gocchinTario (aka gocchin) joined Tourspecgolf back in 2008 after spending over a decade in technology and business operation roles at a major Canadian financial institution. Before joining TSG and following his dream of moving to Japan, Tario and Chris (aka Tourspecgolfer) hit it off though their similar passions for Japanese culture. Chris hired Tario to manage TSG online operations, sales and marketing. While those are Tario's primary responsibilities, he has also taken up the role of blogger and custom club tester and fitter along the way. Tario's hobbies include golf (of course), gadgets and technology, cars, Japanese pop culture and idols, photography, sweets and walking the dog.
Miura Giken Japan has introduced their all new WMF-06 Forged wedge for the 2012 season (introduced late 2011). The WMF-06 is aimed at the better player wanting top notch spin …
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- Tags: distance, forged, japan driver, kamui works, kamuipro
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Kamui Works sent me two of their new KamuiPro drivers to check out. The new KamuiPro heads are available only in conforming versions with a specially designed 4 piece structure. …
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- Tags: driver, forged, Japan, kamui works
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Just got this driver head in and its dark outside so I can’t take pretty pictures. Here is a little teaser until tomorrow. It’s a 4 piece head, white crown …
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- Tags: 20112 MH-1112, forged cavity, Japan, Yururi
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I was in Akasaka yesterday attending the Pro Support meeting for the LPGA. I met up with Miysohi-san from Yururi and we headed out after the meeting for lunch and …
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- Tags: Japan, kiminomori, snow
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Coming from Canada, snow is nothing new for us. As a matter of a fact we got so tired of shoveling snow we moved to Japan. (^_^) Here in central …
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In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve relaunched our blog, pro shop and forum with an all new look and color scheme. Along with the new look, we’ve also got two …
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We received samples of the new Yururi Seida KM-0312 Forged iron today. They look simply fantastic. Before shafting them up for some testing I thought I would post a little …
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- Tags: 2012 tokyo auto salon, d-1 drift, Video, Videos
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Having a press pass at the 2012 Auto Salon also meant covering the Option D-1 Drift event out on the track next to Makuhari Messe. When I got to the …
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- Tags: 2012, atv wedge, deep milling, forged, gloire, Japan, r11-J, taylormade, titanium, tour preferred ghost
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Taylormade added all their new 2012 Japan market offerings to their site today so I will briefly go over some of the products and you can see what the lineups …
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- Tags: distance, fairway wood, forgiveness, Japan, ryoma, titanium
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There has been a lot of hype for the new Ryoma F fairway woods. It has the reputation of its driver counterpart the Ryoma D-1 to live up to. The …
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- Tags: 2012, gloire, premium performance, Taylormade Japan
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Taylormade Japan has been teasing with a special site they created called GLOIRE, named after their new Japan Market lineup that will be announced tomorrow. GLOIRE pronounced GU-RO-RE, sounds like …
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I received a press pass to cover the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon here in Chiba. I went yesterday as the first day on Friday is always the least busy and …
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- Tags: 2011, best golf clubs, Forged Irons, Japan, TourSpecGolf, vg3, yamaha
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Today in part 2 of Tourspecgolf’s best clubs of 2011 I’ll quickly take a look at what was hot when it comes to irons. As I had mentioned in part …
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- Tags: Japan, Ryogoku Kokugikan, sumo, wrestling
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I have a been a big fan of Sumo since my father in law first took me back in 1999. Its a big part of Japanese culture and is always …
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- Tags: 800 ad, fourteen tc-930, Japan, mizuno jpx forged
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As we lead up to the Japan Golf Fair at the end of February we will begin to see many new product announcements come rolling in. Taylormade Japan and Titleist …
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- Tags: off season training, Supplements
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Winter is officially upon us and the courses are browning nicely. What that means is colder weather and unfortunately less golf for me even though golf is year round here …
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With the holidays winding down in Japan its time to get back to more regular posting on the blog. We hope everyone is energized and recharged for the new golf …
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I posted a Happy Holidays and New Year message last week but since New Year is actually here now I thought I’d make another since most people are now off …
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- Tags: coupons, discounts, sales, TSG Boxing Day
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A lot of people took advantage of our recent Cyber Monday sales so due to popular demand we are releasing coupons again for our Boxing Week Sale! These coupons are …
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My wife took her parents out for a Christmas dinner today and we let her dad choose what we would have. Of course he chose sushi so we were off …
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- Tags: Christmas, holidays, new year, seasons greetings, TSG, year of the dragon
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Well it’s 9:40pm on Christmas Eve here in Japan. While Christmas is not a widely celebrated holiday in Japan, nor does everyone celebrate Christmas, I thought I would take the …
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- Tags: bbd 305v, fairway wood, Japan, Royal Collection
