as green as it gets on JDM. Some guidance would be nice:)

[Jimi Thing]

It is itching. I currently use mostly pxg stuff. Gen 1 irons, steelfiber i95 and gen 2 woods / hybrids and a Proto driver. 

 

The itch for new stuff is growing and I am intrigued by stuff that is not from the common OEM's, intrigued by JDM. But I am as green as grass, know little to nothing about what is good and how it compares to what I have been fed through western marketing channels. So I am a bit hesitant as well since it is just tougher to educate yourself and testing is even tougher. So I am looking to make the best educated decision I can. I hope the experts here are able to help me out. 

 

With JDM, irons is the first thing that comes to mind for me. But that is what I am the most happy with. Driver and woods, utilities is where my true need is and I am wondering if JDM offerings would contain products that are as good, preferably better as what I can purchase here in Europe. Like everybody, I want distance and accuracy. So ball speed, appropriate spin rates and high Moi. 

 

Swing speed is just north of 100mph, play of a 5 hcp, can get it around reasonably ok. 

 

Any assistance in where to start looking (I get overwhelmed by TourSpecGolf), comparing product in drivers and woods is highly appreciated. Any specific brands and model recommendations also highly appreciated. 

 

NExt would be irons, although not necessarily in need I am in love with how some of the stuff looks. Absolutely gorgeous. I play the PXG gen1 P irons. I love how they feel, the performance, distance and accuracy I get out of them. The raving on the JDM irons is for large part because of the forging quality, I'm looking for that feel. But my ignorant mind tells me I might loose a lot of the performance if I step away from the hollow body irons I game right now. Or would you say, that given similar lofts, distance remains fairly similar and forgiveness stays on par as well if I go with a comparable shaped iron? Or should I be looking into some JDM hollow bodied irons?

 

 

A lot of questions. Any assistance and insights would be highly appreciated.

 

[rgk5]

Some of the Tourstage drivers of 5-7 years ago are gorgeous and play extremely well.  I'v owned three of them, such as this one model.  Notice the exotic shaft and no charge for shipping.

 

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/285154391041?hash=item426486b401:g:P1IAAOSw3qJj9B1x&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4PytsMldIVGmbq45ilaiJ1ZVzSIXBQBO9p2Krttdpcl%2FUV2%2BwQabryYJHri%2BzqJncw4RcwhQA3lAsiniJzWaEdvvjriTEURPiq9DT1K%2BtD3AWqsxMpgiQkAFBSHIT%2FcKiwf%2FoZ8IrCO4uw7z95Qx0ztsGEoOpwvXOuDV07vJRFq%2FWpqN0cJ64uijRhMIHStlqdICm4mM7EoTNqrRldWVePTsiFn9FJlQmQi8QGHNN54Mx%2F1mmAdh1m6uezZb3fAqPnfjtqOLjKh3WjUjtN51iUvFZzPjF9pPxY6FbYUf%2B%2F0g|tkp%3ABk9SR9KH8_TPYQ

 

On these web sites you will drool over some lovely irons that are discontinued but still highly sought after.

 

I've never had a bad deal from the JDM sellers.

[Awainer1]

18 hours ago, Jimi Thing said:

It is itching. I currently use mostly pxg stuff. Gen 1 irons, steelfiber i95 and gen 2 woods / hybrids and a Proto driver. 

 

The itch for new stuff is growing and I am intrigued by stuff that is not from the common OEM's, intrigued by JDM. But I am as green as grass, know little to nothing about what is good and how it compares to what I have been fed through western marketing channels. So I am a bit hesitant as well since it is just tougher to educate yourself and testing is even tougher. So I am looking to make the best educated decision I can. I hope the experts here are able to help me out. 

 

With JDM, irons is the first thing that comes to mind for me. But that is what I am the most happy with. Driver and woods, utilities is where my true need is and I am wondering if JDM offerings would contain products that are as good, preferably better as what I can purchase here in Europe. Like everybody, I want distance and accuracy. So ball speed, appropriate spin rates and high Moi. 

 

Swing speed is just north of 100mph, play of a 5 hcp, can get it around reasonably ok. 

 

Any assistance in where to start looking (I get overwhelmed by TourSpecGolf), comparing product in drivers and woods is highly appreciated. Any specific brands and model recommendations also highly appreciated. 

 

NExt would be irons, although not necessarily in need I am in love with how some of the stuff looks. Absolutely gorgeous. I play the PXG gen1 P irons. I love how they feel, the performance, distance and accuracy I get out of them. The raving on the JDM irons is for large part because of the forging quality, I'm looking for that feel. But my ignorant mind tells me I might loose a lot of the performance if I step away from the hollow body irons I game right now. Or would you say, that given similar lofts, distance remains fairly similar and forgiveness stays on par as well if I go with a comparable shaped iron? Or should I be looking into some JDM hollow bodied irons?

