Blader-X

I just think it comes down to being able to sell to the majority of people who golf. 1. Most can hit the S200 therefore it makes sense to use a shaft that most of your customers can play. 2. True Temper has probably the most name recognition out there. Yes there's others, but most are familiar with TT and they do have a decent product. 3. The S200 is a cheap shaft in terms of cost but still fits the bill and lasts a long time. The majority of golfers who buy clubs don't get into like a lot of us on this site do. For golfers like us, those companies offer options and if they don't the crazy golfers like us will pay for customization outside of the company.

This is a new product from the Technity line, no?? I believe the longest hitting head was the the 380cc from the Technica line, but up unitl now the newer line, that of the Technity's only offered drivers in the 415cc and 460cc size. I am correct in this Chris, and if so, how does one differ from the Technica? Any difference or did Epon just decide to re-release this size head into the new line up?

Make a better shoulder turn, especially coming through the ball and work on your core strength to build stamina and provide stability for the swing. I find when my shoulders are working effectively and really getting them through the ball my swing speed is much faster and my move much more efficient.

It is the Ultimate in customization. I think this may have to be my next project, but its going to have to wait some time.

My favorite isn't listed. For me, nothing beats the Epon X-model copper.

Gocchin, I don't think you would be disappointed. I did play the ERC III before the Epon and knowing the HyperERC is an upgrade over the ERCIII, then it would be a very fine driver indeed!!

Great article to share and really good for those who haven't been playing long to realize that the make up of one's equipment is equally important as to the mechanics of one's swing. The more in tune one is with their own swing and what they need, the better they will be able to choose the clubs that will benefit them the most. You can get fit well be a club-fitter but its still a matter of trial and error even after that to find what works. Just another facet about why this is such and engrossing game that just consumes you. So much fun!!

T, Great to hear you've found a great utility for your bag. I actually am waiting for a TourStage X-UT to come in. I wasn't sure about the head shape, but the more I looked at it and the more I read reviews, I thought that you might be right and this might be the utility I'm ultimately looking for. Nic pics as always, by the way. B

I'm still really loving my TourStage X-blade 2's. If I had the expenses I would probably buy the new Limited Edition models and have them reshafted and flattened a couple degrees, but that will have to wait. In the meantime the X-blade 2's are simply marvellous and working just fine. The only drawback to TourStage is that they don't offer very much in the way of customization. They are a big enough company that they should really consider it though.

I tend to think wedges should be heavier than what your irons are. Better control IMO. My irons range from D8-D10 but my wedges are E2, E4 and E2 respectively and they feel absolutely great.

I went through a torn right ACL in my knee twice. While its not the same injury I can tell you a few things. I've done quite a bit of rehab and worked through many things coming back from those two surgeries. First off, don't hit until you're allowed. If you re-injure you could do some permanent damage as well as delay your healing time even more. When you are allowed to hit follow your doctor's or rehab/physical therapist's advice on how much and what kind of swings to start with. Secondly, follow your rehab to a tee. Rehab'ng is key to a full recovery and regaining a full range of motion. Without a full range of motion, your swing will never be the same and you might experience some changes. Be patient with your progress. Don't try forcing more than your body can take. Work hard in rehab but don't overdo it. A good physical therapist is key in coming back. Take their advice to heart. When you do start hitting again, do know that its going to take time to get your timing back, your strength back and like you said, it will take time for you to trust the injury. Be very patient and don't expect big things right away. Allow yourself to take little steps and don't be too hard on yourself. What I mean is if it takes two-three months and you're still not hitting towering tee shots, its okay. You'll have good days but a lot of bad but eventually you'll be back. In fact you may notice some changes with your swing but you may also notice that once your back you'll be even better. Its going to take a lot of time so stay determined and perserver. Be patient, give yourself time and you'll get there. What you may also have to do is once you're back, continue to work to keep the are strong. I wish you all the luck and good health in your recovery. I feel for anyone going through those times as I've been there and its not any fun. Its a definitely a test of one's fortitude. B

Just what I like. Lots of replies. We need more on this site from all kinds of golfers. Anyways I feel you ajaykkr. I truly love my blades and play very well with them. I've been playing for 20 years and have always challenged myself to get better. Advancing to the clubs I now play has helped me to do that. But as I look at the industry, and the evolution of the golf club, blades are on the demise. Companies just don't profit by making them. There's no denying that. Also, as I progress in years there will come a time when my skills will diminish and I'll have to start to throttle back. Until then I'll keep searching for the best clubs for my game and keep reading all you fellow TSG'ers posts. I go back and forth on this blade/player cavity back thing in my own mind as well. Its all so maddening and fun at the same time. Its not so much a debate as it is a discussion. Very fun.

