kurisu

I can walk into any golf store here in Japan and see Yonex drivers ("NANOV" head, same as Ishikawa) being sold starting at about 30,000 yen, so it's very much in line with every other brand (short of Honma and PRGR). They do not have a big presence in the US be it for badminton equipment or others, and that most certainly explains why they're not sold for cheap over there.

That kind of reply is why I love this board

Srixon Z Star, Srixon Trispeed, Titleist NXT Tour, Bridgestone e6

AFAIK only Titleist can adjust the weight so that the custom shaft / head combo is optimal, but yeah, it is not user serviceable.

Sure. (no pun intended) It is important to have the correct shaft that fits the player's swing the best. Just as it is important to have the lie/length adjusted to fit the player's measurements. How can you be so black/white on something that HAS a legitimate use? Or are you implying that Shanks A Million and myself are kidding ourselves because we used those systems to get closer to a club (and not only the shaft) that fits us? I'm not disagreeing with you, the vast majority of people do think those adjustment systems will fix whatever flaw(s) in their swing, but you put everybody in the same category.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but here goes: Do you know of any recent wood that can be adjusted for lie, that comes without an adjustment system? in other words, can you order a custom made, fixed hosel, lie adjusted driver/wood? You may argue it's not necessary for a driver, but how can you say it's a waste? Sure, adjustment systems have a lot of drawbacks, but it does serve a useful purpose for some people that actually need it. I'm certainly glad to have been able to set my #4 FW and my rescue club more upright since the clubs I can buy here are made for the Japanese market and I don't perfectly fit those local standard measurements.

Acushnet's parent company sold Cobra to Puma back in March of this year . Thus it makes sense for them to broaden the target market for the Titleist brand.

I totally relate (albeit at my very beginner level). Getting a 4 iron and working on it made the 5 iron that much easier to hit consistently. Thinking of getting a 3 iron now, so that I can nail the 4 iron from the rough Oh, by the way, my 21~24º club is my 4 iron (22º)

Like they said. They are quite unpopular in Japan actually, since a dozen was sold 1000 yen MORE than a dozen of Pro V1 !! They are supposedly targeted at rich senior folks with lower swing speed. But I'm guessing that they'll soon disappear from the market here, because all the place I've seen them sold at, are bargaining them at the price of the new DT SoLos.

For me that'd be a tie between my 60º wedge and my 8 iron. The wedge was a b*tch at the beginning but now it's like a best friend. The 8 iron is my go to club when I lose timing and need to quiet myself down and hit solid, it brings my confidence back.

I have no problem hitting my 60.10 wedge but I've really put a lot of time and practice into using that particular club. I think what people are pointing at is that most high handicappers will hit the ground behind the ball because they don't transfer their weight back to the left (for a righty) properly and they will most likely blade it 45% (and the bounce can actually make things worse if the lie is hard enough) or go right underneath the ball 40% of the time as this is not a very forgiving club loft. It can become a great ally if you work at it, but "out-of-the-box" it's something that will frustrate, more than help, the high handicap player.

When I started to read these forums, the general opinion was (and still is I think) that 1st tier lost balls were the way to go. As you can see I have no handicap, and I started playing late last year, so Pro V1 class balls are a waste for me. I've been stacking up on lost NXT tour, and I thought I was satisfied with how they reacted overall. A friend of mine who is an 8 hcp was kind enough to play with me on my first 18 holes course ever last Monday, and he handed me a sleeve of new DT SoLo, saying that I should start with something more forgiving. WOW, what a difference! those balls jump off the face of the club and feel very very soft. Their trajectory is quite high, so on approach shots, they still do stop on the green even though they clearly don't spin as much as 3 pieces ball. I was a convert immediately after my first stroke with it. Best part is I can find a dozen for less than 18 bucks (here, JP¥1695) shipped, which is actually a few JP¥ cheaper than the AAAA NXT Tour I used to buy.

Sounds like I'm gonna have to try those balls, as I can get them new for less than AAAA quality lost NXT tour! I see that they also come in yellow?! http://www.titleist.co.jp/htm/balls/dtsolo.shtml

I am using Golfshot. It has scorecards for all the courses I've been in Japan, and has aerial views where ever Google Map has. One time fee, I can download data for other countries I go to, it syncs data over the air and you can view your stats online on the golfshot website. The distances match very closely the yardage posted on the course, and once you know your way around the program, it's very quick to record scores and use. Very happy of my purchase.

Exactly the reason why I got the #4. It made the #5 so much easier to hit!!

I play N.S.PRO 950GH shafts in my AP1s and my TM Rescue and love them. They're not as heavy as the TT DG and the mid/high ball flight is great (for me). My GF made a special order for her irons, she wanted steel shafts and Nippon offers the 750GH in R flex, they're 76~77 grams with a low kick point, they feel like graphite but with less torque.

