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Geotech Golf sent me their new GT Forged Tour Issue CNC Iron to review (Tour Issue means the head sports conforming grooves). It's a very nice looking iron forged from S25C steel with the back cavity CNC Machined based on Geotech's own CAD design. Geotech sought to create an iron with a smaller head size and pleasing shape but forgiving enough that not only the low handicapper could play it but also the mid capper and improving golfer. They achieved this by creating a machined cavity placing the CG at an optimal point to create a strong and stable trajectory yet high spin ball with good stopping power on the greens.

Optimal CG and weight distribution...

The CG placement of the GT Forged Tour Issue as well as the weighting of the back cavity which increases the heads MOI, create a favorable sweet spot. Geotech decided on a rounder leading edge, providing relief in softer conditions and reducing missed impact due to steep swings and fat shots. The GT Forged features a dual finish which you can see in the above picture with mirror chrome outer edges and a pearl satin like inner cavity.  Its face profile is handsome sporting a straight and sharp looking thinner top line and reasonably long heel to toe hitting area which is in fact 3mm longer than the previous model.

Smaller head and minimal offset but strong distance...

At address the GT Forged sets up with very little offset. Better players will surely like the look of its straight neck and smaller head size. The GT Forged Tour Issue produces a nice strong trajectory thanks to its stronger lofts. A lot of better player irons these days including the ONOFF Forged and Yamaha Inpres X V Forged are sporting stronger lofts to create a stable lower trajectory ball with a lot of distance. Again this makes an iron more attractive to the improving golfer who wants a balanced performing forged iron. The GT Forged Tour Issue features a 25* 5 iron and is available from 3 iron to Gap wedge, allowing for various set make ups.

Good Feel and quite forgiving...

Feel wise the sweet spot is certainly a little lower than center which is a good thing for many players especially those who sweep and pick the ball. The soft forging feels great at impact and continues to feel good even slightly off center towards the heel and toe thanks to the wide cavity and weight distribution. Since the GT Forged Tour Issue can be purchased as heads only or custom made by Geotech golf with any shaft available in Japan, feel and trajectory may vary depending on the shaft used.  Even with the higher launching 950GH Pro on the demo, it launched mid to high and landed quite softly.

Great bang for the buck...

Geotech Golf is Japan's leading components company and is well known for creating some of the best cost performance value clubs in Japan. The new GT Forged Tour Issue CNC is a quality forged iron with the type of CNC machining in the cavity you typically find on a club costing twice as much. It is a balanced club that will appeal to the lower handicapper and at the same time be forgiving enough for the mid capper and improving golfer or even the good ball striking average golfer. Its certainly pretty good bang for the buck and Geotech does a flawless job of building the irons to customer specs with any shaft and grip. Look for the irons in the pro shop later this week!

Tario (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.

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The other day Geotech Golf sent over a box of new clubs for me to check out including the new GT Forged Tour Issue Bite V2 wedge.  When talking to Yaita-san, head of sales over at Geotech, he was very proud of this new model and confident in its performance. Taking it our of the box I loved the way it looked so I rushed out to test the wedge right away.  At that point I realized my Nikon DSLR was not with me as its currently at Sigma Japan having my lenses calibrated to match the body. So in order to take pictures for today's review I used the trusty old Panasonic GF1.

Leading Components...

Geotech as many of you know is Japan's leading components club maker. They have long worked hard to create high performance clubs without breaking the customers wallet.  They have a long hist0ry in designing and manufacturing quality woods and irons and provide some of the best cost performance heads available in Japan (you can read more about Geotech's history here). When it comes to overseas sales however, even Geotech has been affected by the ultra strong yet. Their very attractive pricing has taken a hit from the Yen's climb over the last 3 years.  Outside of Japan, Geotech has seen their prices rise along with the Yen by nearly 30% in the last 3 years. Even with this increase, Geotech is still very well priced against most other JDM brands that have also seen similar price increases.

Dual Sole Design...

The GT Forged Bite V2 is Geotech's flagship wedge and bears the "Tour Issue" name. This designates the fact that the wedge has new conforming USGA grooves, not that it is a wedge from the Japanese tour (though it certainly is designed to look like it). The Bite V2 is a small sized, tear drop shaped wedge aimed at the better player looking for maximum spin control and direction. Forged in Japan from S25C steel for that premium soft feel, the Bite V2 features an all new dual sole with trailing edge relief and a cut away heel.  The cut away heel reduces contact with the ground and improves stability and direction allowing for more pure impact.  More pure impact equals better feel and more spin. The heel area also allows for the wedge face to be opened up in various lies and still aim right at the target.

Great Shape...

Better players will appreciate the Bite V2's amount of offset or lack there of.  It's very straight neck flows right into its slightly rounded leading edge. It's high toe and tear drop shape will allow better players to work the ball up the length of the face creating huge amounts of spin and stopping power. It's durable plated all satin finish is just as appealing to the eyes as the way the wedge sets up at address.  The head is not ultra compact but probably more on the small side. Improving golfers will still feel confident enough at address to play this wedge while better players will look at the GT Bite as an accurate attacking weapon.

