MGB

I have to add my vote for Mizuno, although I play an North American spec blade. I (happily) haven't seen any of the inconsistencies that are mentioned in this thread. They are like butter. It'll take something special to take em out of my bag.

I prefer the RACs. They're not as long from heel to toe as the 690s, which I like. They also promote a slightly lower ball flight, which I also like (I'm a high ball hitter). Your milage may vary. Good luck.

Great review, Patrick. Thanks for the pics too. I like the look of the 670's they look like irons I could easily pick up and play. Can't tell you how envious I am of the courses you play.

I always liked their driver heads and the feel and feedback they give. As I got better, the shafts seemed less and leass fitted for me though. The shafts are so unique and expensive, it's a shame to have to reshaft. Honma's got a couple of products for the good player in 04. They have a 350cc driver, the Tour World 350 that comes with the TD-975 Tour Doric shaft and the Tour Athlete-925 blade with TT's Dynamic Gold shaft. Chris, let me know how these are when you run into them.

It's the R7. Got a chance to hit the Rescue Fairway 3 wood. It's got a longer face from heel to toe than the Rescue Mid and a deeper clubhead front to back. It's half an inch shorter in length than a regular three wood, but had no problem hitting it out the back of the rather short driving range. The one I tried had the NS950-PRO stiff shaft. The CGB putters were on display at the event also. Nice heavy head. 360 grams or so and really nicely balanced. They have an expanded Titalium insert on them.

They were approximately $1,200 if I'm not mistaken right? I've been looking at those babies for years. Local Miz has a total of 7 of those sets in the country. 2 with graphite (exsar) the rest with Precision Microtapers mostly 5.5s. I can normally get 10% to 15% off most Miz products here but the owner does not give any discounts on any of the TNs. MGB, I got to play 2 years ago with Joe K blueprinted TN 87s with DGS200s, with TN 87 Gap wedge at that. I had Snake Eyes MB 01 blades at that time. I know I will get flamed for this but the feel was not that far apart. More like $1,100 at the current exchange rate, if I remember correctly. I've seen quite a few sets, mostly with the FCM's in all kinds of flexes, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5. I even saw a couple of sets at the duty free by the airport, so you know they haven't been moving.

Although my tournament ball is the Pro-V1x, I play a good selection of Japanese golf balls. I can play anything made by Bridgestone, Joe's, New Wing, Beam, Tourstage all work fine for me. They have very similar playing characteristics but don't dance on the greens as well as the V1x. I also like the Dunlop DDH Tour Special Super Soft (the ones with the green lettering. Before I discovered the V1x, it was my ball of choice.

I have a pair of Adidas Saddle Tournament golf shoes. Nice brown faux croc saddle on brown split toe saddle. Had them for over a year and they're the most comfortable shoes I own at the moment. Can't say enough about them.

I agree that the standards in manufacture are the key differences in modern versus old blades. Precise, consistent placement of the center of gravity in the clubhead allowing for different launch characteristics from set to set. I think the modern blades are also easier to hit. Good examples are the Mizuno MP-33 and MP-37. Ever wonder how two heads so similar in appearance give two very different ball flights, as witnessed on this board? Another difference I've found is the specifications of the clubs. The shafts on the old clubs were about .5 in shorter and lofts were 1-2 degrees weaker on older blades.

I hit the 410 with the Ignite Fujikura shaft back to back with a Cleveland NC-X with their Fujikura shaft. Must say that I liked the Cleveland better. More stable at impact and better matched to my swing speed (108 mph). The Ignite sent the ball left on any hit towards the toe. Too much torque for me, I think. Spoke to the distributor about this. He said the 410 and 460 are aimed at the segment of the market they're calling "the magic seekers". The guys that need help getting the ball in the air. This shows in the shaft specs where even the still shafts have more than four degrees of torque. He further related that the Tiger replica will be out late third, early fourth quarter of this year. Oh, well. Guess I'll sit on my hands til then. :?

Beautiful work, Chris. The TN-87's were comemorative blades honoring Tommy Nakajima's feats in 1987, thus the club's name. I must tell you the local Mizuno dealer has several of these, brand spankin' new with Brunswick FCM shafts in a variety of flexes. I can hook anyone interested up with the local sales manager and you can wheel n deal with him yourselves. Just PM me if you're interested.

Yup, love em! Don't really know how a conforming driver feels anymore. Don't think I've hit one since our market started getting it's products from Japan. All the drivers here are non-conforming. If you did play a conforming driver, you're spotting your buddies some distance. Just hit the R7 last night at the TaylorMade launch! Wow! We changed the weights around from position 1 to position 2 and there definitely was a difference in the trajectory. It was long and really stable at impact, too! I'll post a review after I get the demo I was promised.

I have both as well. A Mizuno stand bag and a black faux-leather Mizuno T-Zoid staff bag that matches my irons. Won it at the raffle of our club's monthly tournament. I've also got a locally made cart bag that i'm using as my everyday beater, since caddies are mandatory at our club. I take the staff bag out for tournaments only these days.

