Japanese Golf Clubs @ Inpakuto.com - All about Golf, JPOP and Japan

As the temperatures rise in Japan, so do the temperatures in my computer. I decided to give the highly rated Prolimatech Megahalems cooler a shot for my Quad Core.  This cooler is humongous. Installed in my Abee case with dual HD3870 using Acclero coolers has made space very very tight! I had to squeeze in my Pixela dual Hi Vision (HDTV) tuner (pictured below) between the cooler and top video card.  I'm glad to say though that temperatures have definitely come down as has sound as the Megahalems and Acceleros are very quiet.  I should be satisfied with this setup for at least a few months. (^_^)

Once again it appears Japan will be getting another domestic market release like the TVD this time in the form of a limited edition 2 wedge spin milled set celebrating VOKEY Design's 10th Anniversary. The set wil comprise of two soft casted wedges spin milled and made in Bob Vokey's favorite 400 series head shape.  They will be made with a black nickel finish and mid gloss and 52/10 and 58/10 lofts and bounces specifically designed by Vokey for lush Japanese courses.  They will be available for preorder today in the TSG Pro Shop with 950GH Stiff, S200 and X100 . We are working on getting as many sets as we can but supply is limited and demand is high!

 

There are a plethora of high end golf shafts to choose from in Japan as the top shaft makers here are always introducing new models and OEM's don't hesitate to offer them as upgrades from the factory. Japanese performance shafts are NOT cheap, but the fact is there is demand and a market for them as the Japanese love to tinker and toy with their clubs and the market here really is blown out of whack sometimes when it comes to the cost and amount of money players are willing to spend. Golf Digest Japan recently took a sampling of golfers and asked them why they decided to reshaft their drivers and the results are in the chart below:

So not surprisingly, 65% of those surveyed said they reshafted their driver because they wanted more distance.  15% wanted more control and 10% wanted to change their trajecory. These are all good reasons to reshaft (unlike reshafting just because your favorite pro uses that shaft), but as I always say finding the right shaft that will give you the results you want is not an easy task. It can turn out to be an expensive experiment. Knowing your swing and getting fit is essential in finding the right shaft as the wrong shaft can worsen the performance of your clubs.  There are just so many things to look at with all the different types of shafts out there today. It's no longer just about a shaft that increases ball speeds, but how will that shaft affect overall trajectory, spin, feel and direction (control is always referred to as direction in Japan).

Which brands and shafts are doing the job for golfers today?　A good way of measuring is to look at the trends of shaft sales in Japan. If a shaft is selling well especially at both big chain stores and small independent stores, it is usally a good sign of a performing shaft. I say this because, the Japanese are picky golfers, they spend big bucks on gear and it had better perform for them.  Gakken's Par Golf did a survey including two of the big golf chains in Japan, Golf5 and Niki Golf as well as several other top independent shops, many with 20+ years of club building experience, on what their top selling shafts were for 2008. While this doesn't say what the best shaft is for a certain player, it does give a rough idea of what may work considering that 65% of players want distance and these are the best selling shafts that many of those 65% most likely bought.

What do we have in store for 2009? New models have already been released by the big names including Graphite Design's Tour AD EV Series, Fujikura's Rombax F Series, and Diamana's new Kai'li Series. All three shafts have received great reviews and are the shafts to look for in 2009 where the trend has gone from high launch more torque and feel to these three shafts which pretty much are classified as control performance shafts with lower torque and a focus on minimal twisting and maximum stability. The reason for this is hitting the fairway at a high percentage is equivalent to getting the best distance. Right? Distance means nothing if you are not accurate.

 

Another very popular release recently in Japan on the equipment front is the new Tour Forged Iron from Yonex Golf. This model is dubbed the Ryo Ishikawa model for the budding 17 year old golf sensation who was signed on last year to be the face of Yonex. Demand has already been unbelievable for this iron, evidence of Ishikawa's immense popularity in Japan. Many Japanese golfers like to emulate their favorite golfer by playing their model clubs. But give Yonex credit, they have designed a very soft forged S25C no frills minimal offset compact cavity back that is made for control and playbility. The very nice tour satin finish is also a big bonus for many who don't like many of the shiney irons that are out there these days.

Demand has been so high for these sets of irons that Japan's number one online retailer GDO has already said it is back ordered until mid June. The irons come out at the end of the month and are available with 950GH Stiff and S200. TSG is trying to get as many sets as they can but this will be one hard iron to get your hands on. 

