Miura Small Blade ltd 1957 vs. Epon Forged Personal Iron – Limited Muscle Back

[VikingGolf]

Hi guys!

 

I'm hoping to get some insight on Miura Small Blade vs Epon forged personal limited edition forged blades.

 

I've read this one already, but was hoping for a more specific discussion on the two models mentioned:

http://www.golfwrx.c...ra#entry5701035

 

The thing is, I'm considering switching my Miura Tournament blades (project X stee 2-PW) to the limited edition Small Blade (Baby blades). This seemed to me to be the only natural choice, if I wanted something even more extreme than the Tournament blades? I wanted a custom design as you can see in the picture attached. Unfortunately, Miura (at least in Europe) said their policy wouldnt allow for such a customization. Of course, I was a bit disappointed. I have also read that it is possible even to fly to Japan and have Miura do the fitting and make the clubs for you. Is this true, and how does this work/cost/etc? The Clubmaker I am in contact with instead suggested the Epon Personal ltd Blade.

 

Has anyone tried both the baby blades as well as the Epon personal blades, and can give me some inside info?

 

At this instant, the only thing I can say is that to my eyes the Miuras look more like a true blade.

 

http://www.tourspecg...roducts_id=4251

 

http://www.miuragolf...ies57_blade.asp

 

Thanks for any input on the subject!

 

 

 

Erik

[morebeerbettergolf]

PM RIDuffer on here he has both.

I have hit baby blades and own Personals. I think the Personals will be better for most people's score cards as they are really easy to play for a blade design. They do have a bit of offset however. The BB might be the most gratifying on pure impact of anything I've ever hit but they're above my ability level as a ball striker. If I had a set they'd be limited to occasional play just for the fun of hitting them but there are many irons that present better scoring possibilities for me.

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='morebeerbettergolf' timestamp='1360764753' post='6419729']
PM RIDuffer on here he has both.

I have hit baby blades and own Personals. I think the Personals will be better for most people's score cards as they are really easy to play for a blade design. They do have a bit of offset however. The BB might be the most gratifying on pure impact of anything I've ever hit but they're above my ability level as a ball striker. If I had a set they'd be limited to occasional play just for the fun of hitting them but there are many irons that present better scoring possibilities for me.
[/quote]

Thanks for your tip and thoughts! I just dropped him a couple of lines.

As for the forgiveness, I like a challenge and am looking for the ultimate blade How would you say the two are compared to the Tournament blades?

[MizzyMan]

[quote name='VikingGolf' timestamp='1360765284' post='6419785']
[quote name='morebeerbettergolf' timestamp='1360764753' post='6419729']
PM RIDuffer on here he has both.

I have hit baby blades and own Personals. I think the Personals will be better for most people's score cards as they are really easy to play for a blade design. They do have a bit of offset however. The BB might be the most gratifying on pure impact of anything I've ever hit but they're above my ability level as a ball striker. If I had a set they'd be limited to occasional play just for the fun of hitting them but there are many irons that present better scoring possibilities for me.
[/quote]

Thanks for your tip and thoughts! I just dropped him a couple of lines.

As for the forgiveness, I like a challenge and am looking for the ultimate blade How would you say the two are compared to the Tournament blades?
[/quote]

If you're looking for the ultimate blade, the smalls would be better than the Tournaments. Haven't hit the Personals, but don't like the offset. The smalls are better than the Tournaments (which I've also had) at just about everything: turf interaction, purity of feel (solidness), accuracy, penetrating trajectory. Edge to the Tournaments in first-swing confidence. The smalls look REALLY small at first. Well, I guess they ARE really small.

[TheBoomer]

Personals look a lot better in person than they do in the picture.

I still love my Miura Tournament Blades[size=1] (and mizuno mp 32)[/size]

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='MizzyMan' timestamp='1360769011' post='6420203']
[quote name='VikingGolf' timestamp='1360765284' post='6419785']
[quote name='morebeerbettergolf' timestamp='1360764753' post='6419729']
PM RIDuffer on here he has both.

I have hit baby blades and own Personals. I think the Personals will be better for most people's score cards as they are really easy to play for a blade design. They do have a bit of offset however. The BB might be the most gratifying on pure impact of anything I've ever hit but they're above my ability level as a ball striker. If I had a set they'd be limited to occasional play just for the fun of hitting them but there are many irons that present better scoring possibilities for me.
[/quote]

Thanks for your tip and thoughts! I just dropped him a couple of lines.

