gocchin

The Iomic Sticky is actually thinner because the standard Nowons are more meaty which give that soft feel. The Experts are a bit harder as the grip is packed tighter together so they may feel thinner on a standard 0.600 shaft. If you want thinner, you should actually move up to a M62 Iomic where the walls are thin because the core is wider. Sticky wise I felt the Nowon was more sticky but I personally like both grips.

One thing to keep in mind is that the AF-Tour is now offered in the Mirror finish NiCr, Satin NiCR, Black and Copper.

Great feedback Shoe, look forward to more when you get a chance to play some more. I still love this driver!

Sasaya-san's grooves are all engraved. I'll have some pictures soon to show the whole process.

Honestly I am not a fan of conflict or bickering of this sort. We have enough stress in life as it is. We all share the same passions and all have the same goals. We love golf and the equipment and want to shoot the lowest score we can or just plain have fun. All I can say is that TSG will continue to work hard to deliver the best products it can to all its great customers worldwide and the new GTI blog is just a great way of sharing info and our love of golf with everyone.

Those specs are correct. Though tipping amount is at your discretion, what you wrote is what is suggested by GD.

It does have a shorter hosel which is one of the reasons why shafts feel softer in this head. The head feels great of course as you know since its from Endo.

We're down to our last set of the 10th Anniversary Limited 52 + 58 Wedge set. As some of you may have seen these are beautiful spin milled vokeys based on the very popular 400 series head shape. Finished in an awesome black nickel mid gloss finish with no paint fill. Very nice leading edge on these wedges. This is our last set with S200, we're going to see if we can get more. I finally took some pics!

Over at TSG we have been contemplating carrying Quadra Composite Techno or more frequently referred to as Quadra in Japan for some time now. For those of you who do not know Quadra, they are a very high end graphite and carbon shaft maker who have long been involved in the golf shaft and carbon sheets business. Quadra as you can tell by their name, means 4 and they were the first brand to create the quad axis weave used in many shafts from many different brands today including Axiv, Honma and Graphite Design today. They produce such high quality carbon that they actually supply carbon sheets to some of the top brands including Honma's ARMRQ which also feature the 4 axis weave in their shafts. Quadra has spent the last few years growing and developing their own shaft line and what many people outside of Japan may not know is that Quadra is actually frequently in the top 4 brands in sales in Japan battling the likes of Graphite Design, Mitsubishi and Fujikura. TSG will start by carrying their all new Fire Express model. A full carbon sheet 80t shaft (80t is the highest grade of carbon/graphite available on the retail market anywhere). The Fire Express uses 2 sections of 4 axis weave using high elastic 80t carbon sheets utilizing nano technology to create a low spin super stable shaft with little to no twisting and perfect return at impact. The higher the quality carbon the tighter the dispersion due to its consistent rebound and flex. Higher grade carbon also contains more glass materials rather than rubber also contributing to the quality and the feel of this strong shaft. The Fire Express is for the better player who wants low spin creating maximum carry paired with tight dispersion and control. Now the best part, the price. While most shafts with 50t or higher grade carbon can cost even up to 1000.00 and over. Quadra is able to keep costs lower since they are the producers of these high end carbon sheets in the first place. MSRP on these 80t shafts is 600.00 each. TSG will have them for 459.00 in the pro shop which is amazng for 80t. They just launched and Quadra has already told me they are back ordered cause of demand! Here are the pics!

The GN502 is a more forgiving driver but as you mentioned it also launches high. A 10.5 would help a bit but you also have to take into consideration the shaft and your swing style, ie flatter swing plane or more steep attack angle.

That's just and ONOFF bag on a pull cart as hornyjuan mentioned.

One has to take the bend characteristics of the shaft in mind and the design of the head. The FD is made to launch high and the stock shaft is low kick so that combined creates a high launch combo. Cutting the tip for the stock shaft could bring ball flight down but how much is hard to say. It will also stiffen the tip which can have a negative effect on someone who has a problem with the right side. However if you have no issues with cutting the stock shaft then it is the most budget option. If it doesn't work you can always reshaft with a mid to mid high kick shaft and heavier weight to bring the flight down a bit.

I had one reshafted a while ago, if I remember correctly it was 335. Even if it is 350 if you get a good 335 tip shaft it will fit.

Great feedback T, spot on too with the kai'li, it is turning out to be possbily the best Diamana ever. For the first time in Japan, Diamana is seriously challenging Graphite Design because of the Kai'li this year.

The GS Tour was an exact copy of the old CV Pro model from RC released back in early 2005 in Japan. Sonartec was taking older RC models and recycling them as new models in the US. RC carries similar channeled sole designs across all their models so most of the models are similar in that sense. Besides the FD, all of the current RC woods are more compact like the GS Tour was. The BBD's 304 woods are aimed at the better player, with the T being a deeper high back head and the F being more shallow and higher launching. The most similar to your GS Tour would actually be the Pro TP which is a touch smaller but hs similar overall dimensions. It was aimed at the scratch golfer wanting control and accuracy.

One more (^_^)

Took more pics today:

We tracked down one more set of each model! If anyone is interested please PM me!

TSG is now offering more customization through Miura Giken. They will now do custom grinds for customers on their wedges. I received two MB-5000WA wedges from Miura today, a 52 and 57 with an M style TVD grind. Goes well with the black finish! If anyone is interested in custom Miura grinds please contact me.

