wmclarenf1

Had the need to use the SX more today. 4 times to be exact. I must say, this wedge can hold greens very well. It's turning out to be a rather reliable wedge. Don;t know how to orientate the pics for posting but it shows one approach right of the pitch mark (pic with my shadow) and another left and slightly back of the pitch mark.

Played 18 with the Bold 56 today and took out my trusty DWD 54 to force myself to play it. Only needed to use it a total of 6 times. 5 of which were green side bump and runs from 8 to 19 meters (I paced them). 4 of these bumps left me with very short gimmies. One I left short for an easy 2 putt. The other was a 50 meter approach and this was the shot where it did not perform. I thought I hit it well, the ball mark indicated the distance was right but it just released and rolled into the rear bunker. Very strange behavior I must say. Good thing I rescued the sand shot for a one putt. I'm surprised that despite it being a tad flat for me, grip too thin, balance not the best IN MY HANDS, that the bump and runs worked so well. I'll see if I can convince the owner allow me a few more rounds. The bold has potential and I do want to see if the same 50-60 meter half shots will not hold but release instead again. That was really strange.

Ok.. I put in the round with the 388 and another driver... Teed one ball with each for the front 9. 7 tee shots each in total. Rather embarrassing for the 388 IN MY HANDS. 388 was consistently shorter by an average of 15 meters and n one case a lot more. 388 can run a lot but that din't help it much with distance IN MY HANDS. Teed it lower, like 80-90% of the ball below top line as suggested. PLayed it like a FW. Ridiculous short carry IN MY HANDS. It wasn;t as if I was playing badly as well (by my standards at least). 40 on the front 9. I know many are in love with the 388 and different strokes for different folks but for ME (which is why I took mains to highlight "IN MY HANDS" above), its a real dog. Driving has never been my strength and I guess despite being a single capper, I ain't good enough to play this and/or its just not right for me. I'm happy for the many who find the 388 works well but I have given enough time to this driver and its crystal to me that it ain;t for me. The other driver that consistently put the 388 down? An old school Epon Technity 460 9.5 with a Crazy CB-46 shaft. Talk about feel... this is the Titan of feel. Feel is subjective but for me, the 388 lost sorely here too.

Hi, I think you're referring to the non-ZR which has a dark blue crown? PLease do send pics and your price please. Thanks.

Any on course time with the Maxima yet Jimboi?

The last tie my swing speed range was 91 to 95 on loucifers prgr red eye so avg of 93. I play 6.2. The stock SR did not feel to stiff more too heavy and I am used to mid to high 50 gram shafts. Distance avg is 220 meters or 240 yards. I do get more distance when I play on courses like those in OZ though where the fws are a lot drier and firmer. In any case, definitely not a big hitter by any measure. I will, against better judgement, try teeing it lower and putting the ball closer to middle as how I hit 3W. Just funny that I have to adjust my swing so much for a club..

Well I teed lower but I will try even lower and 3w height as suggested which would mean more than 60% of the ball will be below the top of the crown. Sounds silly but I will try :-). I teed the 388 today with equator of the ball ie 50/50 at the top of crown and also with about 60% of the ball above. Quite normal I think but my swing is of course far from refined and perfect which is why I probably can't hit it longer than the 435. Maybe I can get another 15 yards with the xv like you have and that should put me at 280 yard avg which will be nice.

Head only much preferred and in 9.5 loft right handed with h/c preferable not not essential. Condition should be good to mint, no dents, gouges, scratches on crown. Normal face and sole wear expected. No foaming, rat glue, cotton wooling to increase head weight a must. Thanks for looking.

Always dude!

For what its worth, my official cap now is 7.9 but a bad round of 88 or 89 is still in me LOL. Most of the time I'm 81-84 with the odd 78 79 rounds. That said, driving has always been the worst part of my game and I'm down to what I am due mainly to everything except my drives improving LOL.

Not a negative mate.. just not a positive and its just MY 1 cent view with swing flaw and vat included LOL.

Man.. you;re really a boy with his toys this week :-)

Try it Chiro if only because you want to get that off your mind. It may work for you like it has the vast majority here. From what I read, I think it has not worked out only for Duffer and myself and that's a maybe only 10 percent or less of users here. The bold however is another thing. Has potential if setup right.

Just finished the range session together with the 388 and it is the Bold that I am more impressed with of the 2. Way more impressed with. Hit some range rocks as well as some used but real balls. Feel wise, it is definitely not on the mushy side. A tad clickish but soft enough feeling in sweet spot hits. The club in totally stock form is obviously not ideally set up for me... lie is too flat than I am used to and grip side especially the lower half, too small. She came face to face with my DWD 56 bent to 54 with an older Shimada K's wedge shaft that weighs about 115 to the stock 120 gram Shimada NW120 DCR shaft in the Bold. Now while it is logical that I feel more comfortable with my DWD which I have set up and tuned to my liking and am very familiar with by now, the blance of the Bold just felt off or very different to me. Although it has a heavier shaft, the balance felt like the Bold was excessively too head heavy. Size.. when I first saw the Bold on the net, my instantaneous thought is big and chunky and then when I first saw it in the metal about a month ago, in isolation, I thought the raw and dark finish hid the size very well. Today, my instantaneous reaction when I took the hc off her was... wow.. that is big. See for yourself in the pics. The bigger size is noticeable. Top line is also nearly twice as thick as my DWD. I hit choke down pitches, full shots, 10, 15, 20 meter bumps all along side my DWD... I think there is something about the Bold. Spin wise it maybe spins a tad (just a tad) more than my DWDs but only on full shots. Given the lie angle, it took me awhile to get used to the Bold and I found myself needing to stand a tad closer to the ball than I normally do to get the sweet spot hence the ball marks closer to the toe prior in the clustering pic. The Bold came in from Japan and has been on my shores for less than a week. THe owner I think has played a couple of rounds with her, maybe some range time and I just had about 50 balls with her at the range and already the rust spots are appearing in the pic of the sole comparison. Duffer has found this to be the same as well. Am I overwhlemed with the Bold? Does it do much more than the DWDs? Not really BUT I do think it has potential. Between the 388 and the Bold, I will clearly say I am more impressed with the Bold. WIll I consider getting the full set of 50 56 and 60 and tweaking it to match my DWDs and giving them another run.... possible even though I am not a fan of rust. The Bolds are chuncky especially compared to my DWDs and Miuras but I think the back design while busy is quite interesting. The Bold I am more excited to take out for a demo round on the course.. much more so than the 388.