As for the forgiveness, I like a challenge and am looking for the ultimate blade How would you say the two are compared to the Tournament blades?
[/quote]

If you're looking for the ultimate blade, the smalls wold be better than the Tournaments. Haven't hit the Personals, but don't like the offset. The smalls are better than the Tournaments (which I've also had) at just about everything: turf interaction, purity of feel (solidness), accuracy, penetrating trajectory. Edge to the Tournaments in first-swing confidence. The smalls look REALLY small at first. Well, I guess they ARE really small.
[/quote]

I agree with you on the Personals (I've only seen pictures). It just doesnt look like a "real" blade to me.

Sounds like you are sold on the babies. So you also changed from TB to BB? Are there any other contendors for the Small blade?

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='GoogleMe' timestamp='1360769247' post='6420225']
Personals look a lot better in person than they do in the picture.

I still love my Miura Tournament Blades[size=1] (and mizuno mp 32)[/size]
[/quote]

[size=4]How are the Personals to hit? Whats the big difference at address when you compare the TBs and the Personals?[/size]

[vanla01]

I previously owned the Miura TB's and have played the Baby blades. Mizzy is correct, the BB's feels much better and seems easier to control however they are a bit more demanding to hit. The BB's are a pure blade and The Epon's are a modern day MB/CB like. I now own the Epon Personal's and they are much easier to hit then the Miura's, the Personal's are really forgiving and play more like a CB. The Personal's do look alot better in person, I originally thought they were ugly and changed my mind after seeing them in person. You really cant go wrong with either choice, if you want a pure blade, then the BB's. A modern day mb/cb with forgivness, then the Personal's.

[TheBoomer]

[quote name='VikingGolf' timestamp='1360769807' post='6420281']
[quote name='GoogleMe' timestamp='1360769247' post='6420225']
Personals look a lot better in person than they do in the picture.

I still love my Miura Tournament Blades[size=1] (and mizuno mp 32)[/size]
[/quote]

[size=4]How are the Personals to hit? Whats the big difference at address when you compare the TBs and the Personals?[/size]
[/quote]


The personals set up fine (little more offset than a blade should have), but they do look to have a thicker top line than the Miura's.

The reason I love the Tournament Blades is because they resemble the Mizuno MP 32 which IMO is the standard for a great blade.

Purely from a feel standpoint (which is subjective) is that the Epon's win that battle.

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='vanla01' timestamp='1360770665' post='6420363']
I previously owned the Miura TB's and have played the Baby blades. Mizzy is correct, the BB's feels much better and seems easier to control however they are a bit more demanding to hit. The BB's are a pure blade and The Epon's are a modern day MB/CB like. I now own the Epon Personal's and they are much easier to hit then the Miura's, the Personal's are really forgiving and play more like a CB. The Personal's do like alot better in person, I originally thought they were ugly and changed my mind after seeing them in person. You really cant go wrong with either choice, if you want a pure blade, then the BB's. A modern day mb/cb with forgivness, then the Personal's.
[/quote]

So I'll just buy both [size=4] The BBs for good days and the Personals for bad days. Im starting to doubt my ability to hit the BBs all season long... :/ Are they that much harder to hit? ACcording to Miura they are 15% smaller, so are they the equivalent harder to hit?[/size]

[PingDrv00]

They BB's look like they would do wonders for buttering some toast. They do look a bit demanding.

[vanla01]

[quote name='VikingGolf' timestamp='1360770962' post='6420397']
[quote name='vanla01' timestamp='1360770665' post='6420363']
I previously owned the Miura TB's and have played the Baby blades. Mizzy is correct, the BB's feels much better and seems easier to control however they are a bit more demanding to hit. The BB's are a pure blade and The Epon's are a modern day MB/CB like. I now own the Epon Personal's and they are much easier to hit then the Miura's, the Personal's are really forgiving and play more like a CB. The Personal's do like alot better in person, I originally thought they were ugly and changed my mind after seeing them in person. You really cant go wrong with either choice, if you want a pure blade, then the BB's. A modern day mb/cb with forgivness, then the Personal's.
[/quote]

So I'll just buy both The BBs for good days and the Personals for bad days. Im starting to doubt my ability to hit the BBs all season long... :/ Are they that much harder to hit? ACcording to Miura they are 15% smaller, so are they the equivalent harder to hit?
[/quote]

I love the Personal's, they are fun to hit but not as accurate as the Miura's. The BB's from 7-pw are easy to hit like the TB's but once you get to the 4,5,6 iron,....you have to stay a little more focused and definitely a bit more demanding.