Hey, I actually did this experiment, and still doing it. Last year I put a G-Field 4 wood in the bag. Loved it, but like you, I didn't like the distance loss as much. I had used a 13 degree long ago and was longing for a club that I could hit a great distance when needed. The performance of the 4 was awesome. But, I didn't like it off the tee so much and I wanted that club for both the tee and fairway. So, when both Epon and TourStage came out with the 13.5, bam, I was in there. Question was, which one. Went with the Epon and I'm very satisfied. Off the tee is absolutely huge. Very easy off the deck and I can work it left to right or right to left. Not to mention the feel is unreal but I think I've posted that at least 20 times before so I won't get into that here. The 4 wood stayed in the bag just because I liked hitting it and it was still very useful. Picked up a 7 wood to take two utilities out. 7 wood was nice but felt like there was something missing. So now I have a TourStage X-UT 17 on the way as well as cavity back 3 iron. 4 wood and 7 wood will be out of the bag while I try this out to see if the yardage gaps become a little better. Also, I think with the new setup my bag will have a little more versatility at the top end of the bag. We'll see. Still fine tuning and experimenting.

I truly believe its as much the shaft and the characteristics of one swing as it is the head. In fact maybe more so. The shaft has a great deal to do with trajectory, but if one comes in with a steep swing, the ball will upshoot much more than a swing coming in much more level. My trajectories with the JDM equip are usually very boring and on the middle-low trajectory, especially when I'm swinging really well. I know when I swing someone else's domestic equip or using a demo, the trajectory is too high and usually balloons. Typically its because the shaft is too light and/or not stiff enough so I just overpower it. The shaft doesn't complement my swing. I use heavy shafts and with the fine materials and workmanship of the JDM stuff, my trajectories are just what I'm looking for, far out there and on a string.

With all due respect, the YS series doesn't even begin to compare with likes of the QuattroTech. In fact all shafts in Graphite Design Tour AD series are vastly superior to anything they make for US domestic. As far as spending $600 on a driver you'll never demo, there is no demo made that I could try which could compare to the likes of a TourStage or an Epon. The feel of those clubs is unreal. You just need to know your game. Becareful though, once you take the plunge, there's no turning back and soon your entire bag will be infiltrated with JDM and the permanant smile on your face that emerges every time you hit a shot will not be easily removed!!

Ahh, pitbull, that's just stellar!! The ON/OFF drivers have been making waves the last couple days. How do you like the Cobra LD? The Speed Series seems to be a big hit with a lot of folks. I love the bag, pics are well done. Just beautiful, man!!

Its not so much a debate as it is evolution. Sure blades look great, but bottom line is the newer players cavity backs are outperforming blades in every category. All you need to do is look at the tours and see what the top players are all playing. Even though I play blades (and believe me, am still a big fan of them), I know I could play better with a really well made cavity back set like the ones we have here at TSG. The writing on the wall is very apparent. If nothing else, blades still work well in the 8,9 irons, maybe even a 7 but 6's and above a player's cavity back will outperform a blade every time. If it didn't, companies would still continue to make blades. Sales of blades have fallen to paltry numbers. One estimate I read was 2% of all golf sales are blades and that continues to fall. For me, I'm in love with the very thin topline of my X-blades and if player's cavity could reproduce that and be Endo forged I might just have to be all over that. One of the several reasons I'm about to put an Epon Type-S 3 iron in the bag is to try to get over the topline issue to my eye. I know sooner or later a few of the other higher irons will be replaced by player's cavity backs. I also want to return to a longer iron look with a little more forgiveness and length mixed in. I still want the sleek look of blades when viewed from above at address. The Type-S in a 3 iron fits that bill to a tee. Not to mention, its an Epon. Type J's may follow later down the line or maybe Epon will make an even cooler looking player's cavity that's more sleeker than the J's. Just take a look at the bags of many professional players. Quite a few have different styles of irons running throughout the bag. Many who still play 2 irons play the style of iron high handicappers play. They may have blades on the higher irons but many have cavities in the higher lofts. That says a lot because these guys don't play for fun, they play for a living. Its easy to overlook what our needs are and pump ourselves up to be better than what we are, but if we are to improve and shoot the scores we really want to, sometimes we need to be brutally honest with ourselves and sit down and truly break down our games and equipment and come up with the right solutions. I'd love to hear others take on this and please know I write this in the highest regard of anyone's game out there and I'm not trying to ruffle feathers, merely spewing out what my thoughts on all of this. In the search to constantly improve I've really thought long and hard about this. What's your take?