More Lines More Bite...

Another key design point of the Bite V2 is its scorelines. With the new USGA Groove rule reducing spin on all new wedges, Geotech wanted to find a way to create more bite. Their research with several Japanese pros found that by reducing the distance interval between scorelines and thus increasing the amount of scorelines on the wedges face, more spin is created thanks to a larger amount of grooves making contact on the ball.  More friction caused equals more bite and more spin, much like a milled faces on wedges except in this case its more scorelines.

Lower Bounce...

The sole of the Bite V2 is not ultra thin and is slightly rounded with its trailing edge relief. Its more of a balanced wedge for all conditions. Unlike many other JDM wedges which cater to the lush and soft courses of Japan with higher bounce soles, the Bite V2 has lower bounce across all its models with all lofts having 5* of bounce except the 56 and 58 sand wedges which have 10* of bounce. Couple that with its wide variety of lofts, 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 and 62, there are many options for each player and the wedge makeup they want to use.

Head Only or pick your shaft...

The tester I received was a 58/10 with an ATTAS 95 Spinwedge shaft. Another Great thing about Geotech is that they are not only available as heads only but will also be built to customer spec by Geotech for the customer with any shaft and grip available in Japan. With graphite iron shaft technology and materials always improving, more and more irons and wedges these days are shafted with carbon. I am a big fan of graphite as it produces very good feel and feedback and has many weight advantages over steel. The ATTAS is a nice match for the soft forged head of the Bite V2 and feel is very pure. The slightly rounded leading edge and dual sole allowed me to hit very clean shots and I really enjoyed the feel of this wedge along with the way it looks at address. As for spin, I am no pro and creating back spin is always quite a challenge for the average golfer. I'm glad to say though that when I tried hard enough to run the ball up the length of the wedge face to create maximum friction I could create enough spin to stop the ball on the spot.

Even with the huge increase in Japan's currency, the GT Forged Tour Issue Bite V2 wedge is still under 100.00 per head. It's good value for a Japan forged top performance wedge that can then be custom made to each players specs.  As I said I'm happy with the way it looks and feels and performs, I'm now just trying to figure out a way to fit one in my bag and what shaft I should use with it!  Look for the new Geotech Bite V2 in the pro shop this weekend!

Tario (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.

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Akira Golf - TourSpecGolf will be offering Akira Limited Tour Issue products via the TSG ProShop starting tomorrow. The Akira Golf Company is under Azumo Holding Co. which is a division within Hitachi which is a huge multinational corporation specializing in high tech manufacturing and services in Japan.  They produce everything from electronics to military technology for the JDF and a variety of countries.  That said the backing of Akira Golf is obviously substantial but it still operates under a Tour Only design and distribution concept.

Akira produces clubs for the Tour Player, they produce small batches with little to no concern about revenues or the standard consumer market.  Several months ago I hit a variety of their golf clubs in Japan and with the drivers especially I noticed the ball flight was lower than most which is similar to Ryoma & JBeam in some respects.  Now that we have a relationship with Akira I better understand why that was,  It's the JPGA & PGA tour players input that weigh's heaviest on the design and performance of the golf club.

Notice how the irons and blacked out driver images above are labelled "PROTOTYPE". There are two famous designers at Akura Golf,  one is Masuda-san who was the personal crafter and design consultant for Jumbo Ozaki.  The other is Horie-san who worked for Daiwa for over 15 years through the 80's and 90's.  Some of the clubs are labelled M109 or H109  the first letter designates which designer it came from.  On that note Akira Golf also designs Prototype Golf Clubs specifically for players.  The top image in this blog post shows a Proto iron called the KS-201,  well the KS = Kawano who is a Rookie in 2011 on the JPGA tour. The driver designated as K109 was produced specifically for Kenichi Kuboya Akira's Marquee JPGA Pro.

The Prototype series are all designed for the top level or professional athletes, The TM series is geared toward the better player as well.   Akira also has a lot of products to offer the mid to high handicap level and while TSG may sell some of it we will focus primarily on the rare and more limited Tour Issue & Prototype models.

More on the Prototypes - In regards to drivers Akira makes small batches for the Tour Pro.  This allows Akira to set the COR much higher than the big box manufactures due to the rejection ratio.  Big OEMs have to produce thousands of driver heads, then they hand pick the hottest and send those to the tour.  So in some cases 1 of 500 or 1 of 1000 will have the on the edge of legality COR for their most important contract players. Each Akira driver is like that 1 of 1000 head.  They produce smaller amounts  higher tolerance because there is a lot less risk of rejection and its all for the Tour Pro anyway.

When it comes to their wedges, many may not know this but there are wedges on the PGA tour that are considered grey, some perhaps illegal.  They are carved very aggressively and again hand picked the same way the drivers are.  Akira produces very aggressive original design CNC grooves right on the edge.  Big brands have to go well below the limit to again avoid the risk of mass rejection.

