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Fourteen Forged TC770 2006 version


panicmotion

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Hey guys,

I know these clubs are old but I figured some of you have gamed these in the past. My brother came across a set of these and they are in transit as I type this. He was wondering what to expect of these clubs. I've done some searches on here and there are some pretty great reviews of it in 2007, but that was four years ago. He's currently playing some Scratch AR-1 irons and if any of you have any experience with these in comparison to one another, comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Hey guys,

I know these clubs are old but I figured some of you have gamed these in the past. My brother came across a set of these and they are in transit as I type this. He was wondering what to expect of these clubs. I've done some searches on here and there are some pretty great reviews of it in 2007, but that was four years ago. He's currently playing some Scratch AR-1 irons and if any of you have any experience with these in comparison to one another, comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Sold mine early this year, really soft feel and quite forgiving, I am sure your brother will be very happy.

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So, I brought these to my clubmaker with some taper tip shafts, and he told me these heads take parallel tip shafts.

Just measure the depth of the hosel with a thin pencil or toothpick. Stick your shaft in the hosel and compare depth. parallel tip shafts will not be able to reach the end of a taper tip hosel. Taper tip shafts come out a bit loose in a parallel hosel.

Some clubmakers have a tiny tool that identifies hosels. It's cheap but not all that common as it's not all that needed. However, it has it's uses for some. It not only identifies the type of shaft needed but also the tip size.

Shambles

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It's parallel. He said he stuck a parallel tip shaft in there and it fit like a glove. Man, I wish there was more information about these irons on the Internet. Shouldn't be so hard to find specs

Some specs can be found on the Fourteen website.

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Yeah, but its just their current models, and doesn't list hosel size anywhere.

You need to go to the Fourteen Japan Web site not the USA one, it has all the specs of the past models, here is a link; http://www.fourteen....tyle/hist.shtml, unfortunately you may need to translate.

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It's parallel. He said he stuck a parallel tip shaft in there and it fit like a glove. Man, I wish there was more information about these irons on the Internet. Shouldn't be so hard to find specs

Does the shaft go all the way in ? Parallel fits well but fails to reach bottom when the taper becomes narrow enough. Taper tips go deeper, which would be indicative that the hosel was prepared to receive a taper tip shaft. You can verify this yourself by testing the depth with a pencil or even a toothpick and comparing how much of it goes in compared to the parallel tip shaft.

I don't mean to be picky but I too am rather surprised as parallel tips are rare to my experience which is, admittedly, not very much with Japanese made clubs. If the shaft does not insert fully, you could end up with a more active tip fitting which would make the ball fly a bit higher and the shaft subjectively play a bit softer. Not a critical difference unless it takes away the characteristic you want. I'm of the opinion a lot of players could benefit from slightly softer shafts but want to have that S designation to project a clubhouse image.

Shambles

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Well, I finally got a hold of someone at Fourteen golf after getting their voicemail like a million times, and the gentleman who helped me told me that both the 2006 and the newer version both take parallel shafts. Mystery solved.

Does the shaft go all the way in ? Parallel fits well but fails to reach bottom when the taper becomes narrow enough. Taper tips go deeper, which would be indicative that the hosel was prepared to receive a taper tip shaft. You can verify this yourself by testing the depth with a pencil or even a toothpick and comparing how much of it goes in compared to the parallel tip shaft.

I don't mean to be picky but I too am rather surprised as parallel tips are rare to my experience which is, admittedly, not very much with Japanese made clubs. If the shaft does not insert fully, you could end up with a more active tip fitting which would make the ball fly a bit higher and the shaft subjectively play a bit softer. Not a critical difference unless it takes away the characteristic you want. I'm of the opinion a lot of players could benefit from slightly softer shafts but want to have that S designation to project a clubhouse image.

Shambles

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Well, I finally got a hold of someone at Fourteen golf after getting their voicemail like a million times, and the gentleman who helped me told me that both the 2006 and the newer version both take parallel shafts. Mystery solved.

Yup.

I'm now left wondering how that set plays compared to taper tips. By my theory, with absolutely no qualifications for the theory, and therefore no authority, it should play a little tip stiffer than a taper tip if only for the difference. I really have no basis for this so it's probably best left ignored. It just makes sense to me that that set should play a little lower and therefore should be more fit for a higher swing speed. The weakness of this theory is that pretty much the same tip stiffness, or even more, can be achieved with some judicious tipping.

Please post if that set plays like a ballet dancer on her toes, meaning it takes very little effort to bend the ball either way and all the shots are very subtle. I have the TC 1000 and my set can best be described as playing that way. A fine set but it takes a very good golfer to play it and he needs to like subtle controls. My set is currently retired for a future return of the comeback, if ever.

Shambles

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Should play a little tip stiffer. Not a club expert my any means, but have a degree in structural engineering and it just makes sense that it should. Well, it's based on the fact the section modulus of a member with a greater distance to it's centroid will always be higher than one with a lesser distance. Now, whether or not it's noticable, that's the question.

My issue and irritations is the fact that this information is not readily available. I mean, you can google anything and almost always find an answer to your inquiry. I can't believe trying to find a tip diameter for a certain golf club was like trying to find the fountain of youth.

Yup.

I'm now left wondering how that set plays compared to taper tips. By my theory, with absolutely no qualifications for the theory, and therefore no authority, it should play a little tip stiffer than a taper tip if only for the difference. I really have no basis for this so it's probably best left ignored. It just makes sense to me that that set should play a little lower and therefore should be more fit for a higher swing speed. The weakness of this theory is that pretty much the same tip stiffness, or even more, can be achieved with some judicious tipping.

Please post if that set plays like a ballet dancer on her toes, meaning it takes very little effort to bend the ball either way and all the shots are very subtle. I have the TC 1000 and my set can best be described as playing that way. A fine set but it takes a very good golfer to play it and he needs to like subtle controls. My set is currently retired for a future return of the comeback, if ever.

Shambles

Edited by kuyaariel
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  • 2 weeks later...

Kuya,

It sounds like you came a cross a set that was originally shafted with graphite shafts. I have an uncle who uses graphite shafted Fourteens and they take parallel tips (the "370" designation on the shaft seems to confirm that).

I have had 4 sets of Fourteens.

The 3 that had steel shafts have been taper tip and not loose fits at all.

The 4th was an older set of blades bought used and had parallel shafts. Those could have been a reshaft job though.

I do not know if Fourteen subscribes to the older Honma theory of using heavier heads for graphite/lighter shafts to keep playing length between graphite and steel the same and not have the swingweights out of whack. It would be good to weigh the heads when they get in just in case you may have to reshaft to lightweight steel to keep overall and swingweight manageable.

I reshafted a set of those older graphite shafted Honmas to steel/DG and the swingweights went from D2 to Esomething and almost unplayable.

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