gunmetal

Cast 303 is a lot softer than some of the "forgings" offered by a lot of companies. It even registers softer on the Rockwell Hardness scale than a lot of the steel that is used in forgings. There are so many bogus corner cutting versions of forged IE Form Forged, True Forged, blah, blah. True 5 or 6 step carbon forgings will feel a tad softer but Cast, especially 303 is really closing the gap.

Of those, I would suggest the NVS. However, the Irod Driver absolutely launches - super dooper high. Tremendously underrated shaft IMO.

Where are you guys getting the GField stuff? It's not in the online Pro Shop and I haven't seen anything like these newer releases on ebay lately. What gives?

No joke.

Beyond Sexy. And functional, too.

Or perhaps it could simply be - dare I say - a marketing strategy.

The MSRP on the Ozik lineup is $1000.00 They must be 20 times longer and more accurate than a Blue.

It's possible to bend metal woods if you take it to a reputable clubmaker that has a metal wood bending device. Usually you don't want to bend woods more than 1 or 2* at the risk of breaking so make sure you check with Tourstage/Bridgstone and see what the tolerance is. Also, before you do anything, make sure and have the loft professionally measured. Again with the tolerances, a 9* driver could in reality be any where from 7* to 11* with a +/- tolerance of 2*.

Couldn't have said it any better. I think the focus is on obtaining a specific number rather than properly fitting the player with the head and shaft. However, it sounds like he may have a hard time finding a competent clubmaker that he can trust, so maybe this is the only way he feels comfortable. With that in mind, how long does your friend want his driver 44.5" or 45". With all of the PM's I've installed, I think I've only tipped one and it was for a guy who wanted it to play a tad stiffer so I took off 1/4".

Pics: http://forum.tourspecgolf.com/index.php?showtopic=20662

No. You'd have to pull the original shaft out of the hosel sleeve, which kind of defeats the purpose as it would be the same as pulling a shaft. Most of my pre orders have been people ordering the club with 2 or three hosel sleeves. They'll have two or three different shafts epoxied into the hosel sleeves and unscrew and insert the new hosel with shaft combo whenever they want. Perhaps the coolest thing about this is the hosel sleeve has 12 different teeth, if you will, that allow you to orient the shaft in 12 different positions to test where the orientation of the spine suits you best. I've gotta get some pixs of this up. And yes, Nakashima is an American based company owned by John Nakashima.

Consider it an insurance policy for discerning golfers. If you're thinking about it, which you are, get it done as you'll always be wondering. If you really want to see if it makes a difference, don't get it done and play a few rounds, then go have them pured and see if you notice a difference.

The HTechs are not available yet. 150 Prototypes were made available to Nak dealers to fiddle with and become accustomed to. They should be available by mid-february. Nakashima has a very small operation that allows them to keep very close tabs on their quality control. I don't know if I'd say that they are better (they're certainly not worse, though) than TM, Cally, or any other of the major companies, but they are sold to their dealers in component form (ie head only) which allows a qualified club fitter to custom fit you. It's a bit more of a problem with the Major companies because you end up paying for a stock shaft that you probably want changed, cut down, regripped - in other words customized.

You may want to try and contact the shaft companies that you're looking into (Accuflex, Fujikura, etc) and do a dealer locator. Next best suggestion would be to find a Golfsmith as they usually have a decent stock of shafts available. Or find a nearby Nakashima dealer. We just go HTech Prototypes that have interchangeable hosel technology. It's absolutely insanely cool (don't think club conex - not even close). I currently have mine set up with an NV Pink 55, an MCC Tour Issue 65N, a Grafalloy Blue, and a DG Sensicore. Very cool to experiement with the different shaft set ups.

The most I charge is $250 and half of that is refunded if you purchase clubs from me. It all depends on what is done. I feel that we are pretty thorough and do a good overall custom fitting. 25 (pounds?) seems way off unless he owns a $20,000 computer and needs to recoup his investment. My 2 cents.