gocchin

Yes the N-16 and Classic are both forged in Japan as are the GT Special Grind, Tour and KA-1 wedges. The EK and Prorotype 670HC and Limited are both from　Japan as well.

All these drivers are great recommendations but the bottom line is which driver will be the longest for you? What kind of a player are you? Different drivers target different players and the longest driver for player A will not be the longest driver for player B. As many noted the shaft makes a humongous difference as well. I always tell everyone there is no such thing as THE longest driver. If there was I am sure every golfer would be buying it. (^_^) Its about finding the right shaft head combo that will work for you. Do you care about trajectory, whether it is fade or draw biased, low spin, traditional shaped etc? How important is forgiveness for you? What handicap are you and how far do you carry your Sumo? Got a bad shot?

If you want easy you should be trying the J-Spec II, it is not much bigger than the V4 but very very easy to hit. Classifed as automatic it is just swing and spin to the pin. The TR500 is a bit old at over 2 years. Bounce is lower though.

Let us know how it goes B. (^_^)

B and B, they are in fact a silvery gray like this: As for performance, they are specifically designed for FW's so not exactly like the EV nor exactly like the 9003's. I would say a combination of both depending on the weight. The heavier weights have really low torque with a big big focus on control and accuracy, while the lighter weights focus on stable performance. They most likely launch higher than the EV series because the SF is made for an FW, it creates a balanced amount of spin for launch and a relatively soft landing. The spin will bring the trajectory higher. So spin aside, control and feel wise the lighter weights probably more resemble the EV series while the heavier weights resemble the 9003 line. Keep in mind also that these shafts are really meant for shorter Fairway woods (raw length 42" uncut). The thinking is that with 3 woods pretty much at around 43", a driver shaft can be installed and still maintain much of its performance characteristics, however when you install the longer shaft in say a 42" or shorter club, it has an affect on it's flex point and balance. So GD touts these shafts as stable big strong carry without ballooning.

Everybody's feedback is spot with the testers in Japan. Higher launch, lower spin. Low torque for control, yet still a good kick. This is the shaft of choice in Japan for these reasons now.

There is not center shaft or short slant itsy bitsy usa model.

Whoops you are right that would be onset not offset (as that would be the hosel forward). I should stick to Crew's terms, BIG Face Progression. (^_^) Definitely not rocket science. Pretty much common sense. So far the driver feels great.

I actually have them on the last loop hole. I can adjust them tighter so they don't touch. But most Tour bags with 3 point harness will touch cause they latch at the bottom of the bag.

It is more forgiving R. Then again it is also a touch larger. The maraging face feels very good. The reason why many manufacturers are using maraging now is that it is not as hard as SUS but and as tingy as Ti and can be made very thin equaling feel and performance. Yeah that is my towel. Thanks for that. (^_^)

But those wedges are JDM! I am going for improving my game this year so I have carefully selected gear that not only looks good but will bring my score down and make me a better golfer. I gotta stop fooling myself into thinking I can play all the athlete level gear I test and play real clubs that suit my game. (^_^)

They call them black but I'd have to say they are almost smoked as from some angles they do look plain silver and are not that dark. Nice shaft though. I think this finish is only available on the wedge shaft for now.

Initial impressions were similar to you C, I was kind of taken back by the design but looks aside, it feels real good and has a nice trajectory to it (in part to the kai'li as well I'm sure). I cannot quite figure what level of player this is targeting, the head shape and offset say higher handicapper, but the CG placement and face shape plus SQUARE to 1.0* open face and shaft options say better player. I think it is a hybrid driver in between at this point.

Of course this may change but　at the moment I have overhauled my bag. Am thinking of a new Gold's putter but at the moment the JDM center shaft Itsy Bitsy is working. GN502 Irons are more forgiving than the AF-701 and feel very good with the maraging face. I am thrilled with the PRGR Drivers and woods. I am actually hitting the T3 502 Silver but I thought the GN502 Tour looked better in the bag so I took pics with that. (^_^) Verdict is still out on the TVD, I personally wish they had more bounce as the courses here in Japan are lush.

