TourSpecGolfer

Profit Margins are an interesting topic. Why do golf clubs cost so much when most of them cost so little to make. How it applies to big box OEMs is a bit different than boutique brands. Large OEMs have the volume to bring costs way down thru mass production but how do we explain a small brand that charges insane prices. Would you buy a Chinese putter head that cost 50 to make yet retails for a 1k? Then pay hundreds for custom options on it? Would you buy an open model iron for 10X more than what it cost to produce because of some fancy scratches, torched finish, and paint fill? It's all based on hype, prototype, tour issue, a master's hands, limited edition blah blah and its getting worse. Today you are not only buying the product but also paying for the companies expenses i.e., marketing, tour sponsorship, the web, sales team, your even paying for their shit designs that don't sell and they have to take a loss on. You are paying for the shop's margins on top of that. In today's market shops are biased toward brands that offer them the best margin. They are just slangin the clubs they make the most money on. In the past 25-30% margin was the norm and now some Japanese brands are entering the U.S with jacked up prices to give the shops a 50% margin. Of course, the store is happy with that but who gets screwed? If the club performs does it make you feel better about paying these marked up prices? When the price of a club jumps we should be able to understand exactly why right? We should know where, how and who made that club. Is it unreasonable paying 300 bucks for a single iron head that cost 30 bucks to make? I say this because I've been watching brands skimp more and more while at the same time increasing prices while their costs go down. I've built brands that started off proud with strong ethics only to watch them outsource and cut corners with their new found fame. There is so much garbage and misinformation being spread nowadays people like me get to choose to play the game or disrupt the system. To offer the best you must cut shops out of the equation. Brand direct to consumer is the future but only if the brand removes the margin the regional distributor and shops take from the retail price. In essence, this would be the customer paying near the shop's cost at retail. This all sounds very evil to anyone who owns a shop btw. If you're going to charge 1k for anything, your manufacturing cost needs to be near half of that. What that boils down to is the customer getting better quality, materials, design, technology at a lower price. what say you?

Honma 737V in Black Nickel with Vizard IB85 Stiff Shafts It can be pretty confusing especially when 4 of these irons have very similar aesthetics. To simplify things I have a quick summary below to help: TW-BM - Muscle Back TW-737VN - Compact CB TW-737V - Semi Compact CB (todays blog post) TW-737VS - Mid Size Players CB TW-737P - Mid Size Cavity Back w/Undercut

Its smaller than most players wedges. I would not consider these a forgiving wedge.

Something special for everyone today, the Mizuno Japan only MP-15 forged irons. In the states Mizuno went with the MP-25 and I have no idea why as these MP-15's pack more tech and have a better shape. The head size is roughly the same as the MP-59 irons but they made the cavity deeper lowering the cg depth and added weight that expands across a large portion of the head heel to toe. Comparing the MP-59 to the MP-15 both have the exact same offset. head length is the same, sole width less than a mm thicker on the 15, top line thickness identical cg depth is just a tad lower in the 15 yet the biggest difference is the moment of inertia has increased in favor of the MP-15 making for straighter more forgiving shots. The sweet spot is wider, the shape improved and the sole grind is what they call "luke sole" supervised by Luke Donald to be a more rounded shape for the descending blue. The feedback in Japan and by TSG's customers across the board is that the MP-15 is better feeling. Thats it in a nutshell, TSG has only 1 set of these and you will not be able to find these anywhere else. Keep your eyes peeled and on the TSG proshop as we will be adding them within a day or two.

All drivers are distance drivers, the Type-2 is the lower and further back CG , higher launching than the Type-1 and made for straighter shots and yes it's less workable than the Type-1.

06 is indeed Kyoei made. Just my opinion but I dont think KZG is being straight up about the S20C. Not that it matters, S25C is the same thing.

The only thing I dont like about it is the adjustable hosel. everything else looks perfect to me.

