JRDuck40

Update! So the rain for 2024 has struck yet again. Our 36 hole event this past weekend was cut short. Washed out on Sunday and only Saturdays 18 counted. All in all, the round was pretty damn good. Hawthorne Hills GC. 6900 from the tips. 9 hole shamble / 9 hole scramble format. We played pretty well. And in all honesty, we most likely should have finished out of the $$$ in the 2nd flight, we ended up shooting a 75. Played our shamble 9 even par, played the scramble +3. Fun portion / not so fun, my driver snapped in half. There must have been a stress fracture in the middle of the shaft and it snapped in half on the 18th tee (Our 12th hole). Thankfully I was smashing my 3w and my partner was killing his driver. We did have to use my 3w drive on a few holes, but thankfully we were able to sneak away with par on them. All shorter par 4s and a par 5. Toura CBs were phenomenal yet again. Just missed closest to the pin on the 17th par 3 167 y by about 5 feet. Also launched my 8 on the 145 y par 3 4th to 15 feet. Lipped out our bird. Great day and wish we could’ve played Sunday. Biggest side note. Because my shaft snapped, I did want to attempt my first graphite adapter pull. Luckily I have a neighbor that has a professional heat gun. I didn’t want to go too hot straight out the door so I kept hitting the adapter with 350* to 400*. Obviously nothing doing. So, cranked it up to 750-800* and success. Yes, you will need new ferrules. But I was able to pull my Titliest adapter and reshaft it to one of the extra driver shafts I have lying around. If you are looking to add a new tool to your club building kit, get a heat gun! Totally worth it! Onward JRD

I will give you that. The CBs were a tic shorter than my Takomo 101Ts, but the tighter dispersion and lack of misses to the right, I cannot pull the @Toura Golf CBs out of the bag. Have my 2 man 36 event this upcoming weekend at Hawthorne Hills. Excited to report back on Monday!

This past weekend was legitimately amazing. Drove down to Davenport, IA and had the privilege to play TPC Deere Run. The course was in immaculate shape. Greens, fairways in pristine shape. The rough.... Dear lord, I have not played in anything this thick since State Am qualifying / State Golf tourney 25+ years ago. It was insane. Wish I snapped a photo, but if you didn't step on it, hover directly over it or keep a GPS location on it, you were not finding your ball for the most part. Thankfully I was pretty decent with the driver all day. The few FWs I missed, I missed small. The lies out of the rough, I was mostly able to hit my normal shot, just keeping my hands through the shot. Wrists were a little sore after haha. Outside of holes 1, 2, 17 & 18, it was a great round. I was close to breaking 80 until I lost my ball in the rough on 17 and then chunked my approach on 18. Ended double, double for an 82. @Toura Golf the CBs were straight up fire. Hole #3. Uphill, into a stiff 15 mph wind (160 on the card, playing 180), hit my 5i to roughly 10 ft. Made bird. Hole 5, 405. Driver, 6i to roughly 10 feet with my 2nd bird in 3 holes. Shot a 39 on the front and I was buzzing! Back 9, couldn't get a putt to drop outside of 10 feet. Catching nothing but lips. Did have a few very nice par saves from 10-15 feet but all my bird chances were for not. Without a doubt, I will be keeping the @Toura Golf in the bag for the foreseeable future. Next event I have planned is a 2 man tourney at Hawthorne Hills. Feels like I'm in a good spot with my iron play and driver seems to keep improving. Handicap is also starting to come back down. After posting this round and our Sunday round in Rockford (Ingersoll GC, fun muni track for cheap.) happy to report I'm creeping back down. Currently at an 8.8. Excited for the next one! Onward.

@ctg44 & @azstu324hear both of you. This summer has been brutal for my game. But one thing I have not been able to do as I was able to in prior years is get in multiple rounds a week, every week. With the boys schedules, new position with a new company, other commitments, it's been a grind just to find time to practice. Even though my office is literally 1 mile away from a full practice range / indoor facility / putting green. One thing I like to concentrate on for practice sessions, epically if I'm riding the struggle bus is get my confidence back. Start the practice with something you know you can do well. Maybe do this for 10% of the time and then build off of that. That's always helped me in the past. And like Stu said, it's golf. It's hard. Even the pro's have off days. Seeing that all of us here do not do this for a living, we cannot take it too seriously. Even though we'd like to... Happy to say that last nights round was stellar compared to my season so far. 37 with 2 birds. The @Toura Golf CBs performed very, VERY well. Stuck my 8 iron on back to back holes inside of 10 feet. Just lipped out a third bird on 9 for my 36. And of course, the result didn't have much influence on the handicap.. But it at least went down a tic, down to a 9.1. Was as high as a 9.3 last week. Onward