Just finished the range session with some real Bridgestone B330s... hit the 388 10.5 with stock SR shaft side by side with my Black Widow Jbeam 435 10* Crazy TJ-46 R. On average and consistently, the 435 put the 388 to shame... FOR ME. I realize this driver seems to have been a god sent for so many and I really wish it was for me but I dont even know if I want to take it out to the course tomorrow. Carry of the 435 was much better (I would guess maybe 5 to 10 meters more on average?) and on average about the same roll... that said, I will say that on 2 accounts, the 388 ran slightly up hill and on wettish cow grass about 15 to 20 meters. Now THAT is noteworthy for me. But again this was 2 shots out of maybe 25 for each driver. Ball flight for me on average was consistently lower than the 435 10. It seems to prefer toe misses than heel as well and I found that I had to tee lower as what many here have found and logically so given the smaller and shallower head to the 435. I also had to place the ball less to the left than with the 435. I'm glad I didn't get this on faith. Maybe I'll take her out tomorrow and hit her side by side with the 435 again and see how she goes but at this point in time, the 388 really has nothing to offer me over any of the drivers I have... lets see how she goes tomorrow... maybe she needs another shaft to suit me better but that seems like a lot of trouble to make a club work and I don't like changing my very flawed swing to suit clubs.. it should be the other way around.. for me at least... I'm also toying around with a project which I';ll post about separately... in any case, there always the newest thing which is proving she has the potential to be one of the greatest... the Maxima :-)

Good to hear Stew! I've borrowed a friends 388 10.5 with stock SR (and a bold 56) and will demo them again at the range again today with range rocks as well as a bag of beat up Bridgestone B330 balls that I played. Will also play a round with them tomorrow. This will be my second range session with the 388 and after the round tomorrow, I believe it will be enough tme with it for me to conclusively decide if it does anything more for me over my other drivers. I think it be hard pressed to beat the 435 for overall average distance. I do believe it will beat the D1 on distance but will it give me as many fairways on especially on days when my swing is off... if that is the definition of forgiveness, the owner of T-loaned the 388 from doesn't think the 388 is close to the D1 in terms of forgiveness and for such a small head, maybe its not fair to expect that. From all the rave reviews I am reading, maybe the only real benefit is playing in windy conditions. For me in my parts, wind is there but its not anywhere close to links like howl. The roll from the 388 is also supposed to be really good... but there is the new Maxima for that as well now... I'm talking down the 388 in the hope of a pleasant surprise. Last at the range with it, after reading all the reviews of super long, I was disappointed in that it yielded nothing more for me. Hopefully, the next 2 days will say different.

You thinking about a WBQ in a Maxima? ;-)

Jimmie, I think the LY1 Hot in your Premia 9,5 is a mid kick and the Boron in the Type V 9.5 is a mid-high kick? How is the trajectory of the Type V to the Premia? From what I can see from your swing clip (wish I had your control at the top of the swing and distance :-) ), your trajectory seems to be low mid to mid with the Type V. From what I can deduce from Ryoma's website via translate which of course may not be the most accurate, Maxima is supposed to be slightly higher launching than the original yet producing more roll.

Thanks for this Jimmieboi. When you do get chance on course, do let us know how it goes. Thanks.

Hi Craig, really good to hear from you on the 388. Didn;t know you got it but since you do, you ongoing review will be greatly appreciated as always. For me, the Ryoma D1 is still the best all round driver, just not the longest. Again, she ain;t short, just not long. I probably get about 10 metres more on avg with the 435 but can be more wild. Same TJ-46 shaft. As we discussed in the past, you and I seem to share similar swing stats and clubs. You mentioned you 435 is longer. Is the 388 lonfer than the 435 on about on par on really negligible gain for either the 435 or 388? ALso, what shaft do you play the 388 10.5* in? Reading all the stuff about the 388, I am curious about it but to keep hearing all good stuff, the skeptic in me comes to bear and I have to wonder if it's honeymoon over hype in at least several of the instances. Would really appreciate your ongoing thoughts as I really do think your feedback is unbiased and you'll call a spade a spade. Thanks.

:-)

And I was complaining I had too many with 5 drivers LOL! Will greatly appreciate your comparative thoughts on trajectory and roll vis-a-vis your Premia 9.5.

Congrats Jimmieboi! Looks lethal! I am told the distance on this thing is noteworthy and better if you play dry courses due to the roll. Forgiveness is supposed to be better than the original as well. As you own several D1s, you'll be well placed to compare. Be sure to post back your initial and ongoing impressions.

Thanks for sharing this Duff. I think it will be a rust pool for where I am then.

THe list prices are all on Ryoma;s website. G is the priciest.