The Jbeam bullet driver - finally!

[+TourSpecGolfer]

JBEAM - known for their drivers but offer irons, wedges, putters and even shafts. We absolutely love Jbeam heads at TSG, and they have a cult-like following with many of our clients. You can always tell when you’re hitting a JBEAM driver, they are shaped a certain way with their familiar deep faces, and while many differ in feel from each other, there is always something inherently JBEAM and consistent in design with their drivers.

If you follow our Instagram Page, we have been teasing face photos, and people have been reacting to its unique shape. In this blog post, we will be sharing a bit more about the new Bullet and who it’s for along with my hitting impressions.

CEO and designer Kazuhiro Sakata-san based out of Adachi Japan grew up with golf wood design. It all started with his father who used to manufacture professional JPGA tour players persimmon woods way back. JBEAM was launched in 1987, and when I met Sakata-san Sr. and Jr. years ago at their former HQ it was such an honor, I had been a fan of Jbeam’s woods since before anyone had heard of them. I have played Jbeam woods for years because I like the way they perform for me. Today Sakata-san Jr. runs the entire operations of the family business Jbeam has a new and impressive facility. Sakata-san has over 30 years experience in wood design.

Notice the size and shape of the bullets forged cup face. These unique shapes started with the JBEAM ZY-11 that had a trapezoidal face shape and is a driver after many years still sits in my bag. It’s very low spin with a low trajectory. That is the aim of this new bullet driver as well low spin / low trajectory. It’s straight to draw biased depending on where you place your weights. Of course, because we deal with JBEAM directly and have for many years TSG offer’s you custom hand pick face angles, lofts, and head weights. We also offer foaming, hot melt, and hosel reaming for extremely cranked loft/lie/face angles.

From above you see that familiar JBEAM shape. It’s a rounded confidence-inspiring setup. It’s a shape you will notice on the majority of their heads. I found this club extraordinarily forgiving and highly recommend it for more aggressive swingers who seek to reduce spin and lower their trajectory. I suggest getting a 0.5* higher loft than your current driver as our client’s feedback tells us loft vs. loft Jbeam heads go lower. (for some models).

If you hit it high or low on the face or out toward the upper toe, you will be in good shape. The ball flight is exceptionally stable, yet it’s still workable due to its forward and higher center of gravity. I also notice that players who hit down on the ball and generate very high spin appreciate the bullets spin reducing qualities. You can play with the weights that TSG sell’s as well.

The closest relative to the Bullet in the Jbeam family is the ZY-11 but the 11 was foamed, and this Bullet is not. The bullet offers a soft metallic launchy feel that reminds me of DAT55G. Jbeam will no longer disclose any info on its proprietary driver face materials, but I will say that they were one of the very first to adopt DAT55G and the forged cup face back in the day. The sound is a little loud and spongy, it’s not hollow but not dense. Feel is such a personal matter I actually loved the foamed thwack of the ZY11 and I’m also happy with the Bullets feedback as well.

Talking about shafts, I have tried many in these heads. It’s always The Basileus AAA Limited, Seven Dreamers, or CRAZY 9. Of course, we always recommend what works best for the player.

Overall if you are new to JBEAM you are likely to be surprised at how good they perform. The golf world needs more boutique wood brands. They have many different models to choose from so make sure to contact us at [email protected] to learn which one would be the right for you. Also if you are ready to buy right away Click Here to see JBEAMS full line up!

[chiromikey]

Finally is right! Lol

Thank you for the review. If you come across a flat open head set it aside for me!

[+TourSpecGolfer]

17 hours ago, chiromikey said:

Finally is right! Lol

Thank you for the review. If you come across a flat open head set it aside for me!

Ream to flat and open is the only way.   I would suggest.

Also move the heavier weight to the toe side maybe.

[Ian-500]

Chris, how's this compared to the G-801?

[+TourSpecGolfer]

56 minutes ago, Ian-500 said:

Chris, how's this compared to the G-801?

I have the G-801 right now and the UT but have not hit yet.  I have a preference in Jbeam UT and FW's but I do not with the drivers there are so many great ones each just slightly different in their own way.

