dorkman53

No question: The Epon 460 with the Axiv shaft (for my swing, the 6564L). Wahoo!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0_hgBHd78 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all TSG'rs. I hope the video link provides a grin or two.

Bingo!! I absolutely love my Epon 460, and Tourspecgirl gave me solid shaft advice based on my honestly reported swing characteristics. It's head and shoulders above any other driver I've ever had.

You bet. She was an exceptionally beautiful German Shepherd, and probably the most intelligent dog I've ever had. We got her as an 18 month old after our elderly Golden Retriever died. It took her less than an hour to figure out how to open the latch on on our back yard gates, but she didn't want to run away; she just came and waited by our front door. Inside the house, we also had "doorknobs" that weren't round, but were a horizontal bar to twist. After watching us open those, she learned to open them quite quickly. She also had an unusually large "vocabulary" of understood words which would prompt her into responding appropriately when she heard them. We used to have to verbally spell certain words in her presence to avoid confusing her into taking inappropriate actions. What a great dog she was......

I had a gorgeous German Shepherd named Greta. It's nice to know they have named an iron set in her memory......lol

I get good carry with mine, but then the rollout begins and adds a lot of distance. I have concluded that it must be a relatively low spinning head/shaft combination to get as much rollout as I get. (I have the Axiv 6564L shaft on a 10.5 head; about a 95-98 mph swingspeed. )

I am curious about the reason you don't like tungsten. I've had it in TS 202's and Bridgestone J33 Combos and I don't see it as being detrimental, at least for my swing.

I did, and it has turned out quite well. I've done enough reading and following boards to find out who I can trust, and which boards are full of BS'ers. I've found that this board in general, and Chris in particular, are sources of relatively unbiased, frank information about various products. I ended up and took the plunge on the Mizuno MP UX 2 hybrids, and that turned out very well. I then screwed up my courage and forked over money for a G Field driver with an Axiv shaft. That one worked very well, too. When I finally got my Epon 460, I was able to get a very good price for the G Field on e-bay, so it wasn't a costly experiment. The Epon 460 with the Axiv is fantastic, and utilizing my reading, plus TourspecGirl's shaft fitting expertise, I have been able to get a head/shaft combination that gives me a great balance of distance, accuracy, and forgiveness. You do have to be realistic about one's abilities, distances hit, swingspeed, and tempo to get reasonably accurate advice. Good luck.

I put a 757 in my Tour Edge Exotics 3 and 5 woods, and they are the best performing fairway woods I've ever hit, by far.

I have no experience with an Axiv in a fairway wood, though I absolutely love my 6564L in my Epon 460 driver. The concern I'd have about an Axiv in a fairway wood is that most of the shafts are relatively lightweight, under 70 grams. Only the 7500 series are over 70 grams, and they only come in S, SX, and X flexes. That would be fine if you play those flexes, but if you wanted an SR or R flex, one might consider other alternatives. Again, these are theoretical concerns only, but a lot of people (myself included) prefer fairway wood shafts to be in the 75-85+ gram range, for better feel and stability with ground contact.

I had a set of TS 202's, and I'm scratching my head trying to figure out the resemblance you see. Yes, there was an undercut on the longer irons, but that's about the only similarity I can see. You be the judge. http://www.bs-sports.co.jp/sokuho02/ts202_1/ts202_1.html I do like the looks of both set of irons. Tourstage makes great stuff.

The second post with multiple views makes it look quite aesthetically pleasing. (I must say that the first view looked like an aerial view of a multi-level parking lot with a circular ramp.......)

Well, at least the PICTURES are huge.....

It may be because pros hit the sweet spot so consistently that they truly might not be able to tell the difference. A perfectly struck ball feels pretty sweet on just about any club. I think perhaps a group of 5-15 index players might be an interesting test. I can usually tell the difference, though I have hit a few really sweet feeling cast clubs that felt nearly as soft as a forged club.

In the initial post on the thread he states it's a December introduction.

I've been curious about the ViQ's. Are the heel or neutrally weighted? Are they square or closed faced? Is there much offset or face advancement?

But then would it be as long?!

Qualitatively, you're going from a 95 to a 130 gram shaft, so it will obviously have a heavier feel. How many swingweight points? Let the experts chime in.

I've seen countless posts over the years from "that other board" that all sound about the same: "I have a 7.5 degree "tour" driver, 2 degrees open, an XXX shaft tipped 4", and with my 130 mph swingspeed I keep ballooning it. It won't carry beyond 340 yards. What should I do?"

The design reminds me a lot of the Tourstage TS 202's, which were really great irons. http://www.bs-sports.co.jp/sokuho02/ts202_1/ts202_1.html

I haven't hit the J33 CB's, but I had a set of the J33 Combos, and currently have the Epon Pro II's, and there is absolutely no comparison in the feel. The Epons have a heavy, solid but sweet feel. The J33 Combos felt "clicky", and nowhere near as sweet as the Epons. It could be the difference in shafts (Nippon 1150's in the Epons vs. Tour Concepts in the J33 Combos), but I have a lot tighter dispersion and better control with the Epons. It's just one person's experience, for whatever it is or isn't worth.

I had a set of TS 202's a few years ago. They were great irons; smooth, soft, quite forgiving and looked great. They knocked a set of MX 23's out of my bag. They had a bit more offset and a thicker sole and topline than what I now play (Epon Technica Pro II's), but they were a fine set of irons. Here is a link you might find helpful: http://www.bs-sports.co.jp/sokuho02/ts202_1/ts202_1.html The photos don't show the sole grind. It's somewhat similar to the MX23, because there is some leading edge roll/relief, making it a bit less likely to dig with them. Look at the pictures of the sole grind on TSG for both the Pro II's and the Type X's. It's similar to that on the TS 202's; a tri-facet grind.

Ari Techner ("Fairway Fred") of Scratch Golf has various sole grinds on his wedges for variants of the slider/sweeper vs. digger/driver players. There is a good tutorial on the website on the subject, too. http://www.sgolfclubs.com/ http://www.sgolfclubs.com/fitting_guide.cfm

It looks like a simple matter of Bridgestone moving to cover more of the mass market. Believe it or not, there are people out there who aren't golf fanatics like many of us. These people want an easy to hit, forgiving set of irons. Callaway and Ping have been servicing this market niche for years, and Bridgestone wants a piece of the action.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the weights are moveable.