Currently using a Scotty and loving it! Went back to a blade type putter because I'm more intuitive and target oriented with it. I've fooled around with the YES, some Bets, Honmas, the Tourstage PV series and truth be told, can't really tell if they make a difference or not. I know, I don't hit the Teardrops well. Cant seem to make solid contact with the ones I've tried. What's important to me is balance and how it lines up at address (whether it fits my eye or not).

The R7's local launch is April 15. Will post my impressions of it then. Hopefully I'll be able to procure a tester.

I think that unless you have a very unusual preference that only a tour one-off could satisfy, you'd be best served by using clubs that have passed quality control and made production. Warranties mean something in the real world if you don't get your clubs for free.

I think that unless you have a very unusaul preference that only a tour one-off could satisfy, you'd be best served by using clubs that have passed quality control and made production. Warranties mean something in the real world if you don't get your clubs for free.

That's not likely. I don't think the XR series will make it to the US.

AAhhhh! Joe, you dog! 8O That looks awesome!

I think that presonalization of forged irons is just part of the reason that pros play them. Miuno has a selection of head shapes and sizes that anyone can choose from. If further customization is required, cutting a different headshape or grinding a different sole profile or something of the sort is not that big a deal for Mizuno to perform for their staff pros. Bottom line is that most customization on Mizuno irons should be relatively minor and easily done to the production club (even easier for Mizuno since they forge their own club heads). In this case, it's not necessary to make one-offs for the pros.

Chris, The RAC TP irons are actually a combination of two different sets of irons, the RAC MB (muscle-back) and the RAC CB (cavity-back) forged irons. While the MB's are available in the US, the CB's are not. This is not new. The first combo set in my memory was the old Wilson Progressive, followed by the RAM FX Pro-Set a few years later. Forgiveness in the long irons and accuracy with the short irons is still a good idea so many years later.

Probably because they don't make special items for the pros. Mizuno has always made good player's clubs. They've tried to make game improvement stuff to try and capitalize on their success with the pros, but haven't had very much success even if their blades are the most played on tour. Ping has a similar approach, but from the opposite side of the playing field. Ping's always been about game improvement but has had an long history of making game improvement equipment that even pros can have success with. Why mess with a good thing, right?

Ideal launch angle is between 12-14 degrees. That UST shaft has you on the right path. Good luck.

I was told that the TM staff pros have been fitted for their new drivers but have been instructed not to use them in public til the formal launch of the product. I know that's unusual, but it's their way of creating interest in the R7. Here, the only pics available are teasers showing the sole with the weight screws highlighted. no views of the top or anything. I haven't heard anything about the two screw version since the dealer's conterence, though. Not sure what's up with that.

That quote was from MGB who was the first to break the news on the R7 Quad back in Dec. '03. I was looking for his Jan'04 thread titled "Just Saw The R7...pics of it anyway" but it mysteriously disappeared somehow. In this thread, he attended the Adidas Dealers Conference where a TM Rep showed him pics of both a Tour and Retail model R7 Quad. He basically said the same exact thing mentioned in the quote above which was taken from NikeMike's Jan. 30 '04 thread titled, "Someone Has Taken TaylorMade's Thunder." He also mentioned that the Tour R7 Quad looked smaller than the Retail version in the pictures, about the same cc's as an R500. If he's right about a second version of the R7 Quad having two screws located in the rear of the sole, this will give give both the Tour players and the average golfer a solid alternative. Most of the criticism has come from the R7 Quad being to gimmicky and looking to extreme with the four weight screws. However, the two weight screw version will appeal to those who have grown accustomed to the simple R500 Series weight port located in the rear. Since the R500 series weight ports aren't available to the public unless you have a TM Tour Van contact, the R7 comes with differently weighted screws so that you can configure it according to your desired ball flight and are beneficial to get the head weight up or down after reshafting which almost everyone on this forum will likely do. The heaviest R500 series weight port I've seen is 16g and I'm wondering how heavy TM will go with the R7 Quad screws. All in all, I see the two weight screw R7 Quad as a suped up R510 TP with the addition of 10cc's and the ability to tweak the weight screws in the rear of the sole. Maybe even a suped up smaller cc predessor of the R500 according to MGB. Hope MGB chimes in soon on this topic and I remember in that lost thread he said he was going to the Japan Golf fair with his team and would take a large amount of pictures and report anyhing new on the R7 Quad. Hey guys! Sorry to be away from the board while all this excitement was going on. Anyway, I didn't go to Japan, the local TM unit did. They didn't bring back a sample of the R7 so the pics that Chris posted in his ad for the R7 are the best I've seen. TM's being very secretive about this driver. Their contracted pros aren't allowed to use the club in public, even if they already have 'em. They did bring center shafted Monzas and one XR-05 Monza. The center shafted one is very interesting... Back to the R7. The heaviest weight screw supplied with the included weight set is 10g if memory serves. There should be heavier weights available in the accessory weight set that TM will offer as an after purchase option. The trajectory wheel they supply with the driver has recommended configurations of weights depending on the ball flight you have or wish to have. More interesting news. Part of the reason I was away for a bit was I was working on expanding my relationship with TM. I've been appointed to their local advisory board and have set up a sports event marketing company that is handling the launch of the R7 here on April 16. We're also organizing an inter-club match play tournament to heighten awareness of the R7 on the local market. Will let you guys know when I have more on any of TM's new products.