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via golftoimpress.com There are a plethora of high end golf shafts to choose from in Japan as the top shaft makers here are always introducing new models and OEM's don't hesitate to offer them as upgrades from the factory. Japanese performance shafts are NOT cheap, but the fact is there is demand and a market for them as the Japanese love to tinker and toy with their clubs and the market here really is blown out of whack sometimes when it comes to the cost and amount of money players are willing to spend. Golf Digest Japan recently took a sampling of golfers and asked them why they decided to reshaft their drivers and the results are in the chart below which I originally posted on our brother blog Inpakuto.com: Japanese golfers truly believe the shaft is the engine of the golf club. Getting the right shaft can mean magic and the wrong shaft can mean disaster. Many of the shaft brands have worked hard to capture the "tuning" market in Japan and this has forced brands to make better and better shafts and more and more choice in this fierce segment of golf gear. All this equals more choice for the consumer which is a great thing. Japanese golfers are ready to spend the money. Besides changes in technology and new manufacturing processes, there has been an increase lately in use of higher end carbon in this up and coming premium shaft market. Honma Golf was one of the pioneers in offering models of shafts with different grade carbon, the Honma 5 Star rating system. Honma enthusiasts are well aware of this system where the more stars a shaft has, means the higher the grade and density of carbon used for that shaft. You can see in the table below the difference in dispersion with off center hits and different grade Honma shafts. 5 Star being the highest and 2 star the lowest. So how does carbon grading work? Shafts are created with carbon fibers weaved together, and these fibers are measured by their modulus of elasticity in tension. Typical golf shafts are around 24t or 30t, the measurement of tensile strength. These grade shafts are more flexible and because of this the shaft is slow to regain its original shape on the downswing creating inconsistent impact where a player must rely heavily on timing due to the flexibility of the shaft. As the tensile strength increases the carbon weaves are more dense, more rigid and return more quickly to their original shape. The flex and rebound of the shaft becomes more predictable equaling more consistent shots and much tighter dispersion. The higher tensile ratings ratings in golf shafts also are related to the higher grades containing more glass and metal particles which are more rigid and lower grades containing more flexible rubber particles. Besides Honma Golf, Japan has seen high end shafts with ratings as high as 80t from shaft makers like Axiv, Crazy and Quadra. Most recently top Japanese shaft maker and a brand known worldwide to golfers, Fujikura Shaft released its new Rombax BangVoo in collaboration with golf boutique Muziik. This is the latest player in Japan's Premium shaft market. The BangVoo shaft core uses high modulus triple axis weave 70t rated carbon with high focus on accuracy and explosive distance. Because of its 70t carbon, the BangVoo is predictable, golfers can trust their swing and know that when the BangVoo unloads the head will be right there at impact. Golfers do not need to worry about timing with the BangVoo as it has minimal energy loss and twisting , accelerating on the downswing to create amazing ball speeds at impact. A more accurate shaft equals more distance overall because a player will be in the fairway more often then not. Besides BangVoo's performance strengths, another thing the more rigid high quality carbon brings to the table is true flex. Fujikura has released the BangVoo with CPM ratings which they don't usually do with their other models. Specs have Regular flex being 240cpm and two stiff models being 250 (S2 or SR) and 260cpm (S) and a true X-Flex at 270cpm. This premium shaft comes with a premium price tag at retail of just over $1000.00 but surely because of its price it will sell out in Japan. I had a 240cpm Regular flex sent to me for which you see the pictures I took here. The 240cpm appears to be accurate for a finished club at 45". We just put the shaft in a driver head finished at 45.75" D1.8 and cpm came out to 233cpm at the longer length. Once I do more testing I will talk more about this setup and results. I can't wait to try a $1000.00 shaft. (^_^)

via golftoimpress.com I swung by the Geotech Golf office in Chiba the other day to check out the new offerings for the summer season. I chatted with Kensaku Yaita, Geotech Golf's Chief of Sales (picture above) about these new drivers and what they had to offer. The all new GT455 is the new Geotech flagship driver. The GT455 is a conforming 455cc all titanium driver made for all around performance. Featuring a black PVD finish with dark red accents, the GT455 features Geotech's Gravity Control System with new titanium weights dubbed GT Stabilizer screws. These interchangeable weights allow for the GT455 to be configured for various ball trajectories and draw and fade shots and can add extra weight to the already heavy 205g head. The GT455 comes with a 5g weight in the back and 2 x 2.5g weights, one in the toe and one in the heel. Yaita-san told me that Geotech spent a lot of time working on the design for this head in order to improve on the already best selling Black SP driver. 3D Auto CAD was used to design the head with a focus on creating a head rigid enough to create maximum energy transfer at impact but soft and stable enough to suppress vibrations. Precision titanium casting which has always been one of the strong suits of Geotech (since their Dynamic Golf days), allow them to create a head with consistent and optimal thickness. The slightly deep face and longer head still retain a rather traditional shape but boast very good MOI at 4466gcm2 and a sweet spot 10% larger, and deeper and lower CG than the Black SP. When I asked Yaita-san, what golfer group the GT455 was aimed at, he told me that pretty much anyone could play this driver as it is forgiving enough for the mid to higher handicapper but has enough feel and control for the lower handcapper. (The square face angle on the 9.5 matched with the deeper face and lie of 58* actually make a good athelete model). Yaita-san stressed that the GT455's strengths were balance and distance with a mid trajectory ball. One really cool thing is that Geotech got Ichiro Kanatani (picture at right, a pro and former tour player who does all the video reviews on Golf Digest Japan and one of the most respected golf gear reviewers and commentators in Japan to give his feedback on the GT455. Kanatani liked the shape of the head as it is more traditional and not distracting like some of the larger new high MOI heads can be these days. He noted that the GT455 is very stable at impact and is very forgiving. He thinks Geotech has a winner on their hands with this head along with the matching GT455 Fairway Woods both in design and performance. It's definitely one good looking driver and I can't wait to get my demo next week. The SP Driver, released at the same time as the GT455 is 460cc driver featuring one interchangeable weight screw in the back (4g included) which can control trajectory. Yaita-san said that it is aimed at all levels of players on a budget looking for distance and all around performance. While at the shop I decided to borrow the SP Driver Flighted (11.5*) they had on hand. A very simple and clean look paired with a very traditional shaped head, even though the 11.5* is supposed to be a degree closed, it does not look that way as you can see from the pictures I took below. Those wanting a deep faced, traditional shaped driver, this is it. The face is deep at 59mm tall and the pear shape is sure to please. I hit a few balls with this driver and found it to be very solid and forgiving. The SP produced a mid to higher trajectory and was easy to fade or draw thanks to the deep face which had me tee the ball higher than I usually do (It was like going back to the old Epon 460ZR but with a different more solid feel rather than soft). Great performance at this price as is usually the case with all Geotech clubs!

