Aotearoa_Brad Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Around this time every year, Ko Olina Golf Club holds its annual Demo Day. I'm quite fond of this one in particular, because it was on the first weekend I moved to Hawaii last year and was the first thing that I'd put on my calendar to attend as a ‘local'. I'm the first to admit that my intentions for this event were really to look and hit the new equipment – not necessarily to buy anything. I'm not sure whether it was the time of day I got there (9:30am) but it wasn't overly busy at all. As Jay Baker wrote recently on the Blog, I can imagine this type of event is pretty hit and miss – though mostly miss – in terms of sales for the guys staffing these events from the OEM side of things. I got a message from MBP just as I was leaving the house to say that our very own forum member Jonathan (@MorikawaTMaG) was staffing the TMaG tent, so I made my way there first. I chatted with Jonathan for quite a while and he is a top bloke – still in school but clearly very knowledgeable and with a keen interest in the equipment side of the industry. TMaG equipment in the lineup is extremely impressive. I hit both the RSi1 and RSi2 irons. The RSi1 irons are not actually as big as I thought they might be, and definitely easy to hit. The RSi2 irons, however, were the big winner for me – super long and consistent. I also hit both the R15 and AeroBurner drivers. Chalk and cheese. Loved the R15, couldn't stand the AeroBurner. A lot of it had to do with the impact sound, I'm sure of it – AeroBurner just didn't feel solid at all. I didn't play around with the weight system on the R15 at all, but it is a bomber and was the longest driver for me all day. I did hit the SLDR alongside it, and can say that for me the R15 was more forgiving. As good as it was, the R15 would not have made my ‘demo day bag'. Next up – Nike Golf. To say I was disappointed that the Vapor drivers were not available to hit is an understatement. I had geared myself up to hit them and completely forgot that they haven't been released into the wild as yet. Anyway, Nike reps were very knowledgeable and willing to offer any insights they could. I hit the Vapor Pro, ProCombo and Speed 6i alternating in short bursts and my preference was definitely for the ProCombo – super consistent. Slightly shorter for me than the RSi2, but all of my shots were on a string and I love the look of them. This was a great chance for me to hit the Nike wedges as well. I hadn't hit the ToeSweep wedge before, but it was great (even from the tightly mown hitting area) and I can see a 58deg ToeSweep making a permanent home in my bag very shortly. Surprise of the day for me was my brief visit with Titleist. I have never been remotely interested in Titleist, not for any good reason, maybe its because ‘Titleist' and ‘elitist' are such similar looking words… In any case, I was blown away by the 915 D2 driver. It's a beautiful driver, sleek even with the alignment aid (which still reminds me of one of the playstation controller symbols…). This driver just works – I have never hit a quite a series of consistently long, straight drives in a row as I did with this driver. The stock Diamana M+ Blue (61gm) shaft was a really good fit for my swing as well. If money were no object (or even just a smaller one) then this would already be in my bag. Based just on the demo day equipment, my bag would look like this: Driver: Titleist 915D2 10.5deg, Stiff Mitsubishi Diamana M+ Blue 4W: (own) Tour Edge Exotics XCG6, Stiff Matrix Ozik HD6.1 7W: Titleist 915F (21deg), Stiff Mitsubishi Diamana M+ Blue 4-PW: TMaG RSi2 (2deg flat), Stiff KBS Tour Wedges: Nike VR Forged 50,54 ; Nike X3X ToeSweep 58 Putter: (own) SeeMore M3 I'm not sure how many balls I hit on Saturday morning, but it was a lot. I was stuffed - fortunately though, I was at Ko Olina Resort so trundled on down to the lagoon for a swim... just saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfSpy Barbajo Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I was l loving your write-up Brad right up until that last picture. You just had to rub my Minnesota-snow-bound-single-digit temp nose in it, didn't you? What's in the bag: Driver: TSR3; DynaPWR Carbon FW Wood: DynaPWR 3-wood; TSR 2+ Hybrids: PXG Gen4 18-degree