As I reported back on TSG at the end of March, perennial number one Japanese golfer Katayama Shingo has moved from his long time sponsor Nike to ONOFF golf. He will also be wearing all new ASICS golf shoes and Dance with Dragon Clothing.  His new ball will be the Titleist Pro V1x. Check out his new gear this week at the Masters in Augusta!

Heres a look at the new ASICS Golf Shoe that Katayama Shingo will endorse and wear. They look very cool!

Apr 12th: Just a quick update and edit to this post. Asics Japan has said that Shingo Katayama's shoes at the Masters were prototypes only and not going retail in the near future. There are plans to release this shoe retail but not for some time. Tourspecgolf will have them when they do go retail eventually.

 

Geotech sent me some clubs to play with, their new Prototype B-Stream, driver, FW and utility as well as the new Prototype Classic Blade.  The Blade is for those who want the minimalist look, there are absolutely no markings except for the iron number. Forged in Japan and featuring a satin finish and compact head, Geotech suggests these as for low handicap players. They describe them as having a straight neck but there is definitely offset and I would say they are more for the low handcapper or even mid capper who wants to play a blade but doesn't mind some offset and wants forgiveness.



The Protoype B-Streams really impressed me especially for their price. The driver has a square face and is very slick looking. Face is a bit more on the deep side and has a solid feel. The FW I really liked. It has a mid height face and is mid sized with square to open face. Not quite the same pop on impact that the GT FW gives but still a very good feel with a mix of performance and forgiveness in a great finish and price.



TSG is now offering Geotech Clubs as both heads only and custom built to specs with some amazing shaft

As more and more Japanese manufacturers move to custom built clubs direct from the factory, we are also seeing the appearance of custom grinds from some of Japan's best forged names. Of course you can get the ultimate in custom grind from a total custom club maker like Gold's Factory. But now you can also get custom grinds through TSG from Mizuno and Miura. 

I recently had the pleasure of sampling two different Mizuno grinds as well as a set of Miura MB5000WA wedges with a TVD style grind. So not only can you get the clubs built to the specs you want you can also get the grind you want while you are at it!

 

In Japan, the consumer is known to be very demanding. They are willing to pay top dollar for golf equipment but they only expect the best when it comes to materials, design and workmanship. The Japanese golfer is also very educated technically speaking when it comes to golf gear. Like their passion for electronics and gadgets, the Japanese golfer is also a the ultimate equipment junkie. It is because of this that so many golf publications with such detailed technical tests on clubs can exist in Japan.

I'm going to take a look at the basics of golf gear using the lingo and view of the Japanese golfer. They believe knowing clubs inside out technically, along with detailed tests and real life testing of clubs will ultimately result in the best set for each golfer. Unlike in the western world where we use terms like scratch golfer, low handicapper, high handcapper etc., the Japanese group golfers pretty much into three groups. Pro Golfer, Athlete Golfer, Average Golfer. It actually is a bit more vague classifying golfers this way but it does the job.

When looking at an iron at address, there are basics that can tell you  alot about that iron and who its target audience is. Irons are classified into three groups, compact head, mid sized head and big head. All three of these head types have the following 6 basic characteristics to look at: 

Most of this is pretty common stuff but it is possible that most recreational golfers outside of Japan don't necessarily look at all these characteristics and what they mean to the golfer.   As you can see from above, there are some different terms use. The Japanese like referring to the Top Line as Top Blade (though some of us probably use this as well). They rarely use the term offset (most manufacturers measure face progression anyway), instead opting for a neck type classified as goose neck, or semi goose neck or if no goose, them straight neck. Of course this is in reference to lots of offset, medium offset, minimal to no offset. Now there are some intersting things here like heel height, toe shape, top blade roundness. How does that affect performance or target audience? We'll find that out in part two cause I hate writing too much at one time. (^_^)

 

Kanetani Pro takes a look at the standard 2009 Yamaha Inpres X V Forged iron. Last year's V Forged and V Forged Tour were very popular items in Japan and Yamaha has improved on them even more. Kanetani touts the V Forged as forgiving and soft feeling with its mid-compact size head providing confidence at address and possessing a large sweet spot. The new dual fang cavity increases the MOI and is what adds to the larger sweet spot over last years model. Also the V Forged is versatile with a very forgiving double cut sole with easy leading and trailing edge. Looks like another winner in the Japanese golf club market from Yamaha! Best of all they can now be custom built to players' specs!

Check out the video here: http://www.inpakuto.com/index.php/GDO-Yamaha-2009-Inpres-X-V-Forged-Iron.html