via our blog at golftoimpress.com Be sure to READ MORE OF THE REVIEW AND CHECK OUT MORE PICS! I've been writing a lot about shafts lately and for good reason. There are just so many good shafts out there to choose from. Today Yamato dropped by and delivered the new Mitsubishi Bassara Griffin that we have been talking about on GTI as well as the highly touted Fujikura Motore Speeder. These two new summer 2009 releases could very well be the shafts of the year. Will these shafts live up to the hype? While the Griffin was just officially released today to big fanfare in Japan, the Motore Speeder has been out now since late April. It was first previewed by us way back in February at the Japan Golf Fair at Tokyo Big Sight. Our initial impression back then was that the had a very nice kick and feel to it though we only had a chance to test it in the nets at the show. Talking with the Fujikura reps at the time they described the Motore Speeder as being a great feel shaft made for distance and most reviews out in Japan seem to have proclaimed the same positive feedback. Fujikura claims that the Japan only Motore Speeder is the most advanced shaft they have ever made, featuring the world's first 7 PLY cross axis design. The Fujikura 7 Axis technology (a special 3 axis design layered with a special 4 axis weave) minimizes energy loss and creates a shaft with little to no rounding during flex. This creates great feel and kick as the shaft unloads with full force creating even more head speed for the golfer. Stability is placed at an equal importance to distance for the Motore Speeder and the shaft produces minimal twisting for accuracy in addition to distance. The Motore Speeder is designed for low spin, high ball speeds and mid to high launch for maximum carry and run out. The Motore Speeder with its feel, gives the impression that it is softer than the Motore F1 which we confirmed that it slightly is. This however does not make it any less accurate because of its design and technology, this is one stable and tight shaft even with all its feel. Using a VC5.0 paired with a forgiving and easy head like my PRGR GN502, creates an automatic driver. Just swing and the Motore Speeder does its work to make sure the head meets the ball flush at impact. I found this to very much be a user friendly shaft with the VC5.0 providing a good kick with a mid to higher trajectory for max carry but still giving good run out. The VC5.0 and 4.0 are definitely the distance models in the Motore Speeder lineup, great shafts for higher handicappers or those slower swingers who want more distance. More advanced players or harder hitters should look to heavier weights and stiffer flexes of the Motore Speeder. If you look at the specs of the entire Motore Speeder lineup you will see that the bend profiles for each model become stiffer overall as weight increases. READ MORE OF THE REVIEW AND CHECK OUT MORE PICS!

Heres a post I did from our golftoimpress.com blog featuring our visit at Gold's Factory. 36 pictures in all that give you a brief impression of our cool visit. CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE PHOTOS HERE! Tourspecgolfer posted up parts ONE & TWO of the Gold's Factory Interview as well as the video he took while we visiting Master Sasaya in his workshop. While TSGolfer was busy taking videos, I had a chance to photo document our visit and here it is for your viewing pleasure! We only had the morning at the shop but learned a lot about how much work is put into hand made and crafted clubs and watched the master in action. Gold's Factory is located in Itabashi, in Tokyo. We took a 10 minute JR train from Shinjuku to JuJo on the Saikyo Line. (I took Chuo to Shinjuku) Jujo is a typical smaller scale Japan Rail Station with two main enterances and exits. The West Exit is the main rotary where cars and buses drive into. Master Sasaya picked us up here. Itabashi is one of Tokyo's 23 Wards and is rather densely populated like most of Tokyo. There are some pretty tight spots for driving and walking. Gold's Factory is tucked away in the Nakajuku block of Itabashi. The workshop is a cozy size with all the tools of the trade needed to produce hand made clubs. Master Sasaya was kind enough to spend the morning with us explaining his machines and techniques. We talked about golf club designs especially putters, wedges and irons of course! CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE PHOTOS HERE!

I still love my G-Shock's.... to each his own tastes (^_^)

Told you that 9003 rocks... its the shaft. Totally the shaft. Just ask Blader-X (^_^)

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.