So Crew's Golf has introduced their new Hammer driver to replace the Tour Link D460. They have decided to come out with something very different along the lines of an offset driver. However we are talking about a lot of offset here and the thinking is if you use a hammer to hit a nail, is it easier if the shaft of the hammer is right on the edge of the hammer head or do you have more control if the shaft of the hammer is more towards the center? Of course the answer is towards the center and this is what Crew's has done. At the same time they have created a forgiving larger MOI style head but the center of gravity is not as deep and more forward. So you have an ultra forgiving, easy to square driver that launches it lower. An additional weight port in the back and inner weight helps increase MOI and reduce energy loss. At first I thought the driver looked weird with the face foward like that. I hit it two days in a row now and it is very easy to square up and very forgiving. What surprised me the most was the feel. It almost feels Epon 460ZR like, that soft almost sponge like slingshot. My demo was shafted with the Kai'li which is a superb feeling shaft but the hammer will also be available with almost all GD shafts as upgrade in addition to 50 and 60g Hammer stock shafts.

TP Forged standard shafted sets begins shipping next week! (^_^)

I spoke to a PRGR rep today and he noted that on the monitor this tour driver was producing very high ball speeds, the highest they have seen from any PRGR driver. Coupled with the lower launch and low spin it is turning out to be quite some distance. I asked him to send me data from the PRGR analysis computer cause these numbers are always interesting to see. The ball definitely shoots off the face. I'm going to the range again tomorrow morning to test it further.

I am guessing they would though I have not compared the R9 FCT sleeve and the R9 Max FCT sleeve. They have different levels of adjustment as noted above but I don't know if that physically changes the FCT sleeve itself. I will compare the two shafts and sleeves later this week.

That's odd I thought I had posted that one. I will have to dig it up.

Glad to report these are very easy to hit and spin very well. Balls drop and stop just the way you guys like it. (^_^)

Of course the ball trajectory changes because the loft changes (^_^). The stock shaft is a lighter more feel Japanese market version of the Motore. I spent time at the range with the driver today and the overall heavier weight was not an issue for me, if anything it just slowed my tempo somewhat. Feel of the R9 Max reminded me of the 2007 Burner driver in a good way. I hit the driver on 3* closed and 12* loft and the ball definitely went high and left. I then hit it on 3* open and 9* loft and the ball was lower and right so yes FCT works. (^_^) The shaft feels pretty good and the driver has good balance even with the added weight of FCT. As for differences between the R9 and R9 Max, I'll put them here again: 1. The R9 Max is 460cc large and is meant to be more forgiving than its 420cc R9 brother. The larger head inspires confidence for those who need it. 2. The R9 Max has only one weight port but has a larger left right spread than the R9 thanks to its ability to adjust face angle by 3* either way. 3. With the 3* face angle either way, effective loft is changed 1.5* stronger or weaker. (TM has used the simple calculation, every 1* the face angle is changed equals 0.5* for loft. 4. The stock Motore shaft for the R9 Max is lighter than the US Spec R9 by 10+ grams. The R9 drivers are heavier as it is. The lighter shaft is good for feel and distance for us average folks. 5. The best upgrades are available for the R9 Max and R9 Japan Market drivers including the Tour AD EV series, Diamana Kai'li and very hot Fujikura Speeder Motore. More shafts are on the way.

The crown for me works, for some reason I can always strike a PRGR driver well. The crown also contributes to the feel which is great. I hit both 502 Tour and 502 Silver side by side today and both have that great pop ofｆ the face. However trajectory is night and day. The Tour is a low bullet and the Silver is definitely high launch. Surprisingly the Tour feels just as forgiving as the standard Silver, with just different flight characteristics and a cleaner head.

Brett is still around. He is busy with his teaching. All the videos have been moved here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TourSpecGolfer

One of the clubs that arrived Saturday was a new R9 Max. It's my first time playing with Flight Control Technology and as simple as the concept seems it took me a while to figure out that adjusting the face angle also changed the effective loft. The first thing I wanted to do was change the loft and I was thinking how do I do that with neutral left and right?? (^_^) Technically speaking for every degree you change the face angle, you also change the effective loft by 0.6*. For ease of calculation, TM has decided on a 1 to 0.5 change ie the R9 Max goes a max of 3* open or closed so that would change the loft by 1.5*. There are also 1.5* increments in the FCT for face angle. Here are the pics I took today. The Pic that says Neutral Face angle should say 10.5 degree loft.

This week. (^_^)