2018 Official Forum Review Bridgestone Tour B HF2 Irons

[hckymeyer]

From GolfSpy_Rob

When a company that a few years ago had one of the best club lineups in the industry from top to bottom with the J15 iron lineup and the J715 and J815 drivers, just disappears from the club market it gets people talking. And boy have they been talking, golf forum abound have been discussing, “What happened to Bridgestone� for the better part of the last 12 to 18 months. And rightfully so when it comes to clubs.

Bridgestone made a big PR splash by announcing the signing of Tiger Woods almost two years ago to play its ball. It was an interesting signing at the time that has been much discussed over the past 22 months. And judging on this years results, it appears to have been great forward thinking move.

But back to the clubs, after the J15 lineup ran its course, the company mysteriously and without ever fulling saying stopped producing a full lineup of clubs. Bridgestone has offered on a limited basis its Tour B X line of drivers, fairway woods, irons and wedges. But they were not widely promoted or widely available without making a real effort to search them out.

That all ends today, with the introduction of the new Tour B JGR lineup. It features the following:

• Tour B JGR Driver
• Tour B JGR Fairway Woods
• Tour B JGR Hybrids
• Tour B JGR HF1 irons
• Tour B JGR HF2 irons

This review will focus on the HF2 irons from each of us, reviews of the driver, fairway woods and hybrids can be found here...https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/25627-bridgestone-jgr-tour-b-driverfairwayhybrid-release/

 

Bridgestone reached out to MY Golf Spy last month and asked for a select few members of the forum to receive a full set of these clubs to put in play and review for the forum on launch day. However the caveat was it was pre-release so there could be no general announcement or discusion on the forum until the media embargo date was up.    So the MGS Staff team met and came up with three members,  we felt have proven over their time on the site to be trustworthy---NDA's had to be signed to not discuss the irons with anyone on the forum—and active and have proven their selves in previous reviews.

 

MaxEntropy
MattF
MGoBlue100

I joined these members as the lead of the test team, and for the past month we've been playing them and compiling our thoughts and pictures to be shared with everyone today.

It should be noted each of us chose the HF2 irons as we felt they matched our games best. There may be some thoughts-although not an actual review--coming from another staff member on the HF1 irons which are more in the SGI category.

So today we reveal our—modified versions of Stage 1's with some Stage 2 also included as to provide as much as we can about our experiences over the past three weeks. We will add more thoughts in the Stage 2 placeholders' right around October 8^th when they become available to the public.

Below are our thoughts to date. As always feel free to jump in the conversation and ask all the questions you'd like, we're getting tired of talking to each other about these, and I know we all have a lot of thoughts on each part of the lineup.

[Golfspy_CG2]

Tour B JGR iron Review

Most on here knew me as Carolina Golfer 2, before taking on a Moderator role. In that time, I developed a bit of a reputation as an iron junkie--to avoid using a less forum friendly name for it. Even though my name changed to GolfSpy_Rob my iron loving habits didn't. As a result I've played several different models of irons over the last 12 to 18 months.

So the chance to test and review a set of unreleased irons and be among the very first in the country to hit them and write about them, they didn't have to ask me twice.

I've played everything from a true player's style, Wilson Tour V6 to the game improvement G400 and AP1's and many in-between sets, such as Mizuno Hot Metals, Srixon 565/765, TaylorMade P790's to Callaway CF16's. Iron play has always been so/so for me. Not the worst part of my game, but certainly not the strongest. My 150 club is currently a 6 iron, or if I'm feeling puffed up, I will try and get a 7 there, if there is no immediate trouble short.

We all have trouble giving up that iron distance don't' we? When I was fit at TXG in June my 7 iron speed was 80 mph, personally I would like it to be in the mid 80's, but Ian said it's perfectly fine for most any iron. And most any iron is what I have played as you read above.

For the month prior to starting to test the JGR's I had been playing the PING G400 and prior to that, the TaylorMade P790 for most of the season. As I found out at the TXG fitting the 790's were very ill fit for my swing and game, not surprisingly, they were “self-fit.”

Not wanting to make the same mistake with the new JGR HF2's I took the specs from my TXG fitting and also was lucky enough to get to run some things by Danny Le of UST in regards to the recoil shafts and my profile. I had played recoils in my CF16's and loved them, but they never felt right in the P790's. As I found out they were playing at a C8 swing weight, as opposed to a D1 or D2 which is best for me.

So order placed, and Bridgestone delivered, I mean literally delivered fast, I had the irons in less than a week from sending in our specs.

Since this is a launch review and not our typical long term testing, I'll take portions of the standard Stage One and Two styles and combine them into one place in order to give you the most complete look at the irons in one reading.



LOOKS 15 of 15
These may be in my mind the most classic looking irons I've played this year. By classic, I mean a clean badge, a moderate size top line and a sole that most players will find appealing. Sure true blade users will find the top line, not like a butter knife, and the sole not as sharp as a razor ready to carve up fairways with Davey Crocket hat size divots. But to me both are a perfect in-between.