[VikingGolf]

I would have gotten the BBs in a heartbeat if they would do my customized design..

[PingDrv00]

I know this is blasphemy in a Muira, Epon thread, but what about the Scratch SB-1's? They may be able to accomodate you design?

[Grapehunter]

Why not get the BB's and send them out for customization once you've received them. Unless by customizing you mean custom grinds. If its just cosmetic, there are plenty of good refinishing/rebuilding shops out there.

[lumberman2462]

I've played blades all of my life. I play the Tournament Blades (black even) and I love them. I tried out the Baby Blades before I bought the Tournament(s). They are all of the good things that everyone says about them. BUT, for me, they are just too damn small. It's not that big of a deal in the shorter irons but when you drop below a 7 iron and get into the mid irons.......Let's just say that my confidence isn't that of when I was 22 years old and playing everyday.

The good news is that whichever of those clubs you go with - you're gonna have a nice set.

[rjklein4470]

you can get Miura circle K's, and get them made any way you want.

[MizzyMan]

The BB's are demanding. Not so much in the short irons, but the longer ones. I got some Miura 202's I usually play from 4-6 iron. Very similar look and profile to the BB. Very little offset with a stubby, squared-off toe. Slightly higher trajectory, for me anyway, and a little bit of forgiveness.

As far as feel, as Google mentioned, the Epons are a little softer. I prefer a little more solid, dense feel that the Miura gives, some (or prob most) prefer softer.

[zigfread]

I play bb's, you really get used to the size pretty quick...then everything else looks huge. I had some TB's...I hit the BB's better, they are easier for me to hit, more solid feeling...maybe they release easier for me?. I did have different shafts in each set So that may be the reason.
Either way the BB's are awesome and its hard to miss the sweet spot or its just a cold shank

[ibradley]

I have TB's, BB's and CB 501s. The BB's are great for practicing with and for improving your ball striking. They are small. They look really small when you get a little nervous. After playing for a few months with BB's any other club feels like cheating.

[RIDuffer]

Guess I should have read the thread before responding to the PM. Have done a lot of that lately...

My ownership history...

Owned BB, loved them so much bought a set of "Blade Golf" OEM'd 5002s(TB equivalent) to see if I wanted to refinish the BB with a copper undercoat, then went conforming and on a JDM bender so to date have gamed the Tourstage 905 MB Blade, Epon Personals, RomaRo Pro Forged, and am awaiting delivery on a set of Yamaha Tour irons. Both the BB and 5002s had Nippon Super Peening Blues in them for a while and the BB had Fuji Rombax shafts for a little while. To cut to the chase, I no longer own any Miura products sans the Precious Edition woods and Driver which are classics in my book. If I were to go back to a Miura club, and have not ruled it out, I would opt for the Miura-ism line because the attention to detail on those is even more anal than the 1957's

Unless you have a source for the Personals, they are sold out so this post might just boil down to the musings of whack job...

The BB while daunting at first are fairly easy to acclimate to. They will force you to become a better ball striker, as such they are the best GI iron out there. If you are not up to that task, then your hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders will pay a penalty. Especially in cold weather with steel shafts. Assuming you are or become a consistent ball striker then the sweet spot is one of the sweetest. I went from a 10 to 4 under the use of the BB, I did have the 5002s overlapping but never gamed them seriously and only got them to toy with refinishing the BB. As others have attested to long irons take a little longer, but for me 5 and down were confidence clubs. The 3 and 4 iron were more like a FW shot, focus on making good contact and the ball will go basically where you want it and a sweet spot will feel like a hot knife through butter. After playing the BB for a few years everything else is big by comparison, even the TS 905s which are more knife-like and compact in their own right are still bigger.

The Epon Personals are downright shovels compared to the BB. The Personals look great in person, and while they have a passing similarity to the Hogans of yore the BB are a much more classic design. Simple elegance, would be my description for the BB. The play of the Personals, granted the shaft choices are very different they are a much more forgiving head and higher launch. They are a very pleasurable club to play and easy to control. Ball movement in either direction is possible with the Personals but my ability to get a truly boring trajectory out of them has been limited at best. The BB I could control trajectory more. I find them to be very accurate and do not have issues firing at pins. Also, be prepared to bend them stronger or go up ~1 club length with the Personals.

