Drivers from japan

[golfjester]

I was wondering why drivers from Japan are so much higher on * bay than the same drivers from the u.s. I know there are higher shipping cost but some are waaay higher. Is there something special about them such as being non-conforming or something like that? I'm just puzzled by this.

[avgjoe]

that's JDM in general

[ksuchris2000]

You have an example? I would be highly suspicious of counterfeit clubs. A lot of the staff bags, etc that are marked Japan are fakes.

[RogerinNewZealand]

Its a bit like a USA Cleveland wedge vs a Japan Cleveland wedge.
5 months ago i got a new CG17 56 wedge.
This was Japan Only and expensive.
No difference in Feel at all....
So i sold it.
With Drivers, usually tighter manufacturing tolerances on a JDM product.
I just logged on to Tourspecgolf MP15 Yoro irons, $1975 a set..
I drive a Camry, i used to drive a Lexus...Lexus is beauuuutiful.
But it costs a bittt more!!

[SatelliteGuy]

Same crap. Different paint.

It's more expensive because it can be.

YoroCraft are Mizuno..... Period.

Different paint, badge placement, offset..., etc.... But the quality of forging, manufacturing, etc... Is no different.







Disclaimer: Crap, in this instance, is being used a noun. It's no way implying quality of product, I would hate for all the Ninjas from the JDM Crazies to show up at my house.... And Ninja me to death.... Or whatever.

[2putttom]

Capitalizing on a very small market and appealing to the American need of "I gotta get it no matter the cost" syndrome.

[KuroOuji54]

Some clubs are almost the same. Such as r15 in Japan and us. But some are other lines, like the Taylor made gloire (sp?), which is a different product, made with premium materials. The yoro craft mizunos are custom mizunos, so while the metal is the same, you can fit them almost perfectly for your swing and the head weights are more consistent. Others are similar but slightly different, such as vokeys in japan are cold forged instead of cast like they are here. It depends on the club and company really. Tm even has the same heads that they have here, just forged. Hope this helps

[pkim31]

Even the retail on Japanese-manufactured products like the MRC shafts are sold much higher in Japan. My extended family tried to get me a couple Fubuki's but were priced significantly higher than the US retail prices. Crazy

[1957Strat]

Like most things, whatever the market will bear.

[Funkey]

[quote name='SatelliteGuy' timestamp='1419703065' post='10647303']
Same crap. Different paint.

It's more expensive because it can be.

YoroCraft are Mizuno..... Period.

Different paint, badge placement, offset..., etc.... But the quality of forging, manufacturing, etc... Is no different.







Disclaimer: Crap, in this instance, is being used a noun. It's no way implying quality of product, I would hate for all the Ninjas from the JDM Crazies to show up at my house.... And Ninja me to death.... Or whatever.


[/quote]

Crap a noxious goo waste product that smells badly. That exits the body so you can consume more food. Hard to see how it equates to Mizuno.

Wonder if there standard of living is better than ours? Or is it only the rich can afford to play golf?

[SwingBlade]

Golf in Japan is literally a whole other world. Most golfers can only "play" in multi-story driving ranges. Country clubs are almost always empty. When you fly over on a beautiful day you might see a foursome on every second or every third hole. Sometimes you won't see more than 10 or 12 people on the whole course. In that respect, not unlike Augusta. But, unlike Augusta, the cost of joining is prohibitive to all but a relative handful of the very wealthy and is strictly managed as to who can even be considered.

In the corporate world the Honmas help to establish the executive pecking order. Standard bands, silver bands, gold bands, platinum bands all priced anywhere from $4,000 to $35,000 or more. Some sets over $100,000. The clubs are often forged and way above the rack clubs available here in terms of quality and workmanship. I met a guy last month that ordered two custom sets of Miura's for his young teenaged son & daughter. Both sets were hand made to order and only touched by the master himself. $30,000 for each set.

Golf bags? Simply gorgeous customized leather cart bags running $500 to $3,000 or more. We never see bags like those in the U.S. except for some of the occasional Scotty Cameron leather cart bags for collectors, but even those would be only mid range in Japan. The Scotty Cameron museum South of Tokyo is sometimes quite amazing and can be extremely expensive with rare Scotty's.

Some Singapore and Hong Kong high end golf shops also have some of these bags and clubs at a slight discount from the high end Tokyo shops.

[pkim31]

Golf iron sets = the new samurai sword?

Definitely a very interesting, edifying post on Japan. I actually came across the honma brand (and Xxio?) via Koreans who tend to use Japanese brands.

[golfjester]

well I appreciate the feedback on this topic and it has been very informative. You can even see this with older model drivers like the Rapture V2 or the Razr hawk tour. The Japanese models will be higher than the ones from the U.S.

