gocchin

I didn't want Jason's great feedback of the RoyDeco shaft to be lost in the Ryoma pre order thread so I broke it off here. I love this combo and I think it deserves its own attention.

7.4 on the TJ80 and SX on the Royal Decoration for J. The trend seems to be one flex up depending on the length you install at.

They were certainly an awesome set of irons... for my 90mph swing a bit on the heavier side but even at their weight they felt superb. I was sad to let them go but I needed to swallow my pride and go with something lighter like the Longest Yard Iron. Crazy shafts simply feel great, each one is meticulously hand rolled and baked and the entire manufacturing process is monitored so closely. Couple that with great materials and you have a top notch iron shaft that has many characteristics steel cannot match.

Actually the longer the club you build the lighter the overall club weight/static weight. Reason is as your club gets longer the head weight decreases to balance out swing weight. This is why those 46.5" and 47" drivers can be like 260g cause their heads are like 180g or less! When I tested the 46" CRZ-460 at crazy... It did not feel 46" in the sense that I could square it up so well... It really surprised me and now that I think about it, in the past all the 46" or longer clubs I tried were always stock OEM shafts.. that did NOT square up for me, which is probably why I hate long drivers. The RD at 46" had no issues at all. It just keep smacking the ball for me... all i had to do is swing.

Did I email you for the order? Pre orders have been steady with nearly 20 (both driver and FW) in two days. Ryoma has given us only a ONE WEEK window to pre order!

All Akira is only sold as heads only. http://www.tourspecgolf.com/Akira-Prototype-M2-Fairway-Wood-Head-Only

Craig great feedback. I knew they would have great feel and the strong penetrating trajectory is an added bonus. Plus they look great!

I usually don't post this kind of thing here on the forum but I was notified by Ryoma yesterday that the limited number of Hi Cor Drivers have already been half accounted for and if we wanted any of the drivers plus delivery of the FW during the mid October Launch we would need to start taking pre orders now. So heres what I posted on the blog: Sometimes, these smaller boutique brands can be hard to deal with. Because they are small they are sometimes inflexible and difficult. I've found out that Ryoma's new Fairway Wood and Special Tuning model stock are already half accounted for and that we must pre-book all clubs before launch or risk not getting any. Of course Ryoma expects us to sell the club by booking pre-orders yet at the same time they won't allow me to post pictures of the clubs. So I am blogging to announce that we are officially taking orders now for the Ryoma Special Tuning Driver as well as the Ryoma-F FW. There are limited numbers and if they are not pre-ordered and reserved you most likely will not be able to get one come October. As I've noted before, visually, the Special Tuning driver looks just like the current models except for a fine tuned body and different face material and design - and of course the fact it is HI COR over 0.88. If you are unsure of the differences please read this post I made earlier. Pricing is the same regardless of whether you order a black or a gold head and whether they are D-1, V-Spec or Premia designs (yes it is confusing... I wish they would just offer black or gold special tuning heads but no, they are black or gold, D-1, V-Spec or Premia heads. MSRP is 1200.00 for the Special Tuning head including headcover. For the Ryoma-F Fairway Wood, as I mentioned the 2, 3 and 5W (called F2 F3 F5) feature a forged Titanium construction while the 7 and 9W (F7 and F9) are maraging steel. The F2, F3 and F5 are 640.00 per head MSRP including headcover and the F7 and F9 are 375.00 per head MSRP. These can also be ordered with stock shafts or with any upgrade shaft like Crazy. Since I cannot post the picture on the blog, here is a graphic of its design. So if you want a Special Tuning head or fairway wood, you must contact me directly to reserve now or honestly, you probably won't get one as the drivers will have only one batch made and as I said, half are already sold. For the FW, if you don't reserve now, please expect a several month wait after the first batch launches in mid October. Please contact me at gocchin @ tourspecgolf.com (without the spaces) and I can help you with your order and personal quote/recommendations and answer any questions you may have. I'll also show you what the FW looks like.

There is no such thing as a standard length for a driver, they come 44.5, 44.75, 45, 46, 47" it all depends. Club length is always the finished length and even there many manufacturers measure differently. You should build your driver to what you are comfortable with length wise or what it was originally intended for to match the proper swing weight.

R see my post #16 in this thread... (^_~)

He may as well be working in a golf related field!

1.45 is VERY good and near tour level. But if you range from 1.25 to 1.45 that is a very big range and shows the inconsistency of either your swing or shaft or both.

Yeah Stew you did hit the LX Deep at the show and it was with the stock shaft but you may have hit one with a kai'li as well if I remember.

The ONOFF are more forgiving than the Fourteen which have less offset and a thinner sole and topline. ONOFF are endo forged while TC710 is forged in China (Fourteen TC910 though are also Endo Forged), this does matter to some though Fourteen forgings (even from China) are pretty good. Nippon is naturally higher launching especially the lighter weight models, definitely a lot lower than PX. The only reason I can think of that you see a lower launch is due to the stronger lofts ie the 710 have a 44* PW vs the RAZR 47* PW. Which is a club difference. (the longer irons though are much closer in spec)

I think you are over analyzing. It simply sounds like too much back spin from a shaft that does not fit you, too soft. Backspin causing the shot to balloon, then drop off quickly. What you are talking about with the optimum ratio of ball speed is simply called smash factor. Smash factor tells us how good a players impact is ie a glancing blow will cause poor smash factor and bad balls speeds and lots of spin. A high smash factor means more pure contact resulting in optimal ball speeds and less spin. Smash factor is calculated by dividing ball speed over swing speed with a target smash factor of 1.5, in other words if you swing 100mph you want to create 150mph of ball speed at impact. Poor smash factor is usually the result of a players wing but a shaft can certainly contribute especially if it does not suit you, it can unload too slowly leaving the face open and that glancing blow causing the dispersion problems you have or it can unload too quickly if you release too early. This is why getting the right shaft that squares up consistently or "stays square--- must investigate the nunchuck as I've never heard of it till now". is important.

