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Honma TR21 4 Wood - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX


xOldBenKenobiX

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Intro

Long story short, 

just your friendly Jedi Master living in Michigan, but I was born and raised in Brazil, I am a young grandpa at 40 years old, yes, seriously, I am 40, my daughter is 25 and she just had a baby a few months ago, the cool thing is that when she is in school in a few years, Lailla will have the cool pawpaw picking her up from school.

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I have been playing golf for just about 10 years now, I am a high handicap, 17.1 per Arccos.

My current set up is, Cobra SpeeZone Xtreme Driver, a fantastic gift from MGS and the CCC4, Titleist TS2 3 Wood, T-MB 716 3 Iron, T-MB 718 4 Iron, 714 AP1 5 to PW. Vokey 48, 52 56 and 58 wedges. Tommy amours Impact 3 Putter, I arrived at this set up by trial, error and some luck.

I have on my own opinion an ugly swing, I will some day post a video of it, due to a variety of back issues my turn is very limited, hence I have a mostly arms swing, I am working on it and hope that I will get better.

The biggest three issues I have are bad slices, getting better about them, chunked shots and topping the ball, the later two are directly related to my back issues and not being able to keep the club plane at impact, I am also working on that area with exercises to strengthen my back and a lot practice, at least until the snow arrive here in Michigan.

But if some pros can top the ball at times, so can I.

https://golf.com/news/watch-pro-hits-cold-top-opening-tee-shot-pebble-beach/

 

I am short of the tee with the Driver, just averaging about 220 yards, so most par 5s I play are over 460 yards, so there is virtually no chance to hit them in 2, most times I am trying to lay up to leave an easier short wedge from about 100 yards or so, well of course that is if I do not top the ball, once Covid is under control, I want to go back and get lessons to help improve my game.

First impressions

This club was a prize from an Instagram giveaway by Honma along side with Martin Chuck.

This club is not actually going into sales until November 1st.

I was one of a couple of our forum members fortunate enough to win something from them, @Tpoole22 also got an amazing wood from them too.

I picked their 4 wood because it was the same loft as my current 3 wood, Titleist TS2 HL, 16.5 degrees.

The club arrived very well packed. the club head footprint is definitely compact for a wood.

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The Graphics and color scheme on the head are very classic and well placed.

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The head-cover is sharp, beautiful leather, with impeccable stitching. 

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Side by side TR21 and TS2

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The TR21 head is a little smaller than the TS2.

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The chrome face and smaller footprint gives the club a classic timeless but not a tired look.

Honma offers this club with either the Vizard TR20-60 Regular and stiff, or the Vizard TR20-70 Stiff shafts, I picked the R Vizard TR20-60 as it fits my swing speed the best right now.

The craftsmanship put into this club is extraordinary, it is very well made as well as aesthetically pleasing.

The club arrived quickly, being the new line, I did not expect to have it until November, but I was absolutely thrill to take it to the course this past week, I had not chance to take it to the range prior to playing it, last week was pretty cold and rainy for most days here in Michigan.

I decided to leave the club with the factory settings to compare to the TS2 at its own factory settings.

To the review we go.

Grading

Looks 10 out of 10

I love the looks of this club, it is so simple yet timeless, it looks great at address.

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Looking down the shaft, there are no distracting features, you can see the great Honma grip with the logo and Vizard graphics are so simple that it does not take your focus away from the club head or the ball, the only distinctive feature at address is that to me, it looked as a closed face compared to the TS2.

Sound & Feel (10 out of 10 points)

This club feels amazing, very light to swing without effort, and the sound is absolutely awesome, It is a very well designed to give you a good feel and sound feedback without being overwhelming.

You can distinctively tell when you hit a great shot, as the crisp sound is undeniable, even from the thick rough the sound for the ball contact is really nice.

I did not get a chance to take a video of the sounds, as I was playing in competition, but I will on the coming weeks and upload it.