To me the yellow grip which is the stock Golf Pride grip, really helps the irons stand out and get noticed—especially if you happen to work with any Pittsburgh Steeler fans!



Performance 48 of 50

Irons are supposed to be our scoring clubs, not necessarily ones we look for distance in. But who are we kidding, nobody likes hitting their 7 iron 10 yards shorter than they did ten or even five years ago. So there has been the much discussed and hotly debated ‘loft jacking' in irons these days. Again, I'm going to say this is a category that these irons fall in-between in. They aren't severely lowered like some and aren't as high as what some would call traditional lofts.

The seven iron falls right in at 31, where I've seen some as low as 28 and have owned some at 34. So noting this I was pleasantly surprised to get no less distance out these than I was getting out of my G400 and perhaps even a few yards more.

Some Technical aspects of the iron from Bridgestone

• They are constructed of 1025 Forged Steel
• The inner cavity of each iron is filled with a polymer insert to dampen vibration and add a crisp sound and feel at impact.
• A face slit on each iron provides improved COR for more distance and forgiveness

I absolutely love hitting the PW and AW in these. The AW replaces a SM7 50 degree, and I feel I have just as much versatility with this AW as I did with the Vokey, and I've really knocked on the door of some flag-sticks from 95 to 105 yards out, which is not internet golfer distance with a 50 degree, but that's more than solid for me.

I get a nice high flight throughout the set, and have had no problem stopping the 5 or 6 irons on the green from 160 to 170 out. At this point I don't have any launch monitor numbers, distance or spin wise to go with them.  However, Since I have had these in play, I have beat my season low for 9 holes twice in the past month.  So I'll take those numbers of a launch monitor number any day!

What did I say about scoring clubs? The irons are a big reason why…or and another reason why—spoiler alert—you don't want to miss the JGR Driver Review....which can be found here...https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/25627-bridgestone-jgr-tour-b-driverfairwayhybrid-release/



Sound and Feel 13 of 15

Some people scoff at someone of my level—17 handicap--when I say I can feel the difference in some clubs or balls softness. Well that is definitely the case with these. They may not be Mizuno level forged soft, but they are definitely close to that.  And they are much softer than any cast club, in particular they are miles better feeling than the G400's I own.
The sound on pure shots is addicting, I haven't heard that sound too many times this year from many irons, maybe a few times with the P790, but certainly not as often as these.

Likelihood of Purchase 18 of 20
I mentioned early on that the P790's were a bad fit for me. Much of that was due to the sole design, they didn't offer enough relief for me when interacting with the ground and I would hit the occasional fat shot. When I hit them solid, I got great performance out of them from a distance standpoint, but when you factored in those fat shots, my dispersion was just too wide to hit them consistently with any confidence. A 165 yard 7 iron is very nice, but a 128 yard 7 iron, not so much and that's what I was getting.

So between being properly fit, and adjusting my length from 1” over to ½ long, and a more forgiving sole on the JGR's, my iron play has been much more consistent. And I can still feel the head cutting through the turf without getting hung up as would happen on some wider soles, or hitting it fat like I would often do with the 790s.



Based on all the above, if Bridgestone called me and said, If you want to keep these, I had to buy them, it would be very hard to pass up. Perhaps my fitting for the Srixon's 565/765 would be the only iron right now that I could confidently say would work for me as well as these.

So this is the game bag, I've been rolling with the past month, and it took me from about 10 spots and 15 points out of our league playoffs, to shooting a net 33 to make it on the number.



My overall impressions of these clubs are they would fit anyone from a low single digit to 20 handicap. While they do make a more game improving HF1 model, anyone that can put a halfway decent swing on the ball will find these clubs easy to hit.

I've mentioned several times they are a ‘tweener' and that's a good thing, I see players that currently play a Titleist AP2 or a Mizuno 900 Forged being very happy with these irons if they gave them a try. On the converse, I could see a AP1 or Mizuno Hot Metal player picking these up and feeling like they have stepped up a class in clubs and not see their game suffer.

The best thing I can say about these, relates to my proclivity for irons. There are a lot of current irons out there. I'm very intrigued by, the new Srixon's, the JPX 919 and the PING I210 and I500's but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything from a looks or performance standpoint by having these in play.

Going back to the intro on how this testing came about, it's not only great to see Bridgestone back in the club business, but back with an iron that is going to get a lot of people attention, if they can get it in their hands to try.

Along those lines Bridgestone is doing three things to help get the clubs in peoples hands to.

· Club Champion Partnership- They-have partnered with Club Champion and will have the JGR line available at all 39 of their stores on launch day (10/8)
· Test Drive- Bringing back the popular test drive program where we allow consumers to rent pre selected demo kits and we ship them straight to your door.
· Demo Carts- we are in the process of selecting key retail partners (green grass and off course) to put demo carts at. This should be in place by Spring 2019.

The old test drive program was extremely popular and I look forward to seeing it's return.

 

The irons will be available in retail accounts on Oct 8, 2018 and the HF2's have a MAP of $899 for a 5-AW setup with stock shafts. A 4 iron is available for $130.

