New to JDM looking for a little insight

Hi all, I have limited experience with JDM clubs but have been stuck at home at itching to try out a set. I currently play Bridgestone J15 DPFs and have owned Srixon 765s. I'd like to try one of the lesser known in the states brands. From what I've read OnOff and PRGR might be my best options. I love my J15's but I'm not fond of the long blade length. Love the turf interaction. I'm looking for something that is fairly forgiving but has a players cavity back shape. I have my eyes on a set of Daiwa Tour irons and PRGR TR 910 blades but would love to hear some other recommendations both model and brand. I'm specifically looking for older models that can be had for peanuts. I also have my eyes on a royal collection hybrid and Yamaha RMX utility but would love to be educated about some of the favorites out there. What threads are most informative for newbies?

I have owned several JDM sets.

I’d look at:

Yamaha Tourmodel Inpres X V Forged series irons from circa 2009-2013 (pre RMX badging)

Tourstage (Bridgestone) X-Blade 70x series (701, 705 Type M)

Epon AF 30x series (301, 302, 303, 305)

Epon AF Tour

Epon Personal series

Fourteen TC series (770, ...)

PRGR iDBL, iD Nabla

Miura Giken CB series

Honma Tour World 7x7V series (717, 727, 737, 747)

Yonex Cyberstar Nano V Nextage Tour Forged

Vega

Masdagolf

Recommend Golfpartnerusa.com (largest used club retailer in Japan).

Happy hunting!

PRGR iDBL iD Nabla

Callaway Legacy Black Stenson Model

Yonex N1-CB / Yonex CB-501

I've been browsing Rakuten and found some Srixon zr 30s that caught my eye as well as a set of Tourstage MR 23s. Thanks for the heads up about golfpartner. Ill check the out now.

You can also use Buyee as a path to Yahoo auctions to find other things that catch your eye.

The MR 23s have some history, but have heard they aren't the most forgiving head out there

So many... I’ll second the Yonex N1-CB, which are made at their Japan headquarters. I have a set and they’re great (only the shaft is too heavy for me) and the CB501 would be the one I’d try next. Both could be a little more than you want to spend. Yonex forgings are as high in quality as any club out there.

For a little more compact than your Bridgestones but not a stark departure and very inexpensive, the OnOff Forged Plus from 2008-09 era feel sweet. Have a set of those that a relative brought back from Japan last year and they look great from address (with Roddio graphites, which are premium shafts and I think are also a Daiwa-owned brand). They’re older but they produce a very nice ball flight and are easy to hit. OnOff has a solid lineage of forged cavity-back irons.

i also really like the looks of the PRGR RS Forged. Have seen them in a shop but have not hit them.

Enjoy the hunt. There’s a lot of nice ones. Keep us posted on what you get.

What he said....

I've gamed the MR23 mb's and they're possibly the softest feeling heads I've hit. Totally unforgiving due to the small head size but wonderful to hit and look at.

Great info guys. I feel like a kid in a candy store. As of now the MR23's are probably my third choice. I was able to find a few threads on other forums saying the MR23's are the holy grail of player's CB's but can be quite demanding. Maybe a little too demanding for a 12 handicapper like myself. I've fond some ONOff forged plus within my budget but they appeared quite large in my picture.

The Yamaha Inpress X as well as the Srixon ZR 30 are probably my top 2 right now. I'm currently doing my research before I make my final decision. Does anyone have experience or information on these clubs? I'll check out the Yonnex and the PRGR as well. All of the help is much appreciated.

One word: Epons

if you’re considering JDM and haven’t hit the Epons you’re doing yourself a disservice.

I'm looking for more of a backup set more than anything. If money wasn't a factor Epon would be my first choice without a doubt. I've sold a few things recently so I have a bit of spare change to blow on a cheap experiment. I really don't want to go over $200 so I'm looking at a lot of older models.

Tourstage were mostly made by Endo who make Epon. I played the 701Cb (and stupidly left them across the Pacific at my parents), I play the MR23 CB and I have a set of the TS201. The TS201 and 701Cb are the nicest looking of all the Tourstage except the 709MC or 909MB. The Srixons ZR series were nice too.

701’s $130

Ignore the image in the link. The link takes you to the page for the Tourstage irons listing.https://golfpartnerusa.com/collections/iron-sets/products/bridgestone-iron-set-tourstage-x-blade-701-ir-dynamic-gold

Iron Sets

Those X blades are beautiful. I was 95% locked in on the Yamaha Inpres X but now I'm not too sure lol.

I’ve owned & played these sets:

Tourstage X-Blade 701CB & 705 Type M (the Japanese version of J40 CB).

2009 Yamaha Inpres X V-Forged Tourmodel CB & 2012 non-Tourmodel CB

I couldn’t tell much difference between Tourstage vs Yamaha in terms of feel, performance (forgiveness/distance control) or quality.

Each set had different graphite shafts in them, so apples vs oranges.

I’m an average iron player (mid capper).

It’s gonna come down to personal preference I think, for you.

All things being equal, in theory the TourStage would have better resale value outside of Japan because 95% of golfers don’t even know Yamaha makes golf equipment, but most know Bridgestone (golf balls if anything).

JDM has different definitions these days.

It stands for Japanese Domestic Market.

