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2011 MACTEC Japan
This one totally caught me off guard, MACTEC aka Mac Gregor Japan has just announced a complete revamp of their entire product line. I'm calling it the rebirth of Mactec and I say that because they are obviously reaching out to a segment they have not catered to before, the better player.

I'm most excited about their new 425cc pear shaped and square face angle players driver The DP101 black.  There are a total of 3 drivers one for the high handicap, one for mid, and one for low.  The other two are 460cc's and each of them feature a different profile from above as well as vary in face shape.

This year Mac Gregor Japan introduces their new adjustable weighting system called W.F.T (Weight Force Technology).  The driver comes with a wrench and like the others on the market based on where you place the heavier weights it manipulates trajectory.  Another new feature is their cup face with variable face thickness to improve forgiveness and distance over a larger surface area.

I like the look of the DP101, me personally I would pour a little acetone over the weights to remove the color having a truly stealth looking driver.  There is a lot more to go over as far as the new MACTEC product goes like their new Spoon's, Fairway Woods, Utility Woods, Forged Irons, Wedge, and Putters.  Wasn't expect such a complete revamp so If you want to read and learn about the new stuff follow the jump to read on...

The MACTEC Spoon is available in 14.5 and 15.5*, I know what your thinking that spoon's are usually 13* but the rear weighting combined with the maraging face and 6-4Ti body create a super easy to hit long distance fairway club.  MACTEC found much more distance with this design that they did not want to consider it a fairway wood.

It's 213cc head size and shallow face inspires confidence in the player and it's available with 13g and 16g weights to lower the center of gravity and increase swing weight. at 42ms or 93 mph it produces 230+ yard distances when hit pure.

Next up is their all new Fairway woods, The FH101 (red) and FS101 (blue).  The red is a smaller and more compact head that comes in at 165cc's in the 15* and 135cc's in the 21* designed for the mid to low handicap and both the red and blue are produced of 455 maraging steel faces and 17-4PH stainless bodies.  The blue is 195 - 175cc's and available in 15/18/21/24* lofts.  It comes with 7  and 10 gram weights that allow you to control trajectory due to the screw ports placement center sole.

Again same concept as the fairway woods the US 101 (blue) is the bigger more forgiving version while the UH 101 (red) is the more compact and better player design. Macgregor claims fairway wood distance with high dropping shots and the accuracy of an Iron.  Like the fairways trajectory is adjusted by switching out the 7g screw for the 10g screw.

Produced entirely of 17-4PH titanium this 2 piece structure is weighted using stainless steel and tungsten screws.  The red UH 101 is available in 19 & 22* lofts while the blue is 20/23/26/29* lofts.

Produced in Japan! that's right where as the other products from MacTec are not the IH 101 (red) is their new mid to low handicap one piece forged cavity back.  They do not specify the type of steel so it's difficult to say where it's produced but judging by the complex cavity structure and it being one piece I want to say it's ENDO.  This is a departure from previous MACTEC irons as not only is it geared toward the better player but its made in Japan and pretty darn sexy.  Don't quote me on where it's produced just yet, we will find out more in 2-3 weeks.  Anyhow this ones not coming until April.

It's available 4-PW with modern day jacked lofts with that PW coming in at 44* the new standard I guess. Minimum offset, boxy toe and a mid width sole make the new IH 101 something to look forward to.

Produced with a CNC milled face for maximum spin the WH101 is a forged wedge that was manufactured using the 5 time pressed forging process. The lower the loft the lower the center of gravity while the 52/56/58 all come in with a slightly thicker top line which translates into a higher CG point for a more accurate trajectory.

That's pretty much it in the new line up, I have left out a couple of items like their CS291 (blue) high handicapper iron as well as their 3 new putter models.  All the new MACTEC product has a ship date sometime in April but as usual TSG will have the product for pre sale starting in March.

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It's time for the 2010 Tokyo Golf Show look forward to first posts and updates to being rolling out later this afternoon!

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Srixon at the Tokyo Golf Show
The Srixon Z-TX is the next generation release from Srixon Golf, although we are not sure if it will make it to the U.S retail line up it is getting heavy play on the JPGA tour and we do expect to see some sort of version of it late 2009 in the states. 

Let's just hope it's not a watered down version of Japanese models.  This 2009 video footage was taken prior to the release of the Srixon Z-TX to tour players so it isnt in the video but we do have Srixon Japan's new high end models as well as some from XXIO and Cleveland which are all under the same parent company umbrella since SRI sports made the purchase of Cleveland Golf in 2008.

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Taylormade R9 460cc MAX Japan Only Model

This year at the 2009 Tokyo Golf Show Taylormade's booth was front and center with a long list of new products that should excite golfers on both side of the pond. The headliner was the new R9 Driver which was released in the USA in a different size of 420cc's while the Japanese market has both the 420cc and an exclusive R9 MAX 460cc version. Yes the MAX  460 is USGA conforming. The R9 460cc driver features only one weight instead of 3 and we were told by Taylormade Japan design department that due to the increased size the additional weights would be unnecessary making the head way to heavy.

What Else is Different?

The stock shaft is the new Fujikura Motore (Japan version) available in Regular (53g mid kick), Stiff/Regular (55g mid kick), Stiff (64g mid-high kick) and X-Stiff (65g mid-high kick) flexes.

The R9 Max is also available with the Fujikura Motore F1 TP 65J (Japan version) in Stiff (68.5g low-mid kick) or X-Stiff (70g low-mid kick) at an additional charge.

The R9 Max is also  available from Taylormade Japan with top of the line Japanese Market shafts including the Fujikura Japan Motore Speeder VC6.0, Graphite Design Tour AD EV-6 and Diamana Kai'li 60 at an additional charge. These are considered the hottest shafts in Japan and ordering these gets you the actual shaft, not TM branded and colored shafts. All three shafts are strong kicking peformance control shafts. The Kai'li is the lowest launching of the bunch and amazing at taking the right side out of play. The EV and Speeder are mid to high launch max carry shafts. The EV spins low and carries far and the Motore Speeder is the worlds first 7 axis shaft with superb control.

Click More to Watch More Taylormade R9 Videos...

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This year at the Tokyo Golf Show Geotech Golf Japan showed off some of their hot new releases like the new hand ground Japan forged and produced GT Tour Wedge designed with no offset and a tear drop shape with the optimal amount of trailing edge relief for the better player who likes to  manipulates the face.

Overall Geotech had a ton of new releases adding to the Black GT line and introducing a new SP series for the mid-low handicap player. Geotech is a brand known for many new releases each year and expect no less for 2009 as they plan to release 25+ new models into their already vast product line.

Geotech is one of Japan's well know component brands, and offers components at an amazing performance to price ratio. They have been in the golf business in Japan for over 20 years.

New 2009 Geotech Golf Products:

Geotech Black SP Driver
Geotech GT Tour Forged Wedge
Geotech GT Black Fairway Wood
Geotech  B-Stream Prototype Driver
Geotech Prototype Classic Forged Blade

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Known for top quality Japanese golf equipment Fourteen Golf once again appeared strong with many new releases at the big show this year. In 2008 Fourteen Golf Inc. was acquired by Daiwa Seiko which is the parent company of the popular equipment brand ONOFF Golf.  In 2009 Fourteen Golf brings a variety of exciting new products to both the US and Japanese Golf markets.

- 2009 Fourteen JC909 Driver
- 2009 Fourteen MT28 J-Spec II Wedge
- 2009 Fourteen V4 Forged Wedge
- 2009 Fourteen  UT-306