206-gti Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 As you all can see I am not a regular poster on this site, but I do visit TSG just about every day. This wonderful competition seemed too good a chance to pass it by. Pictures were taken at the garden of our family function room, where we spent most of our afternoons drinking tea. We named it 'Bamboo Place’ where its scenery and decorations are based on a variety of bamboos. Here's a few shots of the bag on the pathway. The Bag Even though this Tourstage carry bag is quite ordinary but I find it fairly light and spacious, with enough pockets/spaces to fit just about everything a round of golf needs, yet too small for the 6-pack. Overall I’ll give it a 8.5/10. Driver A 9.5 degree Cleveland Hibore Tour B-Head shafted with Fujikura 26.3 X-Flex at 45.5 inches. 2 stripes of lead tape were placed on the back of the club head to create an even lower COG, weights are about 4-5 grams and it added another 2.5 swing weights to the existing D3.5. The tapes gave the club a slighter higher launch and greater feel throughout the swing. The tapes are positioned towards the heel-side of the club head to counter the open face angle. I find this clubs much too sensitive to tee heights, when teed too high it produces too little spin, it falls out of the sky and when teed too low it does not launch high enough. Good thing about this club is the consistency of ball flight pattern; I get mostly straight to slight fade and usually find the fairway. I can’t swing the club as hard as I want, as the shaft is not the most consistent candidate out there and is because of that I do find more fairways but with only so so distance. Overall not the optimal club for me, I’ll give it a 7/10. Hybrid I carry a 19 degree Cleveland Halo to help me airborne with better stopping power when hitting into par 5s. It was re-shafted with N.S.PRO 950 X-Flex at 39.25 inches, as I find steel shaft in hybrids gave me the best feel and since distance was not the primary objective of this club. Swing weighted at D5 so I could get a better feel of the club head. Again the club is lead taped, this time on the toe; the goal is to create some fade bias to counter the slightly closed face and factory draw setting. Overall I’ll give it a 8.5/10. Irons A set of Taylor Made 300 Forged 5-PW shafted with N.S.PRO 1150 Tour in X-Flex. 5 iron length is 37.75 inches. Lie angle is standard and Loft is also standard apart from the pitching wedge that was bent to 47 degrees. 5 iron to 8 iron are swing weighted at D3, 9 iron is swing weighted at D4 and pitching wedge is swing weighted at D5. The 950s that came with the irons where quickly replace by the current 1150s and I’ve never looked back. Both the 3 and 4 irons were left in its original form in the storage room as I don’t really use them here in Taiwan. Courses are shorter and it will not justify the shaft swap. I was told that all JDM 300 Forged irons were forged by Miura, true or not it didn’t bother me. They are soft feeling and do have a great balance between forgiveness and workability. They do however seem to wear quicker than other irons I’ve played in the past. As you may have noticed the irons appear to be satin finished, they indeed are! I didn't have the right tool, so I used sand paper in 3 steps, started from 180 grid to give it the brushed look than the onto 500 grid to smooth the buffed marks a bit and then finished with 2000 grid to blunt the sharp edges. It was a painful 40 minutes per club head, but hey I enjoyed it and it look much better than the original chrome. Even though it’s not the highest quality buff but it does its job of reducing the sun’s glare. Both 9 iron and the pitching wedge are again lead taped on back, their swing weights are D4 and D5 respectively. Aim was to create a slighter heavier swing weight than other irons and produce lower ball-flight. Overall I’ll give them a 8.5/10. Wedges I play a set of Solus wedge 51, 56 and 61 all were re-shafted with N.S.PRO 1050 in S-Flex. Lengths are matched to the irons set where the 51 at 35.25 inches, 56 at 35 inches and 61 at 34.75 inches. Swing weight wise, the 51 at D5, 56 at D6 and 61 at D5. I find these wedge to be real good performers with great versatility around the green. It’s amazingly easy to hit shots out of the bunker and its natural low trajectory is nothing more to ask for. I prefer to play lower chip/pitch shots into the green as I find them more controllable and with the 3 Solus wedges, I have plenty of choices from 100 yards in. I do however feel the 1050s don’t really fit the club too well, I find the 1050 spins less than DGs on chip/pitch shots, and 1050 produces a little too much ballooning shots. Overall I’ll give them a 8.5/10. Putter Taylor Made Monza Corza at 34 inches, even though it’s JDM but I don’t see this club to be any different than the US domestic version. I have added 3 strips of BALANCE-UP lead tapes to the