 

[Golfspy_CG2]

Reserved Stage 2

[MaxEntropy]

Bridgestone Tour B JGR HF2 Irons – Introduction by MaxEntropy

 

 

I cannot begin to tell you what an honor it was to be selected for this test – when Barbajo sent us the PM about the opportunity, I had to slap myself and re-read it 47 times to make sure I wasn't crazy. So, thank you MGS and Bridgestone for the amazing opportunity!!!

 

This will not be your typical Stage 1/Stage 2 review. As you are all aware from Rob's intro, this was almost an entire bag test (including the bag and balls), all done on the “down-low”. Due to a media embargo, we could not share much, if anything, when random questions arose at the range or course and could share NOTHING online so it was also difficult to avoid dropping subtle (or not-so-subtle) hints around the forum, although astute readers may have noticed MGoBlue100's avatar change a few days early. Fortunately, we had a couple PM threads where we could “talk” openly.

 

A few words about me: My name is Blake and I am 50 years old, originally from Vancouver, WA, and have been living in Akron, OH since 1997. I started playing golf semi-regularly while I was in grad school and started taking it much more seriously when I moved to Ohio and got involved in a work league. I steadily improved over the years without too much practice to the point of getting my unofficial handicap to the 12-14 range. “Life” happened in the early 2000's which, when combined with two young daughters at home, meant I hardly played for nearly 10 years. I slowly got back into the game about 6 years ago and over the last 3 or 4 years, it has become an obsession and I have been averaging about 30-40 rounds per year over that time. My unofficial handicap has been as low as 15 by the end of last year but has ballooned to about 18 this year while I worked through a serious swing flaw that a couple lessons late last year identified. I know the tendency is still there, but not as bad as it was, and my handicap is hopefully on it's way down. My wife and I are a year away from being empty-nesters, so I sincerely hope and plan on devoting much more time to practice. I would love to get to a single digit handicap, but honestly don't know if it is in the cards for me at this stage in my life.

 

When we were informed of the test and got our specs in to Rob and Barbajo, the waiting game began. I love and hate the UPS app tracking features – I love it because I was able to check the status way too frequently and I hate it because I did check the status way too frequently. I'm a bit OCD like that.

 

“C'mon, Mr. UPS man! The app said you would be here between 2:00 and 6:00 and it's already 2:30!”

 

Finally, the boxes started arriving….

 

First, the bag:

 

 

Next to arrive were the boxes that really counted:

 

“Oh, don't you worry, I won't be refusing….”

 

I was like a kid during Christmas and could not wait to get to the goods!

 

 

 

“All present and accounted for, SIR!”

 

The visuals of the clubs will be discussed in more detail in the appropriate threads/posts, but I will say I find the entire line-up very attractive. Here are a few teaser shots to keep you coming back, but keep in mind I am not Golfspy T when it comes to photos….

 

 

 

There was still one more delivery scheduled:

 

“They came with MGS logo on them. Nice touch, Bridgestone!”

 

As of this writing, the clubs have been in my possession for about 3 weeks and I've gotten 63 holes of play in and 3 range sessions, so you can guarantee there will be regular updates as new information/data becomes available to us. Keep an eye on this thread and please post any questions you might want addressed!

 

My intention is to post my initial impressions in Stage 2 later today.

 

To be continued....

[MaxEntropy]

Bridgestone Tour B JGR HF2 Irons – Initial Impressions/Stage 2

 

 

This is not a fair fight! My current irons were purchased in the fall of 1996 at a pretty deep discount in preparation for the next model release. Although I have played them well and they are generally one of my strengths (it's all relative, of course), they are old and I am missing out on a lot of technological advances that have been built in to modern clubs to help players like me be more consistent. The irons are PowerBilt TPS “Ellipsoid of Power”, 4 – PW with True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 shafts.

 

 

My gap wedge is a Mizuno S5 that I received as a Christmas gift nearly 2 years ago which will be tough to displace as it's one of my favorite and better-performing clubs.

 

Ever since I purchased the PowerBilt's, iron play was the primary strength of my game. Since I could not hit a wood to save my life, the 4 iron was my standard club off the tee, no matter the length of the hole. In my younger, in-shape days, it was good for about 230 yards and a PW was my 150 club. I have now reached 50, am out of shape, and have lost quite a bit of swing speed, so my 4 iron is now good for about 190 yards (maybe 200 when I hit it well) and a 7 iron is my “go to” for 150 yards. I get that in these days of jacked lo lofts and hotter faces, I am going to get some distance increases, but I am not necessarily looking for irons to add distance – I know I'll never get it all back and ultimately, it does not matter as long as I know how far each club will go and I have no huge gaps. My current bag has a big gap between my 3H (~220 yards) and 5i (~185) that I have been needing to address. My 4i fills that gap, but it has become so unreliable off the deck that I'm more comfortable choking down the 3H. Adding the Bridgestone 4H appears to have filled that gap nicely.