Used to be that it equated to Made in Japan & sold within Japan only.

With globalization of golf club manufacturing, JDM can nowadays mean one of these:

Made in China (or Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, etc) & sold in Japan exclusively (e.g. Ryoma, JBeam, ...)OEM is headquartered in Japan but sells globally (e.g. Epon, Miura, Vega...)Components are sourced outside of Japan but assembled in Japan (e.g. Honma)OEM is headquartered outside of Japan but has Japan exclusives (e.g. Titleist VG3, Cold Forged Vokeys, Taylormade Gloire...)

the golf partner site looks interesting. Legit? Free shipping to the us, seems hard to believe. They mention customs etc., what other fees could we be looking at as far as shipping to the US?

I’ve bought dozens of clubs (all types including iron sets) from Golf Partner using Rakuten in the past. This US site became available just recently (the past year). I personally have not used the US site but it seems it’s affiliated with the main Golf Partner chain in Japan. I think I read that Golf Partner is a franchise so perhaps the US site is one of the many franchisees looking to expand in the US. I can 100% vouch for buying through Rakuten but there is more work having to communicate & interpret their English translations. And returns aren’t accepted via Rakuten.

I’ve not once in 4+ years buying clubs from Japan had to pay any import fees/duty. Perhaps it’s a function of where you live? I live in CA.

Yeah Rakuten global is what I use to buy gear, but unlike 95124hacker, I've always had to pay duties......UK based though.

I’ve got a set of PRGR TR 900 MDs. Bought them through Tourspec new, I think in 2010. They are Endo forged and were described as a “neo blade” at the time. Minimal offset, thin souls, but with larger heads. I bought them with Nippon shafts. Definitely a high quality iron. Not a forgiving club.

Golf equipment is not manufactured in Singapore..

Thanks for the insight. I'm most likely going to get the Yamahas. I'd love to hear more about your impressions on the club if you feel obliged. I've owned 2 sets of Bridgestone irons already and do want something a bit different and out of the ordinary. I'm not really worried about re-sale. I tend to hold on to clubs and it's starting to border on hoarding. I think i have 5 drivers presently but only play 2 of them. Four simillary lofted hybrids, 4 3-woods, 4 putters.... I think you get the point haha. I try to buy cheap so I can purchase more often and lessen the blow to my wallet.

Anyways, there are a number of Yamaha RMX series Irons on Jauce that I want to pull the trigger on because I could get them with Modus 120s stock. I think I've seen a few 105s floating around as well. I had Modus 130's in my Srixons and got a nice high flight out of them but felt like I had no business swinging a shaft that heavy and ultimately sold them for that reason. I have tried the 105s in the past and liked the flight. I know the 120s are a bit of a different animal so that will be a gamble but I'm willing to take it for the right price. My biggest concern is that I read on another forum that the RMX series were not quite as good as the earlier Inpres generations.

RMX (at least the non Tourmodels) series are made in China whereas pre-RMX (2013-earlier) were made in Japan by Endo Mfg, largely considered the best forging house in Asia. I’m not here to debate China vs Japan forgings but for many, that’s a big consideration. Note older Bridgestones were Endo forged as well. If they were Tourstage solid 1-piece heads, most likely they were made by Endo.

Very helpful information. I guess that rules out the RMX haha. That makes sense as to why the fan fair over Yamaha died out. I'd prefer to have the Endo forged. I can always by some modus pulls and have them installed later.

Is $50 about what I should expect to pay to ship a set of irons over? Unfortunately I don't speak Japanese and a lot of the writing gets lost in translation on many of the websites. I plan on using Jauce or Rakuten because they seem a bit easier to understand as an American consumer.

Ww

Beware Jauce and other 3rd party buying proxies (I use Buyee) tack on fees that can easily run over $100. I recall sometimes paying $85 to ship a 7 or 8 club set of irons to California. The good news is they used to ship in a week from time of order. However I heard during COVID, they are taking much longer. Single clubs shipping from Japan are more in the $35-$40 range IIRC.

OK Jauce is a no go then. I'm trying to do my homework so I don't get any unexpected fees. I will check out Buyee. Once again thank you for the guidance @95124hacker

Just an update of sorts. I found what I believed was the perfect set of irons; a nice set of Yamaha forged Tourmodel Irons from 2008. Love the look and the Dynamic Gold SL's might be a good shaft for my swing. Pulled the trigger Monday and was excited to have them headed my way. Got an email this evening that my order was being cancelled. Japanese Post is not shipping to the U.S. due to the pandemic. There is no specified date for when the service will resume. I'm pretty bummed out. Looks like I won't be getting any JDM gear any time soon.

Has anyone shipped gear over from Japan during the pandemic? I found it odd since any exposure for a consumer is next to nothing and if the Japanese mail service is still functioning domestically, I don't see any additional risk for postal workers.

Just looked on the website and air service to the U.S. was suspended 4/23.

Actually the 2014 and ‘15 RMX forged Tour Model heads continued to be forged by Endo. Everything else moved to China. The ‘15 is quite nice. Lots of threads on it in JDM forums.

There are not issues if the seller is using FedEx out of Japan. I have a Japanese market Bridgestone driver coming next week via FedEx. Bought it a week ago, so two weeks is the scheduled window. Postal services, including USPS, are tough going right now.