Blade users thread (NO DEBATING CLUBHEADS! NO Buy Sell Trade!)

[wmblake2000]

PS: 55 pages - 55! - on the tw blades.

[tgoodspe1991]

> @wmblake2000 said:

> PS: 55 pages - 55! - on the tw blades.

 

Most of it is actually complaining about TaylorMade. Very little about the irons themselves lol.

 

[wmblake2000]

> @tgoodspe1991 said:

> > @wmblake2000 said:

> > PS: 55 pages - 55! - on the tw blades.

>

> Most of it is actually complaining about TaylorMade. Very little about the irons themselves lol.

>

 

 

haha. shows good judgement on my part... I only read bits and pieces. I saw demo 7 iron in a store. Nice, to be sure, but not interesting to me.

[Bigmean]

Haha...i haven't gone in yet....I just am not aroused by them at those prices.

 

 

So I get there, my club is lost in back with the rentals took 15 min to find and they wouldn't let me back there to just help identify it....she goes to give it to me, and is like it is done, to which I am like no, it is how I left it. So I am 30 min plus to another place, I have things to do I am like man, I am pulling this......good news bad news. Good news, shaft is OK, for some reason there was only epoxy up high and that Calloway doesn't seat much shaft...I just really didn't use enough or put in epoxy first, I don't remember......bad news, I burn the paint by the low pro "Hosel" and it is like 1/4' on the crown bubbled. At this point I am surprisingly calm in retrospectively calling myself an idiot (I am going to make a real shaft puller and get a real heat gun) mostly because the shaft is ok, and this is gamer material for me, not bag queen....so I am thinking of either auto paint and sanding and doing a good enough gamer patch.....orrrrrrrr, get ballsy, sand the whole dark part of head, remove the stupid Callaway ridges on top, and have a buddy of mine that air brushes RC cars airbrush the crown? Option 1 has me gluing this up soon and p,align it soon and will not make matters really worse......option 2 has high risk reward outcomes. Group thoughts welcome?

[Bigmean]

Keeping separate from my driver drama...just got back from walking 9 with my boy. He birdied a hole, I didn't LOL.

 

Not bad, super windy, I had 5 pars, 1 bogie and 3 "Others". bad shots were "9 iron 20yd hook" bad and big numbers as a result and I chunked 2 wedges, so wettish ground not as easy as chipping off the mat!

 

Back feels awesome, I didn't loose a drive, and all in all I really feel like since the last time I was on a course was July, maybe the garage practice kept things respectable enough, I mean the par holes were all textbook GIR, reasonable look at birdie and 2 putt.

 

Oh yeah, played the shingos, still really up in the air on them, but I am going to give them the whole season I think as the CB set and see how they change in and out when I get going.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

> @wmblake2000 said:

> 10k run after awakening at 4 am is impressive!

>

 

Yeah, I'm lucky if I can run 4m after waking up at 10am.

And I'm talking metric with "4m".

[NRJyzr]

> @NRJyzr said:

> Will be playing this afternoon, I am taking my TW282's with me. Will be hitting them on range beforehand to see if I want to play them. Swing has been very spotty this year, the longer winter apparently really affected my golf game this year.

>

> They do look a bit intimidating, with that super square toe. ;)

 

 

Interesting experience Friday afternoon with the TW282. Shot an moderarely ugly score for me, which is a recurring theme for me so far this year. I guess the winter layoff with five month of no full swings affected me much more than I would have liked. LOL

 

I was a bit worried about the irons, but they were fine. I admit i was a bit surprised. Only two questionable shots, a shanked shot from the fairway on the 11th hole, and a slightly fat 3 iron on a downslope on the 6th hole, which came up short of the green. My problems in the round were from tee game putting me in trouble, spotty short game, and a couple instances of WTF speed control with the putter.

 

The effect of all this has me thinking seriously of dropping down a flex with the driver and 4 wood, at least in the short term, and thinking about reshafting one of the iron sets with something in between DGS and DGR. Results with my 2 hybrid, which has an NV105 iron shaft in it, also has me taking out the TW276 set, which have NV105s installed.

