The Technity 460 driver from Epon Forged was a big surprise in 2006. Intro'ed by TSG, JDM enthusiasts love Epon's soft forged feel, and long straight performance.
Here's the deal. I'm not a long hitter off the tee, people who know me know that. So last year I went on a search for a forgiving three wood that would get me extra distance on that second shot. I'm not talking about reaching par 5's in 2 cause that's not possible for me but just to get me close to attack the pin with my short game. I decided on getting a Royal Collection Star FD and some of you may have read the review here before. Like most fairway clubs made in Japan, it has great feel and with it's shallow face and big head, it was easy to hit and inspired confidence... so why am I still looking?
I thought by getting a 14* 3 wood it would provide a low piercing trajectory with lots of roll.... yeah it does that but being a slow swinger, it doesn't get enough carry. Also for me the RC always had a light fade at the end which is probably a swing flaw of mine but we won't get into that ^^. After reading some articles in Golf Digest, Japan's monthly golf gear publication, they were suggesting that most average golfers like myself should carry a wood after their driver, 5-6* higher in loft. I'm currently hitting a 12* EMB so my 14* RC was kind of a weird fit in my bag.
Mizuno's new spec aftermarket upgrade shafts show loads of promise.
Mizuno Japan has just recently released a new series of aftermarket shafts called the Quad Series. It's a very clean concept they have here offering 2 models along with a variety of weight options. The model I foresee becoming the most popular is of course butt standard as most golfers desire a more feel less boardy sensation.
I have been testing this shaft for almost 2 weeks against some of Japan's other top rated aftermarket shafts including Roddio by Daiwa, MD and 9003 models by Graphite Design Tour AD JPN, and Mach line by NGS. The only shaft of the bunch that had as good or better balance was the Mach line 7080, The Tour AD MD-6 went toe to toe against the Quad in regards to distance while the Roddio fell short of equaling the Quad in any way.
Expect dispersion stability, better than average distance and with a retail price tag of just over 300 bucks it makes the new Mizuno Quad Series a top pick by TSG. A real standout among golf shafts made in Japan.
I would have to rate this product 4 of 5 stars
Please read on below for more technical details and a complete discription...
Kanetani pro takes a look at the JC-808 Driver from Fourteen. New for 2008 the JC-808 features a high back design and a new steel hosel.
Kanetani likes how the steel hosel firms up the head and thinks it's a good idea for larger heads that sometimes depending on design have a hard time rotating square to meet the ball. the JC-808 design stablizes the head in turn increasing the chances of connecting with the sweetspot for a drive with optimal energy loss.
The high back design also allows the golfer to stand up straighter and not drop his right shoulder as much at address. This allows the golfer to get on the righ plane during the downswing for the right inside out path.
Callaway Japan has released 3000 sets of the X Prototype forged blade for the Japanese market. Designed by Roger Cleveland and forged from soft S20C steel by Endo, the Japanese version of this iron feature lofts 1* stronger than the US version and DG S300 or M10DB Uniflex (SR) steel shafts. I'm not sure of the number of sets being sold in the US but apparently they are being sold as Tour Authentic irons. In Japan they are considered retail but limited to 3000 sets.
So one of the hottest drivers of the year so far has been the very amazing Epon Monster Beetle or EMB as it's called in short form. This forged high MOI driver from Endo pushes the limits in distance and forgiveness with it's unique forged and laser welded body and shallow hybrid cup face. My testing was done with a 12* EMB and Regular Flex Grpahite Design Tour AD for EMB which as most owners of the EMB know, is an amazing and stable match with the Epon head.
Endo did a lot of research on creating a driver that would be long and straight without loosing much distance on mis-hits and would create optimal ball speads within the max COR limits. So how forgiving is the shallow and wide face of the EMB and where is the RED ZONE (a term taken from the now defunct Japanese Golf Gear Magazine which tested where the optimal impact point on a driver's face is). Read more to find out.
I love the embroidary that Team PRGR uses on the caddy bags for their tour pros on the Japan PGA and LPGA. Cool fonts including Japanese... very nice touch to go along with very nice golf clubs.
Young gun Japanese pro golfer Tanihara Hideto has made the move from Bridgestone Tourstage to rival brand PRGR. Tanihara was once touted as the future of Tourstage so it surprised me at first to see him move but he hasn't quite lived up to his billing the last few years. PRGR is a good company and makes great golf clubs in Japan. If Tanihara had to make a switch he definitely made a good one by joining the Pro Gear Staff along with Yano Azuma. Here's a look at his new golf gear and what's in his bag:
FW: PRGR Egg Spoon 3 Wood PX-03, PRGR M3 Hit Tour 5 Wood
Irons: PRGR is3 500BL 3-PW
Wedges: PRGR MTI Type D 53* and PRGR Type S 58*
Putter: Yes! Callie F
As more info about his gear becomes available, like shaft specs and so on, I'll post it up here.