[Ian-500]

34 minutes ago, TourSpecGolfer said:

I have the G-801 right now and the UT but have not hit yet.  I have a preference in Jbeam UT and FW's but I do not with the drivers there are so many great ones each just slightly different in their own way.

Please post a review when you can, as I've seen nothing mentioned about this head. Looks good.

[604_skyline]

1 hour ago, TourSpecGolfer said:

I have the G-801 right now and the UT but have not hit yet.  I have a preference in Jbeam UT and FW's but I do not with the drivers there are so many great ones each just slightly different in their own way.

do you have the g-fw as well, the latest fairway wood?

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Yes me and a couple others in this forum have hit it - http://blog.tourspecgolf.com/the-new-jbeam-g-fw-full-titan-fairway-wood/

 

[Grumpy]

I have hit the bullet, it feel great and it's the best distance drivers which i have so far. (ZY-7, BM-435, TPRX, Kamui Works, Crazy CRZ, Grandista RS)

[chiromikey]

On 5/30/2018 at 7:58 AM, TourSpecGolfer said:

Ream to flat and open is the only way.   I would suggest.

Also move the heavier weight to the toe side maybe.

I’m reluctant to do that. If it just doesn’t work for me I’d have an awful time trying to sell it.

[JiuBirdie]

On 5/30/2018 at 10:58 AM, TourSpecGolfer said:

Ream to flat and open is the only way.   I would suggest.

Also move the heavier weight to the toe side maybe.

Hi Chris,

Any chances that you can compare this new driver to Zy 7 and 535 Black?  I'm searching for my driver and not sure how this bullet compare to its ZY family and 435/535 series?  I'm currently gaming with ZY7 and it has produce the longest drive for me, over 300 yards, but also I felt it overwhelmed me at times, so I'm curious if the new bullet can combine long distance and fairway finder.

 

Thanks,

[chiromikey]

Well, I bit the bullet.

Just ordered one up with very custom specs. I still can’t believe there are so few reviews on this driver. I’m not the hitter I used to be but the 435 is still in play and my favorite head of all time so I’ll have a good starting point to compare this to.

[supo]

wont disappoint that s for sure, different shape  but not too dissimilar .

still  not  found  a deep head that beats     the 435 tried a lot and  lots are close and  some definitely sound/feel better  but the square face and super deep head =  such consistency for me.

my quest hath ended for deep face drivers

 

[chiromikey]

I have to agree, I’ve been through many drivers looking for the next best thing but the 435 still tops the list. I’ve had 4, sold one, cracked the face on another, replaced it with my current one, and have one in the safe just in case or to pass on to my heir. The Ryoma D1 V-Spec is the only other driver I’ve kept over the years but for entirely different reasons because it’s an entirely different animal.

This one will be 8.5*, very flat, and 2* open...it should have the potential to be my best driver yet.

[AndyShen]

Thank you for the review. Finally is right ! 

[coops1967]

On 7/31/2018 at 1:16 PM, chiromikey said:

I have to agree, I’ve been through many drivers looking for the next best thing but the 435 still tops the list. I’ve had 4, sold one, cracked the face on another, replaced it with my current one, and have one in the safe just in case or to pass on to my heir. The Ryoma D1 V-Spec is the only other driver I’ve kept over the years but for entirely different reasons because it’s an entirely different animal.

This one will be 8.5*, very flat, and 2* open...it should have the potential to be my best driver yet.

sounds interesting... how flat?

56 degrees? Less...? ;-)

[chiromikey]

4 hours ago, coops1967 said:

sounds interesting... how flat?

56 degrees? Less...? ?

I asked for 56* but the best they could get to was 57*. 

[chiromikey]

Bullet arrived today. Thanks Chris!