@ctg44 Ouch! Double train has been my biggest issue this summer. I can knock out a few pars / birds in a row. Then one hole, wheels come off and log a double or trip bogey... UGH! Knock that out, I'm back to shooting 75-80s instead of 82-88. All that being said, I've seen pretty consistent ball flight as of late. However, quite a few of my misses are going left. I've made some adjustments to my aim line on 4i thru PW and now, knock on wood, hopefully have this knocked out. Did a 2 hour range session on Saturday. Worked almost exclusively on ball striking and aim for the irons. Min - 10-12 shots on each iron. Also did another practice session on my new net setup. Good for getting my consistency down... that's about it. Excited for the week ahead. League night - Tuesday Friday - 18 at Kettle Hills GC Saturday - 18 at Songbird Hills CC Sunday - 18 at Oakwood GC Onward

Rob - no. Built these for an upcoming event for my company. Hole / raffle prizes. TJ - thanks! It was a fun build! The boys also helped and were super interested in the build. Love it!

Here’s the final build. They turned out great! Can’t wait to see how they perform.

Ask and you shall receive. Very little offset if any.

True. But, I do quite a bit of research on sellers before pulling the trigger. If they have a ton of high reviews, US based, also double check photos and ask questions beforehand, you can weed out the "Temu / knock off" sellers pretty easily. One guy I found on eBay has a small one man shop in AZ. Also a few USGA pros resell some of the demo heads, guys that won prizes in outings as well. Just need to do some digging before pulling the trigger.

It is amazing how much cheaper you can build a new driver than buying it off the rack. Just need to be patient on sourcing it. I've found that eBay is great. Was able to snag the Ping for just over $240 shipped. The AI and QI heads were around $375. Adapters all around $10 shipped. Shafts, I typically source uncut from Dallas Golf Co via eBay with free shipping. I have a ton of new grips lying around. Any other components, grip tape, epoxy, etc.. I have in house already. Only real big PITA was finding the headcovers. But it wasn't all too horrible. Just not a fan of needing to purchase by itself. All in all, I'm making each club for $460-$475 for the Callaway / TM, $300 for the Ping. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

So I have to say, I LOVE my new position. My company is hosting a employee appreciation outing coming up in a few weeks and my bosses got wind that I like to build clubs. Let's just say, the hole prizes are going to be legit! Just sources all the heads, shafts and adapters. Final build will be later on this week. Super excited for this!

Quick update.... I cannot believe that I'm typing this, but I am more than likely going to be selling my Takomo set. The Toura JCB Raw CB's have officially won the showdown. Last rounds with irons. Takomo - 101T - July 25th GIR - 6 / 18 - Most misses to the right. Final 18 - 85 Toura JCB CBs - July 27th GIR - 13 / 18 - Anything missed was due to a bad drive / leave. Final - 78 Yardage, dispersion, overall consistency and fell have kept. If I could honestly report a better overall score, I'd have to add a few points. In all seriousness, if you are in the market for a new iron set, you need to give @Toura Golf a fair shake. Only thing I hate right now, painting the shafts. Not doing this again.. Haha. Onward.

So i was able to finally sneak away from work and snap a few photos of the 'wear and tear' of the @Toura Golf CBs. The heads are holding up great. Faces are not showing as much wear / usage as I would've suspected after the Lawsonia trip. Dear lord that range was a sandbox.... Ugh. The one thing that is a little concerning is the shafts / paint chipping. The 4 iron, 7 iron and PW (7 and PW are probably my most used) have quite a bit of wear on them. 4 iron, only because it's sitting higher in the bag and receives more chatter. Oh well. Nothing a little painters tape and extra can of spray paint can't handle. Onward.

YES. There are different cuts (butt cut and tip cut) that will need to happen depending on the shaft manufacture. The Golf Works has a shaft trimming guide, so does the shaft manufacture. They typically include a paper copy with the shipment. If not, here's a link. https://www.golfworks.com/content/description/shaft_trim_inst.pdf JRD

Cut line will be +5 Average score for the week - 73.9

I will tell you the same exact thing I tell anyone that say's, "I need a new driver." If it ain't 10+ years old, take the $$$ you were going to spend and invest in lessons. If you still don't see that gains / improvement in dispersion / yardage gained, then start looking at new driver. On the same topic, if you are looking a new, be sure to give a model year or two old a fair shake. When I was fitted for my TSR I tried out 2-3 model years from Ping, Callaway, Miz, TM, Sirxon... etc. It was damn near a coin flip with the TSR vs Sim 2 Max. Decided on the TSR2. Just food for thought and it might save you a crap load of cash.

Holding at an 8.6... But as you can see, the trend is not ideal. I'm really going to put in the work and spend time on the putting greens the next few days. Just need to get the feel back. The back 9 for my round on the 4th was much more in line with what I am used to. Solid iron play with consistent chipping / putting. Just could not get things rolling last night. 4 - 3 putts, that is inexcusable.

