JBeam ZY-7 Driver!

[+TourSpecGolfer]

The JBEAM ZY-7 Driver Pre-order bank is now officially open at TourSpecGolf! You may contact us directly via email for a custom build [email protected] or purchase directly from the TSG ProShop listing that will launch tomorrow. This driver is only available via specialty JBeam dealers like TSG.

A little background on why the new ZY-7 is such a highly anticipated driver. J-Beam has been known to produce some of the best and longest drivers in all of Japan many of their models have unique spin reduction and launch characteristics. Many brands like Crazy, TRPX and others have sought to collaborate with Jbeam seeking similar performance in their clubs. This new ZY-7 is being used on the Japan Long Drive Tour by JBEAM sponsored player Yasuhiro Yamazaki as a prototype already securing him the top spot twice in his last two events.

The history of Jbeam's drivers date back more than 30 years where Mr. Kazuhiro-san the father of the current president shown below was a persimmon driver artisan famous in Japan, for years Kazuhiro-san watched his father meticulously grind wooden heads to the specifications of many of Japan's best professional players. Kazuhiro-san has taken much of what his father has taught him and incorporated modern technology and his personal philosophy on how to create maximum distance for many types of players.

The ZY Series driver was originally unveiled as the ZY-11 a club that has been in my personal bag and the bags of many of TSG's most discerning customers for a while, the ZY-11 features a foamed head for a unique muted impact and sound along with an extremely deep face profile. The photo above shows a honorary driver constructed to commemorate Yamazaki-san's victory as the #1 long driver on the LDJ senior tour. I've had many drivers over the last year but none matched the distance and spin reduction of my ZY-11, I still own 3 ZY-11's in different lofts and shafts.

A few months ago I was able to visit Jbeam to test the new ZY-7 prototype against my ZY-11 and to my surprise Jbeam has evolved the original to be even longer, straighter, and just as forgiving. The new ZY-7 also no longer has a foamed head yet still has a semi dense and soft sound at impact which I also to see as a welcome improvement over the ZY-11. The new ZY-7's head is 445cc's and was designed as a cooperative development with Yasuhiro Yamazaki.

The head at address is beautiful, it inspires forgiveness yet doesnt look bulbous or oversized, it's matte black crown gives it a stealth appearance. Jbeam has developed an all new proprietary face material and structure design that it guards closely as a secret this new technology not only provides a metallic muted sound at impact but also has increased rebound capabilities providing a noticeable distance increase over it's predecessor.

The face itself while still very deep now looks more refined, the edges of the face hae been curved which also makes sweet spot and impact zone produce shots that are more stable and straight with improved predictability. Overall the real estate on the face has decreased but it's still a driver geared toward the player who will miss high and low on the face yet my off center shots closer to heel I was getting no distance loss whatsoever.

The sole features some very unique cut away's that help move the center of gravity higher and more forward. Instead of screws placed flat on the sole Jbeam pushed them well forward and has them secured up front lowering spin even further. The ZY-11 with standard weights and specs had a slight fade bias, this new ZY-7 is designed to go dead straight. You may request a draw bias custom from TSG and we will ask Jbeam to either hand pick a head with a custom face angle, or change the weights for a different weight position or for more extreme specifications even hosel reeming. Some of our hard hitting clients already have hosel reemed ZY-7's pre ordered with 3* open face angle and reemed lie angles to their particular preference. Consumers never get this type of service, this is also beyond what many tour vans can provide as well.

This driver can be fitted to help professional players to even high handicap golfers who require less spin. For average golfers we often suggest 0.5* higher loft than their current club as well as a slightly closed face angle and lighter head weight with a draw bias. Many customers will go with 10.5 - 11.5* lofts to counteract it's low trajectory yet maintaining it's low spin traits which produces a mid/high trajectory with low spin.