Because there is no standards for flex among manufacturers it really depends on which brand/model you go with. For your swing speed and distance a shaft in the mid 60 gram range between SR and S (depending on model) sounds about right to give a balance of control and distance. It 100mph and under I would only move up to the 70+ gram range if you are an aggressive hitter and need stability and want to keep the ball down. Other Tour AD shafts to consider are the DI-6 and DJ-6 in Stiff (you could even play SR).

Wow 3042 Regular! That is way too soft for you. That is considered by Epon as a light seniors shaft and way too soft and will result in severe dispersion issues. Based on your swing speed and playing level, you're not looking at the right shafts. The shafts you want are too heavy and too stiff... some close to double the weight of the 3042. At your distances and handicap they will also not provide the type of ease of use you need, shafts like the 9003, Stinger, 80t Crazy's are all very much suited for the better player who makes very good impact to maximize smash factor. I'm not sure who would have recommended you those 3 based on your speed. Right now you need a shaft that is firmer, tighter, slightly heavier, all to increase control and stability and at the same time gain overall distance, a shaft that will square up for you and give you the right amount of launch and spin. A shaft that will allow you to go after the ball and swing freely without worrying about timing or (whippiness as you said). That said, one of Crazy's 46t shafts or Fire Express, or even the ilima are a much better choice.

I'm not sure if the ATTAS T2 full length 50t and solely 50t? The Crazy is hand rolled in Japan while the ATTAS is made in Bangladesh. I'm using an ATTAS T2 now in a TRC and it seems quite stable but not as firm as the 50 which is Crazy's stiffest shaft. I haven't hit them in the same head so its hard to compare trajectory and spin. The ATTAS and most Mamiya shafts are pretty good though.

The Wyvern won't handle 115mph even in TS. TS is good for between 105 and 108 at best. The Royal Decoration is played by even tour players and you would probably be an X. It's rare to have lower launching lightweight shafts, as lighter shafts trend to higher launches and heavier shafts towards lower trajectories.

The 450 is not nearly as popular and it is in fact a re-branded George Spirits driver. At the time Crazy only had the 435 and 450, the 435 far outsold the 450 and even Crazy recommended the 435 to us over the 450. Now compared to the 460, the 460 is a more forgiving driver and much easier to launch. It is more of a distance driver compared to the 450. The 460 has a high trajectory but still rolls out thanks to low spin. But a lower loft would certainly help.

You will lose 9 swing weight points going down to 39" and the weight of the shaft and grip will not be enough to balance it out. If you're lucky you'll get back around 5-6 points... maybe. The egg is designed to be a longer length because its primary goal is monster distance for a utility aided by a longer shaft. You may have to compromise a bit and go 39.5" and possibly added weight to the head (which is something I don't personally like but sometimes must be done). The Hosel is stainless steel so it is not that soft and may not agree too much with bending.

Yes I hit the egg i+ and as I wrote on the blog its very hot and very back ordered. Even without having the above listed clubs with the same shaft, you can still gauge a certain level of forgiveness based on design. Driving irons are typically aimed at better players, so forgiveness is not usually their top selling factor, however, if you're talking about hitting the club off the deck, typically an iron with the wider sole and lower and deeper CG is more "forgiving" in that it would dig less and launch the ball easier. That said nothing comes close to the egg, but at the same time the egg is not really an iron, its sole is wide enough to be a utility wood. Of the ones you listed the most forgiving are the egg, the Fourteen 610, and the AF-901. The Zero iron is not that easy to hit and the Miura is practically an iron.

Just to clarify, the VG3 are NOWHERE near super game improvement or even game improvement for that matter. When talking about those categories we typically include big sized and oversized irons with wide soles, huge offset and they usually aren't forged. The VG3 is aimed at the better player though forgiving enough for the average golfer. The heads are similar in size to the AP2 Forged and have less offset than the Yamaha V Forged. If you are not a fan of strong lofts, the VG3 don't fit you as I think you will be hitting them way too far and too high - they are one of the best distance irons. You'll probably hit the 7 iron 200 yards. (^_^) The Yamaha and ONOFF are no slouches either when it comes to distance but they have more workability in mind though if you actually compare the heads, the VG3 may be more compact than either from heel to toe and with less offset. The Yamaha and ONOFF both feel awesome and are superior to the VG3 in feel but only due to design as the VG3 sports an undercut cavity. I would suggest the ONOFF at this point as its current and the V Forged will be replaced within 4 months. I just ordered my own set of ONOFF Forged from Labospec as well if that says anything.

Tourstage wedges used to rank right up there with many of the best wedges in Japan , back when they were all forged at Endo. However to cut costs production was apparently moved to China, however, they are still pretty good wedges, the design afterall is done by Tourstage. (Fourteen wedges are also made in China but very good too). This years X-Wedge sees more offset and just hasn't been popular with our customers (thats not to say they don't sell well here in Japan).

Vegaman is correct, the Compact driver, the fairway woods and utility are all new for 2011. The irons were released last year and have been one of Japans best selling irons since... (Titleist still runs into back order problems due to demand). But its certainly possible a newer model might come out.