Let's see how this move changes Tanihara's game which has seen some swing changes in the past couple of years. We'll see if he can reach his potential as one of the top Japanese golfers in Japan.
Srixon Pro Yokomine Sakura's backswing always blows me away how she takes all her clubs beyond parallel and can still come around and hit the ball like she does. For those of you who haven't seen it... here it is. A bit of a miss for her on this one as it looks like she touches ground...
Here's awesome Callaway Pro Ueda Momoko's 9 wood swing off the tee on a 203 yard par 3.... smooth.
Srixon Pro Koga Miho on the same Par 3 with her 9 wood off the tee.
A nice fairway wood approach shot from the very petite Srixon Pro Kitada Rui...
Teen phenom Yonex pro Ishikawa Ryo's swing practice at the range...
So if you haven't noticed I love sweets in Japan as much as I love golf clubs... no probably more. My wife's best friend took us into Chiba City today to try a nice bakery introduced by the magazine Chiba Walker. A little french bakery, Fraecheur is famous for it's choux creme which we took home, and little pastries which we stayed in the shop to eat. The first picture on the bottom was of a Yuzu mousse that their head chef made the recipe for. Absolutely delicious.
Eating sweets is always one of our favorite things to do when we visit Japan. Eating food in general is quite the adventure and a great joy of every trip here. Japanese food in Japan is mostly unlike Japanese food overseas... yes it is much better than most non-authentic Japanese restaurants in Canada. Coming to Japan for golf and food is very well worth the trip. ^^
Was over in Chiba New Town and saw a cool Kuma-ku headcover. I've always liked him... think he looks like an evil bear. thing is nice and big and puffy so I thought it would be perfect for protecting my Epon Forged EMB Driver. Fits with lots of room to spare! Orange too.... I love Japanese golf products!!
My father in law took my wife and I to Makuhari today to catch a baseball game. Chiba Lotte Marines who are managed by former Major League manager Bobby Valentine was going against the legendary Sadaharu Oh's Softbank Hawks. It was a real windy day which was compounded by being out by the bay. Bobby Valentine is a star in Japan and he came out to meet the fans. We had really good seats (you can pretty much sit where you want) so we were able to get his autograph. The Chiba Lotte Marines feature shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka, a team Japan member and a very popular player in Japan. The Marines started off awesome by scoring 4 runs in the first but then fell apart and lost 12-4. It was fun and my wife and I enjoyed it as we tried to choose which beer girl was the cutest. In typical Japanese fashion, the ball park has real young and cute girls serving beers to all the drunk men. Some of our favorites are below.
We had dinner today at Mochi Mochi no Ki in Shinjuku. While visiting Shinjuku to take pictures of the night life and visit Tokyo City Hall, we got hungry for some ramen and Shinjuku is always one of the best ramen spots in all of Japan. We dropped into a book store and quickly checked out the most recent Tokyo Best Ramen guide and found a few in the Shinjuku stationa area, We decided on Mochi Mochi no Ki based on it's simple style and sakana shoyu base. I had ramen as always and my wife had tsukemen as always. Delicious!
While in a Akihabara I went to Yodobashi Camera Akiba to check grab a data cable for my father in law's Softbank phone. This is the new Yodobashi in Akihabara and it is MASSIVE. We noticed that there was a golf school and shop on the roof so we went to check it out. We discovered a very nice Golf shop and awesome rooftop driving range. Also next to the school was TM Japan's MATT Lab. Very cool.
We've actually been going to the driving range by the house. It's an 8 minute walk and very cheap. Double decker range with 100 spots with auto loader with your own couch for 5 yen a ball (around 5 cents a ball). I'll have to take some pics. We purchased 1000 balls each as you get a bonus 200 balls per 1000 you buy.
As I mentioned in the previous post we visited @Home as well in Akihabara, one of the hottest Maid Cafes in Akihabara. Surprisingly half the people in line were females waiting to be served by cute girls in maid outfits.
