Blade users thread (NO DEBATING CLUBHEADS! NO Buy Sell Trade!)

[VinylParadise]

14 hours ago, NRJyzr said:

First Flight Standards!  Awesome!

 

They are so sick, I picked up a set since they were the same clubs my dad played when I was growing up, I pair them with some persimmons for my throwback set. 

Love the head shape and the ultra thin topline. They feel super soft to hit and they're about as small of a head as you're going to find. The only drawback is that they're pinned.

Edited March 7 by VinylParadise

[Christen_The_Sloop]

On 3/7/2025 at 3:09 AM, RolandofGilead said:

I’ve been playing MacGregor Muirfield 20th in my rotation and always wondered about the old custom MacGregor sets without Jack’s signature stamped on the muscle. Well, lo and behold, I came across a set of Pro-82 Tourney Classic and had to pounce. The price was too good and I made some money back selling the original shafts. 


 

Apparently - these were made by MacGregor Japan (the guy I bought them from said he got them from Japan) in the early 1990s and actually forged by Miura. My anecdotal findings support this - denser feel than the Muirfields, but not soft like other Endo forgings. Heavier and deeper. The edges are more rounded and softer than the Muirfields but with the same classic size and shape. The lack of diamonds along the grooves gives the impression of more face area even though the dimensions are identical.

 

 
 

I have a log jam when it comes to shafts, so I am currently playing the 6-P or 7-P with other long irons, but I’ll build and hit the Pro-82 long irons once I find the right listing. These are the real deal and I am so glad to have found them. The pitching wedge is the closest thing I’ve seen to the perfect looking golf club.

 

I have a set of the Pro-82s with FM6.5s It's a shaft that works very well for me, especially in the long irons. As far as the irons - yeah, pretty much perfection. If I had one complain it would be the PW. Just find it a little big. Really beautiful feeling irons though. The dp801 (Japanese TM-92) are very nice too... 

[JungleJimbo]

We may have to ask @Toulonwhether these will come to retail (or whether a JDM exclusive)? 

Has @knudson81 seen/reported on these yet?

 

 

Edited March 11 by JungleJimbo

[knudson81]

13 hours ago, JungleJimbo said:

We may have to ask @Toulonwhether these will come to retail (or whether a JDM exclusive)? 

Has @knudson81 seen/reported on these yet?

 

 

 

 

The Toulon guys haven't said anything to me on these irons, so I have nothing to add on them yet. I love the look of the CB, very sharp

[Kingcat990]

Japan sure does prefer their blade lengths long as hell 🤔

[ALIF]

Went back to my MP33’s 5-PW. Have a PXG T 5 iron in the bag too. It’s weird but I prefer the blades in 28° loft and up. I prefer something with more launch at 25°. It’s easier to launch if the strike is off a bit. I think for me forgiveness isn’t a big deal 28° or above.

[RolandofGilead]

On 3/8/2025 at 4:17 AM, Christen_The_Sloop said:

I have a set of the Pro-82s with FM6.5s It's a shaft that works very well for me, especially in the long irons. As far as the irons - yeah, pretty much perfection. If I had one complain it would be the PW. Just find it a little big. Really beautiful feeling irons though. The dp801 (Japanese TM-92) are very nice too... 

the DP-801s have a little more offset and I like that in the longer irons. I know what you mean about the Pro-82 PW but I think they really nailed the shape and every line. Funny story about this set - it looks like they didn’t get the head sitting correctly when the 9i grooves were stamped (9i is top left, PW is bottom right). They are off center and possibly tilted. I’m surprised they sent this one off through the rest of the production line - note how the face blasted area is out past the corner of the toe. It looks strange enough at address that I I play my old Muirfield 20th 9i in this set.

 

Edited March 11 by RolandofGilead

[lefthack]

I could be wrong, but I hese look an awful lot like mine and seem to be a great price.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236005000511?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gWOxxNu-Qi2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=UYdxoSnMQG2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

Edited March 17 by lefthack

[Moarbutter]

10 hours ago, lefthack said:

I could be wrong, but I hese look an awful lot like mine and seem to be a great price.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236005000511?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gWOxxNu-Qi2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=UYdxoSnMQG2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

 

Yeah, but they're not nearly as cool w/o being blacked out and with that awesome logo of yours, though

[lefthack]

12 hours ago, Moarbutter said:

 

Yeah, but they're not nearly as cool w/o being blacked out and with that awesome logo of yours, though

 

True dat, but I was just thinking of a sweet set of blades for $300. I wish I still had my TourA set to compare because I think they are also very similar. 