2 years under development Mizuno has finally taken the wraps off of the new MP series driver and it looks solid. Ok so this is a brief post on what makes Mizuno's new MP driver special then I will be shooting some in hand photos and doing a review after. Follow the jump to see a breakdown and learn more... 63% increase in initial ball velocity compared to it's competitors by expanding the sweet spot, this area is allows shots that are not perfectly struck center to still have a cor of 0.800 or more. New coretech face design which gives strength to the center of the face and adds mass, the thin areas of the face create extra deflection. - Wave sole that increases face deflection by nearly 10% than without it. - New aerospace strong forged elite titanium 10% stronger than 6Al-4V making it possible to design thinner walls yet maintaining strength. - New waffle cut crown to redistribute weight to other parts of the head. - The Type-1 is 435cc's and it's the lower spin, more workable forward and more shallow CG design of the two. ( suggested for blade player ) - The Type-2 is 460cc's with a mid trajectory still and low spin designed for straight shots. ( suggested for the CB player ) The JPX 900 is designed to create a high draw, The MP Type-2 will produce a mid trajectory straight shot, The MP Type-1 will produce a low trajectory straight shot. It is also adjustable you can adjust the adapter to change the loft from 7.5 to 11.5 in the Type 2 and 8.5 to 10.5 in the Type-1. It contains Mizunos Harmonic Impact Tech - this is why all MP's feel soft and spongy at impact. Mizuno cultivated a soft forged iron and adopted it for the MP drivers face so it sounds and feels awesome. Every MP driver in the past has always felt and sound amazing. Comes with an awesome cover, dedicated wrench and the standard shaft is the Tour AD J-D1 with many other great options shafts to be had as well through the Yoro dept.

KZG has not been made at Kyoei for years. Kyoei doesn't even offer S20C they do S25C.

This is the set headed your way.

sure i got blades to do that with. will post soon.

These are S20C. Kitada takes the head and CNC's most of it then Shinagawa's son hand grinds it, then sends to Kyoshin for the plating ( same factory Miura uses ) - that is for the standard copper/satin finish. We also stock raw heads for custom finishes like black boron, white satin, black mirror etc.. those are done at a different factory which Miura also uses.

After many months of not having any stock we finally received more of the Seven X Shinagawa MB. Unfortunately, it's only 25 sets, but we are doing our best to get more. This is a custom finish called white satin completely matte no glare with good durability and excellent feel. The standard no up-charge finish is copper under chrome satin! Let me repeat these come stock with copper underlay + nicr chrome satin. Another thing we are doing now is offering #5-PW with optional #4 this was a common request, and we listened, the last time it was 3-PW only. So those are the two differences this year for the SEVEN MB, Copper Underlay, 5-PW option, and a new finish offered called white satin. It doesn't matter what handicap you play to, the above photo is the definition of sexy. It's the perfect setup with remarkably little offset the most beautiful neck transition and a sharp toe that extends just past the face blast. Shinagawa-san's son ground these irons, and they are perfect. The leading edge is blunted with a curve to help blade players who come in steep and the sole is narrow with flawlessly curved corners. The less friction against the turf the better. These will run you $950 in the TSG ProShop. Custom finishes will cost $300, but I'm sure most will opt for the Copper Under Satin.

Yes I noticed that but it's not that uncommon. When you buy clubs that say 460, they are usually never 460 but they are close. In this case I have all the Honma drivers here in hand and can tell you the 445 is the most pear and smallest looking which is due to it's shape. Volume is one thing but your eyes will see the shape more and if the club's shape is larger it will look larger even if the volume is less than a head that doesn't look as big. It also helps them make a series with names that help guide the consumer.

There are 4 drivers in the new 737 driver line up the 445, 450 455 and 460 from smallest to largest. The most obvious differences are that each head has different cg locations, individual head designs and face structures. Today we are talking about their low handicap pro level driver the 445. The new TW737 445 is designed to for reduced spin, workability and to avoid the left side allowing the hard hitter to go after it. The cg is high and the face not as deep as most tour clubs which allowed them to add extra forgiveness but expanding it's outer diameter. The materials and technology Honma has utilized is important. Starting with a cast 811-Ti body, this in my opinion is one of the best materials to make a thin and durable light weight body. The face is made of 6-4 Ti (forged). The 737 445's cg suits the inside out swing often used by pro's, the clubs entire design is to serve the tour pro with the optimum launch angle and spin rates. Notice the weight is further toward the face in the 445 that's an 8 gram weight inserted that was redistributed from it's thin walled crown with a thickness of 0.6mm - 0.55mm, the weight is removed from the heel side to further help the player who has a problem with the left side. Honma created what they call a Grain-Glow Forged Cup Face, yes Mizuno also uses this term. Conventional grain flow forged manufacturing is horizontal, by using a new shape original billet Honma has created a vertical + horizontal flow which improves fast ball release which they consider to be this drivers top feature it minimizes the golfers tendency to hook. By aligning the grain flow vertical it makes the face more dense and rigid so they can also make it hotter and thinner. Honma makes great shafts, they have had 6-Axis, 8-Axis before others and metal fibers in the tips of their carbon iron shafts, they use both Torayca's T1100G and nanoalloy tech. Do not consider these on the same level as most standard shafts. There are 3 moels EX-A, EX-C, and EX-Z. The Z is the tip stiff butt soft model, the A is the softer tip stiffer butt model, and the C sits in the middle. Thanks for reading oh and one more thing, this head has the custom matte finish option added which looks a bit more stealth.