Taken from wiki: When a customer enters the café, the maids typically give an extraordinarily humble greeting, such as "Welcome home, Master" (お帰りなさいませ、ご主人様！, Okaerinasaimase, goshujinsama?) in order to play the role of a house servant. In order to enhance the illusion that the customer is indeed the master, they often serve the customer in a very deferential fashion. For example, staff sometimes kneel to mix sugar or milk in teas or other drinks. The purpose of the maid cafés and their service is to make customers feel as though they are at home and to encourage them to relax. Although exemplary customer service is typical of Japan, maid cafés take special care to pamper patrons.[citation needed]
Recently, with the maid cafe scene booming, additional related services have become popular. These include ear cleaning (耳かき), a foot or hand massage, or a photography session (the customer typically rents time in a studio during which he can tell a maid which costume to wear and how to pose). Not only can you take pictures with the maids but also, certain cafe's have special performances. With the new game consoles, some cafes also have gaming time when you can ask your favourite maid to play with you but there are also traditional games such as "Jankenpon" (じゃんけんぽん), which is rock paper scissors.[citation needed]Akihabara even features a "maid megane" (maid optician).
Here's a video for those who'd like to check out @Home:
INPAKUTO (インパクト) - The instance the club face meets the ball is the moment of IMPACT.
Inpakuto.com is the official blog for Tourspecgolf.com the leading online source for high end Japanese golf clubs from Japan! Read about golf and all cool things Japanese!
The best golf clubs are made in Japan. Shafts are no exception. Here are a couple of quick guides to give an overview of the Japanese shaft market.
Here's the deal. I'm not a long hitter off the tee, people who know me know that. So last year I went on a search for a forgiving three wood that would get me extra distance on that second shot. I'm not talking about reaching par 5's in 2 cause that's not possible for me but just to get me close to attack the pin with my short game. I decided on getting a Royal Collection Star FD and some of you may have read the review here before. Like most fairway clubs made in Japan, it has great feel and with it's shallow face and big head, it was easy to hit and inspired confidence... so why am I still looking?
Kanetani pro takes a look at the JC-808 Driver from Fourteen. New for 2008 the JC-808 features a high back design and a new steel hosel.
Young gun Japanese pro golfer Tanihara Hideto has made the move from Bridgestone Tourstage to rival brand PRGR. Tanihara was once touted as the future of Tourstage so it surprised me at first to see him move but he hasn't quite lived up to his billing the last few years. PRGR is a good company and makes great golf clubs in Japan. If Tanihara had to make a switch he definitely made a good one by joining the Pro Gear Staff along with Yano Azuma. Here's a look at his new golf gear and what's in his bag:
So if you haven't noticed I love sweets in Japan as much as I love golf clubs... no probably more. My wife's best friend took us into Chiba City today to try a nice bakery introduced by the magazine Chiba Walker. A little french bakery, Fraecheur is famous for it's choux creme which we took home, and little pastries which we stayed in the shop to eat. The first picture on the bottom was of a Yuzu mousse that their head chef made the recipe for. Absolutely delicious.
My father in law took my wife and I to Makuhari today to catch a baseball game. Chiba Lotte Marines who are managed by former Major League manager Bobby Valentine was going against the legendary Sadaharu Oh's Softbank Hawks. It was a real windy day which was compounded by being out by the bay. Bobby Valentine is a star in Japan and he came out to meet the fans. We had really good seats (you can pretty much sit where you want) so we were able to get his autograph. The Chiba Lotte Marines feature shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka, a team Japan member and a very popular player in Japan. The Marines started off awesome by scoring 4 runs in the first but then fell apart and lost 12-4. It was fun and my wife and I enjoyed it as we tried to choose which beer girl was the cutest. In typical Japanese fashion, the ball park has real young and cute girls serving beers to all the drunk men. Some of our favorites are below.
We had dinner today at Mochi Mochi no Ki in Shinjuku. While visiting Shinjuku to take pictures of the night life and visit Tokyo City Hall, we got hungry for some ramen and Shinjuku is always one of the best ramen spots in all of Japan. We dropped into a book store and quickly checked out the most recent Tokyo Best Ramen guide and found a few in the Shinjuku stationa area, We decided on Mochi Mochi no Ki based on it's simple style and sakana shoyu base. I had ramen as always and my wife had tsukemen as always. Delicious!
While in a Akihabara I went to Yodobashi Camera Akiba to check grab a data cable for my father in law's Softbank phone. This is the new Yodobashi in Akihabara and it is MASSIVE. We noticed that there was a golf school and shop on the roof so we went to check it out. We discovered a very nice Golf shop and awesome rooftop driving range. Also next to the school was TM Japan's MATT Lab. Very cool.
As I mentioned in the previous post we visited @Home as well in Akihabara, one of the hottest Maid Cafes in Akihabara. Surprisingly half the people in line were females waiting to be served by cute girls in maid outfits.