 

The TourA were Kyoei forged. These popped up earlier, no lefty. The toe is pointier than mine, I kinda like it 

 

https://www.tourspecgolf.com/kyoei-forged-kcm-raw-iron.html

[Ger21]

1 hour ago, lefthack said:

True dat, but I was just thinking of a sweet set of blades for $300

Try a set of KM-700 knockoffs from Ali Express.

[lefthack]

51 minutes ago, Ger21 said:

Try a set of KM-700 knockoffs from Ali Express.

 

If those came in lefty, I totally would. The fake MB101's were awesome. 

[Moarbutter]

My buddy who I talked about awhile ago who gave me the persimmon driver and I are playing in a Persimmon and Blade tournament this coming weekend in Virginia Beach. There was a plate on the bottom of the driver that popped off, so he took it back to do some work on it. I brought it over to his house a couple weeks ago, and while I was there he gave me a tour of his shop and all of the old clubs he's collected. While we were digging through them, I asked him if he had any 1 irons since I had never hit one, and one of the clubs he pulled sang to me like a siren of greek mythology. We were playing that day, and I asked him if I could take it to the range to hit it to see what it was like and I LOVED it. I asked him if he'd mind building it up for my specs so I can use it in the tournament and he incredibly graciously agreed to it, so we bought pretty much the only x100 1 iron shaft that True Temper has sold this year, and he threw it in for me. For the tournament, you also need to exclusively use blade style putters, and I only have ever used mallets. He let me pick through his collection to borrow something and while digging and trying (and hating) he told me to give the one in the corner a shot and I fell in lust IMMEDIATELY. We played a warm up 9 for the tournament today, and I was able to hit the clubs for the first time; and OH MY GOD.

 

First of all, my buddy 3d printed a custom plate for the bottom of the persimmon and it looks AMAZING. The problem with it however, is that the swing weight was WAY lower than what I play. The swing weight was around a C7 and I play around D6, so he brought a roll of lead tape with him so we could mess around w/ the driver. In addition to the weight, I kept hitting these high block fades and couldn't turn the face over. We threw several metric tons of lead tape on it, and messed around until we found something that works and I love.

 

Second, I had to apologize to my buddy because he is NEVER getting the 1 iron back. I am absolutely IN LOVE with it. I hate the hybrids masquerading as 2 and 3 irons like the U505 and its ilk; they just do not work for me and look so wrong to my eye. This is so much more forgiving that my baby blades, but doesn't have an enormous topline along with an huge hollow body back that I can see behind the club at address. I ADORE this club.

 

Lastly, the putter and I took awhile to get along today since it is SO different from my spider. It took me until the practice green after the round to get into a rhythm with it, I kept opening and closing the face during the round. It's a GORGEOUS putter, but very finnicky. However, once we started getting along on the practice green after the round, I managed to drain a 70 footer and decided that was the last thing I was going to do for the day. 

 

Driver we suspect is a Maltby design. 1 Iron is a Walter Hagan Haig Ultra Crenshaw Grind. Putter is a Bettinardi Ben Hogan Limited Edition. Entirely too many photos below. 

 

 

 

[NRJyzr]

23 minutes ago, Moarbutter said:

Driver we suspect is a Maltby design

 

GolfWorks used to sell persimmon heads to cubmakers, back in the day.  As did Dynacraft and Golfsmith.  Such as I'm aware, they were all heads produced by Louisville Golf.

 

Love the 1 iron.  🙂

 

[PedronNiall]

What other "modern" muscle backs are out there, fellow lovers of the blade? Just glancing around for fun at heads that have a cut away of some kind in order to move weight around, add forgiveness, and so on. 

 

Of course, there's no chance my fingers will slip on a checkout button somewhere, so don't fear you'll lead me to buying a new set or three...

 

 

[Ger21]

7 hours ago, PedronNiall said:

What other "modern" muscle backs are out there, fellow lovers of the blade? Just glancing around for fun at heads that have a cut away of some kind in order to move weight around, add forgiveness, and so on. 

When I first saw pics of the Sub70 669MB a few months ago, I was fully intending on buying them when they were released. But when I found a nearly new set of Bridgestone 220MB's for $100 cheaper, I bought those instead.

[NRJyzr]

New MB's...

 

I picked up Maltby TS4 last year.  CG is in the center of the face.  Sole is VERY playable.  Lofts are essentially a one club stronger version of the FG17's.  Liking these quite a bit.  The GW is as excellent as the rest of the set.