My main miss with the TS2 has been a massive slice, to the point that I lost the confidence of using the 3 wood from both the tee and fairway, with this club it has been a complete different experience.

Basic Characteristics (19 out of 20 points)

The ball flight of this club is very consistent on the mid launch.

My desirable shot shape is straight and the club deliver it, yes I did hit bad shots, no they were not due to the club, they were due to my own swing flaws.

I was able to find the center of the club face very often and was happy with the distances off the tee and from the ground.

The only thing that I have had a hard time is to understand the adjustments that you can do with this club.

I know that it was engineered this way, so there is no change on the spine alignment of the club when it is adjusted.

It is a clever system and I had to look up a video, as adjusting is not as intuitive as what we are used to see in the US, the only reason I had to drop a point here.

The Shaft

This is what I gather from their site, almost verbatim what the say on the site.

The Honma TR21 woods are holistically engineered with Honma VIZARD shafts, designed to provide a better whole club in 60 and 70 gram options to meet the distance needs of golfers with different swing speeds and shaft loading tendencies. Honma VIZARD shafts are premium made in the Honma Japan Sakata factory and use only the finest materials from Toray Composites in their manufacturing. They are a premium upgrade that comes standard versus typically cost-engineered stock shafts from other manufacturers.

On-Course Performance (30 out of 30 points)

I had the fear that Honma, being a brand for better players would be out of my league in terms of pliability, but I was wrong.

From the first tee shot, I was very impressed, a nice straight shot as it follows, I am sorry I forgot to change the Arccos Sensor name as I just put the same sensor that was on the 3 wood.

226 of the tee, just a little right of my target line, right off the wrapper is a pretty good result.

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I honestly felt really confident with this club on my hands, I had bad shots of course, but those were shots that I knew I could not pull off, but I went on to try anyways.

The best of this club, came during the Chili open at Taylor meadows this past Sunday the 25th, we  teed off with the temps at 39 degrees and finished the day only 10 degrees warmer, the entire day was overcast, cold and windy, but we had a lot fun, being a scramble I am only displaying the shots that counted from all of the one I hit with the 4 wood.

The first shot of the day was a beautiful dead straight from the light rough into the front part of the green on the par 4, 4th hole, it was tracking towards the pin.

The next shot was another nice one from the fairway, I admittedly was aiming left as I was trying to compensate for a possible slice on the par 5 7th hole, as I was trying to give it all that I got, another straight shot, but I cannot complain about that.

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The next two shots were on the back 9, the first one out of some rough and mud on the 13th hole, it was my shortest shot of the day with this club, but overall a great result considering the lie and mud.

The next one was 180 yards from a very soggy fairway, I again aimed left expecting the slice and again it went straight.

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For the limited amount of data that I have in the past 2 rounds I have hit this club several times during the round with an average of 187 yards from, the tee, fairway and rough.

My previous wood was only at 165 yards, the shot dispersion is way better too, with no shot going widely right of the fairway or tee.

Miscellaneous (10 out of 10 points)

Honma has a very limited reach into the US market, and most of us probably know them from the time Justin Rose had their clubs in his bag recently. 

MGS have had a few articles outlining who they are and their clubs for the past few years.

KNOW YOUR JAPANESE BRANDS: HONMA

HONMA, NORTH AMERICA AND THE QUEST TO FIGURE IT ALL OUT

WHAT’S NEXT FOR HONMA GOLF?

During my email exchanges with Brad Holder the Honma vice president of Marketing, I have learned a great deal about the company and the 60 years of developing great golf clubs for the Japanese market, the brand awareness in the US is very small, as Honma is well known for their super premium, the BERES lines.

Honma is investing in the US market, and now has mobile fitting vans that travel around the US and Canada, currently serving 14 different markets and more to come, which I hope to be able to experience a fitting with them in the future.

