It's always good to reconfirm things. I now know why I love JDM :-)

[bngolfer]

For me it started when I was 7 in my native town of Malmö, Sweden. Back in the spring of 1984 I got a brassie and a small spoon (2 and 4) of gorgeous 1970's red Mizuno woods. My first Japanese golf clubs. And I still have them - looked at them in my mother's garage on Saturday. They need a good refinish. Obviously I didn't know much back then, but they stayed in my bag for a good few years. My first men's set of irons were Slazengers pos clubs. Replaced the next season with Cleveland Classics Tour Edition (not Tour Action that most people think of) 485. 2-p. Wow - they were smaller than the average butter knife. They were cast (I assume) and in a nice satin finish and were accompanied by a 56° copper Cleveland Classics 485 sand wedge. That was soft. A guy at my club was sponsored by CC and he had the irons in copper. Well, after two years with the 485's I got Mizuno TP-9's. They felt so much better. The soft forged irons were just lovely. Next set was the TP-11. Pure. 

Then when I was 15 I got my first Honma. It was a Hi-Powered persimmon driver with a boron/ti shaft. 43" I believe. I hit that thing so good. Then I got a Tour Model Honma driver. And a 4 wood (still have it - refinished). Then I got a steel head LB-300 driver. It was all of 44" long. Loved it.

Then followed numerous sets. I got to college in the US, played Nicklaus irons, Callaway X12 Pro, then Titleist DCI-b (not the hideous 962-b, but the real ones), then back to blades - Honma PP717. Not forged, but they were awesome. Everyone I played with looked at the clubs in my bag. At Sherwood CC in Orange County I played in a tournament in 1996 with a Japanese guy who had PRGR in his bag. We spoke equipment the whole round. He had 8 Scotty Camerons, pre Titleist 🙂

I spent a lot of time at Fairway Golf in San Diego that year. Hide and his boss - forgot his name - were really nice. Hide moved to Mountain View to open a second store. I was completely sold on JDM and Scotty Camerons. Ended up owning over 100 - none standard production Scottys and lots of JDM stuff.

Now I have had quite a few JDM iron sets, drivers, 3-woods, shafts, putters and you name it. Then, a few weeks ago at the start of the season, I said to myself that I need something that is easier to hit and launch. With about 7-10 round per year, blades or players cb's are not the smartest moves when you have my temper.. I got a set of Honma 727V. The offset in these killed my inspiration. Sold them the next day. Then I put my Yonex mb's in the bag and nope - I'm not good enough.

So, I bought a set of Titleist T-MB's with Modus 120X. They look pretty good with moderate offset, thinnish top-line and good overall size. The feel though? Tin can. God I'm so disappointed. I'm actually thinking about foaming the heads to be able to keep them. Then there is the thing with the weighting in these irons. I'm used to hitting push draws. With the T-MB's though, the ball starts to draw but then the last 50 yards or so, with a 7-iron as an example, they just straighten out. Where is my curve? It must be that they are so toe-heel weighted that they just don't give me the curve I'm used to. Thoughts?

Anyway, in the feel department, these are so far behind the Yamaha's, PRGR's, Epon's and Yonex's that I've grown accustomed to playing. I know I shouldn't have bought them but I'm unsure as to what to get that is small, helps with elevation, little offset etc. Lesson learnt - don't fix what aint broke - translates to "stay with JDM".  

Björn

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by bngolfer

[nobmontana]

2 years ago I bought a set of Titleist 716 CB/MB combos and honestly,  the feel wasn't all that good.   When you experience Miura, Epon, PRGR, Yamaha forged and the likes,

it's hard too go back to anything less.   I've been in search of new set of more forgiving irons as well.    Just tried a Fourteen TC340 over the weekend.  They have very deep cavities.  Easy as heck to hit straight.   Very high launch ... pretty good feel thanks to the S35C.   No, not soft as my Miura CB-1008  99.3 but still decent.     Only issue is that the lofts on these things are a full 1 club strong than my already strong lofted Miura.    22 deg 5 iron...   41 deg PW.   loft for loft,  I don't think they are that long.    I think the NS950 shaft in them launch and spun the ball too high.   After one range session I decided to re-shaft these set with 70g Recoils and give them to my father in law.   He's been using an old set of Honma blades from 30 years ago .... he shoots well above 100 but loves to play.   Gonna try and convince him that he needs more forgiving clubs!     

For me my quest continues.   Looking into possibly trying Mystery 720 Plus irons.   Game Improvement forged Cavity BacksI would say....  but that's okay if it's going to help me score lower.  

[supo]

41* pw ?  ?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!   that  aint no pw that's   utility!!!!!