For Once and For All

[Above_Beyond]

Disclaimer (Almost like my SEC declaration of holdings and intent!): I do in fact own 3 Honma wedges and One Honma Driver. All custom fitted and built (yes with only the 2-star (aka. not-so-ballin Honma treatment - (im just a student!)))

The simple fact: I was thoroughly unimpressed with all of my experiences with Honma - especially w.r.t. the price to performance ratio.

The Question: What gives? What am I missing? Why such a high price? I dont see many people on this site gaming the gear.. Give me some feedback?

[Eca]

This is gonna be interesting if there are responses from people in the know.. It wasn't til last year I come across a set of honma irons more expensive than my car.

[Kiwitown]

Correct me if im wrong, but about 6 years ago the Pro at highlands golf club had acouple of sets in his shop and was tellimg me how good and exclusive they were!! Now i don't know about anyone else but $3500 bucks was the price for what i thought was one off the ugliest sets of clubs i had ever seen. Im one of these people who buy clubs on how they look when standing over them as well as how good they are. And ive yet to see anice set of honmas.....

please do't be offended if your a Honma Fan!

[idrive]

IMO,

It's all about bling.

You can't forge a better iron than an Epon, Yururi to name a few...

but you can have a name and bling....

Kind of like cars...some are more expensive than others.... in the end they're just cars....

But the culture in a lot of the golf world outside of the U.S., it's all about bling.

Doesn't matter if you can play well, it's about having the most expensive, most

bad ass (best) clubs.

Also, doesn't matter whose clubs you buy/use. If they are not the right set up they're

not going to work well. Sometimes, in this case, the most expensive may not

always be better.

I could elaborate... someone else??

[supo]

theres a honma shop near my office.

honma only fitting shafts the whle shebang

i pass it everytime igo th e bar to discuss the problems of the world.

stop in have a peek inside most nights.

they have a cpl of sets of gold clubs under lock and key

and im sure hte shachos around town buy them

everything i see in there doenst look good for golf, it looks good for trophy.

imsure honma arnt making clubs for "golfers"

the exception to this is hte driver i hit at the tokyo show was good!

and that shaft the stock armq was good.

the irons

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

fagettabarrrrrrrrrrrtit

[Eca]

There's a cheap one on EBAY US only US$30,000 for a set of irons. Must have auto pilot/swing mode.

I agree with idrive's Car comment. If you have too much money why buy a GTR if you can buy a Ferrari with your pocket change.

Above_beyond, what made you buy this gear especially since you're a student? Was it the common case of "it's expensive so it must be better"? I say common because we all have thought that one way or another.

[Vegaman]

I have seen some newer Honma drivers that look pretty good, just the other day I waggled the TW914 and that seemed like more of a hard hitters club, and I really liked the look of it. The shaft felt very solid as well. But usually the Honma stuff is ultralight, with wet noodle shafts. Even when the shaft is rated as "stiff" it feel more like "ladies" flex. A seller inside the Honma shop in Bangkok actually told me that their focus is "wealthy senior asian golfers" and that it would be a terrible "loss of face" to play a Ladies or Senior flex shaft, and so the have to put at least an "R" or better still an "S" so they can feel powerful and good about themselves. Isnt there a pretty popular japanese shaft maker that offers a "royal flex" shaft? Talk about kidding oneself.

I guess thats also why I always see asian senior guys (including the local thai "Big faces") coming to Phuket for some golf insisting on playing from the "pro" tees as they are called here, that is the back tees, even though they cant hit driver farther than I hit a 6-iron, and i dont even play from the back tees most of the time.

Katana is even worse, they have R, R2, S, S1, S2 flexes...

So for a certain wealthy group of players here in Asia, its all about face and so you have certain brands that are catering to this particular need. Even though they also offer some other stuff, I am very impressed with the look, inventiveness and tech of those new Honma wedges for example. Id like to try one of those. And the TW914 driver too

[+TourSpecGolfer]

We actually sell a lot of Honma, not to the forum type though. There is some stuff that's geared toward the better player, The new revolution stuff performs well BUT the damn colors get me. The pro's play a black prototype honma revolution models while the customers get colorful versions.

Sakata studio's is where many Honma clubs are finished. It's not 100% made in Japan from what I understand. Sakata is a famous casting factory. They don't do forgings.

[Spoon]

well to some it up Honma especially the 5 star models are a status symbol.

the more stars you have the more bling factor you got. mostly older chaps, politicians

and generals game them where i am from. Also they would make expensive gifts

for Ceos and Vips and i know for a fact that the 5 stars are relaible gifts if you want

to get the job done or what to impress someone:)

as good as they are( some of them pretty good) , you wont see serious jdm fanatics

gaming these. the more serious ones who know there golf wont see the point in gold inlay

and the level of customization bling honma can dish out.

and i have seen 4-5 star honma users that cant break 100 and dont know what torque

and lie angle is. its all about the bling as Idrive mentioned

[Duffer19]

You have to look beyond the bling and judge for yourself about the playability of each model. The Beres line such as 8 and 9 series are quite 'quiet' and very decent clubs.