 

I have had a few occasions to play more modern irons and my observation was that the main “thing” I was missing with my dated clubs was the forgiveness that comes with modern irons. When I mis-hit one of my current irons, I know immediately by feel and sound, and can lose 20-30 yards in distance, if not more. My hope is that the Bridgestone irons, being firmly in the “game improvement” category, will not result in nearly as much loss on mis-hits. During league play this summer, I hit a 7 iron on a par 3 off the toe which missed the green but was still nearly pin high. I understand this is anecdotal at this point, but I hope the trend continues because I would have had a much longer pitch with my old irons and I was still able to chip up and make par.

 

We were given the choice of four different shafts for the irons:

1. True Temper XP95
2. UST Recoil 680
3. Nippon Modus3 Tour 105
4. KBS Tour

Ideally, to make a head-to-head comparison, I would have liked to get the same shaft as in my current clubs. Since that was not an option, trying to pick a shaft that made sense, in a short amount of time was necessary and not the easiest of choices. I won't bore anyone with the details, but I ended up choosing the Nippon Modus3 Tour 105's in stiff flex. If anyone is interested in how I came to that decision, I will be more than happy to post it. Being pretty average in stature, I went with standard length and lie.

 

Looks (14 out of 15)

In my opinion, these are beautiful irons and much better looking than some of the companies Bridgestone is likely targeting as competition. I would put them right next to JPX900 Forged/Hot Metal in terms of appearance in the GI category. The topline and sole are a little on the thick side, but not terribly so. The badge is very clean looking and I personally like the fact that it is devoid of flashy colors and other busy features. The lone point I would deduct is due to the design/font of the JGR branding. It find it a bit awkward and the “R” has been mistaken for a “B” a couple times already.

 

I don't consider myself overly sensitive to the visual aspect of clubs at address, although I really like them to look pretty sitting in a bag! I've never been offended by the thickness of the top line or if I see mass bulging out the back of a long iron. I understand others can be bothered by these visual cues, but I'm generally not.

 

 

At address, the HF2's are pretty similar to my old clubs. The topline on the HF2's looks like it may be a little thicker, but that could be an illusion due to the rounded top edge of the PowerBilts. I wish I could find specs on my old clubs to compare offset – on the HF2 7 iron in the photo, the offset is listed at 2.75 mm (0.108”), and it looks like the offset on the PowerBilt 7 iron is larger, but not offensive to me.

 

 

The sole of the HF2's is a bit wider than the PowerBilts.

 

One final comment related to looks: In my opinion, the appearance of the irons is very important to get the clubs in a potential customer's hands. I frequently browse the local stores and touch, feel, and waggle a lot of different clubs. There are a few brands that are highly regarded and popular that I've never touched because they don't look good to me sitting on the rack. To me they look cheap and/or cheesy. With that bias, I had planned of getting irons later this year or early next year and brands like Mizuno and Srixon are the tops in my book in terms of shelf appeal so were going to be among the first brands I hit. In my opinion, Bridgestone has NAILED IT from an overall visual appeal perspective and are right up there next to Mizuno.

 

Sound and Feel (14 out of 15)

Bridgestone has added a polymer layer behind the face to alter the sound/feel characteristics, resulting in a satisfying “click” when the feel when the ball is struck solidly. Off-center hits sound and feel a little different, but not at all bad, and very little of the vibration is transmitted to my hands. For the most part, the only way I can tell a shot was mis-hit is by ball flight. Having mostly played cast irons, I had the notion that a perfect strike on a forged iron would be an almost otherworldly experience. I suspect my expectations were set a bit too high, so I docked the HF2's a very subjective single point for not meeting that expectation, but they still feel very nice to me.

 

Performance on the Range (9 out of 10)

There was a recent thread in the forum about adjustment periods with new equipment. The general feeling was that properly fitted equipment should not require a “break-in” period. Since these were not properly fitted, it took me an entire range session and 18+ holes to figure out the irons. I played 36 holes the Sunday after the clubs arrived and during the second round, I started hitting some iron shots that felt and flew amazingly. In subsequent range sessions and rounds, I have been very pleased with the performance. With a few exceptions, ball flight is straight/slight fade and pretty much exactly where I am aiming. The distance gains with the HF2's are still to be determined, although I am not overly concerned with distance. To me, the main benefit to being longer is that I will be using less club for a given shot which should theoretically improve my accuracy. The ball launches high of these clubs, perhaps a little higher than my current gamers, but not by a huge amount.

 

Given my current skillset, it is very rare that I make any effort to work the ball right or left and when I do, it is only when I am in trouble (left-to-right is easy and natural, right-to-left is very hard for me). As such, I cannot comment on the workability of these clubs from a draw/fade perspective. Altering the high/low trajectory, especially with the shorter clubs, is pretty easy and the resulting ball flight is nice. I need to work on distance control in this area since the ball tends to come off the face a bit hotter than with my current clubs.

 

I docked the HF2's a single point in this category for the turf interaction. Due to the ease with which I can take a divot with these, I tend to hit a few more fat shots than may otherwise happen with the TPS's. Some of this may be a result of the amount of rain we have had and the generally damper ground conditions, or I might chalk this up to some of the adjustment period I have experienced. Time will tell.

