Brand Equivalence Question

[Carl Spackler]

Hi all!

I've started the process of looking for a new set of irons, and for some serendipitous reason. lucked out finding tourspecgolf.com.  I'm recovering from lumbar decompression surgery, and my surgeon is saying it will be at least until early April before I can take full golf swings.  However, that doesn't stop me from burning up the internet with research, and I have so far, pending fitting, narrowed my search to the new Ping 730, Srixon ZX4 Mk2 and ZX5 Mk2, XXIO 12, 13 and/or X, and the Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal or Hot Metal HL.

With my bad back last year, my handicap index climbed from a 12.2 to now a 15.0.  Much of this is due to spraying shots into trouble.  Things would be worse without my putter.  I don't know my 7-iron speed, but driver speed was a tad above 90 before the injury.

Can anyone recommend any additional Japanese brands that a newbie like me maybe hasn't heard of?  God knows I wish I could hit forged irons, but that's probably not going to happen.  One last thing, and I hope that this doesn't come across terribly in my first post here, I'd prefer to stay away from any equipment that is made in China.  Obviously clubs with a Japanese manufacturer's name on it that is truly manufactured in Japan is preferred!  Japanese components that are assembled in any country other than China is fine. Thanks to all.

[Andew]

52 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

Hi all!

I've started the process of looking for a new set of irons, and for some serendipitous reason. lucked out finding tourspecgolf.com.  I'm recovering from lumbar decompression surgery, and my surgeon is saying it will be at least until early April before I can take full golf swings.  However, that doesn't stop me from burning up the internet with research, and I have so far, pending fitting, narrowed my search to the new Ping 730, Srixon ZX4 Mk2 and ZX5 Mk2, XXIO 12, 13 and/or X, and the Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal or Hot Metal HL.

With my bad back last year, my handicap index climbed from a 12.2 to now a 15.0.  Much of this is due to spraying shots into trouble.  Things would be worse without my putter.  I don't know my 7-iron speed, but driver speed was a tad above 90 before the injury.

Can anyone recommend any additional Japanese brands that a newbie like me maybe hasn't heard of?  God knows I wish I could hit forged irons, but that's probably not going to happen.  One last thing, and I hope that this doesn't come across terribly in my first post here, I'd prefer to stay away from any equipment that is made in China.  Obviously clubs with a Japanese manufacturer's name on it that is truly manufactured in Japan is preferred!  Japanese components that are assembled in any country other than China is fine. Thanks to all.

Welcome to the forum.  The brands you narrowed your search down to are easy to find outside of Japan.  It's going to be real hard to make a recommendation seeing as there's probably 50-100 different Japanese brands that most haven't heard of.  Many are available on this site.  Some are not but its a great starting point.  

Edited March 2 by Andew

[Carl Spackler]

On 3/2/2024 at 6:30 PM, Andew said:

 

Thanks for the reply, Andew!

Edited March 8 by Carl Spackler

[nobmontana]

Sounds like you are looking for irons actually made in Japan.  Truth of the matter these days are that Japanese brands have offshored most of their manufacturing to overseas. (mostly China and Taiwan. )   Some honest brands actually mention that only the final assembly are done in Japan and the components are made elsewhere.  Other brands are still hiding the fact that their stuff come from overseas countries and try to make it sound like it is made in Japan.      Now... are the Chinese made and Taiwanese made irons bad?   No not at all.  If you think about it, 99% of the PGA players are playing these Chinese made or Taiwanese made irons and making gobs of money when then win.   Looking at your list,  most of the models are Game Improvement type irons which are most likely made outside of Japan.    Some manufacturers still make their one piece carbon steel forged irons in Japan.   But even those are becoming rare and harder to find.   I know that Yonex makes some of their forged irons in Japan.   Miura Giken also another brand that still forges their heads in Japan.  Kyoei and other boutique brands have forged irons made in Japan too.