Since I live here in Japan, I'll give my 2 cents. The biggest difference is lie angle and shaft length, for one obvious reason: the average height of Japanese golfers is different than their US counterpart's. The other differences are dependent on the brand: Acushnet Japan is producing the club heads in Japan for the Titleist line, for example. (and in China for the other markets, as far as I've been told by one of their rep.) TaylorMade is offering SR flexes off the shelves here in Japan, and the default steel shaft is usually the Nippon Shaft 950GH instead of Dynamic Gold in the US. Small things like that. Also, some custom shafts considered "exotic" in the US are standard here, and vice-versa. So, in general, unless you're buying Titleist clubs from Japan, the main difference is that the shaft specs (i.e. brand, type, length) will be different. As far as driver shafts go, that actually suits me very fine, since for instance, the TM R9 Superti comes with a more manageable 45.25" shaft standard, not the monster 45.75" default option of the US model. cheers

If someone tells you the AP1s are not for a 30 handicap, then go see someone else. I started 6 months ago with an old set of Cobra oversized irons from the 90's I borrowed, and when I had to give them back, I purchased the AP1s, and guess what, I hit them just fine, thank you very much. Sure, I could play something easier, but I intentionally picked something that I could use and grow into for quite a while. I say buy whatever you want if you feel you'll be able to master them with hard work and dedication. I'm not suggesting you buy blades, but buy something that you can feel comfortable with NOW, and that will still prove enough of a challenge to motivate you to work hard at it.

I haven't really touched a wood yet, so here's the distances for my 5 irons up: I've started 6 months ago from really 0 (my first time with a club I hit nothing but air for an hour, that wasn't fun!), so my longer irons are getting better but the gap in yardage is not very pronounced yet. (4i = not hitting it consistently enough to even write a number down) 5i = 155 y 6i = 150 y 7i = 137 y 8i = 125 y 9i = 120 y PW = 110 y AW = 95 y 56º = 77 y 60º = 60 y I tried to be conservative with the above figures. If I hit one pure, then it's 5~10 yards better on most clubs, but since we're talking averages, I thought I'd better be honest with myself… We have a few short courses (mostly all par 3s) in Tokyo that I go often to. It's great practice and it allows me to actually play golf and not just do lessons at the range. My coach really wants to build solid foundations before we move to the longer clubs. (and I kind of like this approach anyway)

With my 10 years here, yes, I agree with you. And the article from 2005 is quite right and interesting! However, I can't help but think it would be more efficient for Titleist (and Acushnet in general) to have, like every other foreign manufacturer that has a presence here in Japan, some fitting facilities, which would allow them to sell more of the global product line, and cut some of the expenses related to R&D; of Japan specific products. Not all, mind you, but *some*. Of course, Japan specific marketing would still be necessary. But again, this is just armchair opinion and I don't pretend to know better than Acushnet! My comments are mostly the result of the frustration of not being able to get properly fitted by Titleist here

Not sure if you guys are inclined to at least look at the specs, but the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei published more details with exactly what Titleist means by "Variable Gravity Design". http://release.nikkei.co.jp/attach_file/0241522_03.pdf It's in Japanese but I believe there's no need to translate as the pictures speak for themselves. If someone needs me to translate something, just let me know. In a jiffy, the higher the loft of the face, the further back the center of gravity. Also note how the "sweet spot" has been located off center, a tad closer to the heel… It's really interesting to me that Titleist's investing so much money in creating niche market items and yet has such a poor network here when it comes to real fitting.

Point taken Not exactly how I thought the comments would go though :) I am just very surprised that Titleist, whose presence in Japan is much, much smaller than say, Callaway (heck, Titleist has no fitting centers AT ALL here, whereas Taylormade, Callaway and even Ping have facilities in major cities) would invest R&D; and marketing money for products specific to Japan (as pointed out above, the "Gran-Z" balls as well as this VG3 thing) but not sell the 909D Comp, or establish a network of fitting facilites, and leverage this in selling a single global product line worldwide. I mean this is backwards as far as business goes...

Just a correction to my post above: The new driver targets the Japanese senior single handicapper crowd. The difference in speed is between Japanese and US senior single handicappers. sorry about my sloppy translation, should know better than doing 4 different things at once at work….

I've seen this featured on titleist.co.jp and started googling for it. Apparently there was some kind of press event yesterday (19th). Found an article here (with a picture) : http://www.alba.co.jp/news/gear/topics/10603 I believe it's a Japan-only release. The new driver targets the Japanese single handicappers and the senior crowd here. The basis is apparently that there is a gap in head speed between US single handicappers (44 to 45 meter / second) and their Japanese counterparts (41 to 42 m/s). Acushnet has created this VG3 head for people who want to play Titleist but felt it was above their abilities. (at least that's what is said in the article linked above) With the AP1s, and now the VG3, it looks like Titleist wants to cater to the players that ought to be playing Cobra gear but would actually love to use Titleist gear because of the "better player" image. (but hey, who am I to talk ! I have the 710 AP1s after all ) Haven't found any detailed specs yet, except marketing talk of "Variable Gravity Design" and the fact that the head will be available in 9º, 10º and 11º lofts. I'm surprised that the 909D Comp is not available here in Japan (short of grey market imports) and yet there are some "Japan only" items such as the "Gran-Z" premium balls and now this VG3 driver… update : found this page with more pics : http://www.golfdigest.co.jp/magazine...001690001.html

The Vokeys you are comparing to the KZGs have the exact same loft/bounce configuration?