 

Performance on the Course (39 out of 40)

So far, without much data, performance on the course has been outstanding! While adjusting to the distance, I have actually missed more greens of late, mainly because I have been long. I am starting to get used to grabbing 1 or 2 clubs less depending on the situation, so it is getting better.

 

As I suggested above, I feel that most of what I am missing out on by playing older clubs was forgiveness of newer irons. The HF2's do not disappoint. It appears there is very little loss in distance in mishits, perhaps half a club instead of the 1-2 club loss I was experiencing, but I need more data to confirm this.

 

With the high-launch of these irons, I have seen quite a few shots stop quickly, even with longer irons and have hit a couple short irons that "zipped" back nicely. I also feel comfortable trying to lower the flight of the short clubs to bring the ball in low. I need more work in this area so I have a better idea when the ball will stop on a solid strike.

 

My Mizuno gap wedge has become my work-horse around the greens unless the situation calls for something with more loft. As of yet, the HF2 gap wedge is not quite at the same level as the Mizuno. For full swings, I have seen very little difference. The small deduction in this category is all a result of the gap wedge performance.

 

Play It or Trade it (20 out of 20)

This is a no-brainer. They will be in my bag for the foreseeable future. I see no real shortcomings across the range of irons that aren't more related to my skill or just getting used to how they will respond. This will be my bag for the foreseeable future....

 

 

I would think these irons should definitely appeal to people like me - if you have even marginal ability to get the ball in the air on a regular basis, these clubs will likely help you. Like Rob, I'd suggest these irons are capable of bridging the GI and player's distance space. I think it would be very interesting to see these clubs in the hands of a single digit handicapper.

 

I usually think of myself as a pretty harsh grader, but I can't think of many logical reason to take away points, especially when viewed with the perspective of what I have been playing. Are these clubs perfect? I doubt it, but they might just be as close to perfect for me as one can get. Some of this might be the "newness" of the experience with them, but I honestly find it hard to believe some other company could provide something substantially better than what Bridgestone has provided here.

 

I would have loved to have the opportunity to actually get fitted into the best shaft for me and these heads. I'm strongly considering doing that later in the year just to see if there is any untapped potential to be realized. With the performance I've seen so far, I'm going to guess I'm not missing much and could probably realize more benefit from lessons.

 

Preliminary Score: 94 out of 100

 

I will be editing this post to include to the most up-to-date information. I'll do my best to make sure the new information is as easy as possible for you guys to find.

 

Thanks again to MGS and Bridgestone for the amazing opportunity. This entire process, from the initial notification to all the interaction with the other testers has been a blast!

 

I look forward to any questions you guys may have!

 

[MGoBlue100]

I think many of you here "know" me from my previous reviews, posts, and general sarcastic sense of well... everything. I have had a really poor Summer of golf, mainly due to the recovery from a ladder incident in January. I'll say it again in case you didn't read the original thread: Stay off ladders! You can hire professionals to do that. (If you ARE a professional doing that, PLEASE be careful.) Anyway, I've been slowly rounding into form, and had passed on even throwing my name into the hat for any product reviews so far this year, because I didn't feel, quite honestly, that I could play (or even swing) well enough to do justice to any type of club review.

I was very surprised and flattered to have the opportunity to review these clubs. I toured the Bridgestone ball manufacturing facility with GolfSpy Barbajo in March 2016. The facility was cool, and was very similar to a facility where he and I had worked together previously. In addition to the tour of the ball plant, we also were given access to Bridgestone's club and ball testing facility, where we saw their robotic club testing machines, their high-speed camera capability (impressive!) and their 400-yard-long laser-flat driving range! (Yes, it's SUPER COOL!) While we were there, we went through a Bridgestone ball fitting, and also had the chance to hit the original series JGR Driver and the original JGR Hybrid Forged irons, I believe the predecessor to this current generation's HF-1 irons.

Bridgestone offers quite a few shaft options at no upcharge. I was seriously interested in the Nippon Modus 3 Tour 105 shafts, but I could never find anywhere to hit a club that might be similar with that shaft combination. With that being the case, and wanting to be able to do a true "apples to apples" review to do justice the Bridgestone, MyGolfSpy and all of you, I had the HF-2 irons I ordered built with the same KBS Tour 130 X-flex shafts I currently have in my Mizuno JPX-825's.

I was eagerly anticipating reception of all of the clubs, and much like Christmas morning, they finally arrived:

 

 

I was super stoked, and then I read the build sheet:

 

 

The problem is: that's supposed to say: 2 UPRIGHT, not 2 FLAT. Bummer! When making contact with Bridgestone, shipping the clubs back, having them bent to the proper lie angle, and shipping back around the Labor Day holiday was all factored in, I've lost about two weeks of review time compared to my compadres. As such, I only have one range session under my belt with the irons. But, oh what a range session it was! I used my Precision Pro Nexus rangefinder to shoot distances to varying targets at my favorite little driving range, Shank's. (Nope, really not kidding; that's the name.)

 

I started easy, with an A wedge. Beautiful solid feel, and about 10 yards longer than I had anticipated.