It's 0.370.

He does not play a high swingweight, his old nike irons were around D1.5 and I would suspect the ONOFF around the same. The driver even at that length is probably around D2.

Today I'm going to take a closer look at what's in the bag of ONOFF Pro Shingo Katayama. Katayama has long been one of the top Japanese players on tour here in Japan. Last year Katayama won his 25th tournament automatically qualifying him for a lifetime exemption on the Japanese tour. He's now up to 26 wins and counting ranking him 7th on the all time list in Japan. He turned pro in 1995 and began playing full time on tour in 1997. He has topped the Japanese money list 5 times including last year and is currently 4th on the all time career list at just over 14 million dollars in winnings. Not a big player by any means at 5'6" or 168cm tall, Katayama who has been called Cowboy Shingo because of the cowboy style hat he frequently wears relies on his creative play and deft touch around the greens. He is in no way a long hitter but accurate and controlled. Katayama was one of the first players during his days as the number one Nike Pro in Japan to proclaim that he needed all the forgiveness he could get and did not hesitate to play a 10.5* loft driver (which was rare at the time among men pros) and over sized irons with graphite shafts. In the past few years Katayama could be seen in many Nike ads, sometimes even along side world number 1 Tiger Woods promoting the latest in Nike gear. This off season signaled a humongous change as Katayama parted ways with Nike, his clubs, shoes, clothing and ball sponsor. He was signed instead by several Japanese brands including ONOFF from Daiwa Golf for his clubs and bag, Dance With Dragon for his clothing, Asics for his shoes and Titleist for his golf balls. Even while transitioning to a new bag of gear he played confidently on his way to a 4th place finish at the Masters last month, tying the best finish ever by a Japanese golfer at the Masters. Katayama's fashion and gear gain as much attention as his creative play so here is a break down of his official bag as of last weeks Tsurya Open and my take on the clubs of course! Katayama is playing the 2009 ONOFF Red Driver 9* with Roddio Prototype at 46.75" 272.7cpm and 310.3g. He has opted for the more forgiving Red Driver over the athlete model ONOFF Plus Driver. He has also gone to a lower loft and considerably longer overall driver length. The Roddio will launch higher for max carry so paired with the 9* loft, Katayama appears to have found the right combination of launch, carry and run with these specs. The ONOFF Red is considered the average golfer model in Japan and provides a ton of forgiveness which Katayama likes. Katayama's 3 wood is another super forgiving club. The PRGR Egg PX-03 Spoon is a composite style fairway wood with a high MOI scoop back crown that is very very easy to hit. I bag this same club in my setup and for the sole reason - forgivness. It is easy to launch long and far and has a lot of leeway on mis hits. Katayama is playing the 15*. This is his go to club in narrow fairways and when he needs control down the middle, or to reach those ultra long par 5's in two. An ONOFF Fairway Arms Plus 5 wood occupies Katayama's bag. This 18* club features a square to open face and is made more for control. The Plus however only has a semi-deep face so still provides forgivness that Katayama likes. Also unlike typical all steel fairway woods that are used by most pros the ONOFF Plus features a maraging face which provides great feel. (the Egg 3W he uses I might add uses a Titanium face). Another sign of forgiveness in the bag is Katayama's use of a 21* 7 Wood. This is the last remaining Nike club in his bag. He likes to use the Sasquatch2 instead of a 3 iron as it gives him an easy to hit club that still provides a super soft landing. Katayama is carrying a Cleveland HiBore 4i UT that he has been using for quite some time. In other words he does not carry a 3 or 4 iron! Once again forgiveness is the focus for his bag. ONOFF Plus Forged irons 5-9 iron are Katayama's choice irons. They are definitely more compact than his old Nike OS irons but the ONOFF Plus do provide great feel and balanceｄ forgiveness. He is still experimenting with shafts on his irons now but it seems he may be playing either his black Graphite Design Prototypes or moving on to Roddio iron shafts. Katayama is carrying 3 wedges, all three are signature prototypes from ONOFF based on the Labospec 247 series. A 46* 53* and 59* occupy his bag with the 46* taking the place of his pitching wedge. A Taylormade Rossa Spider ASGI+ makes his putts for him and he now uses the Titleist Pro V1x 2009 ball. As I mentioned above, all his clothes are the very stylish Dance with Dragon and his Asics prototype shoes which are not yet available retail have drawn much interest from golfing enthusiasts worldwide. So there you have it a look into Shingo Katayama's current bag. A very nice JDM bag with a strong emphasis on forgiveness. One can never have enough forgiveness and we should never forget that!

I just received my Taylormade Japan 2009 Custom Clubs binder from TM and FINALLY length adjustments are doable on the TP forged by up to 0.5" either way. Also TM Japan has noted that all custom builds are done one of their Tour Van craftsman from TM Japan. The R9 Max and R9 FW (Japan Spec) are now available with 49 different shaft models including ultra lightweight shafts like the Motore Speeder VC4.0. Custom lengths on all drivers and FW's are also available.

Got a demo coming this week. Will post up the pics when I can take them.

Gold Set MP-R sold.... both sets gone..... finally off to bed.... (^_^)