There has been some noise for the Honma brand here on MGS, with the Official Member Review TR20 Driver.

I am very impressed with the club and really want to try other items from the honma line up, such as the irons and wedges.

Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20 points)

This club will be on my bag for a long time to come, there is no doubt in mi mind that I had great results with this club.

The confidence this club has inspired on me, with the ease of hitting and the quality of shots, has left a long lasting impression on the Honma brand, and I am not saying that because I won this club, I am saying that, because I am really happy with how this club has performed even with my very limited skill level for this awesome game we play.

Final Score: (99 out of 100 points)

Cocnlusion, TLDR

I can describe this club in one word - Confidence.

This club has enable me to feel confident and hit it from almost anywhere in the course, I have absolutely enjoyed each shot I have hit so far, from the looks at address to the sound it makes when I hit the ball, this club has no compromises.

The price point of the TR21 line is not too far off what the rest of the golf OEMs are pricing their own equipment and should be an item of consideration for anyone who is looking into upgrading their equipment in the near future.

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My Reviews:

2023 Official review - Rapsodo MLM2Pro!

2022 Official Review - Edel SMS Wedges

2021 Official Review - Tommy Armour Impact 3 Putter

2020 Official Member Review - BagBoy Chiller Cart Bag

Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

Honma TR21 4 Wood - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

 

Driver - :cobra-small: Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme 10.5, UST helium 5  Wood - :honma:TR21 4 Wood, Vizard 20-60  and TW GS 5 Wood Vixard FD 55  768205649_Screenshot2023-06-0213_28_25.png.53900da2fbc8d481e66d2a00ab6ac775.png 301 Combo 301CB and 301MB    231036130_Edel_Golf_Logo_v2_grandecopy.png.13cc76b963f8dd59f06d04b1e8df2827.png.6bd9ee8247ca1cc0415f39bf5fdfe313.png. SMS 48*, 56*, 60*   Putter: Lucky golf putter. Ball:  ::titelist-small:  ProV1, ::Arccos:: Smart Sensors. Shoes: a couple ::footjoy-small:: A couple of :nike-small: A couple of Adidas ,   Yeah I have a shoe addiction.::SuperSpeed:: Started at 79mph, finished 1st stage at 91mph

20200728_121856.jpg.9cf8a7d26ca1096e8d390a8c2f59b6c2.jpg

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Great review! Glad that this club worked out so well for you.

I completely agree though, I was really impressed with the 3 wood that I got. Not only the looks, but it sounds and feels great. I've only had the chance to take it out to the range, but even with the few shots that I hit it definitely gives me some confidence. That is really saying a lot considering the 3 wood is usually the worst club in my bag.

For anyone that hasn't had a chance to hit any Honma clubs they are definitely worth giving a shot. Couple pics of mine below. You can tell right out of the box that there are some quality clubs.

20201019_182827.jpg

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Good review, good info!

Wow isn't it nice to fall in love with a new club .. from the first shot!!??!! Now you have me thinking if (BIG "IF") if I ever replace my current 4W I may just look at this....

Hope it keeps making great shots for you 👍

WITB of an "aspiring"  😉 play-ah ...
Driver...Callaway Paradym (Aldila Ascent PL Blue 40/A)
5W...Callaway Great Big Bertha (MCA Kai'Li Red 50/R)
7W...Tour Edge Exotics EXS (Tensei CK Blue 50/R)

4H...Callaway Epic Super Hybrid (Recoil ZT9 F3)
5H...Callaway Big Bertha ('19) (Recoil 460 ESX F3)
6i-GW...Sub 70 699 V2 (Recoil 660 F3) 
54°, 60°...Cleveland CBX2, CBX 60 (Rotex graphite)
Putter...Ev
nRoll ER5 or MLA Tour XDream (P2 Reflex grip on both)
...all in a Datrek bag on an MGI Zip Navigator electric cart. Ball often, not always, MaxFli Tour.

