Yonex has always been a solid performing golf brand and a few years ago when they signed a 16 year old phenom named Ryo Ishikawa, many in the golf industry wondered what impact the singing would have on Yonex. Fast forward to 2012 and Ryo Ishikawa is certainly the face of Yonex Golf and while he has not had the same success overseas, he easily ranks among the most popular athletes in Japan. Ishikawa's singing has not only increased Yonex's marketability and image but has allowed Yonex to pump more of its resources into developing a wider and better line of golf clubs. This of course has resulted in more sales.
While the Yonex booth at this year's fair did feature many models carried over from last year, they did have an update EZone SD series of clubs and an all new Royal EZone premium line of clubs. The SD line is a rather moderb looking line of clubs aimed at average golfers who want distance and ease of use performance without breaking the bank. On the other hand, their new Royal EZone line is a premium lineup made for slower swingers and average golfers ready to spend for the best in technology and design.
The above Royal Ezone driver is a multi piece carbon composite head which uses high intensity 8AL-1V Titanium and and a new HD-HM carbon crown. It is ultra lightweight at 276g or less depending on flex and 46.25" for maximizing distance. The Royal EZone line also features a carbon composite FW and high rally maraging steel irons, all with distance in mind.
When snapping pics of the main EZone line it amazed me how traditional looking the heads are at address. For those who have never seen the new Yonex clubs in person, the pear shape at address (especially of the FW) may surprise many. And this goes for their fairway woods and utilities as well. No big heads at address here. Take a look starting with the EZone 380 driver at address:
And then the EZone St FW at address:
And here is the EZone Utility:
Overall a very nice flow across all those heads. On the irons side, we saw models for all levels of players from the premium Royal EZone irons, to the average golfer EZone SD and forged EZone cavity bags for the better player and of course the forged Ryo Ishikawa blades.
Tourspecgolfer has also put together his usual video on the Yonex both which you can view right here!
Please be sure to check out the rest of the Yonex pictures in our gallery!
I don’t even think of Yonex anymore. Glad Ryo is putting them back on the map. In the early 80′s, I had one of their Carbonex drivers that had an all graphite head I think. Seems like there was even a screw to change the weighting. They were definitely on the cutting edge back then.