 

Note to self: hit balls over the winter next year. LOL

[Bigmean]

 

> @No_Catchy_Nickname said:

> > @wmblake2000 said:

> > 10k run after awakening at 4 am is impressive!

> >

>

> Yeah, I'm lucky if I can run 4m after waking up at 10am.

> And I'm talking metric with "4m".

 

4 meters is winning hahaha....I am doing about 30-45 on treadmill with varying inclines as part of my gym routine, and seriously

I am happy running is not good for my back becuase it is a fantastic excuse to not try to do something I would be awful at....I have been riding a bike all around though for extra calorie burning. It is kinda nice to ride a bike 2 miles to get that missing dinner ingredient etc. I even got saddle bags to load up. Forget the workout, I am enjoying the pace....

 

 

[Bigmean]

Here are these.....

Next walking 9 will be first time out with these. I was going to go with some weird JDM grips, but the lamkin Utx cord is my style

And perfect grey I think. The copper is in an awkward stage now but will be at a muted patina in a month or 2. I also got a copper cream on amazon Incase I want to bling them up for any reason.

[wmblake2000]

> @No_Catchy_Nickname said:

> > @wmblake2000 said:

> > 10k run after awakening at 4 am is impressive!

> >

>

> Yeah, I'm lucky if I can run 4m after waking up at 10am.

> And I'm talking metric with "4m".

 

That’s funny. Well played

 

[Kingcat990]

Ah, I love the ferrules

[Golfingfanatic]

Lovely irons!

[Nard_S]

Those copper On Off's are bitchin.

 

Speaking of , if I was dopey enough to blow $2k on my pedestrian game, for me, the new ON Off would win over the TW P7, hands down.

 

Played 1st nine in 8 months. Pew, stinky play but Ranger Rick swing is blastastic. Employed it exactly twice to great results, never been so pleased with 12 over for 9, lol. Love this stupid game.

 

[wmblake2000]

> @Nard_S said:

> Love this stupid game.

 

Ain't that the truth!

 

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

> @NRJyzr said:

 

> The effect of all this has me thinking seriously of dropping down a flex with the driver and 4 wood, at least in the short term, and thinking about reshafting one of the iron sets with something in between DGS and DGR. Results with my 2 hybrid, which has an NV105 iron shaft in it, also has me taking out the TW276 set, which have NV105s installed.

>

> Note to self: hit balls over the winter next year. LOL

 

I think not practising is likely to bring about a drop in swing speed, although not necessarily a permanent loss.

I'm sort of impressed that you're still bagging a 3i after not hitting a ball for 5 months.

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Love those copper OnOffs. Just amazing.

[Bigmean]

Thanks nard!

 

Well, what you would lose in street cried with that choice you would make up for in golf club. I wouldn't trade this set for TWs. Hey, I think my set is only like 10-12 years or so old, so eventually time is on your side money wise and you can get them. Patience pays...

 

Nard is that new set the same gig, 250 only made limited set? I think I asked this but are they Miura or epon(endo, but I presume if they commissioned endo it would be the best they can do, so soon). Bonus to the set I got is Miura-san himself was grinder on all 250 if I understand correctly, which at some point 20 years from now will be cool.

 

I was just hitting 7 and 5 in garage working on that whole light grip snap through let it go release deal....I can exhale....the heads, the shafts, they really feel the part, the shaft kick

In the attas takes a decent flick but feels awesome for sure, like I am some spare time away from going through the lofts and lies but the feel like they put it on its way. Medium 1/2 club distance Misses feel good with extra club real estate and those shafts....the roddios will be in my small blades soon, but I need to get by the honeymoon for a clearer assessment...

[Nard_S]

> @Bigmean said:

> Thanks nard!

>

> Well, what you would lose in street cried with that choice you would make up for in golf club. I wouldn't trade this set for TWs. Hey, I think my set is only like 10-12 years or so old, so eventually time is on your side money wise and you can get them. Patience pays...