The spin reduction and forgiveness is a big part why the distance is so good on the ZY series clubs, when a player has spin rates that are too high they are losing distance while the ball goes in wayward directions, with the ZY-7's spin reduction it helps produce a straighter shot and lower spin keeping the ball tight on a stable path with less energy loss in the ball flight itself.

Now I'm not sure if all these sole cutaways are actually the reason why the ZY-7 performs as well as it does. The ZY-11 was no slouch and I could be happy for a long time with it, but along comes the ZY-7 which is a noticeable improvement and It leaves me wondering how they were able to improve it this much, it's the same yet different, it feels similar but totally different, it flies similar but not so it's a very hard thing to explain but I do consider this a proper evolution of an already great club that will give the player tangible results with the right shaft.

Jbeam has many prototypes, not just for aesthetics but also in shape, size, and materials this is something that is very good to see at their HQ because it shows they tinkered and tried all sorts of things before getting it right. The ZY-7 is almost 2 years in the making and was in design along side the ZY-11 from the very start.

The image above shows a prototype where Jbeam used an alternative material and paint scheme. Below a different face finish as well.

One of the most important parts of finding the correct driver for a player is the shaft. Talking strictly head only choosing the ZY-7 gives you spin reduction, distance, straightness and forgiveness next step is to make sure the shaft delivers the club face square for you with the proper kick and performance for your tempo, timing and transition. This is a vital part in your custom build, many low end shafts with inferior materials require more accurate timing by the player while now days many high end Japanese manufactures use better design and materials so the golfer can rely less on the hands squaring the club face up at impact. Jbeam and again with the collaboration of Yamazaki pro have designed shafts that not only work well in Jbeam heads but other brands as well. These shafts are in use on the US Long Drive tour in non Jbeam heads which says a lot.

The older model white and black YZ shafts have been replaced with a new blue and yellow version YZ shaft. Blue = ZY-Speed and Yellow = ZY-Speed Yellow. These are multi kick technology shafts that allows the golfer to go after the ball hard or swing smoothly, each kick point fires off in relation to the previous kick point unloading. What this also does is help the shaft fit to a wider array of player and require less emphasis on torque and weight. You can swing 125mph and still use a sub 60g shaft. They have flexes starting at R going up to XXX for the long drive tour.

So I personally am a Seven Dreamers fanatic, I play 3 of my Jbeam drivers with 7D shafts, my new final release ZY-7 has a special Ginza edition 7D shaft being custom made for it as I write this but that said I was able to hit both the new blue and yellow ZY shafts and found the blue extremely easy to hit straight with a nice tall penetrating trajectory with no balloon whatsoever. I think these types of shafts are great for players who lose a little steam on the back half like myself, I tend to start strong then by the end of the round get sloppy well with the multi kick ZY blue and yellow shafts I see it as permission to do my own thing and let the shaft take care of the timing for me. I highly suggest these shafts with any Jbeam head or even other makers heads for that matter.

Anyway that is the end of my brief introduction, I have multiple ZY-7's on order for personal use with a variety of different shafts, so do many of our top TSG members so in coming months expect many updates and reviews in the blog and forum.

[Leffe]

Looking good : )

[shacco]

That is a mean looking driver.

[rjw]

What are the differences between the blue and yellow shafts?

Also, is this driver meant to be played long (i.e. >45 inches)?

Can it be played at shorter lengths or will be at odds with its design concept?

[Ian-500]

One of a very few new driver heads that I really really really want.........

[supo]

hmmmmmmmmmm yes.

this has my attention as well.

[D22marshall]

Just my thought but yuk can't stand the look hope it performs good

[MahanFan]

Thanks for the update. Really looking forward to the reviews and head to head with the ZY-11.

[Henry]

Curious on how the driver compares to the JBeam Glorious driver.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Henry

[chuck4golf]

Well that is certainly a positive writeup. I am totally content with my Blackout but damn that's interesting.

Chris, how does this compare with Blackout? For modest ss (90-93) is there any substantive difference?

[nobmontana]

Hey Chris,

The ZY7 page in the pro ship lets you select the shaft... but the pricing comes up as the same $650..

