New to Japan Irons - Need Advice

[nfjdm]

Hi Guys,

I am new to the forum and Japan irons in general. Have read through the archives and of-course the informative reviews here.

I am around 18 handicap and would like to buy a nice set of Forged irons.

My requirements are: Forgiving (very important), Not big fat cheese blocks (I like thinner top lines), good feel.

Probably I will go for graphite shafts in regular flex (I am not a heavy swinger) and I do not take divots (more of a sweeper). Sole grind and golf shaft is important imo.

My iron striking is inconsistent with most misses around the toe. So I need an iron that can help out with mis**ts in that area.

I also have limited budget so am looking at older irons.

My list so far (in order of preference):

2009 OnOff Plus Forged (or should I be looking at another year?)

2009 TM Burner Forged

Callaway Legacy Black (I don't know which year to go for)

Yamaha V-Forged (don't know which year to go for)

I can't try any of these and would have to buy via internet so am depending on those who have gamed these to give me some feedback.Thanks.

[magpies]

Well there are really loads of information that can be found here. I think onoff 2011 or 2013 is a really good bet.

[Bravo36]

I second the Onoff 2013's. Brought my handicap down from double digits to a solid 7 at the moment. Can't say enough good things about them.

[Ian-500]

Hi Guys,

I am new to the forum and Japan irons in general. Have read through the archives and of-course the informative reviews here.

I am around 18 handicap and would like to buy a nice set of Forged irons.

My requirements are: Forgiving (very important), Not big fat cheese blocks (I like thinner top lines), good feel.

Probably I will go for graphite shafts in regular flex (I am not a heavy swinger) and I do not take divots (more of a sweeper). Sole grind and golf shaft is important imo.

My iron striking is inconsistent with most misses around the toe. So I need an iron that can help out with mis**ts in that area.

I also have limited budget so am looking at older irons.

My list so far (in order of preference):

2009 OnOff Plus Forged (or should I be looking at another year?)

2009 TM Burner Forged

Callaway Legacy Black (I don't know which year to go for)

Yamaha V-Forged (don't know which year to go for)

I can't try any of these and would have to buy via internet so am depending on those who have gamed these to give me some feedback.Thanks.

I think all of your choices are good, except replace the OnOff 2009 for the 2011/2013 version, just on looks alone.

I've gamed the OnOff 2013 Forged, Yamaha 2010 and 2011 V-Forged Tour Model and now game the TM Burner Forged, all with graphite shafts. I can't recommend these 4 highly enough. Possibly the OnOff is the softer feeling and is ever so slightly more forgiving of the 4, and they had Steelfibre i95' shafts. For some reason (maybe my swing has changed), the Burners with Bassara i315 stiff (74g) shafts have the lower ball-flight. Quite an eye opener. Both of the Yamaha' had Quadra 100i stiff, but the 2011 were un-tipped and had the higher ball-flight of the 4.

I'd add the S-Yard GT-Type S to the list too. It's probably the least forgiving of all my recommendations, but felt great with Roddio i-10sx shafts. Nice penetrating ball-flight.

Let me know if you want anymore info on the above. I play off 16 hcp.

Good luck with your search, it'll be fun :)

Edited April 24, 2016 by Ian-500

[nfjdm]

Thanks for the replies!

I went through the archives but it was difficult to gauge which irons are truly forgiving because what is forgiving to a 5 handicap is different from what is forgiving to an 18 handicap.

Thats why I gave as much info about my swing etc

I was looking at the older models as they are cheaper.

Forgiveness is more important than feel, but I want it in a "players style" package (no cheese blocks or thick top lines). Which is why I turned to Japan Golf Irons.

Will stick with Regular shaft due to my slower swing speed and moderate tempo. I hope the OnOff and Yamaha factory graphite shafts are good.

The 2013 OnOff sounds great but above my budget so I will look at the 2010 V-Tour or 2011 OnOff Forged.

I hope they are forgiving on toe mis**ts. Which is where I usually miss when my swing is off.

The only non-Japan iron that is also interesting is the Nike Covert 2.0 Forged.

Ian-500 - since you game the Burner Forged, is there any difference betwen the 2008 and 2009 models? I like the silver look of the 2009 over the matt/colour look of the 2008. But I wonder if the playability is also changed between the two versions or is it only cosmetics? The 2008 is significantly cheaper.