Rule of thumb is for every one degree you bend a wedge open you add one degree of bounce. For every one degree you bend a wedge closed you decrease the bounce by one degree. For instance, my 56° (bounce 12°) Epon X-model I had bent to 55° which made the bounce 11°. It has worked very well for me and my game. I also have a 50°/6° and a 60°/6°. In your case, both 58° models of Epons (Technity and X-model) have 10° of bounce. So if you bend one to 56°, that wedge will then have 8° of bounce. Sand wedges usually do better with a little more. I do use my 55° in the fairway and find it to work well. It is money from a bunker however. Bending the other 58° to 60° will give that wedge a bounce of 12° which will work well in the sand but might pose problems with tight lies from the fairway. My Epon 60° has just 6° of bounce and works well from any lie with the exception of the bunker. I don't like it from there and haven't had good results. So I strictly use the 55° from all bunkers regardless of the sand. Hard-packed, wet, fluffy I really like the way it performs. It (55) has never let me down from a bunker. The 60 is not a good bunker club, but its not designed for that. Tight lies in the fairway, lies in the rough (regardless of length) are its strengths however. I tell you my experiences not to tell you what to do, but to give you some insight on the Epons I use and how I use them in my game and situations I find myself in. Hope this helps you somewhat. B

Yes I do, PM sent.

All wonderful new except for the blades! But then again, had that feeling.

8076 huh? Funny you should mention that. PM sent.

I've been patiently waiting months now for those and am crossing my fingers that they will be in the new lines which will hopefully be released later in the year. It'll all depend upon what they feel they can bring to market and be successful with. That being said, blades are on a serious decline in the eyes of all level of golfers. The new player's cavities are just better and more forgiving and most people opt for that. However, if any company could make a super sweet blade which would rival any performance and forgiveness one could get from a cavity, Epon is that company. My love of blades is apparent from my TSG ID. However, I do have an Epon Type-S 3 iron that will be in the bag here in the next couple of days to play around with. Don't think I'll be changing my ID to Cavity-X anytime soon though as I still have blades in the 4-9 irons!

There's something about the Black Gold by True Temper which is just majical in a wedge. Tremendous amounts of feel. I really believe the feel in enhanced by them. Having said that however, I really believe that you need to know your game and swing very well before making that judgement. If you're unsure then I would follow Chris's advice above and stay with standard shafts. On the other hand, there's never a better time than the present to experiment a little and see if there isn't something a little better for you out there. As long as you're willing to accept spending a little money if your first choice doesn't work out you just might make a welcome discovery about your game.

I know this won't help you much Chris, but I must second Idrives views about the Epon X-models. Best wedge out there for looks and I won't even go into feel in this post. I had used strictly Oil Can and then Raw Vokeys in the past. Loved the color of them. Went to G-Fields but now with the Epons have the copper. I must say I prefer the darker colors when it comes to the wedges. However I don't like the black as I feel I can't see anything. Maybe its the look of the wear marks of the Oil Cans and now with the Copper X-models that I like so much. This wedge has the high toe like the G-Fields have and I liked that look. What I don't like about this particular wedge is the heighth where it meets the hosel. Too high IMO. I like to see more of a separation if you will, hosel, then wedge. I also prefer hosels to be longer. Short hosels on wedges only leads to higher ball flight. I like wedges to have that low trajectory with lots of spin. Less affected by wind this way I believe. I haven't used any wedges with milling marks but seems to me like they could be a distraction, but now I'm just nitpicking. I do know that I don't like them on the border of the toe. Milling marks should be on the face of the wedge but the borders left clean. I think this enhances the view and frames the ball much better, leading to better center-contact. B

Be sure to post a review after getting them!!