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Royal Collection has released their all new Next Generation BBD 305V fairway wood. Today I received 4 demo clubs and headed out right away to test them as they simply …
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I had forgotten to post this up when I got back from Yokohama. We’ve talked about this place before as its a favorite of TSG Staffers – Uogashi Standing Sushi …
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- Tags: ghost, itsy bitsy spider, Japan, limited, putter, taylormade
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Today I received the brand new Taylormade Japan Limited Edition Itsy Bitsy Spider Ghost Putter. While the Itsy Bitsy Ghost was previously seen only on Tour in the bags of …
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It’s the weekend and the weather has been nice so I thought I would take a break from golf though I do need to post up my Itsy Bitsy Ghost …
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ONOFF has always prided itself in creating well designed golf clubs that not only look good but make golf easier and more fun. The Fairway Wings has been their utility …
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- Tags: J101SFG000I4, plasma blue, side body mouldings, subaru, WRX Sti
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Roads and especially parking spots in Japan are very narrow. Consider that half the cars are Kei class, Japan’s sub compact sized car which is barely wider than a smart …
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Thanks to the popularity and success of the Prototype RF700 Hi Cor Alpha Spec driver, Geotech has released a conforming model due to demand from those better players who play …
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- Tags: average golfer, iron, Japan, onoff red, performance
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ONOFF is about to release their all new 2012 lineup and the first club I’ll look at today is the new ONOFF Iron or as some call it the RED …
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- Tags: 2011, carbon fiber center panel, forester tS, grb, grf, Japan, JDM, subaru, WRX Sti
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Another cold and wet day outside here in Japan which makes it hard to test golf clubs and modify the car. I was able to get out earlier before the …
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- Tags: distance, Japan, prgr egg spoon, ryoma fairway wood
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The weather sucks, its cold and raining. I can’t really get out and test these two wonderful fairway woods but I had a break in the rain today so snapped …
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My brother flew in on Friday and we headed to Yokohama for a few days where the 20th Annual Hot Rod and Custom show was being run by Mooneyes. I …
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The new Ryoma F Fairway woods arrived this week for testing. We received a 15* F3 and and a 18* F5, both with stock shafts. Initial visual impressions are that …
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- Tags: Bridgestone, golf ball, newing, one piece anime
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Bridgestone always comes out with cool anime related limited golf products like Doraemon and Lupin III. Now they’ve released the Newing 2 piece distance ball featuring the super popular Japanese …
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- Tags: Japan, Royal Collection, sfd black
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Royal Collection introduced a new SFD Black line which focuses on distance and stability. The clubs are all marked with the words “Super Fairway Drive” which stands for the objective …
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Taylormade Japan has decided to release a limited edition Spider Itsy Bitsy Ghost Pure Roll Putter for the Japanese market. The Ghost will be available in 33 34 and 35″ …
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- Tags: crazy lefty driver, Epon Golf, onoff 2012
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We’ve got a few product announcements for today. ONOFF has officially announced their new 2012 line to the general public now and as I mentioned back in October the clubs …
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- Tags: chonan, Japan, kasamori temple, kujukuri
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It was a beautiful day in Japan today so my wife and I decided to drive about 30 minutes south to the Kasamori Kannon in Chonan for some hiking and …
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- Tags: endo, Japan, vokey forged, Yamaha Tour Model
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The winter releases have only just kicked off recently with the arrival of the first batch of new 2012 models. It’s time for a little update on what’s hot in …
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A neighbor asked me if I wanted to go down to Chonan and play the Abiding Club Golf Society today. I checked the course online and it turned out to …
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- Tags: irons, Japan, tour model, v forged, yamaha inpres x
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It was a fun but busy few days testing out all the demos from Yamaha. They ended up sending a total of 31 different clubs when in fact there were …
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- Tags: anime headcovers, Japan, luffy, one piece
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I’m in the midst of preparing a big Yamaha Irons review for tomorrow’s blog post. In the mean time I thought I would post up the new additions to my …
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Before I undertake the huge task of snapping photos and doing writeups on Yamaha’s new Inpres X line for 2012, I thought I’d tackle something easier but equally as hot, …
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- Tags: inpres x preview, Japan, tour model, v forged, yamaha
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A huge, and I mean HUGE box filled with Yamaha demos arrived today. When the courier pulled up and brought out the box I thought he was delivering furniture as …
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It’s hard to believe we’re already into the first week of November. Some of our friends in the West have already seen their golfing seasons for this year come to …
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- Tags: custom grind, Golds Factory, Japan, master, putters, Wedges
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It’s been a while since we posted up some Gold’s Factory eye candy. Gold’s is busier than ever with many many modifications, refinishes and custom created putters as well as …
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