 

 

This seemed to be a common theme throughout the bag. The Bridgestone lofts are 1 degree stronger through the bag than my Mizuno JPX-825 irons that I have been gaming.

 

 

I really love those Mizuno's, but I think I have a new flame!

 

First 5-iron I hit, I scorched! Little downhill and into a very slight breeze. Carried at least 200 in the air. I normally hit five iron about 185.

Next one: little slight fade, higher; carried every bit as far!

 

I'm writing this, of course from the road on business. However, I'm headed home to South Carolina tomorrow, and as long as Hurricane Florence doesn't interfere, I'll be on my way Saturday to SW FL for six days of golf and relaxation! Stay tuned to the Weather Channel, and stay tuned here for a LOT more information after I get back!

[MGoBlue100]

I’ve played multiple multiple rounds of golf with these irons, and I’ve finally had a chance to sit, reflect, and write up my end review:  If you’re able to get to the PGA Show next week in Orlando, or have a clubfitter who has access to these JGR HF-2 irons, by all means hit these awesome clubs!

Looks:  13 out of 15

The club heads are beautiful.  Just a really clean look, not garish at all.  I’m really in love with the satin face.  The look just instills confidence at setup.  So, why not 15/15?  Those bright yellow grips.  Ugh…  I don’t mind color, nor even a lot of yellow.  But man, that’s a LOT of yellow, and it’s not even my favorite grip by a long shot.  Don't get me started on how they look installed on the ProForce V2 wood & hybrid shafts.  Even Corey Hart would swap them out. 

I am a bit perturbed that other grip options are available for a price that seems comparable to what you’d pay for the grip alone.  Grips especially should be basically a no charge upgrade, in my opinion.  It’s not like they’re going to sell you a club with NO grip.

Sound and Feel  14 out of 15

I had never played forged clubs prior to testing these clubs.  Now I see what all the fuss is about.  Bridgestone really hit a grand slam with these.  I consider any iron lofted lower than 7-iron to be a “long” iron.  I consistently swing too hard, thinking that because I’m trying to hit the ball 170 yards plus (I carry my 6-iron 172) I have to give it a WHACK.  I have hit the 5 and 6-iron in this set like no irons ever before.  (And longer than ever before)  I’m even starting to get rid of my long iron PTSD.  We’ll see if it holds.  Just fantastic from 5-iron through Approach (50 deg) wedge.

Performance on the Range  10 out of 10

Refer to my notes from my Stage 1 review.  I am truly “Ranger Rory” (or maybe Kuch?) with these things.  Luckily it has also transferred over to the golf course.

Performance on the Course  38 out of 40

As noted, I love these irons!  No problems or concerns even when pulling 5 or 6-iron out of the bag; I know I’ve got the potential to hit a great shot.  If I don’t, (which happens a lot, trust me…) it’s the player, not the implement.  I don’t know if I’m generating quite as much spin in the higher lofted irons as I was with my Mizuno JPX-825’s.  It’s an on course “observation” right now as I have not hit these on a launch monitor; It’s on my to do list, along with the Driver, 3W & hybrids, https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/25627-bridgestone-jgr-tour-b-driverfairwayhybrid-release/ just for some comparison numbers if nothing else.  However, if that’s my only complaint, (except for the grips…) then that’s not bad.

The JGR’s have been better than my Mizuno’s, and I never thought I would make a statement like that.  They are longer (admittedly one degree stronger lofts) and easier to hit.  With the proper shaft, I think any player from mid-single digits to high 20’s handicap would be happy playing these irons everyday.  You have GOT to get fitted and try these!

Play it or Trade it  20 out of 20

I was really lucky to get the chance to test & review these.  I was super happy as a “Mizuno Guy” and wasn’t really looking to change out my irons at all.  However, these Bridgestone JGR HF-2’s are going to be in my bag for the next few seasons, at a minimum.  I’m in the early planning stages of a Scotland / Ireland trip, and I’ll be taking these babies to the Auld Sod.  I guess I’m a “Bridgestone Guy” now.

Total  95 out of 100

As I noted earlier, Bridgestone hit a grand slam.  I just hope that all who want to try them can find them!

[MattF]

G'day Bruces!
 
As with the rest of the guys I have to say a big thank you to MGS for choosing us and to Bridgestone for trusting us not to spill the beans.
 
A quick rundown about me, I'm originally from Sydney, Australia and prior to moving here to marry my wife in 2005 had absolutely no interest in golf. However, my father in law was a very good golfer, so to get in good with him I went out, played and got hooked. I'm currently 47 with a driver swing speed around 100 mph, which, with my recently diagnosed spine issue is pretty damn good. I don't practice because I have no time, leaving me at a disadvantage handicap wise, which currently sits at 17.
 
So, August 8th was the fateful day. IIRC I actually didn't work my second job that week because my mother was here visiting. I opened my email, saw I had a new message from John and as I had been having a PM conversation with Rob during the day wondered why he was jumping in on PM...little did I know.
 
I opened the email, read the contents and was just
 

 
and I was like that for a couple of hours!
 
