43 minutes ago, golftech said:

I received demo’s the TW-737 V irons in the UK. I noticed their pricing was twice the price as I’d seen in California.  The UK shop contacted their EU Honma distributor who claims that EU Honma 737’s are Japanese forged vs US 737’s are Chinese forged.  They claim that accounts for twice the price.  Since I’ve read on multiple websites that Honma isn’t forging the TW737 at all in Japan, I wanted to check on here. 

 

100% false.

I was part of Honmas most recent round of funding with morgan stanley. Trust that I know whats going on,  who gets canned and why among other sensitive details.  Honma is made by OTA in China for the most part. 

There are no Japan Forged 737s

Honma should be transparent and rename the stamp to "assembled in Sakata, Japan". Apple does the same "Designed in California, assembled in China" and it doesn't impact their sales one bit.

At the end of the day golf club heads are made by machines, not hand forged, so a well trained machinist will be the same in china or japan. Personally I do not have an issue where the parts are manufactured as long as they meet stringent standards/tolerances.

Clubmaking, however, is where the difference lies. The assembly and grinding/finishing of the club makes a huge difference and that's where i would be willing to pay a bit more.

But i agree with the overall sentiment about JDM branding - if the club is not 100% made in Japan they cannot say it because consumers pays a premium for it.

Having said that I still love my TW717 driver, 717MBs and TW-U. They are a quality product regardless if where it was made.