Above we have pictures of a putter never seen before in the public.  It's called " The Weapon to Win" designed by Masuda-san.  It's scheduled for a limited release August in Japan only.  Last week sunday it won a JGTO event.  I will be posting more pics of it as I have it in hand.  It's a stunner!  Actually this week will be sort of an Akira week.  A few weeks ago a huge box arrived at the TSG offices with all their products.  I'm pretty critical when it comes to design and I must admit through the entire Prototype & TM series line up it's top notch.

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( Taylormade R9 SuperDeep Prototype Driver via GolfWRX.com)

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( White Hot Tour Model #5 )

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( Taylormade Tour Issue TP Driving Iron)
Source BigHitter of BombSquadGolf

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( source member daheels of GolfWRX )

The New Version Titleist AP2 Irons were spotted last and this week first in Adam Scott's bag at the 2009 British Open and then in the bag of Bill Haas at the U.S Bank Tournament. There are several names floating about including Titleist AP2, AP2B, AP4 and or AP2 710.

Reports and rumors indicate a November release date and that the new 2009 AP2 has a wider sole, longer heel to toe making them even more forgiving than the originals.

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( Image of the Day: Cobra S2 Forged Prototypes in JB holmes Bag )
Source: member tobybear of GolfWRX

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Titleist Tour Issue Wedges

The Tileist TVD Japan Only Limited Edition Wedge has been a hit since its release late 2008 in Japan. The U.S version was released in limited numbers while the Japanese recieved it as part of the full retail line up.

Several months ago at the 2009 Tokyo Golf Show at the Big Site we saw a bunch of top U.S PGA Tour players backup bags at the Titleist booth that included their custom Tour wedges done by  Bob Vokey.  It's not often you get to see these up close and personal so today I decided to go over it and to include a short video of the experience. My personal favorite was the BV 2009 Tour Custom Grinds.

Slight Differences U.S vs JPN
The TVD in Japan has a bit more bounce for softer conditions and when hit against the U.S limited edition that TSG club tester Tatsuro Oshimoto has I felt it was easier overall especially in the bunkers.  The U.S and Japan versions also slightly differ in stampings with JDM version sporting the traditional spin milled logo.

By far this has to be one of the best looking wedges that Titleist has every produced in my opinion. It's simple and smooth, yet compact and apearing aggressive for a picker or a digger of the ball. For a while I had these in the bag and was very pleased.  This is one cast wedge I didn't mind playing as the feel it produced is typical semi soft Vokey and the spin was above average. I am not sure if spin milled is the reason for that because I have tested wedges in the past that had more spin with no spin milled face so I can only assume its the grooves.

Popular Builds for the Better Player
We have sold quite a few of these in standard format then began offering the Japan Only Titleist TVD in custom builds and so far it appears people desire the S200 & S400 at a D5 swing weight. I gotta assume those are the good players trying to setup to a similar build as the guys on the Tour. I have tried it with various shafts and flex's and agree with our customers that S400 does produce the most accurate and stable setup for this wedge.

Below we have the Video Experience for you, take note of the custom vokeys for DLIII, Adam Scott, Ian Poulter and many others.

If you want to see Images of the Titleist Japan Only TVD and Other Tour Titleist Wedges please Click Here or Keep Reading...

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2010 Srixon Z-TX Driver & Irons

Here you have it first images found anywhere of the Tour Issue Prototype Srixon Z-TX Driver and Srixon Z-TX Iron's.  I haven't heard anything about these two new products from any source until a few days ago when our JPGA friends sent us images of what appears to be Srixon's next generation of golf clubs for 2010.

Off the bat it doesn't appear to be sporting typical Srixon Japan aesthetics and based on that hunch we do think that the new Srixon Z-TX will show up early 2010 in Japan and mid 2010 in the United States.  No players had the new Srixon Z-TX clubs in the bag at the U.S open or any other recent PGA Tour event so it's still hard to confirm.  It sure does look like a good fit in the U.S line up though.

Wider Sweet Spot

Our reports tell us that the first images of the Tour Issue prototype will debut in next months Golf Classic magazine and in regards to the performance and design aspect it is gem, the testing shows  the new Srixon Z-TX has more distance and a better optimal spin rate than  any other Srixon driver ever released.  The face depth has been reduced and the heel to toe length increased creating a wider sweet spot. This has been the design philosophy of XXIO which is also under Srixons umbrella but geared to the average golfer so it's nice to see Srixon implementing that technology and design into a Tour level product.

Srixon Z-TX Irons

Now take a look at the Srixon Z-TX Irons, very similar to their last offering in Japan with it's cut away sole area's but this one appears to be even more compact and blade like. from above it also has a thinner top line and less offset. I think a lot of golfers in the United States will be excited to see the improvements over the last models. I still think Srixon USA should also release the current Japanese ZR-600 model in limited numbers in the states to select accounts. It would be good for them and great for golfers.

For Z-TX Top Line Images Please Click Here or the Keep Reading button...

Click Here to keep your friends updated via Email about the Srixon Z-TX.

Driver Images below are of a .5* open face but it appears closed due to shaft position.