[thevaporz]

I caddied for a Korean guy from LA at the ProAm at last year's Farmers tourney at Torrey Pines who was playing Honmas and some Fourteen wedges. Being the HO that I am, this is a very rewarding experience every year in that I get to oogle out on all the pro clubs and general public clubs up close. I had to grab a couple pics. Beautiful clubs. Guy didn't offer any tip but I got paid $80 from the guys that run the show. Guy was still cool though and fun to caddy a round with. He already dropped $5K to play! Rory... Sabbatini was the pro in the group. Not that cool of a guy actually!

 

[SatelliteGuy]

[quote name='Funkey' timestamp='1419715274' post='10648047']
[quote name='SatelliteGuy' timestamp='1419703065' post='10647303']
Same crap. Different paint.

It's more expensive because it can be.

YoroCraft are Mizuno..... Period.

Different paint, badge placement, offset..., etc.... But the quality of forging, manufacturing, etc... Is no different.







Disclaimer: Crap, in this instance, is being used a noun. It's no way implying quality of product, I would hate for all the Ninjas from the JDM Crazies to show up at my house.... And Ninja me to death.... Or whatever.


[/quote]

Crap a noxious goo waste product that smells badly. That exits the body so you can consume more food. Hard to see how it equates to Mizuno.

Wonder if there standard of living is better than ours? Or is it only the rich can afford to play golf?
[/quote]

Even an explanation of my context in which I used the word... You still felt compelled to somehow equate the word to quality of product...

I'm flabbergasted.

It just goes to show why despite the uncommon sense found in a good percentage of these forums... I still had to explain myself.

[swgolf12]

[quote name='SwingBlade' timestamp='1419718670' post='10648243']
I met a guy last month that ordered two custom sets of Miura's for his young teenaged son & daughter. Both sets were hand made to order and only touched by the master himself. $30,000 for each set.


[/quote]

According to the NE Miura Rep, the master himself touches every club in one aspect or another, that is one main point he made when explaining to a store of not so knowledgable golf reps about the aura of owning a Miura product.

[Soloman1]

[quote name='SwingBlade' timestamp='1419718670' post='10648243']
Golf in Japan is literally a whole other world. Most golfers can only "play" in multi-story driving ranges. Country clubs are almost always empty. When you fly over on a beautiful day you might see a foursome on every second or every third hole. Sometimes you won't see more than 10 or 12 people on the whole course. In that respect, not unlike Augusta. But, unlike Augusta, the cost of joining is prohibitive to all but a relative handful of the very wealthy and is strictly managed as to who can even be considered.

In the corporate world the Honmas help to establish the executive pecking order. Standard bands, silver bands, gold bands, platinum bands all priced anywhere from $4,000 to $35,000 or more. Some sets over $100,000. The clubs are often forged and way above the rack clubs available here in terms of quality and workmanship. I met a guy last month that ordered two custom sets of Miura's for his young teenaged son & daughter. Both sets were hand made to order and only touched by the master himself. $30,000 for each set.

Golf bags? Simply gorgeous customized leather cart bags running $500 to $3,000 or more. We never see bags like those in the U.S. except for some of the occasional Scotty Cameron leather cart bags for collectors, but even those would be only mid range in Japan. The Scotty Cameron museum South of Tokyo is sometimes quite amazing and can be extremely expensive with rare Scotty's.

Some Singapore and Hong Kong high end golf shops also have some of these bags and clubs at a slight discount from the high end Tokyo shops.
[/quote]

Nonsense. You have no idea what you're talking about. You couldn't get a tee time in Japan today or tomorrow if you tried.

[SwingBlade]

[quote name='Soloman1' timestamp='1419820584' post='10653501']
[quote name='SwingBlade' timestamp='1419718670' post='10648243']
Golf in Japan is literally a whole other world. Most golfers can only "play" in multi-story driving ranges. Country clubs are almost always empty. When you fly over on a beautiful day you might see a foursome on every second or every third hole. Sometimes you won't see more than 10 or 12 people on the whole course. In that respect, not unlike Augusta. But, unlike Augusta, the cost of joining is prohibitive to all but a relative handful of the very wealthy and is strictly managed as to who can even be considered.

In the corporate world the Honmas help to establish the executive pecking order. Standard bands, silver bands, gold bands, platinum bands all priced anywhere from $4,000 to $35,000 or more. Some sets over $100,000. The clubs are often forged and way above the rack clubs available here in terms of quality and workmanship. I met a guy last month that ordered two custom sets of Miura's for his young teenaged son & daughter. Both sets were hand made to order and only touched by the master himself. $30,000 for each set.

