Daiwa

[Seve424]

I was just curious about Daiwa's history.

 

I just picked up a mid-90s set of Hi-Tracs for nothing and was wondering what happened to them.

 

I know OnOff is their new brand, but that's about it.

[mat562]

Good clubs in the day.

The Advisor irons were a great blade. The DG-8601 I think it was. Thin-soled and a great forging. They also bagged an Open Championship win with IBF in '91.

Rumour has it they were also the club of choice for a certain then-junior golfer named Woods around that time too.

I remember the Hi-Trac irons - they had a funky pitching wedge as I recall; with a bit of a square heel section. A friend played those irons for about 3 years from about 1990 onwards.

As I recall, the first Daiwa golf clubs I saw were in about 1988 or so. It seemed strange at the time to see a company making golf clubs that were until then best known for fishing tackle.

[Seve424]

Yeah I knew they made fishing tackle, I didn't realize they made high end golf clubs.

According to my Maltby Identification Guide, the Hi-Tracs were $1000 in 94. Yikes.

You're right about the pitching wedge, it's funky looking and square.

[mat562]

I think my friend's wedge had a '10' stamp on the sole too.... Funny, the things you remember...

[Seve424]

Yep, the PW says 10 on the sole.

They have regular flex TR2 shafts in them, but they're not very whippy for graphite.

[mth1081]

I had a set of the DG-201's from them. They were nice blades and I wish I hadn't sold them on eBay...the wedge did have the label of 10 on it.

[b-man777]

hey all:For anyone who wants to know diawa sold golf equipment here in the usa during the 80's and 90's,but in the mid to late 90's they decided to get out of the golf market in the usa.You can still get diawa golf from japan and their fishing equipment is sold all over the world including the usa.Hope this helps

[mat562]

I'm guessing that '10 iron' thing was a bit of a Daiwa trademark. Sort of like the Hogan 'Equaliser' thing...

I think at the time I was chopping and changing from some old Mizuno TPs and was bagging some Eye 2 berylliums. I remember remarking on how I wasn't keen on having a 'W' on the Eye 2 wedge instead of my usual Mizuno 'P'...

I know, I know, but I'm a pernickety sort of person and I notice these little minutiae. Tony Shalhoub's 'Monk' character I am..

My Hi-Trac owning mate's response was 'at least it hasn't got a bloody number 10 on it Mat...'

[Seve424]

I've had a few sets of Hogans, and I hate that freakin [b]E[/b].

I want to hit a [b]P[/b], or a [b]PW[/b], maybe even a [b]10[/b], but I don't want to hit the [b]Equalizer[/b].

[mat562]

[quote name='Seve424' post='830188' date='Dec 19 2007, 11:18 AM']I've had a few sets of Hogans, and I hate that freakin [b]E[/b].

I want to hit a [b]P[/b], or a [b]PW[/b], maybe even a [b]10[/b], but I don't want to hit the [b]Equalizer[/b].

[/quote]

It would be a brave man indeed who'd [i]even try to[/i] hit the be-trenchcoated ex-SAS, wig-sporting CIA operative Robert McCall...

[kitsoasis]

that is hilarious
just brilliant

[iskandar]

they make some nice shafts under the name Roddio

check out the review here, video link down the bottom as well

[url="http://www.inpakuto.com/content/view/143/81/"]http://www.inpakuto.com/content/view/143/81/[/url]

[Seve424]

[quote name='mat562' post='830201' date='Dec 19 2007, 10:33 AM'][quote name='Seve424' post='830188' date='Dec 19 2007, 11:18 AM']I've had a few sets of Hogans, and I hate that freakin [b]E[/b].

I want to hit a [b]P[/b], or a [b]PW[/b], maybe even a [b]10[/b], but I don't want to hit the [b]Equalizer[/b].

[/quote]

It would be a brave man indeed who'd [i]even try to[/i] hit the be-trenchcoated ex-SAS, wig-sporting CIA operative Robert McCall...
[/quote]

Is that a tour issued wig?

[mat562]

Not sure.

But whoever fitted it ought to be meeting the business end of that Walther...

[Seve424]

[quote name='iskandar' post='830288' date='Dec 19 2007, 11:44 AM']they make some nice shafts under the name Roddio

check out the review here, video link down the bottom as well

[url="http://www.inpakuto.com/content/view/143/81/"]http://www.inpakuto.com/content/view/143/81/[/url][/quote]

That's a cool site.

The cool thing about Japanese clubs is you can't tell if they were designed in 1988 or yesterday.

[Strategery]

I remember Daiwa very well, particularly the Advisors and Hi-Tracs circa 1978-1986. The Advisors were a premium blade. These clubs were pricey in their day.

[bma725]

[quote name='mat562' post='830072' date='Dec 19 2007, 08:11 AM']The Advisor irons were a great blade. The DG-8601 I think it was. Thin-soled and a great forging. They also bagged an Open Championship win with IBF in '91.[/quote]

Finchie used the DG-273. Those were the personal design of David Graham, who was Daiwa's lead PGA Tour Staffer, the 273 was a reference to his winning score in the US Open in 1981. DG, depending on the era stood for either Daiwa Grind or David Graham.