>

> Nard is that new set the same gig, 250 only made limited set? I think I asked this but are they Miura or epon(endo, but I presume if they commissioned endo it would be the best they can do, so soon). Bonus to the set I got is Miura-san himself was grinder on all 250 if I understand correctly, which at some point 20 years from now will be cool.

 

Yeah the new limited run Labospec. TSG has them listed. By the description, they are spun welded units, done in Himeji, Japan. Sounds to me like they are Miura made, never heard of anyone else using this method (perhaps you or our friends over their know better). The new TWP7 looks great, but I'm not completely sold on them. they say they are "Tiger spec" but that does not necessarily mean "Tiger grind". The On Off's are classy, yet they are not cookie cutter blades, if they are Miura's to boot, my gosh, $2k for a limited set might be a better "investment". The TW's by all accounts are not limited, in 6 months eBay will be littered with a lot of them, lol.

 

Very cool to have something the old master did himself, do keep em forever. I have several sets that have "no sale" on them, but they are "do use", one def was done by the Master and they will always stay with me.

[wmblake2000]

Who are the legendary grinders? Old man Miura, Don White are the two names I know. Who else? And how do you guys know all this stuff about who grinded a set of irons? And Nard, inquiring minds want to know... what are your 'no sale' beauties?

[Nard_S]

> @wmblake2000 said:

> Who are the legendary grinders? Old man Miura, Don White are the two names I know. Who else? And how do you guys know all this stuff about who grinded a set of irons? And Nard, inquiring minds want to know... what are your 'no sale' beauties?

 

Well there's the Miura-san, Don White, um there's the guy who did a lot of Wilson's stuff, his name escapes me (Robert...?) as does a guy who did Hogan's stuff. I guess Mike Taylor is headed there too.

 

My SZ's are stamped, "made for professional , Ian Woodsman". Story is Maruman had Miura design and grind set to his liking, the working blueprint were classic Dunlop Australian's that Ian adored. They later became known as CX-41's, but the set I have are slightly different than retail units. All high end blades from Maruman in the 90's were made at Miura's factory.Sometime post 2K they went with Endo.

 

Those are on "no sale" list. My Mac-Cobra's are as well. Don White apparently did those, Norman worked with him to tailor old Mac heads to his liking. There's two versions of those, "Tour" stamped are more coveted, I have that. My 681's which in some ways are the Rodney Dangerfield of blades are keepers too. Amazing performance and beauty. Them and the MC's are the two best Hoffman clubs I ever hit. All three sets have pro spec weighting in the build, something I think is the most desirable aspect too them. Boggles the mind, no one offers this up openly.

The 92 Hogan Fort Worth's I have along with a barely used 2nd set of 99 Apex are in to. The 92's are there last iron Mr. Hogan over saw, the 88 Redlines get a lot of love but for me the 92 is one of nicest models Hogan ever put out.They are stunning but they are also quite hard to hit, real purity to them, Ben threw down. I would add in my Mizuno TP 2000's, essentially TN87's with the vaunted"copper under coat" plus they have a special champagne chrome finish and lastly the Wilson FG 59's (revived FG17's) which in the case of those and another pro spec set of heads in CX-41's need proper shafts to solidify their place.

 

I have another 5-6 sets that I could sell tomorrow with no regrets. There's probably a handful of others I keep an eye out for. Oddly I'm not a huge Macgregor or Mizuno buff, maybe somedayI'll be enlightened :). There's always chatter about why anyone would hit blades , to me it's like saying why would anyone want a Porche 911 RS. All are way above my pay grade, but so what, I can do well enough to understand and appreciate their excellence.

 

 

 

[Bigmean]

No, these are do not sell. Once I saw they were a 10%-15% larger version of the small blades I knew that they were staying, as I have said a bunch, I was just worried I was going to over do it with the graphite obsession, and with that out to bed I am ecstatic. Also, I love Tour AD shafts, but the attas are notably more of a true iron shaft than the ones I put in the 14s. Even hitting into a blank screen as I have mostly done as I don’t turn the gig on for 15-25 balls killing time on weekend, you can feel the kick and trajectory. The weight of course helps, but it is more than that.