 

Brother lefthack has spoken rather well of the Haywood MB's.  They've also received positive buzz from TXG.

 

Not quite new, but you can still get the Hogan Icon blades.  If I hadn't gotten the TS4 I may have picked up a set of Icons.

 

[Nard_S]

14 hours ago, PedronNiall said:

What other "modern" muscle backs are out there, fellow lovers of the blade? Just glancing around for fun at heads that have a cut away of some kind in order to move weight around, add forgiveness, and so on. 

well I really like the look of these.....

 

[NRJyzr]

I've been thinking, off and on, about the static weight of my TS4 set.  Last season, in spite of some good scoring, I was feeling like the clubs are a bit on the light side.  Haven't wanted to go with a full reshaft of clubs that saw me drop my hdcp 2 strokes in 2 months, so I've been contemplating a reshaft of one of my other sets, with Modus 120, to see how the weight works for me.  Or doesn't.  <shrug>

 

Have a tee time tomorrow, first of the season.  Been missing playing my Golden Rams.  I have the set of TW282, which have RIP Tour 115 shafts.  Wife showed interest in visiting a local driving range, so I grabbed my TW282 4i, 8i, PW, and because I couldn't help myself, the 1 iron.

 

Had an absolute blast hitting these things.  It was glorious.  I've worried that I've aged out of these shafts; they're regular, but the RIP Tours were noted for being about a flex stiffer than their rating.  Zero problem, hit these things great.  Even hit the 1 iron pretty well.

 

Being completely honest, a 1 iron is not an especially viable club for my advancing years.  But damn if it's great fun.  I think I'll be bringing it tomorrow anyway.

 

1-PW Golden Ram TW282 for my first round of the year.  Why not.  LOL

 

Edited March 21 by NRJyzr

[Moarbutter]

5 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

I've been thinking, off and on, about the static weight of my TS4 set.  Last season, in spite of some good scoring, I was feeling like the clubs are a bit on the light side.  Haven't wanted to go with a full reshaft of clubs that saw me drop my hdcp 2 strokes in 2 months, so I've been contemplating a reshaft of one of my other sets, with Modus 120, to see how the weight works for me.  Or doesn't.  <shrug>

 

Have a tee time tomorrow, first of the season.  Been missing playing my Golden Rams.  I have the set of TW282, which have RIP Tour 115 shafts.  Wife showed interest in visiting a local driving range, so I grabbed my TW282 4i, 8i, PW, and because I couldn't help myself, the 1 iron.

 

Had an absolute blast hitting these things.  It was glorious.  I've worried that I've aged out of these shafts; they're regular, but the RIP Tours were noted for being about a flex stiffer than their rating.  Zero problem, hit these things great.  Even hit the 1 iron pretty well.

 

Being completely honest, a 1 iron is not an especially viable club for my advancing years.  But damn if it's great fun.  I think I'll be bringing it tomorrow anyway.

 

1-PW Golden Ram TW282 for my first round of the year.  Why not.  LOL

 

 

Let's gooooo!!! I love to hear it! I have all the love in the world for the 1 iron. Excited to hear how it goes!!!

[NRJyzr]

4 minutes ago, Moarbutter said:

 

Let's gooooo!!! I love to hear it! I have all the love in the world for the 1 iron. Excited to hear how it goes!!!

 

It's fun seeing this in the bag.  LOL

I should take an address pic someday.  They're great fun to see at address.  

 

[Ger21]

22 hours ago, NRJyzr said:

Brother lefthack has spoken rather well of the Haywood MB's.  They've also received positive buzz from TXG.

To me, they have a weird look to them, with the rounded toe.

[NRJyzr]

Offering an update on my first round of the year...

 

I added the TW282 SW to the bag, in place of my normal SW.  A full 1-sw Golden Ram outing.  🙂

 

Weather was less good than I'd have hoped.  It was cloudy, 49° and 14mph wind on first tee, with that wind increasing to 20+ late in the front nine, gusting to as much as 40mph.  I struggled clubbing properly with that wind, combined with the cooler temps.  Also had to do a fair bit of mental arithmetic for each shot due to loft differences; the Rams are 19-51 from 2i to PW in even 4° gaps, they don't line up perfectly with my TS4.  Long end of the set are about 1 club weaker, in the short irons, it's a club and a half.  Kept me thinking. 😉

 