Edited April 24, 2016 by nfjdm

[Ian-500]

Sorry man but I don't know if there's any difference between them apart from the finish. What I can say is that on the web site I bought mine from, there wasn't much difference in price between them, so save a little more cash and get the satin finish

[nfjdm]

Ok thanks again.

I'm reading lots of different things (in the forum archive) about the V-Tours (e.g. that the 2012 were the easiest to hit, the 2011 were the most difficult and the 2010 were ok). Lots of different opinions.

The Burner Forged are so sweet looking but I have found no reviews on these irons anywhere.

The OnOff get consistently good reviews and a couple of mid-handicappers on this very thread recommend them. So this seems like the best choice.

On reading reviews it seems the 2011 OnOff are larger (more forgiving?). The 2013 are smaller (less forgiving)?

Anyone can confirm this? Anyone gamed both the 2011 and 2013 and can give some definite feedback on forgiveness between both irons?

The 2011 is more affordable so I am leaning towards them ... unless the 2013 are a quantum leap better. Then I save some more and buy those.

Edited April 25, 2016 by nfjdm

[rsenal]

I would echo everyone's sentiments and go for the onoffs.. Good combo of feel and forgiveness.. Theres a bunch of other good sets on offer in the bst forum. Not sure if its still around but i saw the onoff rb247 on sale. Though not forged but its forgiveness and non-chunky appearance are a good trade off.

[rsenal]

.

Edited April 26, 2016 by rsenal

[nfjdm]

Thanks, I didn't even know about the RB247 golf irons, will look into those.

[nfjdm]

So I am over-thinking this too much and keep finding new brands and models that are interesting.
Have just decided to order 2 sets - OnOff 2011 (bigger than 2013 version so hopefully more forgiving) and probably a V-Forged (2010).

Will give them a go and if they don't work then they go to the BST and I choose another ...

Instead of focusing on the model I am going to focus on the graphite shaft that I get in them

I keep seeing a steel shaft called "S200" in Callaway Legacy and also Yamaha V-Forged.

Its not listed on the True Temper website.
Supposedly a "tour" shaft? How stiff is this compared to a DGS300?

My preferred shaft flex is usually R or SR.

If anyone has any suggestions for a good JDM brand-name graphite shaft (for the above 2 irons) it'd be appreciated.
(Already read about Roddio but can't afford them).

[Ian-500]

Are the S200 Japan/Asia only?

[+TourSpecGolfer]

S200s are a Japan shaft they are the most common stock shaft in Japan along side the NS950's. you can get them almost free as pulls.

I think your doing it right, just keep trying and learning what you play best with.

[supo]

ok don't buy the yanmaha tour irons

.... look at the yamah non tour , oor yamaah forged 2009.

if uwant a forgivning head with great looks, playability and great feel as all rounders for along time these are terrirfic, everyone can play these heads, fomr +5 to 27

my personal all round non tour looking head for ever.

[nfjdm]

Thanks for the replies.

Anyone can give some details/specs on the S200 shaft?

Is it just a lighter version of DGS300 or is it a X-Stiff tour players shaft?

Which NSPro series shaft would it compare to?

[LudaCliff]

Thanks for the replies.

Anyone can give some details/specs on the S200 shaft?

Is it just a lighter version of DGS300 or is it a X-Stiff tour players shaft?

Which NSPro series shaft would it compare to?

Dynamic Gold shafts are weight sorted. Shafts that meet their "standard" stiff flex weight spec are sorted as S300. Shafts that are a few grams heavier than spec are sorted S400. Shafts that are a few grams lighter than spec are sorted as S200. Same thing follows for the regular flex DG, R200/R300/R400. X-Stiff is X100 (which is actually ~2g lighter than S400).

As for comparing the DG S200 to the similar NS Pro shaft, although I have not tried it, I would probably think the Modus 125 would match closest in terms of weight and ball flight. As for feel, they probably will be very different from each other, others can probably chime in more on this.

[nfjdm]

LudaCliff - Thanks for the detailed explanation, very much appreciated!

[nfjdm]

Found this on the Memphis 10 DB Uniflex shaft:

110g

1.9 torque