Pretty cool video from inside Honma's factory

[Golfbaka]

Pretty cool video from inside Honma's factory (in Japanese obviously...)

http://news.golfdige...nel/111004.html

[Vegaman]

When you think about it, Honma is about the only real golf equipment manufacturer there is, making more or less everything in-house and in Japan. casting process, shaft manufacturing..Of course the forged stuff must be outsourced to Endo I guess. But otherwise, for their signature stuff (proprietary casting, shaft rolling) they do it all themselves? What other brand can really claim that? Are there any?

I sometimes feel Honma does not get the respect they deserve. By the way, just for fun I recently picked up a Athport Athlete model driver with the original stiff shaft and it holds up very well to my swing. I'm actually bagging it at the moment, was very pleasantly surprised by it, hitting some really good carry bombs with it. And this is the widely ridiculed Athport stuff, that people sort of think is low budget crap. It's still made right there in Sakata, has a deep face, a really good shaft, and truly excellent finish..Finish-wise it's totally flawless to my eyes, I was half expecting masking mistakes etc etc after reading some stuff on the web.

[Golfbaka]

I really respect Honma. I mean they grew/grow their own persimmon!!

I've always fancied buying a Honma driver but somehow have never been able to pull the trigger.

I had no idea there was so much work by hand involved in making a shaft

[Vegaman]

I bought the Athport on a whim, because it looked great, was more or less in new condition and for not much coin. A good catch!

[+TourSpecGolfer]

When you think about it, Honma is about the only real golf equipment manufacturer there is, making more or less everything in-house and in Japan. casting process, shaft manufacturing..Of course the forged stuff must be outsourced to Endo I guess. But otherwise, for their signature stuff (proprietary casting, shaft rolling) they do it all themselves? What other brand can really claim that? Are there any?

I sometimes feel Honma does not get the respect they deserve. By the way, just for fun I recently picked up a Athport Athlete model driver with the original stiff shaft and it holds up very well to my swing. I'm actually bagging it at the moment, was very pleasantly surprised by it, hitting some really good carry bombs with it. And this is the widely ridiculed Athport stuff, that people sort of think is low budget crap. It's still made right there in Sakata, has a deep face, a really good shaft, and truly excellent finish..Finish-wise it's totally flawless to my eyes, I was half expecting masking mistakes etc etc after reading some stuff on the web.

Honma is an amazing company, A lot of history in Japan's golf market, they produce some of the softest castings ever but many of Honma's Titanium heads & Forgings are made elsewhere, and thats fine. Other brands can claim similar for example Srixon does their own forgings, Endo/Epon literally does there own forgings, Himeji factories... A lot of Honma's stuff is completed in Japan not 100% produced there.

The key is in design + materials + technology. Honma has the facility to create the best clubs but yet they don't. Similar to how S-Yard used to be #1 and still has every capability to become #1 but fell off the map due to some bad design decisions... btw, S-Yard is positioned to make a return with Kobayashi-san now in charge. Good move on their part!

Honma has made the same mistakes, which is a pitty because I would love to see them come back stronger than ever. They do make very solid products, many of which I like a lot. They could really use the help from people like us here at TSG but obviously they cater to a different market. imo Honma has a brand image issue as well. Many think it's for older rich golfers when they have some fairly priced for the technology models for athlete golfers. I love the shape of the Beres Pro Irons but that red sphere gotta go.

When it comes to what you saw on that video with the carbon shaft's the unique thing was the the step near the end where they added their own ARMRQ layer. I understand it's use but haven't felt a major advantage. Really the Mind blowingly awesome shaft manufacturing would be Daiwa's Roddio, hands down the best. Why don't they make the best shafts? because their focus is in an entirely different industry, fishing rods. Hey Roddio! Just release new shaft's already!

Then there is Crazy which does everything you saw in the video there plus a couple more steps and use higher grade base carbon but they don't have that final layer. That layer is supposedly very expensive to make though. not easy either and I believe another Japanese company makes that for them. Not sure if it were Honda or Toyota or something... I forget.

We do have our annual meetings at the factories coming up in a little over a month. If we could compile list of questions to ask the chief engineers and designers that would be cool.

[coops1967]

I didn't realise Honma is a Chinese owned company, since 2010...

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120828a3.html

[EdGolf]

Yes it is and most of the casting are done in China and finished off in Japan (not sure on the forging) but still it's being marketing in China as a high end golf gear and those rich Chinese pays a premium for em - even more than Epon pricing.

I think their strategy to target the rich high-end market in China is the right way to go and they're doing quite a good job from what I can see in the bags of those Chinese golfers in the courses.