Because of the considerably weaker clubs, the temperature, and the wind, I had some comical club selection.  On the back nine, had 100 yds to the pin on #12, which is normally a GW with TS4.  I hit 7i and came up 10 yards short of the green. On a 150 yard par 3, I wound up hitting a 3 iron.  Woo!  LOL

 

The 1 iron...  I hit it 6 times, all of them off the deck.  My last attempt was on 17, hit it a bit heavy, but aside from that shot, I hit it pretty well.  One of my friends commented on it after the round.  My favorite shot with it was a second shot on a par 5 from the rough, with an uneven lie.  Had a clump of turf right behind the ball, the leading edge clipped that off and I was able to get a pretty clean shot around a tree back to the fairway.  Great fun.  😁

 

The par 3's on the back were great fun.  Almost jarred a 7i on #13, missed the putt, and hit a 6i to 20 ft on #16, made the birdie putt.  Highlight!

 

It was a lot of fun.  A great start to my season.  

 

Edited March 22 by NRJyzr

[PedronNiall]

On 3/20/2025 at 9:01 AM, NRJyzr said:

New MB's...

 

I picked up Maltby TS4 last year.  CG is in the center of the face.  Sole is VERY playable.  Lofts are essentially a one club stronger version of the FG17's.  Liking these quite a bit.  The GW is as excellent as the rest of the set.

 

Brother lefthack has spoken rather well of the Haywood MB's.  They've also received positive buzz from TXG.

 

Not quite new, but you can still get the Hogan Icon blades.  If I hadn't gotten the TS4 I may have picked up a set of Icons.

 

 

Reading up on the TS4 certainly sells them. Sounds like it delivers on all it claims for playability and feel. Modern MB in every way. 

 

May have to call or email them, but for whatever reason they don't offer their own Maltby shafts as an option when doing a custom build. Seem like they're worth going on a lark for at that price fully assembled, though. Edit: also have a black version coming next month, so I may wait and go that route, sound tasty. 

Edited March 22 by PedronNiall

[lefthack]

On 3/22/2025 at 7:17 AM, PedronNiall said:

 

Reading up on the TS4 certainly sells them. Sounds like it delivers on all it claims for playability and feel. Modern MB in every way. 

 

May have to call or email them, but for whatever reason they don't offer their own Maltby shafts as an option when doing a custom build. Seem like they're worth going on a lark for at that price fully assembled, though. Edit: also have a black version coming next month, so I may wait and go that route, sound tasty. 

 

I wish they made the TS4 in a lefty, I would love to try those. 

[ALIF]

On 3/17/2025 at 9:30 AM, lefthack said:

I could be wrong, but I hese look an awful lot like mine and seem to be a great price.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236005000511?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gWOxxNu-Qi2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=UYdxoSnMQG2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

Lefthack has corrupted me, although I didn’t need much help. I ordered a set of these after reading his post. I have a new set of shafts just collecting dust in the basement so I thought what the heck. I might bend them 3 degrees week to eliminate the small amount of offset and increase the bounce. Plus that would give me a 5-GW set which is what I play now. Worst comes to worst, I’ll put them in my son’s bag in a couple of years when gets a little bigger. They look like great heads and I bet they are super soft being 1020 carbon steel. 

[Kingcat990]

1 hour ago, ALIF said:

Lefthack has corrupted me, although I didn’t need much help. I ordered a set of these after reading his post. I have a new set of shafts just collecting dust in the basement so I thought what the heck. I might bend them 3 degrees week to eliminate the small amount of offset and increase the bounce. Plus that would give me a 5-GW set which is what I play now. Worst comes to worst, I’ll put them in my son’s bag in a couple of years when gets a little bigger. They look like great heads and I bet they are super soft being 1020 carbon steel. 

Did you ObO or just pay straight up? I was curious to see if anyone would try to snipe the set at $250. They should be ideal after you do exactly what you plan on doing. 

[ALIF]

20 minutes ago, Kingcat990 said:

Did you ObO or just pay straight up? I was curious to see if anyone would try to snipe the set at $250. They should be ideal after you do exactly what you plan on doing. 

OBO for $252

[doubleeagle]

My oldest son just picked up a set of Srixon Z945 4-P with KBS Tour 120's for $135 from a local golf shop/range. These things are in superb shape with little to no chatter and zero spotting. He was striping them and the sound was incredible. I told him it was a no brainer to buy them. I don't have pics but there are in better shape than these I found off the web.

 

[ALIF]

I grew up playing blades and I still play them, so I just think it might be better for my kids to learn by playing blades.