TourSpecGolfer

The 2017 Japan Golf Fair is nearing just a couple of months away scheduled to take place during the last week of March. We are expecting many new Japan Only Titleist clubs mostly due to the fact that we are getting notices of current models being discontinued. It started with the Vokey Cold Forged then the T-MB and now we are starting learn a bit more about what's next to come from Titleist. Like the 716 T-MB the new 718 T-MB by Titleist looks like a muscle back but features a hollow structure making it very forgiving for it's size. This is the first sight of a model named "718" with the 716 series destined to be replaced with the same moniker on the future. Titleist has expanded the tungsten structure on the heel and toe side bringing the MOI up and lowering the CG to make it even easier to hit. We do expect a #2 iron as well. Titleist Japan is saying that they have found a way to make the new T-MB more forgiving than even the current model AP2.

To be honest it's hard to differentiate any change. It's a slightly different sound/feel that is more dense with less click. We did not like the heat treatment on the deep face milling design as it was too soft or almost carbon like. With our new face milling which has more surface area the ball touches it naturally firms things us so combined with heat treatment it balanced out really well. We felt it gave SM490A the feel we wanted. It's something different that hopefully will evolve into us trying other things. It costs me an extra 700 bucks and a couple of weeks to do this method of heat treatment on these heads. On irons & wedges it was a more noticeable improvement and for sure we will be doing it on our next releases. I'm very casual, we had our club maker take these to various shops that had putting studio's to test them against popular brands. Here's the thing we learned, face milling matters more for feel. In regards to roll just about all the different face designs we had tested had a similar result compared with our own. So we used our new face milling to control the feel more than control the roll. Another thing we noticed is that someone who doesn't putt as well may have more of a benefit with deeper mills vs the better player who can have the same result from using a flat face with no milling. Face milling also reduces side spin but in putting I can't say this is a good thing or not. Yes you want your putts to roll straighter but that's going to happen with a good stroke. Like a blade you want an anser putter to be workable you want a reliable break pattern on the greens. I can't back this up but it seemed to me that a deep and complex face mill had the possibility to create more variables between two identical rolls. My favorite in all areas was a Swedish stainless steel prototype with zero mill marks and no finish. I call it the perfect click. This bar none is the best stainless steel in the world. DASS & GSS are marketing. When Sasaya sent GSS to the lab it was identical to JIS 303. When he sent DASS the result was the same ( I assume DASS is heat treated or aged? ) SM490A is different. I have always loved this material and wonder why other brands don't adopt it.

Yes black is here! 550 is retail.

Expect a lot of new from SEVEN coming soon. This is our new VS-R Putter. SM490A but this time we used process we call Pure Tempered Heat Treatment where we heat the raw material to 850* degrees for 3-4 hours then bring the heat down to 500* in a vacuum atmosphere. This putter is made 100% in Japan using only Japanese SM490A It's got very subtly notch back bumpers and a shape somewhat newport 2'ish. We did a lot of testing using high speed camera's and fitting software to analyze what face milling does to a putters roll.

Imagine if Miura offered customers choice stamping options. it would be so great!

One of the best shapes I've seen on a blade. Full write up in the blog.

The last set posted above had only a killed leading edge custom grind. This chrome mirror has a full W grind on the sole. Again under 2g's of head weight was lost.

One issue is it's super hard for us to remove the badge without putting a scratch on it. Also as these are dated we have had no luck in finding mint condition sets.

Our team did a pretty good job on this one - http://itoborigolfclubs.com/

This set sold yesterday but we have used sets available for modification. You might want to wait until I post these irons in other finishes though.

I have 5 sets left from the 15 I started with. Each set is a different in finish and cavity paint. I will be posting these shortly.

Remember these? The Callaway Japan Only Legacy Black Forged that Henrik Stenson plays - It was never originally made in a black finish so TSG Club Works had to do what should have done in the first place. Step 1: Remove badges by heat & hand Step 2: Strip Finish Step 3: Send to be finished in Black Nickel Step 4: Clean & Install badges Step 5: Add custom paint fill

Im sure they could use your help testing clubs Stew..

Zestaim does belong to Kyoei but its not a exactly the house brand, Nextstage does as well but again not a house brand. Both have not done so well. Even vega was once before it sold. KYOEI is offically their house brand and its run completely on its own and has separate backing.

I will be posting a variety of different variations of the Personal 3's modified by TSG Club Works in the coming days. Step 1: Strip original finish Step 2: Hand Grind Arakenma Grain all over the head Step 3: Custom Grind a blunted leading edge Step 4: Refinish Head in your choice of finish Step 5: Send Head to Factory to paint inner cavity Step 6: Paint fill the engravings After all this the head lost less than 2g of weight!

This has nothing to do with Zestaim. No shared designs or collaboration between the two projects. I do not have any other info for you besides that at the moment.

Just an interesting tid bit on the Grandista driver . The loser the screws the softer the sound. The tighter the screws the louder or more harsh the sound. The screws will not come out but you can tinker with it this way.

As Miura has Miura and ENDO has EPON now KYOEI will have KYOEI... This is interesting. The Reveal is less than 2 months away. The first product will be a muscle back. They have a lot going for and against them. Is now the time to release a new brand? How much will they cost? On paper Kyoei has a lot of positives: - Japan's original golf club "foundry" - They created the precision forging final process that Miura learned while working there to create WDD - Miura-san used to be a Kyoei employee before starting his own business. ( Miura is not a foundry ) - Kyoei is not only a foundry but also has a finishing plant on site. ( the govt. of Japan no longer approves these licenses. - The local Hyogo prefecture govt is backing Kyoei in this project because of the companies historical value to the country. There are a lot of things you may not know about Kyoei, many grinders learned their skill there, even grinders from the U.S have been sent there to apprentice. They have manufactured clubs or supplied the raw forgings for many big OEM's especially for their tour players who need custom work.

I found them to be soft all over the face. I'm like you and enjoy feedback outside of center. It's an interesting thing how we all experience golf clubs differently. Is it the shaft, the weather, the build? Who knows but tinker on my friend!

Thanks for this, they would all fit you well as a 20hcp. The VG3 Forged (smaller one) may be the least forgiving. I would skip the 247G for the Honma BeZeal. I think MP-55 's are great as well. Less tech but solid 1 piece w/ undercut design with strong lofts, soft feel and plenty of forgiveness. Also if you want to go slightly smaller than these Honma TW737P or Miura Giken PP-9005G Also for fun to help take your game to a new place get some blades and practice to help you focus smaller. When you learn to hit the blades then move to a mid or GI iron I notice it makes them easier to hit.

High Res Photos Coming Soon...

Honma only offers their own Vizard shafts when it comes to carbon. They are black with silver or white accents. For steel your custom options are more. I could check specifically to see if they offer those KBS black shafts. My suggestion would always be to go with a shaft that works well for your swing over a look.

This would be perfect for a refinish as well.

Oh you know me, living off the scraps and just barely getting by :) Steven is in the right, there are no new club sales in the B/S/T here. It's to curb the amount of dealers on the site. I care not about my sales or who buys what from who and where. I prefer the few on this site over the masses so please ping with respect to your drama maybe you should post elsewhere indefinitely.

It's time to get a life... bottom line - no new club sales in the B/S/T. This rule has been around for ages to get rid of dealers. Get over the forum drama none of it matters to anyone anyway.