club, one strip cut in half on the back of the face, one strip cut in half placed on either side of the sight line and another strip on the weight ports. I tried to maintain the factory balance as close as I could, without too much bias toward the read or front so I had to apply 3 strips. These tapes are 5 grams each so it brought the total putter head weight to 360 grams. AGSI grooves are something to cheer about, greens here in Taiwan are fairly rough and it requires harder strokes, by doing so it pops the ball quite easily. AGSI effects were most evident at that, the ball rolls much flatter with almost no popping on most occasions. Overall I’ll give it a 9/10. Gloves I use Footjoy F3 for practice and the Nike on course as it fits my hand better. These F3 are comfortable but not durable, I bought a whole bunch of them when they were on sale but I will switch once I run out them. Overall 6/10. The Nikes are made of 100% leather but I’ve forgot the exact model name. As I only uses them during rounds, I can only comment on it performance but not durability. The Nike provided good gripping only when the hand starts to sweat, on the first few holes it usually feels quick slippery. Overall I’ll give it a 7/10. The extra PAIR of Footjoy? Yes, they are made in pairs for the CFOs. As commented by the CFO its ‘all good’, a 9.5/10. Balls Top Flite D2 Feel for par 3s and par 4s while the D2 Distance are used for par 5s. Top Flite have really come a long way since the Stone Age, these D2 are nice feeling with satisfactory distance and spin, of course it’s not PROV1 alike performer but it’s worth every penny. For the money it’s got to be a 10/10. Tees These tees are fairly good nothing to compliant about, it suppose to produce higher launch with lower spin, a 9/10. A box of Honma EXTRA long tees when the ultimate sky high ball flight is needed, I’ve yet to use a single one them; I need a deeper faced driver. Lastly regular wooden tees packed in a TM wrench pouch for iron and hybrid tee shots. Accessories As directed orders by the CFO, sun block and lip balm shall be applied before each round and dry hand wash is there just in case a cut occurs. 3M Micropore tapes are just wonderful for golf as it doesn’t fall apart like most band aids do and they stays on without the stickiness most tapes have. Tiger uses it for his blisters and I use them to look like him…lol, ok seriously I use them for my blisters too! Lastly a packet of spare spikes, I found the Stinger spikes a little too harsh and breaks too easily, a 7/10. My cousin gave me this ball marker as a gift in 2004 and I’ve been using it since. CFO Only 12 clubs you might think, well I have yet found a replacement since I sold my tour V-Steel, maybe I didn't try hard enough. For the time been, CFO’s 8 iron has taken a spot in the bag. Even though she owns the whole set, but since every other club are still in wrappers, so she thought it would be easier for me carry the club for her. Well that's it from me, hope you all have enjoyed that! Jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blader-X Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 TSG - The magazine !! Well written, well illustrated. I knew you fellow TSG'ers wouldn't let us down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzsaw Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Nice pics. The 300 irons are a classic. A great set of irons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha_pro Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 I like your house, it needs a pond though! and I am too ashamed to admit that I play with D2's from time to time as well. I dont like admitting that I buy 15$ balls while I spend thousands on clubs. But I'll suck it up and admit that D2's are pretty good for such a "cheap" ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
206-gti Posted September 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 TSG - The magazine !!Well written, well illustrated. I knew you fellow TSG'ers wouldn't let us down! Cheers Blader-X! Nice pics. The 300 irons are a classic. A great set of irons They sure are, they replaced my G-Field NC1 as I thought NC1's were a little too bulky for my taste. I like your house, it needs a pond though! and I am too ashamed to admit that I play with D2's from time to time as well. I dont like admitting that I buy 15$ balls while I spend thousands on clubs. But I'll suck it up and admit that D2's are pretty good for such a "cheap" ball. A pond sounds good! We might take that into consideration when we re-renovate the garden. I used to play PRO V1X as my primary ball and on some occasions Callaway HX Tour 56's. But these D2's certainly deserves its spot in the bag. Don't feel ashamed! Just enjoy the facial expressions when you take their money, knowing that you ONLY played with the D2's . Jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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