Golf bags? Simply gorgeous customized leather cart bags running $500 to $3,000 or more. We never see bags like those in the U.S. except for some of the occasional Scotty Cameron leather cart bags for collectors, but even those would be only mid range in Japan. The Scotty Cameron museum South of Tokyo is sometimes quite amazing and can be extremely expensive with rare Scotty's.

Some Singapore and Hong Kong high end golf shops also have some of these bags and clubs at a slight discount from the high end Tokyo shops.
[/quote]

Nonsense. You have no idea what you're talking about. You couldn't get a tee time in Japan today or tomorrow if you tried.
[/quote]

Perhaps you could share your Japanese golf background. Mine includes 25 years of playing golf in Japan at least twice a year, often with a former Japanese Tour player as a partner. And, no, you can get a tee time at a nice country club anytime you want, especially if you are staying in a nice hotel. Just be prepared to fork out some dough.

You might first choose to notice that the comment I made about courses being empty referred to Country Clubs, e.g. exclusive private golf courses that can cost anywhere from $500K U.S. to well over $3,000,000+ depending on the status of the Japanese economy in any given year. High end country clubs are quite often seen as investments in Japan, not simply as the necessary cost of playing golf and impressing cohorts. And, despite what you may think, those courses are usually a ghost town compared to similar courses in the U.S.

Even at nice public courses and country clubs that allow non-member players, golf is a somewhat ritualistic event costing non-member Japanese and foreigners as much as $400+ per round including transportation, club rental and the obligatory lunch and almost all courses have a hot spa which is included in the price. For that reason, many nicer courses often don't have tee times after 1100. It isn't civilized. The average manager type in Japan has about $300 discretionary funds each month so, no, unlike here, golf is a distinct luxury for most Japanese golfers..

Yes, as you kind of rudely pointed out, there are a number of hacker courses that only run about $100 a round but they aren't much to brag about and they can take up to 1-3 hours to drive to from Narita or Tokyo. So yes, some courses are crowded, but the vast majority of Japanese golfers are still "driving range" golf ninjas.

So, all that having been said, what exactly was your point?

[Soloman1]

I'm in the golf business and have lived in Japan for over 20 years. You're regurgitating images from the bubble era. Private and public courses are not empty. There are no $400 courses anymore. The most exclusive courses are about 20,000 yen on weekdays. That's about $170, including caddy. Typical greens fees are now less than $100 on weekdays because courses have been acquired, and restructured. The aging of Japan, combined with the price restructuring, means the courses are always above 90% capacity. The Jack Nicklaus course in Ishioka is under $100 now on weekdays, including unlimited ProV1 practice balls for the range and short game area.

You're presenting an outdated image of golf in Japan today.

[kingarthur]

[quote name='Soloman1' timestamp='1419979515' post='10662145']
I'm in the golf business and have lived in Japan for over 20 years. You're regurgitating images from the bubble era. Private and public courses are not empty. There are no $400 courses anymore. The most exclusive courses are about 20,000 yen on weekdays. That's about $170, including caddy. Typical greens fees are now less than $100 on weekdays because courses have been acquired, and restructured. The aging of Japan, combined with the price restructuring, means the courses are always above 90% capacity. The Jack Nicklaus course in Ishioka is under $100 now on weekdays, including unlimited ProV1 practice balls for the range and short game area.

You're presenting an outdated image of golf in Japan today.
[/quote] spot on observations. Just played the Phoenix course in October amongst other courses, none cost more than $150. Golf is becoming cheaper, although most of the golfing population is still having a somewhat limited access.

[phizzy30]

[quote name='KuroOuji54' timestamp='1419707706' post='10647589']
Some clubs are almost the same. Such as r15 in Japan and us. But some are other lines, like the Taylor made gloire (sp?), which is a different product, made with premium materials. The yoro craft mizunos are custom mizunos, so while the metal is the same, you can fit them almost perfectly for your swing and the head weights are more consistent. Others are similar but slightly different, such as vokeys in japan are cold forged instead of cast like they are here. It depends on the club and company really. Tm even has the same heads that they have here, just forged. Hope this helps
[/quote]

First valid answer, unlike the other ignorant posters here who have absolutely no clue as to what they are talking about.

[Doublebuck]

[quote name='SatelliteGuy' timestamp='1419703065' post='10647303']
Same crap. Different paint.

It's more expensive because it can be.

YoroCraft are Mizuno..... Period.

Different paint, badge placement, offset..., etc.... But the quality of forging, manufacturing, etc... Is no different.







Disclaimer: Crap, in this instance, is being used a noun. It's no way implying quality of product, I would hate for all the Ninjas from the JDM Crazies to show up at my house.... And Ninja me to death.... Or whatever.


[/quote]

Cabin in the woods. No phone, no internet, a vehicle old enough to not have a GPS.