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

One of the light colonels I played golf with at Fort Jackson in the early 90's had a set of Diawa blades, I remember them costing A LOT, especially back then...

[mat562]

[quote name='bma725' post='830552' date='Dec 19 2007, 04:13 PM'][quote name='mat562' post='830072' date='Dec 19 2007, 08:11 AM']The Advisor irons were a great blade. The DG-8601 I think it was. Thin-soled and a great forging. They also bagged an Open Championship win with IBF in '91.[/quote]

Finchie used the DG-273. Those were the personal design of David Graham, who was Daiwa's lead PGA Tour Staffer, the 273 was a reference to his winning score in the US Open in 1981. DG, depending on the era stood for either Daiwa Grind or David Graham.

[/quote]

Spot on.

The first Daiwa clubs I ever saw were David Graham's at a Dunhill Cup at St Andrews in '88 I think.

I remember my father (who fishes) commenting on the bag logo on one of the tees.

[alcap26]

I remember they made some sweet wedges back in the mid to late 90's.

[golf9596]

I still have a set of advisor blades that I will play when ever my game gets a little off. They were nice cbs w/that trx-4 shaft. They still feel great and have some game left in them. I played some great golf w/those clubs.

[mauiatheart]

Daiwa is still making high end golf equipment. The On Off brand name is a Daiwa product. Great clubs. I just picked up a set of 247 tours forged by Miura. Soft as soft can be. Forgiving players clubs. But any On Off product will set you back a pretty penny.
[attachment=199858:club.JPG]


Roddio shafts are high end and popular with the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) guys.

[mozgolf]

Any pics of the older Daiwas?

[bunka]

here is some stuff on ebay... i think the first listing is what your after

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Rare-Diawa-Blade-Irons-1-wedge_W0QQitemZ170179483486QQihZ007QQcategoryZ36219QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZiewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Rare-Diawa-Blade-Ir...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BRAND-NEW-DAIWA-BALLISTIC-GRAPHITE-PACKAGE-RRP-1299_W0QQitemZ160191350201QQihZ006QQcategoryZ1519QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViwItem"]http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BRAND-NEW-DAIWA-BAL...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DAIWA-PROPHECY-GRAPHITE-GOLF-SET_W0QQitemZ290191929947QQihZ019QQcategoryZ115280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZVewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DAIWA-PROPHECY-GRAP...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

[teespoon]

I appreciate my old Hi tracs and also my old set of Yonex, as my swing speed and strength are slowing down at age 68. I've always liked the Japanese shafts in metalwoods, as well. Good stuff!

teespoon

[mat562]

I do remember that driver.

The wedges that Daiwa made were quite good too. My old coach used to have a couple of forged Avisor wedges (DG8401(?) I think) that were very nice. Very thin soled, and good for the sandy soil where we played.

[jebb]

Those OnOff 247s are absolutely stunning. Doesn't Tadd use them?

Daiwa as Mat has said were big in the early 90s with Ian Baker Finch and one Richard Boxall playing them when he broke his leg at The Open.

Also sponsors of the top-rated Daiwa Barnsley Blacks fishing team here in sunny South Yorkshire.

Mat- great to see Ed Wood Wood-Wood out and about as the shadowy character "The Equaliser". Awesome trench coat but terrible barnet!! Hadn't realised he was in "The Regiment".

[mat562]

I was actually standing about 15 feet from Boxall when he cricked his ankle on the 9th tee. Playing with Monty if I remember right.

No blame attached to Daiwa - he hit a Ping 1 iron as I remember...

When he went down, his Rod Stewart lookalike caddy Andy Bladen dropped the bag, and we all turned from the ballflight to see Boxall floored and in agony - and assumed the blonde-mulleted one had dropped the bag on his trailing foot...

No wonder he ditched his Mizuno contract and went to Daiwa... TP-5s in the bag mate, that year...

[jebb]

Ah I remember old Rod Stewart!!

And as for Boxall- out in 34 and back in an ambulance as I think the line went at the time!

I have a rather dog-eared Golf World from around that time that has Boxy (as he now calls himself) sat atop a Daiwa bag. Was he a Daiwa player when he did his injury or was that afterwards?

Still loving your memories of The Equaliser!!

Ah bugger- you've answered it for me. It was Monty aswell playing with him. Ouch!!

[sandy]

Beautiful forgings (much better looking than Yonex at the time) without shovels for the scoring clubs (so they can do it). The problem for many years was Daiwa would only build them with their proprietary graphite shafts (fishing rods). Only the last few years would they build them with dynamic gold (and that was mainly because a bunch of heads came in real light and couldn't be weighted up for graphite.). As nice looking as anything out there today...For a while Daiwa had some pretty competitive woods as well... DG201s I believe. The only name golfer I can think of that played Team Diawa was Dan Forsman in his productive years. I sure others did but he won several times with their equipment.