For those interested in the sandvik SSS please email me at [email protected]

Yes sir.

I have hit both a lot. I think new one has same trajectory and maybe a hair less spin. It's your swing causing the height and spin as most buyers of the last gen actually say they could use a little higher.

Do not compare these to your normal fairway woods; the usual FW is generally in stainless steel with a maraging face. Not even close the new Ryoma F has an ultra thin body that contracts then expands during impact for more rebound, the entire body is lighter and thinner allowing Ryoma to add a 125g weight internally. 65g in the rear they call power booster and 60g up front for power spring. Combined with Ryoma's exclusive face material across the board players are gaining a 4.47mph average increase in initial ball velocity which equals about 15 yards when compared to other traditionally designed fairway woods. The new version looks much better from all angles, a smaller footprint with a better shape. Going back to talking about why this is so different from most FW's. Stainless steel heads with a maraging face are cast and an affordable way to make fairway woods. The body can't be thinned it's just a hollow clump of metal with loft on its face. It has little unique function. Ryoma uses a forged titanium allow with an internal structure. Another reason why the Ryoma F is a big deal is most three woods from other brands come in at about 210g heavy. Ryoma used a super thin Ti body that weighed only 85g which is what allows them to place the excess weight in areas that will change performance. Btw Ryoma has a patent on this new spin reducing technology. A fairway wood made using stainless and traditional methods have a higher CG simply due to the weight and way manufactured. Usually, the CG is 5-8mm above the CG of the ball. In other words, it's near impossible to hit the ball from the ground using the sweet spot of the FW unless you tee it up. This means when hitting from the ground impact is below the ideal point which leads to a significant amount of energy loss and increased back spin. Brands that do this are using back spin to improve the trajectory resulting in a loss of distance and weakness against the wind. However the Ryoma F has its CG very low, it's face height designed to transfer all energy to the ball's CG from direct impact with the club faces CG. The face is on the shallow side, and the internal weights help get the ball into the air faster. This is a titanium fairway wood with a forged Ti face. Ryoma offers these in two finishes silver mirror and black IP. You can decide between the Ryoma Tour AD RF2 designed to fit a broad range of player or upgrade to their all new Beyond Power fairway wood shaft which is a multi-kick shaft with infinity flex to fit an even wider range of player. We have sold many Beyond Power equipped drivers, and by far they are the easiest to fit the shaft. Each kick point fires off when loaded then released giving way to the next kick point. This ensures the player is getting a good kick for their tempo and swing speed. The standard RF2 shaft is 63g in stiff flex with 3.5tq. The new Ryoma F series fairway wood is available in 13/15/18/21* lofts . The head volumes are 210/205/185/170. Usually, a stainless steel FW has a COR of 0.7, but the Ryoma F has a COR of 0.82 which is same as the driver. You get + 2ms increased ball speed and 850rpm less than traditionally designed fairway woods. So your getting three wood distance from a five wood basically and best yet it's much easier to make good contact for straighter and longer shots. Most FW's produce about 3300 - 4500rpm - The Ryoma F is 2500 - 3000rpm! So what about those more advanced FW's that Ryoma's competitors have created? What they do is attach a weight toward the front to reduce the spin rate. As the cg become shallow the sweet spot gets narrow. The spin reduction is expected when you center it on the face, but with mishits, you lose more distance, the ball does not lift, and ball speed goes down, and because FW's are not used frequently for most players, there is a lower probability of hitting center. One of the most important things about choosing a FW is how tolerant it is of your swing flaws and mistakes. So here's the deal, other brands use stainless with cast maraging faces to keep costs down. Ryoma approaches it like making a driver. The difference is substantial. Figure your average FW places 20-30g up front and has a high and shallow CG. This is why brands are trapped in the cost game where Ryoma has spent years and invested in new patents and technology to create a FW that not only has a low cg but also a deep one. Compared to other brands saying they have a low and deep CG in a fairway wood it's so far from true. The Ryoma F has a 60g and 65g weight internally with the cg in between the two.

sorry no lefty :(

thats just a coating to prevent rust not an actual finish.

2/25 release

Yururi is arakenma + black dye. The ones you like are arakenma + black mirror plating.