I’m very surprised at how similar it actually is to the 435. That’s a good thing since the 435 is my favorite looking and performing driver of all time. So far pictures have made the Bullet’s face look strikingly different from the 435 with its high toe and without a side by side comparison it does look quite different. But as pictures will show, take away the scoring lines and you can see they’re definitely from the same mother, almost fraternal twins. The Bullet appears to be only a tiny bit more compact to go with an only slightly higher toe, again a good thing in my book. It's definitely a draw biased driver as the weight ports are not at the corners like the 435. The rear weight is further back and toe weight is now almost in the center. If I hadn’t requested custom specs I don’t think I’d get along with it very well as I fight the left side as a miss. Since it’s so close to the 435 I won’t have any reservations about moving my 7D over. This way I can get a true comparison to how it performs and feels relative to it’s brother. The only drawback is that I can’t compare them side by side.

Stay tuned for an on course review....

[supo]

send  it. over to me when ur done  building it

 

 

and i can!!

 

hahah

[chiromikey]

We need to plan another golf week and I’ll bring it with me! Get Craig and the baron ready!

[supo]

yep  

got.a.few.more.tracks  where that wud be well suited!

[nobmontana]

On 8/6/2018 at 10:25 PM, chiromikey said:

Bullet arrived today. Thanks Chris!

I’m very surprised at how similar it actually is to the 435. That’s a good thing since the 435 is my favorite looking and performing driver of all time. So far pictures have made the Bullet’s face look strikingly different from the 435 with its high toe and without a side by side comparison it does look quite different. But as pictures will show, take away the scoring lines and you can see they’re definitely from the same mother, almost fraternal twins. The Bullet appears to be only a tiny bit more compact to go with an only slightly higher toe, again a good thing in my book. It's definitely a draw biased driver as the weight ports are not at the corners like the 435. The rear weight is further back and toe weight is now almost in the center. If I hadn’t requested custom specs I don’t think I’d get along with it very well as I fight the left side as a miss. Since it’s so close to the 435 I won’t have any reservations about moving my 7D over. This way I can get a true comparison to how it performs and feels relative to it’s brother. The only drawback is that I can’t compare them side by side.

Stay tuned for an on course review....

 

More and more drivers are becoming internally draw biased,  opening the face angle is really the only thing that they can do to make it  usable by players who have tendencies to draw or hook the ball.    Grandista RS-D is exactly that and similarly the PRGR RS 

The dilemma is that most people do not like closed face looking drivers but many have a hard time squaring the face at impact.  In most cases, they tend to leave the face open especially with the larger modern drivers with longer CG distance.  

It's the same argument to the offset in irons.   Most players would benefit from having some offset in their irons for a more square impact , yet everyone wants less offset for looks.      

Hope your new Bullet works as good or even better than your 435 combo!!     One thing I noticed with newer JBeam heads is that they really improved the sound.    I only tried the Galpha but it was night and day compared to the 435.     Much softer sound and feel off the face with the Galpha.  

 

 

[chiromikey]

I hear you nob. I know modern technology and engineering are meant to help the problems that the vast majority of golfers face but it wreaks havoc for the idiots like me that don’t like to do anything “by the book”. The sound/feel of my 435 was amazing while stuffed with cotton but left empty and it was every bit as obnoxious and unpleasant as a gen 1 Taylormade RBZ. I’ll hit a few with the Bullet empty just to get an idea but I ordered this one light so I could stuff it like a Thanksgiving Day turkey.

It’s getting shafted as we speak so I should have some more thoughts to ramble on about soon.

[gregoire56]

5 hours ago, chiromikey said:

The sound/feel of my 435 was amazing while stuffed with cotton but left empty and it was every bit as obnoxious and unpleasant as a gen 1 Taylormade RBZ. I’ll hit a few with the Bullet empty just to get an idea but I ordered this one light so I could stuff it like a Thanksgiving Day turkey.

That's a solid idea, i never thought of it. I love the feel of my ZY-11 which is Factory foamed, I never thought of this easy way to not only get a similar result, but also add some usually needed weight to the club head. Consider your idea borrowed..

[supo]

I might be the only one that actually likes the 435sound feel, its dull compared to the  lively faces but i kinda like it.. i hit my callaway erc3/ waccine yesterday and my god is there adifference ..  these are  like polar opposites ,but i like both..

 

the 435just says boooooooom when i got that bagged.. its a cannon long may it live!