4 years old. - Grindworks is good, endo forged nice soft feel and forgiving for a blade.

The S.E Asia regional distributor is now being established. They are a company called Nippon Golf Tech based out of Malaysia and will have product shortly. They will supply the top shops in Singapore as well sir.

Im sorry no sir they only made 4-PW. TSG can do any of the usual finishes on them, black mirror, copper, soft black etc.. these are all done aftermarket. best feeling is the raw grain black. Noboru and Chiromikey have hit these already in black boron. In raw black they are even softer.

Based on standard margins if we had dealers these would cost 525 per head. We are selling them at 350 per head by cutting out the dealers. Our cost is over 200 per head. In the golf world my cost is insane and the margin is small. I have many to sell before I pay off my cad,cam,rps,setup fees so by the 3rd product run I should be out of the red. Isnt this refreshing? knowing a brands cost and our reasoning behind our pricing. I need to grow the brand to increase my volume to either make more money or lower the cost to the consumer.

Driving Iron in China Putter made in China Driver made in China Ginrei is outsourced but still in Japan The other models are made in Japan but they are open model blanks. My suggestion is do not pay 350 per head for open model blanks. You can buy original designs for much less. Reason why dealers love Itobori and promote them is because profit margin is huge yet cost is low.

This UT head is made in China and stamped "made in Japan" on the sole. Even if he means the finishing touches were done in Japan this is not right.

You may want the craftsman world version as the standard one is oversized with offset and a chunky neck transition. I know this can be fixed by custom order but I have not seen those custom ones in hand. I have only seen the stock version and know you would not like it.

S20C

Sets are being sent to both R&A and USGA next week. The grooves are conforming no doubt so it will pass.

Here you have it first pics of the new Kyoei Blade and its a stunner especially in hand. Today we are going into the product then our next blog post will be about the history of Tamaki Sakamoto and the great story behind Kyoei Factory. The official release date of the new Kyoei MB is today, TSG is now shipping sets of 4-PW in one of two standard finishes. The first is a smooth polished chrome mirror while the second is a raw grain black dye finish. Kyoei is starting their own house label with a single product which is a tried and proven design that combines a classic shape with modern influences. Kyoei is also offering a variety of custom finishes that are special order like the above which is in black nickel. The second photo in this blog post shoes a matte soft gray finish. In coming months TSG will be highlighting more of these in our marketing. We have been testing these blades for some time now and can say with certainty that the sole grind is special. Kyoei calls this their 5 cut sole which we found worked perfectly with golfers that have a steep downward blow and a semi shallow decent. I think more brands should follow Kyoei's lead in creating sole designs that work for both types of players. There is something about the raw grain black finish that makes people smile. It will wear beautifully starting with the impact spot and sole areas that make contact with the ground. They also feel very soft. Its hard to choose between the two standard options. Usually we are not fans of chrome mirror but after seeing the Kyoei blade in this finish it was hard to resist so I ordered my personal set this way. In another blog post we will show in hand photos vs these studio pictures. In hand they are some of the most stunning blades I have ever seen, something about its simplicity and sharp edges give it a very clean and sharp appearance. In the below photo we have a chart that shows the face progression numbers's which would make any purist player happy. Those numbers translate into near zero offset. 6.0FP to some is also known as onset. I have yet to find very many irons with this straight of a neck and combine that with its razor thin top line and five cut sole and we have an iron that embodies both the future and the past. Kyoei is not claming big distance or forgiveness with this club its meant to put the player in touch with the DNA of the brand. It is designed to be an introduction to the capabilities of Kyoei Golf and help people understand how important this company is to the Japan Golf Industry. I will save the history of the family and factory for our next blog post as it will be a long one. For now just focus on this beautiful blade. The new Kyoei Blade retails at 175 per head and is sold 4-PW only at the moment. Now shipping to our customers at TourSpecGolf - (Click Here)

That is hard to judge because experiences vary with player, shaft used etc.. I don't think they are anything like either in terms of feel or performance. The SEVENs for its size are very forgiving and better balanced than both. All 3 irons are excellent. Feel - I have not hit the new Kuros but hear they are soft, the 302s are one of my favorite feeling cavity backs, Seven CB is a little firmer than the 302 and the past Kuro but center struck feel better and more rewarding to me. not softer just better. outside of center they have a very consistent vibration that is very unique and feels hot. The MB I'm talking about is the SEVEN X Shinagawa people really like it. That is CNC + hand grind. Modart does not use the pure tempered process and they also feel completely different, most of that is due to design. Not better or worse just different. The Modarts feel firmer but still good. The SEVENs technically should be priced higher than the Modarts due to the tempering but if we did that they would be inaccessible to many. We cut out the shops and sell direct to the consumer and reduce the price using what the shops would usually rake in. Something that has bothered me lately is more JDM brands jack up their retail prices to increase their own and the distributors margins. This gets them more support from shops because the shop makes a killing. I will use Itobori as an example because they are the worse, they have a huge markup from manufacturing cost because they are prettying up open model blanks. This is a bad deal for the customer yet great deal for the distributors as they will naturally endorse any brand if they are making money. In a more common setup regional distributors sometimes take 20-30% and dealers take 50% so the customer gets F'd. Think about that for a bit... This means your paying a lot for a product that didn't cost much to make. SEVEN is the opposite of that. Because TSG sells direct to the consumer we will make our money, we don't need to jank the customer. Shops will not want to sell SEVEN because there is not much profit in it for them which means more value for our clients. If people like our products we will sell more thus increasing our volume and lowering our costs so our incentive becomes making great products that sell not the cheapest product we can charge the most for. Because of our CAD, CAM, RPS costs SEVEN will not make money for a while but the customer will get better quality and value for their money. Itobori - a head that retails for 350 and costs less than 40 to make. SEVEN - a head that retails for 350 and costs 200-230 to make. Harsh example but it puts it into perspective.