So the price is 650 shafted with a ZY shaft? That's one bargain if that's the case!!

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Hey Chris,

The ZY7 page in the pro ship lets you select the shaft... but the pricing comes up as the same $650..

So the price is 650 shafted with a ZY shaft? That's one bargain if that's the case!!

Sorry that was a typo and man these shafts are expensive, they retail at 55,000 yen. The upgrade cost is $450.

I spoke with Kazuhiro-san about these and he doesn't want to disclose any information about the Jbeam drivers materials or the shaft designs because other brands have been trying to copy for a while. I can respect that but just makes me more curious to understand it all. Most multi-kick shafts are for slower swingers but it seems these ZY's can handle as much as you give them.

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Well that is certainly a positive writeup. I am totally content with my Blackout but damn that's interesting.

Chris, how does this compare with Blackout? For modest ss (90-93) is there any substantive difference?

My problem I'm having with Jbeam is I absolutely love more than a few of their drivers. I will not sell my blackout, I will always keep a ZY-11, I'm excited for my ZY-7 and the Glorious and 535 are not joke either as a couple of customers have 7D shafts in them and swear the Glorious is the best of the bunch with a low spin shaft. It's hard to choose just one.

I am bias right now because the ZY-7 is where my eyes are fixed. I think the Blackout is less forgiving, more rewarding when pured with the ZY-7 having a bit more distance and better or slightly higher ball flight.

[+TourSpecGolfer]

What are the differences between the blue and yellow shafts?

Also, is this driver meant to be played long (i.e. >45 inches)?

Can it be played at shorter lengths or will be at odds with its design concept?

Yes they can be played 44 - 44.5" but the feel gets firmer the shorter you go and it stiffens up the shaft. This is not just with these shafts it's really with all when you cut down the butt section.

I can't remember a shaft that actually feels better when played shorter, I do like short sometimes though it makes me feel I can go after it and swing harder without as bad a result the only thing Im left wanting is that stronger kick feel that longer length clubs have near the grip.

[rjw]

Thanks for the information. I find that 46+ inch drivers that seem to be focused on trying to get maximum distance can have control issues. I would much rather play a shorter driver at 45, or 44.75, or 44.5 inches that provides me with a better chance of finding the fairway over potential distance gains with a longer set up.

Everything seems to be about max distance these days when it comes to drivers. Maybe I'm in the minority on this, but I would like to see more driver set ups that focus on control over distance. But distance is probably a better marketing message.

[driverhead]

On the ordering page you can choose face angle, head weight, and shaft flex? What about the total club length? I saw nothing on the order page.

[+TourSpecGolfer]

On the ordering page you can choose face angle, head weight, and shaft flex? What about the total club length? I saw nothing on the order page.

Updated that for you with lengths and swing weights.

[chuck4golf]

Thx Chris. Think putting 7 Dreamers into blackout rather than new head makes sense as next move.

[Wildbald]

Hi! How would I know which flex is right for me (S, SX, X, XX, etc)? Is their a chart or guide for selection of shaft?

[DaleUK]

I'm in for one!

i think it's the best looking Driver I e seen for ages....

[Mob]

Any chance they will offer it in left handed model?

[PADMA]

What about jbeam TD-450

[+TourSpecGolfer]

5 hours ago, PADMA said:

What about jbeam TD-450

It's in hand now,  will post pics just need to shaft and hit it.  

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Some customers are reporting they do not enjoy the louder sound of the ZY-7 compared to the factory foamed ZY-11.  They are also reporting they prefer the distance and look of the 7 over the 11.

So if you like mute go 11 if you can handle a bit louder go 7.

We can also foam the head so the 7 is more mute.

Yamazaki Pro is playing it with no foam.

[nil114]

How much louder is it compared to the Blackout? Which I found very loud.  I play my Blackout with 4-5 cotton balls stuffed in to help.  Also how much is the foamed option?