Bridgestone J33 Combos

[dorkman53]

Well, I've had my new J33 Combos long enough to report my impressions without it being an "I got them yesterday, hit them on the range and once on the course and they are the greatest thing since sliced bread" review.

Paul at Shreveport Golf fixed me up with these beauties and put True Temper Tour Concept shafts on them. This combination is perfect in my hands. I previously had Bridgestone/Tourstage TS 202's in Rifles, and they were great clubs. I wanted something with a little thinner sole and more bladelike in the shorter irons. I looked at all sorts of options and combos, but the Bridgestones looked the best to me, and I had hit an X Blade CB once and really liked the feel.

They are quite compact for a CB, and have very low offset as well. The topline is as thin as many blades out there, so they set up beautifully. The leading edge relief makes it easier to hit knockdowns. The feel is very solid and sweet. The Tour Concepts feel great; I can feel them load, yet they are very controllable and precise feeling. I feel they are about as accurate as DG's, but feel better than either Rifles or DG's. The flighted nature of their flex pattern definitely makes long irons easier to hit. My iron accuracy from the tee and fairway has improved with these clubs.

In short, these are great sticks and will be in my bag for a good long time. My TS 202's had previously set the longevity record for this club ho; I suspect the J33's will exceed that duration.......

[bjp1]

I received my J33 Combos from Paul a little over a week/half ago. I had them setup as 4-PW w/Nippon 1050 S. I received them just in time to take them to the range a few days before putting them into competition at Myrtle Beach last week. Needless to say, 1 tourney win later, I'm very happy to report these are winners as well.

I'm going to wait alittle while longer before posting a full review of these irons. But, I can say that there wasn't a single moment that I doubted this purchase. These are really great irons from Bridgestone.

bp

[goldclam]

My J33 combo's arrived early yesterday morning. I've been very excited to test a set of these out after all the reviews I've read. My first impression when I took them out of the box was how nice the thin top line looked, and have the perfect amount of offset, BUT the 9 and PW looked a little big for my taste. I've been playing MR 23 CB's for a year now, and EVERYTHING just looks too big for me. I was hoping they would be a little smaller from heel to toe. The 3-7 irons looked GREAT!!

These one's were a perfect fit to my specs, +1/4" and 2* upright, S300 shafts.

I get to the range feeling a little tight, so I go through my stretching routine fairly quickly b/c I'm anxious to start hitting some PW's. I honestly wasn't too impressed with the PW or the 9 iron. The PW seemed to go a good 5-10 yards shorter than my mr 23's. (I was hitting it about 110 yards) Also fealt a little softer than my mr's, which I'm not sure I liked. They were about the same as far as forgiveness goes.

Now that I'm loosened up a little, I start ripping a few 7 irons. (I only had 15 minutes to get warmed up) I really liked the way the 7 iron set up, looks perfect at address. Also had that same soft feel. Which once again, I'm not sure if I'm a fan of. They weren't as "mushy" as TS-202's, but still didn't have that "click" feeling I prefer. My distance seemed perfect with the 7 iron, around 160ish.

I moved onto the 4 iron quickly and liked this one the best, ON THE RANGE. I hit it very straight with a nice medium ball flight. Going about 190 yards falling from the sky with no roll.

The one thing I like the most on these irons are the soles. They don't dig into the ground at all, and gave me a perfect divot everytime. Sometimes with the mr's, I miss hit them thin, b/c I'm afraid to dig one into the earth!! With these combos, I could really go after it trying to take a deep divot, and it would pick it perfect 9/10 times.

To make a long round short, when I needed to work the ball with the long irons, I had some trouble. Wasn't as easy to draw or fade as my mr's. But could hit them straight VERY easily. Long irons overall were great, except for that softer feeling which most others prefer. As far as the short irons go, I couldn't get comfortable with them all day. My distance control with them was great though. I ended up shooting an even 72 with them, so they worked fairly well I'd say. My last 5 rounds have been, 71, 72, 69, 83, and 72. I've been on fire lately, just don't ask me about that 83!!

I would have no problem keeping these as a backup to my mr 23's, but who really needs 3 back up sets???

If you've never played the "small headed" mr-23's, you might really like these irons. I'm just so used to the tiny head size, nothing else looks right to me.

[dorkman53]

The more I play them, they just go from "betterer" to "bestest".