[FrankThong]

I am almost embarrassed to say that I've played Honmas for the past umm... 20+ years. My first set was the 708 blades in the late 80s; after that, the 708s became CBs and I've had 3 sets after that. My last was a 4-star set, which also was the last model of the 708 that Honma made. I've also used Honma drivers and fairway woods. In hindsight, I must say that the 708s served me well. It got ridiculous some time when they introduced the Beres. It's like they changed designer; suddenly, all the irons looked like gilded hockey sticks! I still have friends who use old Honmas; one of whom plays with a 5-star set and he carries his bag everywhere he goes, quite funny.

[Above_Beyond]

Yeah it was one of those moments where you realize you can buy a ferrari... so why not buy a ferrari. My research is based around investment finance so naturally I spend almost every waking hour trading (oh the joy in the past year...). At any rate I had made a fairly large sum of money in the weeks preceding the purchase and decided... why not. Horrible rational... and yet I think you are kind of right. I have a rack of clubs on my cramped little office wall of clubs (that I dont usually play), and the Honmas are definitely there... some sort of useless trophy.

[Shambles]

I don't think Honmas are all about bling.

I know one person who is pretty much a single digit who was playing a set last time I looked in his bag, another who was not all that good and a third who was reasonable. All are private reasonably comfortable individuals who bought their sets and play them regularly. I always thought they were expensive because the shafts were in house made, but as I was doing good with my Pings, I was disinclined to spend the money for a set of my own.

I've seen Honmas in the hands of the competent and also the incompetent and the only thing their owners had in common was the willingness to spend the money for something they wanted. Not really much different from myself these days. The only real difference being my self imposed ceiling. I've also had recent opportunities for some Honmas but they were, thankfully, not fit for my low level of competence. A less important reason for my disinclination is that I always thought Honmas were not worth the cost without the in house graphite shafts and I prefer to play steel shafts where Irons are concerned.

The Honmas I've seen were rather demanding of higher skill levels than I can claim, much higher. The heads of the irons were small, demanding much precision and they did produce some great shots but punished the poor swings gleefully. I doubt any clubs will make you a single digit on their own, but if the set suits your eye, your chances of improvement are much improved.

Shambles

[Above_Beyond]

For sure, this thread was not intended as a statement that all Honma clubs are crap and the people who play them idiots etc. (as I said - I have a few Honma clubs myself) -- Not my intent at all.

As my sig. says - "Look into your heart, and play w/e the hell makes you happy" whether that be honma, yururi, geotech or an old boot strapped to a stick with some floss.

I just wanted to hear about peoples experiences, the good and the bad. We cant put any club up on a pedestal an proclaim it to be great and beyond question.. (like people seem to do with religion...but thats a different topic)

Though I feel like anyone who questions GF or Epon on this forum might be in for a thrashing lol.

[jamnguy1]

I have a rack of clubs on my cramped little office wall of clubs (that I dont usually play), and the Honmas are definitely there... some sort of useless trophy.

Honma has some of the best stock graphite shafts you can get albeit they all play softer than flex. Some of the forged irons were not the equal of companies like epon and tourstage. But there are still lots of good Honma/Beres stuff and quite easy to hit.

Ultimately, it's what ever fits the player.

I have a garage full of clubs, you name it, epon, tourstage, miura, honma, prgr, royal collection, etc., that just sits there. But I wouldn't call it trophies.

Edited April 6, 2011 by jamnguy1

[MatthewC]

Honma's are very popular due to their name status and good performance. The 2 & 3 star are fairly affordable and they do get blingy as you get to the 4 & 5 star, but you really are paying for the high end shaft and not the bling.

[Jerry in China]

i used to use a Honma set.

Steel shafted 803. The head is pretty big. It is not a better player's set. It is like burner or so. High launch. Pretty good club. Very forgiving and long. The old 801 has a very good control

I use honma 7 driver. Very long. Very good ball flight. 3 star. I like the 710. The 813 driver is pretty hard. The stiff shaft is pretty stiff. I use the 7 to get a light driver for faster speed.

I like those clubs. and I did very good with them.

Do not get me wrong, I am not a senior player. Now, I am using Epon AF-Tour + KBS. And using Ryoma + Crazy LY Black Hot 7.4.

So honma is not that bad. Esp for the normal sets. The 4,5 stars are for those who want to buy gold color. Just because they offered this line for the highend market. That's it