My current favorite however is the RomaRo Pro Forged. While not as easy to move left to right the trajectory is absolutely perfect for my tastes and the sweet spot is on par or better than the Miura and preferable to the Epon. I recently had the Personals resifted to see if I can bring the flight down, but given the couple of feet of snow on the ground here I have not had a chance to try them. Here is a [url="http://www.tourspecgolf.com/forum/topic/32141-romaro-pro-v-tourstage-905-mb-v-miura-baby-blade/page__fromsearch__1"]link[/url] to some comparison photos of the TS 905, Miura BB, and RomaRo Pro.

Might I ask why you are deciding between those two sets? They are very different in almost all respects...

[guisician]

[quote name='zigfread' timestamp='1360804257' post='6424213']
I play bb's, you really get used to the size pretty quick...then everything else looks huge. I had some TB's...
[/quote]

+1. Hit my Hogan Personal 80s reissues today after having the Baby blades in the bag for a while; wow, did they seem BIG!

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='Grapehunter' timestamp='1360778646' post='6421355']
Why not get the BB's and send them out for customization once you've received them. Unless by customizing you mean custom grinds. If its just cosmetic, there are plenty of good refinishing/rebuilding shops out there.
[/quote]

Thanks for the suggestion. Never looked into that. As you can see from the picture in my first post, I wanted them to drop the "Miura" and "Forged text". Probably difficult to change that after theyve stamped them?

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='rjklein4470' timestamp='1360795270' post='6423367']
you can get Miura circle K's, and get them made any way you want.
[/quote]

Sounds very interesting! Could you please expand a little on that?

[VikingGolf]

[quote name='zigfread' timestamp='1360804257' post='6424213']
I play bb's, you really get used to the size pretty quick...then everything else looks huge. I had some TB's...I hit the BB's better, they are easier for me to hit, more solid feeling...maybe they release easier for me?. I did have different shafts in each set So that may be the reason.
Either way the BB's are awesome and its hard to miss the sweet spot or its just a cold shank
[/quote]

Ok, cool. Do you have any explanation as to why the BBs might require a different shaft than the TBs, given the swing is the same?

[zigfread]

They didn't require a different shaft, I did.
The tb's had TC's in them. And the bb's c tapers. Shafts aside, I found that for me anyway I square up the face easier with the bb's hence more accuracy I'm thinking and basically they just feel more solid, maybe they are denser.
Unsure

[tsupo]

if ur going to get a set of miuras..
have a look hard @ the miuraisms. ive had both the sb-01 and sb-02

spending the extra money and get ting him to make them perfectly to ur needs isnt a bad idea
they are a differnt grind to the 1957s which are rounder and chunkier.

the differnce in the miura tiny neads and the epon perosnals is huge ,they are not in the same genous.
as RIduffer said the epons are hard to keep low, even with monaccos or NS c10s, they still go high
simple to play, lovely to hit .
the offset difference is pretty marked as well
the miura dont have alot, the epons do.

i play the 5002s and perosnals. sold my isms to get a new set made , but havnt got around to it yet as the 5002s do a great job as is,
wasnt really that into the 1957s, thye just looked too boxy and no nice lines at address.

agree with the statement that the tiny heads make u abetter ball striker.
but the ease and simplicity of the personals are hard to pass up. very hard to apss up
if u can get them...............,









theres a world of room inbetween both these sets.

[RIDuffer]

Thanks for backing me up Supo... Always nice to be in the same train of thought as someone as knowledgeable as you...

[mister2cool]

I use TB's and 5002's and have hit my friend's Personals. REALLY didn't like the Personal's at all because the thick top line made it not looking at like a blade at all. I was really shocked and puzzled with the look from the top, and almost didn't know what to do with it.

My other buddy just got BB's but I haven't hit them yet. He said they are quite hard to hit pure, but the feel of a pure shot is just beyond words can describe. He had played Titleist blades for as long as I know him so when he say BB's are unforgiving, I believe him.

I also have a set of Yamaha 2011 Tour. I would say that the Personals are more similar to Yamaha in term of look and feel rather than TB.

[King Arthur]

Got 1957 BB last year, my most favorite irons so far. As a 6 handicapper, I don't think it's hard to hit, easier than my former Titleist CB710.