 

 

As far as grinders, I really don’t know anything. All I have done is kill time on the internet and join some jdm forums. I don’t know anything and As much as I love JDM, I have learned all that glitters is not Samaria steel and you need to wade through opinions that seem almost placebo from some who spent a bunch on some ninja type stuff and want to justify it.

 

I am a hands on guy, and I have at this point made like a lot of overseas auction purchases and I have a much better grasp on worth it or not from photos and manufacturers than I did when I started. Of course that info is only grain of salt with relation to what turns me on, ymmv as they say...

 

..I am not sure where I was going with all this but I think the point was when you ho like we all do, you get a good sense of what will jive and what won’t, and with jdm stuff like those new onoffs, and even ones I got, like how I rolled dice on the shingos, you need to throw darts, roll the dice and build your own mental note filled library when it comes to jdm and eventually you do throw better darts......I personally find the jdm tangent super rewarding, but it is at the luxury of some expendable time spent surfing auctions, effort to learn what is a good deal and not, effort to proxy, time to ship try and resell on eBay, and of course the money......I probably net lose 20%ish by time fees to get here and eBay fees and shipping all hit.

 

Shafts being the most difficult to guess at of course.. even for domestic/common shafts...look at all the shaft discussion in here, and for good reason.

 

 

[NRJyzr]

> @Nard_S said:

> > @wmblake2000 said:

> > Who are the legendary grinders? Old man Miura, Don White are the two names I know. Who else? And how do you guys know all this stuff about who grinded a set of irons? And Nard, inquiring minds want to know... what are your 'no sale' beauties?

>

> Well there's the Miura-san, Don White, um there's the guy who did a lot of Wilson's stuff, his name escapes me (Robert...?) as does a guy who did Hogan's stuff. I guess Mike Taylor is headed there too.

>

>

 

 

Robert Mendralla was The Man at Wilson. :)

[wmblake2000]

> @Nard_S said:

> > @wmblake2000 said:

> > Who are the legendary grinders? Old man Miura, Don White are the two names I know. Who else? And how do you guys know all this stuff about who grinded a set of irons? And Nard, inquiring minds want to know... what are your 'no sale' beauties?

>

> Well there's the Miura-san, Don White, um there's the guy who did a lot of Wilson's stuff, his name escapes me (Robert...?) as does a guy who did Hogan's stuff. I guess Mike Taylor is headed there too.

>

> My SZ's are stamped, "made for professional , Ian Woodsman". Story is Maruman had Miura design and grind set to his liking, the working blueprint were classic Dunlop Australian's that Ian adored. They later became known as CX-41's, but the set I have are slightly different than retail units. All high end blades from Maruman in the 90's were made at Miura's factory.Sometime post 2K they went with Endo.

>

> Those are on "no sale" list. My Mac-Cobra's are as well. Don White apparently did those, Norman worked with him to tailor old Mac heads to his liking. There's two versions of those, "Tour" stamped are more coveted, I have that. My 681's which in some ways are the Rodney Dangerfield of blades are keepers too. Amazing performance and beauty. Them and the MC's are the two best Hoffman clubs I ever hit. All three sets have pro spec weighting in the build, something I think is the most desirable aspect too them. Boggles the mind, no one offers this up openly.

> The 92 Hogan Fort Worth's I have along with a barely used 2nd set of 99 Apex are in to. The 92's are there last iron Mr. Hogan over saw, the 88 Redlines get a lot of love but for me the 92 is one of nicest models Hogan ever put out.They are stunning but they are also quite hard to hit, real purity to them, Ben threw down. I would add in my Mizuno TP 2000's, essentially TN87's with the vaunted"copper under coat" plus they have a special champagne chrome finish and lastly the Wilson FG 59's (revived FG17's) which in the case of those and another pro spec set of heads in CX-41's need proper shafts to solidify their place.