Forum Member tester for the Paradym X driver (2023)
Forum Member tester for the ExPutt Putting Simulator (2020)

followthrough.jpg

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48 minutes ago, Tpoole22 said:

Great review! Glad that this club worked out so well for you.

I completely agree though, I was really impressed with the 3 wood that I got. Not only the looks, but it sounds and feels great. I've only had the chance to take it out to the range, but even with the few shots that I hit it definitely gives me some confidence. That is really saying a lot considering the 3 wood is usually the worst club in my bag.

For anyone that hasn't had a chance to hit any Honma clubs they are definitely worth giving a shot. Couple pics of mine below. You can tell right out of the box that there are some quality clubs.

20201019_182827.jpg

20201019_182835_01.jpg

I love the looks of the 3 wood too.

My Reviews:

2023 Official review - Rapsodo MLM2Pro!

2022 Official Review - Edel SMS Wedges

2021 Official Review - Tommy Armour Impact 3 Putter

2020 Official Member Review - BagBoy Chiller Cart Bag

Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

Honma TR21 4 Wood - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

 

Driver - :cobra-small: Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme 10.5, UST helium 5  Wood - :honma:TR21 4 Wood, Vizard 20-60  and TW GS 5 Wood Vixard FD 55  768205649_Screenshot2023-06-0213_28_25.png.53900da2fbc8d481e66d2a00ab6ac775.png 301 Combo 301CB and 301MB    231036130_Edel_Golf_Logo_v2_grandecopy.png.13cc76b963f8dd59f06d04b1e8df2827.png.6bd9ee8247ca1cc0415f39bf5fdfe313.png. SMS 48*, 56*, 60*   Putter: Lucky golf putter. Ball:  ::titelist-small:  ProV1, ::Arccos:: Smart Sensors. Shoes: a couple ::footjoy-small:: A couple of :nike-small: A couple of Adidas ,   Yeah I have a shoe addiction.::SuperSpeed:: Started at 79mph, finished 1st stage at 91mph

20200728_121856.jpg.9cf8a7d26ca1096e8d390a8c2f59b6c2.jpg

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42 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Good review, good info!

Wow isn't it nice to fall in love with a new club .. from the first shot!!??!! Now you have me thinking if (BIG "IF") if I ever replace my current 4W I may just look at this....

Hope it keeps making great shots for you 👍

I hope so too, I really love being able to hit meaningful shots, and hitting way shorter 3rd shots into par 5s.

My Reviews:

2023 Official review - Rapsodo MLM2Pro!

2022 Official Review - Edel SMS Wedges

2021 Official Review - Tommy Armour Impact 3 Putter

2020 Official Member Review - BagBoy Chiller Cart Bag

Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

Honma TR21 4 Wood - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

 

Driver - :cobra-small: Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme 10.5, UST helium 5  Wood - :honma:TR21 4 Wood, Vizard 20-60  and TW GS 5 Wood Vixard FD 55  768205649_Screenshot2023-06-0213_28_25.png.53900da2fbc8d481e66d2a00ab6ac775.png 301 Combo 301CB and 301MB    231036130_Edel_Golf_Logo_v2_grandecopy.png.13cc76b963f8dd59f06d04b1e8df2827.png.6bd9ee8247ca1cc0415f39bf5fdfe313.png. SMS 48*, 56*, 60*   Putter: Lucky golf putter. Ball:  ::titelist-small:  ProV1, ::Arccos:: Smart Sensors. Shoes: a couple ::footjoy-small:: A couple of :nike-small: A couple of Adidas ,   Yeah I have a shoe addiction.::SuperSpeed:: Started at 79mph, finished 1st stage at 91mph

20200728_121856.jpg.9cf8a7d26ca1096e8d390a8c2f59b6c2.jpg

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  • xOldBenKenobiX changed the title to Honma TR21 4 Wood - Unofficial Review by xOldBenKenobiX

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