 

 

A lot of questions. Any assistance and insights would be highly appreciated.

 

Check out the Tourspecgolf forum its pretty full of info even though there's not much participation any more.  You will come across a member Supo there who also post on these forums from time to time.  He is a wealth of knowledge and I have bought a bunch of stuff of him and he is willing to talk shop with newbies even over email if you can get ahold of him.

 

https://forum.tourspecgolf.com/ 

 

 

[kekoa]

Be careful when dabbling in the JDM world.  It is a rabbit hole for sure and can be a very expensive journey.  Most of the stuff you are going to buy through recommendation and pictures, which becomes tough.   A lot of trial and error is involved, but fun at the same time.

 

Good luck.!

[PlayfromtheBrain]

If “95124hacker” posts anything in this thread, ignore him. He throws out loads of information on everything JDM and it’s all made up. Every bit of it. An endless encyclopedia of fake JDM knowledge. He is the last person you’d want to DM if you’re looking to get into JDM. Might be nice if he had a garage full of clubs for you to test out, but he doesn’t. 

 

 

 

 

 

😁

[DMG_Golf]

In the last few years I've dabbled in JDM drivers and irons... please note that I play off about 20, so my ball striking likely isn't where is needs to be to make the most of the 'quality control' differences in JDM equipment. Having said that, I've loved pretty much everything I've used... with the main reason for changing so much purely a want to try new things all the time.

 

I haven't played anything 'new' though, with the exception of the jBeam KZ-5 driver (you can see my review here - https://forum.tourspecgolf.com/topic/44108-jbeam-kz-5-driver-initial-review/?tab=comments#comment-277025 ). It's mainly been older drivers and irons that I've managed to pick up off various market places.

 

All forged irons feel nice when struck well, some soft and buttery, some solid and full feeling. Really comes down to what you prefer. My faves were probably the 2015 OnOff Kuros... if you hit those anywhere near the middle you didn't really feel a thing! I'm currently gaming a set of Bridgestone J40 DPC's (not sure if they are technically JDM though as Bridgetone is more an international brand for Tourstage). I have played some older Tourstage irons, and they were also amazing.

 

On the driver side you'll notice they tend to make deeper face drivers. Bit shorter heel to toe, but quite a lot deeper... so if your missed is high/low rather then heel/toe these can work really well. Think more of the traditional pear shape drivers. Some of the modern ones are starting to look more USDM, but still manage to go deeper on the face.

 

One more thing to check out is their shafts. There are some really awesome JDM driver shafts, but like anything JDM... they are at a premium price point. I've used TRPX, Crazy, and Fire Express shafts... all brilliant. They tend to get a lot more specific with their flex choices too, so you can fine tune your selection if you're into that. 

 

For me it's about finding something I like the look of, trawling the WWW for reviews, then trying to find them/it second hand. One good thing about JDM is it will hold it's value if you don't buy new (generally speaking), so you can try a bunch of different things without being out of pocket too much. 

 

Good luck and keep us posted on how you get on!

[mallet munday]

I have purchased an entire bag full of JDM equipment (minus the putter). I currently play a Geotech Quelet RE22 driver w/a Diamana GT series shaft, a Baldo Corsa 3W & hybrid, Kyoei dual weight II irons, onff forged wedges. I will say that the service part of tourspecgolf is ATROCIOUS, however the equipment is INCREDIBLE! Tourspecgolf hides behind email,, has no phone number & did not answer a single message from me for an entire week on their website or thru email..they won't apologize for anything they do wrong or even attempt to make it right. Now to the equipment.. The Geotech driver feels like im cheating off the tee box.. it's longer than my TM Stealth & as accurate as my Ping 425! The fw wood & hybrid are also the best feeling clubs I've ever played with..Irons and wedges are like golf art when you see them in person . Just incredible craftsmanship, soft as butter & surprisingly forgiving. I also have a set of fourteen tb-7s that look like butter knives and are as forgiving as the PXG gen5 p irons I owned and longer, but are strong in the loft area.  I will always buy JDM equipment moving forward.. I just wish there were more options online.. tourspecgolf & eBay are the only places I know of.. good luck on you're journey 

[ian-500]

On 2/27/2023 at 6:46 PM, PlayfromtheBrain said:

If “95124hacker” posts anything in this thread, ignore him. He throws out loads of information on everything JDM and it’s all made up. Every bit of it. An endless encyclopedia of fake JDM knowledge. He is the last person you’d want to DM if you’re looking to get into JDM. Might be nice if he had a garage full of clubs for you to test out, but he doesn’t. 

 

 

 

 

 

😁

 

I bet he has a warehouse full of JDM to play with.

[infinii]

I'd say check out BB4 driver. It seems extremely popular here in Taiwan.