Then the hunt was on to see what these clubs actually looked like. We finally sourced pictures from Japan and I think the universal reaction to the HF1's was
 

 
But the HF2's were looking like the goods!
 
Once we signed our NDA's we were given our choices with the clubs, to some degree. The irons, in this case, we were able to customise a bit by choosing length, loft, lie, shafts and grip size...but I asked for midsize grips and got standard.    I think the yellow looks flash, but I'll be changing them out for Pure DTX in red...because they don't have yellow.
 
I was fortunate enough that one of the shaft options is the UST Mamiya Recoil 680 F4, which is the exact shaft I play in my Maltby DBM. I also got these 1/4" short, standard lie and the lofts weakened 2° to be as close as I can to the specs of my gamers so I can try and do a true apples to apples comparison.
 
The first thing to arrive was the bag. I chose red because black and red is my club theme. I have to say that I like the legs on the bag but having always used a cart bag I'm not a fan of the limited space or only having 5 dividers for clubs.
 

 
The big day arrived and I was again fortunate not to have been working the night they came in so I tore into the box like a kid at Christmas.
 

 

 
And here's my spec sheets:
 

 

 
Shaft and head:
 

 

 
At this time I've only hit them a few times but by my stage 2 I'll have a definite idea on whether these can knock my beloved Maltbys out of the bag. 

 

I had to put this in...this is so cool.

 

[MattF]

OK boys and girls, I think enough time has passed for my to make a final assessment of these clubs.

Looks 15 out of 15

In my humble opinion, Bridgestone nailed it with these irons, They're not busy in the back, nothing outlandish on the sole, just a straight up business like approach, which I like. You don't have to look flash to work and you're not compensating for something. The topline is not razor thin nor is it SGI super thick, it's exactly Baby Bears porridge, just right.



Sound and Feel 13 out of 15

Sound I think is a very subjective thing, for example, a lot of people did not, under any circumstances, like the sound of the Wilson Triton driver. They wouldn't even entertain the notion of putting it in their bag even if they hit it better than their current gamer. I hit one and I don't care what noise it made...the same as with any club that I've hit, I do not care about the sound. So, my score reflects the feel only with these clubs. When you hit it flush you just don't feel the ball at all and that's the best "feeling" you can have, IMO. But, I've also hit my share of hand stingers with these clubs as well, you know the one where as soon as you hit it you know it was not a good strike. The clubs will tell you if you hit it well or not.

Performance on the Range 8 out of 10

Obviously when I got the clubs I ran down to the range to hit them and was quite happy with what was happening...even the pro, who I've known for about 10 years was impressed with them in my hands. Still can't work the ball but that's me and not the clubs.

Performance on the Course 40 out of 40

40 out of 40 you say, that's a big bold score, but I'm in love with these irons...even the 4 and 5 irons, which I don't have in my Maltbys. I had the irons bent 2° weaker than standard to better reflect my other irons and they just flat out went further. I even like the wedges against my SCORs, which, if at the beginning of this test, you'd told me that, I would have laughed at you.

I'm hitting these irons higher and further than anything I've played in the past and the averages don't lie. TBJGR 9 iron I'm hitting on average 135 yards compared to the Maltby DBM 120 yards. TBJGR 6 iron 160 yards (with a perfectly struck 181 yards) compared to Maltby 150 yards. TBJGR PW 100 yards to SCOR 48° PW 95 yards.

These irons flat out perform for me as a mid to high handicap and I think they'd be even better in the hands of a 10 or even below.

Play it or Trade it 20 out of 20

If you think you're taking these clubs out of my bag, you've got another thing coming. I can't, for the time being, go back to the DBMs, just not happening. Bridgestone, in my opinion, have gotten back into the club business with a bang!



Total 96 out of 100

Love them or hate them, I think Bridgestone have some winners here.

[Golfspy_CG2]

A separate thread for the Tour B JGR Driver, Fairway and Hybrids reveiws can be found here.    https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/25627-official-forum-member-review-bridgestone-tour-b-jgr-driver-fairway-woods-and-hybrids/

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Today's blog post on the JGR lineup can be found here:

 

https://mygolfspy.com/first-look-bridgestone-tour-b-jgr-irons-metal-woods/

[NM01]

Great review Rob. I loved the j15 irons and have been waiting for Bridgestone to get back into the game here in the states. Tie lineup seems like a great way to jump back in

[null]

Looks like the Mizuno 919 Hot Metals have some interesting competition!

[Golfspy_CG2]

Great review Rob. I loved the j15 irons and have been waiting for Bridgestone to get back into the game here in the states. Tie lineup seems like a great way to jump back in

Thanks..it's been a blast playing with them, and of course shooting lower scores has helped make it more fun.   It's really a lineup that I hope people give a look to or take advantage of the test drive when it becomes available. 

 

Looks like the Mizuno 919 Hot Metals have some interesting competition!

Definitely a direct competitor for those, and much better feeling than the Hot Metals I tested last year. 

[russtopherb]

Man those are some clean looking irons. Great initial write up Rob, I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to say.