>

> I have another 5-6 sets that I could sell tomorrow with no regrets. There's probably a handful of others I keep an eye out for. Oddly I'm not a huge Macgregor or Mizuno buff, maybe somedayI'll be enlightened :). There's always chatter about why anyone would hit blades , to me it's like saying why would anyone want a Porche 911 RS. All are way above my pay grade, but so what, I can do well enough to understand and appreciate their excellence.

>

Nard! Thanks for that incredible note. Quite a remarkable collection. I had no idea. It’s amazing to me - among all my pals, I am like this huge golf nerd. Pfft. No way. It’s a busy day for me today but tonight I am going to look up all the clubs you mention and check them out in more detail. Again, thanks!

 

[revanant]

> @Bigmean said:

> I hope that is it....man.......

>

> Ok so iron testing, you will like this as it is much to do about a golfer than an iron. I got 5 balls with each iron. I did this relatively cold and without swinging a club in a few weeks and after a solid workout. Not excuses, just saying that it was optimal mediocre swing conditions.

>

>

>

>

>

> I have had the hardest time posting pics so I hope these work...

>

> I can tell you I was fighting a pull draw across all irons. I don’t think I missed more than 2/20 right of pin. I can also say knowing I would post this, I was super nervous hitting the Miuras cause I have talked a lot of **** on doing best with them hahaha. Also on a similar note, The GC2 doesn’t measure clubhead speed, it guesses it based on ball speed and smash factor. Now someone who knows more please correct/enlighten, but I am not swinging the Mira’s faster, just catching them more on the center to explain the speeds. Same for shingles, they are cbs and hotter on center and misses.

>

> As far as what the numbers say, I don’t even know. I really bad pulled at least 2 for each, but postive is that those are my full swing trying to step on it numbers generally as that shot tends to be the most I can get from a club. The 14s are short, they feel soft and short. The shingos has solid numbers but didn’t stand out to me, I hit my miuras bad, but just left bad, and I am a little stunned by the onoffs. I feel like they stole it. I hit them I thought best in a little warm up and also for this. I know the shaft is really low torque, and I can tug pull anything, but they just felt solid and seemed to be half a club longer than miuras. To my senses. I hit first one of them fat. Sonthe avergaes are thrown off.

>

> I truly don’t know how to analyze numbers, but I felt like I had the same issues across all clubs, evenly, I didn’t try to correct and cut cause I didn’t want to lose numbers in changes from what felt normal...but for 4 different irons, I certainly felt like it all screamed Indian.. the onoffs were a pleasant surprise to me though. They will be good in real life.

>

>

>

 

So, looking at these numbers, the irons all look pretty comparable. If these were the results I got, I'd choose the one that felt the best and looked the best.

 

The only thing I'd flag with the MP-14s is that your swing speed was slowest with those by a good 3 mph or so. You spiked with the BBs at 73 mph, whereas you never broke 70 mph with the MP-14s. If the swing speed isn't accurate, and it's just an extrapolation, I'm not sure what to make of the numbers. However, your smash factor is a consistently good 1.46 across the irons--some small differences (I think the Shingos and Miuras have the best ratio), but all consistently good.

 

Presumably, with this 9 iron you're looking for the shots that are dropping and only carrying a yard or two further. Your best numbers tend to be about 138 carry and 140 total. The iron that gives you that with the fewest fliers looks like the be the OnOff--nothing goes farther than 147, and three of the shots hit that 138/140 split.

 

The only thing worth confirming is maybe if you were actually swinging a bit softer with the MP-14s because they were the first iron up, and if you find you can ever reach 138 carry or if it's just usually a club shorter in your experience? That's the only set that looks particularly different among the results.

 

That being said, we're looking at a small data set. Which brings me back to my initial conclusion--it's mostly the indian, so play the set you like the most on a given day. : )

[revanant]

> @No_Catchy_Nickname said:

> > @wmblake2000 said:

> > I am really excited by the MP4’s. Feels like this was the most well-reasoned buy of irons based purely on performance than maybe any. I get my second eye surgery today so it’ll be 10 days or so before I can really swing at it again.

> >

> > I like the look at address so much I was hoping Mizuno made a gap wedge that had same basic design.