Utility Irons: ZX MkII 20* Irons:; 699/699 Pro V2 Combo; D9 Forged; MT86 (coming soon!); VIP 1025 V-Foil MB/CB; Wedges: RTX6 Zipcore Putter: HB Soft Milled 10.5; Newport Special Select; Willamette, BB8; 8802; MATI Monto Ball: Tour B RXS; Z-STAR Diamond; Triad Stat Tracker/GPS Watch: Follow @golfspybarbajo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBones Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Very nice, Brad, looks like a blast. I had the 915D2 in my hands this weekend and it does look sexy; didn't have time to hit it though. Follow @GolfspyBones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WScott Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Thanks, Brad. God, I love demo days. We just have far too few of them where I live in the western foothills of North Carolina. I wish manufacturers would spend more on demo days than on any other form of advertising to reach serious golfers. I picked up a new 915D2 yesterday and was impressed -- but I could not hit it in the shop! And your comments about the TM irons are very interesting as I may be looking for new irons next year. I'd be happy to read all the demo day reports I can find, especially ones from various levels of golfers. The information in the magazines from such testing does not seem detailed enough. Thanks, again. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozcycle Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Very good review.......I was wondering why there was no Cobra equipment available. Driver: 0311 XF 10.5* w/Project X Cypher 40 gram Senior shaft or 0811 XF 12* w/Evenflo Riptide CB Senior shaft Fairways: 0211 5W & 7W w/ Evenflo Riptide CB regular shaft and Tour Edge E521 9W w/Fubuki HD50 regular shaft Hybrid: None in bag at the moment Irons: Titleist T300 5-PW w/Fubuki MV Senior graphite shafts w/Golf Pride Tour Wedges: Edison forged 49*, 53* and 57* wedges with KB PGI Senior shafts(80 grm). Putter: 33” Evnroll ER6R or ER2 or Bellum Winmore Model 707, or Nike Method Core Drone w/Evnroll Gravity Grip Bag: Vice cart bag(Black/Lime). Ball: Snell MTB Prime X, Maxfli Tour/S/X CG, Titleist Pro V1x or Titleist TruFeel Using Shot Scope X5 and Pinned Rangefinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorikawaTMaG Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 great write up! Was nice talking to you and fitting you to the new stuff. Driver: Tour Issue SLDR 460 with toe scre (10.5 head set to 9.5)Shaft: Adila Rip Beta 70 SWeight Setting: Neutral Weight: 9 Grams3 wood: SLDRs (15 Degrees)Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 65 FWY5 HL: SLDRs (23 Degrees)Shaft Fujikura Speeder 65 FWY2 Hybrid: SLDR (17 degree head set to 18.5)Shaft: Fujikura Motoroe Speeder HB 9.8 Tour Spec Irons:TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 3 through P- Project X Steel 5.5 RiflesWedges:TaylorMade Tour Preferred 52 classic grind- Project X Steel 5.5 RiflesTaylorMade Tour Preferred 56 ATV grind- Project X Steel 5.5 Rifles Putter: TaylorMade Daddy Long Legs 39" Tour Issue Ghost Tour Daytona 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aotearoa_Brad Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Very good review.......I was wondering why there was no Cobra equipment available. You know Foz - that was the biggest disappointment for me... last year CobraPUMA was there in full force with all their new gear, but they were not there this year at all. Maybe they're waiting until they have more of the new line out before heading along to these things - I'll definitely be looking for any demo days they have scheduled around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hula Rock Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Will be there next week for the Holidays.... Driver: M3 Tensei CK Pro Blue3-Metal:: GBB EPIC, FujiKura Pro Green 5-Metal: F-7, FujiKura Pro Irons: MP-18 SC, KBS Tour 120 Wedges: RTX-3 52 - 56 - 60Putter: EVN-Roll ER-5 Ball : Tour B XS Range Finder: Busnnell Tour-X, Garmin S20 Follow me: @Hula_Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aotearoa_Brad Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Will be there next week for the Holidays.... Sweet - bringing clubs? Keen for a round? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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