 

Bridgestone irons remind me a lot of W/S. Everyone who hits them loves them... but it's so tough to actually find them anywhere. So it's good to hear they're taking steps to get their clubs in front of more golfers.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[Wedgie]

Nice surprise to see these and nice write ups by Rob and Barbajo.  I had the JGR driver in my bag for a couple of seasons and it was an awesome driver.  A slight swing change meant I needed less loft.  I'm by no means a golf club brainiac but I always felt Bridgestone was ahead of the curve in terms of design.  Milled face and non adjustable drivers a year ahead of the big boys are what come to mind.  Irons look great and nice to hear they perform.  Hopefully this puts them back on that map and people get to try them as easily as other brands.

[Golfspy_CG2]

Nice surprise to see these and nice write ups by Rob and Barbajo.  I had the JGR driver in my bag for a couple of seasons and it was an awesome driver.  A slight swing change meant I needed less loft.  I'm by no means a golf club brainiac but I always felt Bridgestone was ahead of the curve in terms of design.  Milled face and non adjustable drivers a year ahead of the big boys are what come to mind.  Irons look great and nice to hear they perform.  Hopefully this puts them back on that map and people get to try them as easily as other brands.

Like I said, I was really excited about the irons and figured the driver would be just another driver.  But boy was I wrong.   I also had some previous experience with Bridgestone as I played the J815 driver for part of one year, it was a very solid driver as well.  But this JGR just flat out works for me.  I really hope people give it a look. 

[GB13]

That was a nice surprise to see this morning.

Great write up Rob. After reading the blog article, I didn't really give much thought to the JGR. I had hit the J815 and it was a disaster. But now, I at least have to try them to see if they are an improvement for me.

[Golfspy_CG2]

That was a nice surprise to see this morning.

Great write up Rob. After reading the blog article, I didn't really give much thought to the JGR. I had hit the J815 and it was a disaster. But now, I at least have to try them to see if they are an improvement for me.

Thanks!  I definitely think it's worth a try, and when the Test Drive system gets running, it should be easy to try them first hand. 

[tommc23]

Those look pretty

 

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[ole gray]

Tour B JGR iron Review

 

Based on all the above, if Bridgestone called me and said, If you want to keep these, I had to buy them, it would be very hard to pass up. Perhaps my fitting for the Srixon's 565/765 would be the only iron right now that I could confidently say would work for me as well as these.

 

So this is the game bag, I've been rolling with the past month, and it took me from about 10 spots and 15 points out of our league playoffs, to shooting a net 33 to make it on the number.

 

JGR Full Bag Pic Badges.jpg

 

 

bag picture to be turned.jpg

 

 

Great job Rob! Bridgestone is located not far from where I live and I'm always glad to see them shining in the golf world. 

[Mr_Theoo]

So Matt and Rob can I hit these Sunday?

[chemclub]

Great review and great descriptions guys. Not so interested in new irons by Rob is making me look twice at that driver. I love the look of it at least. Thankfully, my local shop actually carries Bridgestone so I will have to give it is a swing. 

 

Definitely in the market for revamping the top of my bag.

[Sluggo42]

Looks like the Mizuno 919 Hot Metals have some interesting competition!

thats what I was thinking too...

[MattF]

So Matt and Rob can I hit these Sunday?

 

Yes mate, you can, by all means.

[Wedgie]

Nobody may agree with me but I love this approach to testing and launching a new product.  I get the need to open up for testing but this has been a lot of fun, very informative and props to all involved for the coordination to pull this off.  Very well done MGS participants and Bridgestone!

[Golfspy_CG2]

Great job Rob! Bridgestone is located not far from where I live and I'm always glad to see them shining in the golf world. 

I know it buddy, I was lucky enough to wrangle a tour of the ball plant when I was down on the front of the trip last year when I played with you. I felt very honored to be asked to lead this testing. 

 

Those look pretty

 

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They really are, I'm not sure my initial round of pics did them justice.  I'm sure I'll have some more for the next update.

 

So Matt and Rob can I hit these Sunday?

Absolutely...You don't know how many laughs we have had in the testing PM thread about our foursome will be have 4 test bags of clubs on the tee and how you'd be shocked!

 

Nobody may agree with me but I love this approach to testing and launching a new product.  I get the need to open up for testing but this has been a lot of fun, very informative and props to all involved for the coordination to pull this off.  Very well done MGS participants and Bridgestone!

it of course was driven by Bridgestone's trust in getting them to us early knowing we would not divulge anything about them.    Glad you liked it, just like most testings, we went through a very long list of worthy members who we know would have done a great job, in the end we could only select three.     

 

It definitely made for some fun discussion in the PM thread. 

[Nunfa0]

Awesome stuff guys 😁😎

 

I'm starting to think that being a member here is a bad idea, I can feel myself turning into Rob and wanting every set of irons I see 😵😱😎

[Wedgie]

Awesome stuff guys

 

I'm starting to think that being a member here is a bad idea, I can feel myself turning into Rob and wanting every set of irons I see

I know right. I'm most impressed by Rob being able to not talk about new irons for so long.

 

 

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[MaxEntropy]

So Matt and Rob can I hit these Sunday?

 

No, but you can try mine