Yet another round in the books. @Toura Golf irons performed well. Again, consistent striking, distances and shot shape. Zero complaints. The paint on the shafts is holding up. Only ones that are showing wear are the 7 iron, 9 iron and PW, mainly because I use them so much. I'll be sure to post some additional photos in the coming days. As for my putter, that is not behaving all that well. You know the old adage from NFL / Football, "If you have more than one quarterback, you don't have one quarterback.". Well, I have 5 putters and I don't have one putter. I've been switching between my GoLo S, Studio Design 1.5, Phantom 5.5, TM Rossa (Center Shaft) and an old Ping Anser 2. At this point, I might just steel my kids Bullseye and throw that in the bag and see what happens. If that doesn't work, I may pull a Bob Burns (old PGA pro that when his putting went south, he would leave his putter in the toilet overnight). I will try anything at this point. I may just go to one of the 100s of mini golf tracks around me to reign in my yips at this point. 2 rounds scheduled for the upcoming weekend. Christmans Mtn - The Oaks on Friday - https://christmasmountainvillage.co/the-oaks Portage Country Club on Saturday - https://portagecc.net/ Onward

@azstu324 I would explode in 115. I played in Myrtle Beach last Aug in 95+ heat with humidity. I damn near had to burn my clothing. @ctg44 super jealous of that forecast. Snag a cart and a hydrate. Both of you, enjoy that roll out! I've been lift / clean / place for almost every competitive round this year so far. Zero carry / rollout with anything off the tee.

Amen on the HDCP going north. Last round was ROUGH both figuratively and in reality. Or as I like to call it, the "tale of two 9's". Front was brutal. Couldn't get a good feel on greens nor off the tee box. Irons performed well. A few pluses, I am getting a better feel on the greenside workability of chipping with the PW and 9i. Stuck a few very nice and tight on 16 and 17 after arrant shots. 16, approach was knocked down by a low hanging branch on the left side of the FW and 17 was a horrible 6i. Nothing against the clubs in either case, it was user error. Both pitches, 9i pitch on 16, PW pitch on 17 were stuck to roughly 2-3 feet. Tap in par. Handicap is currently at a 8.6.... Rounds tentatively scheduled for tonight, Friday and Saturday. I say 'tentatively' as always because Mother Nature has not been kind to us Wisconsinites for 2024. It say's no rain in the forecast currently.... I know to never trust a meteorologist more than 48 hours out. Onward.

WE somehow were able to sneak in the round last night. Course was a bog. Bunkers = concrete. Greens, slow and sticky. Heck, you didn't even need to wash your ball as there was standing water inside the cup on 4 out of the 9 holes. Yet another lackluster round. Three takeaways from the irons. 1. Again they come off the face so incredibly well. 2. I am starting to use the PW on uphill punch and runs. Loving the bump / bump / check up. Love that I have that shot in the rolodex now. 3. The lack of offset is life changing compared to the Takomo 101T. My shot shape is much, much more consistent. Now to the putting green for some much needed practice. The GoLo is on the short list to be demoted very soon. Onward to 6 am tomorrow.

Doubtful we are getting out this evening.... Yet another storm on a Tuesday with more expected for Wednesday. Fingers crossed it lifts for my round on the 4th.

What a guy that @azstu324 *** QUICK UPDATE *** Was not able to get out over the weekend due to a garage that was so messy that if I didn't clean it up, I may have sold the house outright. Was able to sneak in a range session over lunch. Irons are still silky smooth off the face. It was quite windy today to mostly just a feel / knock the rust off session. Still working on shot shape and different feel shots. One thing I am very much high on is the workability of the mid irons (specifically 6-8i). I do like to hit a low running 'punch' at times and the turf interaction and crisp feel on the face works great on the 6, 7 and 8 for these types of shots under 125. I also do love the fact that I can keep the flight lower and still have my straight or work a baby cut with each club. Looking forward to this shot type into play in the coming rounds. Have a few scheduled for this week. League night, TENATIVELY for tomorrow. Because, you know it's Tuesday in WI which means rain in the forecast yet again. Have 18 planned at Hawthorne Hills for the 4th early. Need to get the old handicap back in order after a less than stellar early portion of the year. Only 2 rounds in the 70's and currently my highest index in a 3 years. Happy 4th everyone and hope you all have a chance to get out and get after it this short work week! Onward.

Agree with Stu here. For a customization / heads only option, we did their the cream of the crop. The other @Toura Golf options will perform just as well as the MB or CB options tested. You have to remember, each iron is manufactured by Kyoei Golf Industries in Japan. They are one of the top iron / wedge houses in Japan. Toura is pretty much giving these clubs away for a fraction of the price on the Kyoei site. Ranging from $1500 to $2500 for a set of irons on the Kyoei site VS $500 to $1100 on Toura. Great product and cannot recommend it enough. https://touragolf.com/