>

> I much prefer the MP4s to the MP18s, so much so that I am going to sell my 18s. I agree with Biggie. They're Mizuno's best blade offering in the last decade or so. However, I will say that the MP5s have grown on me. I also liked the 37s, though the PW and 9i were a bit on the large side from what I remember.

>

 

For what it's worth, I too love my MP-4s. : )

 

I'm also now a big fan of my Hogan Redlines--the #4 shaft is crazy light, and I get a ton of easy height with the irons. They're remarkably easy to hit well.

[Bigmean]

Hey rev, yeah that was a fun 5 shot each pretty cold go at shaft comparison. I wanted to see if anything stood out, not so much last feel. At some point next time in the garage I am going to try to compare 3 (Onoffs and miuras) sets with a random iron for like say maybe 7 shots and just drop worst 2. Glued up the epic tonight, hopefully this time I didn't screw it up....I am really looking forward to a driver number comparison.

[revanant]

> @Bigmean said:

> Hey rev, yeah that was a fun 5 shot each pretty cold go at shaft comparison. I wanted to see if anything stood out, not so much last feel. At some point next time in the garage I am going to try to compare 3 (Onoffs and miuras) sets with a random iron for like say maybe 7 shots and just drop worst 2. Glued up the epic tonight, hopefully this time I didn't **** it up....I am really looking forward to a driver number comparison.

 

I think this makes sense. You don’t even need to drop any shots—you can read between the lines and redo an average by hand with a little simple math, and I find it’s helpful to see my bad shots, since those shots are sadly part of our game too. :)

 

The only thing I’d recommend is doing a double set. That way, no set of clubs suffers from having gone first.

 

If you go on looks and feel, are the onoffs ahead?

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

> @revanant said:

> > @No_Catchy_Nickname said:

> > > @wmblake2000 said:

> > > I am really excited by the MP4’s. Feels like this was the most well-reasoned buy of irons based purely on performance than maybe any. I get my second eye surgery today so it’ll be 10 days or so before I can really swing at it again.

> > >

> > > I like the look at address so much I was hoping Mizuno made a gap wedge that had same basic design.

> >

> > I much prefer the MP4s to the MP18s, so much so that I am going to sell my 18s. I agree with Biggie. They're Mizuno's best blade offering in the last decade or so. However, I will say that the MP5s have grown on me. I also liked the 37s, though the PW and 9i were a bit on the large side from what I remember.

> >

>

> For what it's worth, I too love my MP-4s. : )

>

> I'm also now a big fan of my Hogan Redlines--the #4 shaft is crazy light, and I get a ton of easy height with the irons. They're remarkably easy to hit well.

 

I've got some '72 Apexes with #4 shafts (probably not the same as the #4 in the Redlines as they came out 15~16 years later). But, yeah, they're great and easy to get airborne, especially in the long irons. I had some Hogans from the mid Eighties with a #3 shaft and just hooked everything off the planet with them.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

> @Bigmean said:

> Hey rev, yeah that was a fun 5 shot each pretty cold go at shaft comparison. I wanted to see if anything stood out, not so much last feel. At some point next time in the garage I am going to try to compare 3 (Onoffs and miuras) sets with a random iron for like say maybe 7 shots and just drop worst 2. Glued up the epic tonight, hopefully this time I didn't **** it up....I am really looking forward to a driver number comparison.

 

 

What happened with that shaft in the Epic? Was it salvageable?

[revanant]

So, I did something very hoe-y yesterday. I've got a set of Titleist 716 CBs on the way in Aerotech Steelfiber 95 s. I've had my eye on those shafts and I've hit the CB before and liked it. The price was $460, which is close to the cost of the shafts alone. I may not keep them, but I'm curious to see how that combo plays, and I'm doing my best to take advantage of the high tech golf simulator in my apartment building for as long as I have access to it. : )

 

If I like them, I can flip my 716 AP1s which are gathering dust in my closet to offset some of the cost. Otherwise, it's a risk-free trial with a 30 day return. It doesn't mean I love my MP-4s or Hogan Redlines any less, though, right? ; )