Tour Issue Equipment

Hey guys, I am a newbie in this forum. Wondering if tour issue equipment is a big thing in Singapore?

welcom Yarra. Well, depends who you are asking this question... try asking Ghoonk... our forum's self proclaimed tour issue slut for starters...

Yarra wrote:

Hey guys, I am a newbie in this forum. Wondering if tour issue equipment is a big thing in Singapore?

Hi Yarra, think you are into Tour Issued stuff so I need to ask you whether this is true. Am I right to say not all Tour Issued heads have serial number right? I came across sellers who have thousands of positive feedbacks in Ebay but are hawking Tour head which has no serial number. They said it is common for these heads to not have serial numbers as they came direct off the tour van. If they sold fakes, then they would not get all positive feedbacks. So I tend to believe these power sellers. Your take on htis.

titu

pocketace wrote:

welcom Yarra. Well, depends who you are asking this question... try asking Ghoonk... our forum's self proclaimed tour issue slut for starters...

Hey pocketace... Thanks for the warm welcome. I will try chatting up Ghoonk for these tour issue stuffs.

Tituman wrote:

Yarra wrote:

Hey guys, I am a newbie in this forum. Wondering if tour issue equipment is a big thing in Singapore?

Hi Yarra, think you are into Tour Issued stuff so I need to ask you whether this is true. Am I right to say not all Tour Issued heads have serial number right? I came across sellers who have thousands of positive feedbacks in Ebay but are hawking Tour head which has no serial number. They said it is common for these heads to not have serial numbers as they came direct off the tour van. If they sold fakes, then they would not get all positive feedbacks. So I tend to believe these power sellers. Your take on htis.

titu

Hey Tituman, while I am not a super expert on this matter, but I will try to answer your question as best as I could. After all, I have been buying and playing tour issue stuffs for almost 4 years now. So, here's my 2-cents...

Tour issue serial number (I call them T-serial) are etched so that the manufacturer can track their stuffs that are going to tour players. And, for TM's cases, the 'B' and '+' signs etched on the hosels simply denote that the head has been COR-tested, a mandatory in US PGA and some others.

Looking back at the manufacturing process, tour issues club head are basically a handful of club heads (came from the the same mass-production factory) that are hand-picked to meet a certain criteria (specs-wise like weight, true loft, face angle, lie angle, etc. as well as quality-wise) in order to individualize the need of each and every tour players endorsed by respective manufacturer. Manufacturers simply set these hand-picked heads aside and put T-serials on them to be distributed to their staffers.

What happened to those no-serial numbers heads are either they are an early prototypes (usually for the purpose of demos and/or showcases at expos) or, they are simply those hand-picked heads that didn't meet a certain criteria at a later stage of sorting out before they are distributed to the players. In other words, NO-SERIAL HEADS ARE NOT REAL TOUR ISSUES.

Of course, different manufacturers tend to have different ways to mark their tour issue head. Callaway for example, put a tour ID band on their tour issue clubs as opposed to TM and Cleveland who put a T-serial on the heads.

I am aware of those sellers on eBay who claims that they got their hands on these heads before they put the T-serial on them. I bought a few myself out of curiosity. And I can conclude that they are NOT of the same quality. I do not have a fast swing speed, even by Asian standard, but I cracked a few no-serial heads at the sole right where it meets the face.

So, be very careful when buying 'tour issue' clubs. Know your sources.

I hope this helps and doesn't bore you reading it.

Cheers!

Hey thats great Yarra. Its a good lesson for everyone who don't understand the difference. Kudos to you and thanks for the enlightenment. Come meet us this Wed at MBGC Rooftop bro. You will feel welcome by everyone there. I will be there from 8 - 9 pm .

titu

Tituman wrote:

Hey thats great Yarra. Its a good lesson for everyone who don't understand the difference. Kudos to you and thanks for the enlightenment. Come meet us this Wed at MBGC Rooftop bro. You will feel welcome by everyone there. I will be there from 8 - 9 pm .

titu

Actually, I do not live in Singapore. I am in Indonesia. But I do come to Singapore often. I will let you know next time I plan a trip to Singapore. We can meet up for a cup of coffee or something. Thanks for the invitation, tho. Appreciate it so much!

We do have another in-house expert on tour-issued stuff. He also have some good buddies working in TM. Maybe he can provide his insight in this.

It would be lovely to have an insight from someone who has contacts in Asian Tour.

Ask Ghoonk. he is the man

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/343224-how-to-tell-if-your-club-is-tour-issue/page__p__2249848__hl__tour%20issue%20titleist%20serial%20number__fromsearch__1&#entry2249848

indeed, know your sources. I have quite a bit of tour-issued kit (mostly irons, a couple of fairway woods and a couple of drivers) and never had problems with them.

I heard ghoonk socks, ball markers and gloves are tour issued as well.

And my underwear too. Wicks sweat away better.

And you forgot my tour-issued tees.

And my tour-issued pitch mark repair tool.

Oh yes, how can I forget all those.

And did you use yoru tour issued umbrella in Dubai the last few days? I was caught in the super pour at 8pm on Saturday (eve of my bday) and had to stop in the middle of emirates highway for 30min! Incredible!

Of course, some people argue that tour-issued isn't always good. Some retail heads may be 'hotter' than tour heads, hence give you better distance through non-conforming COR. Hence, it has been argued that tour-issued just means that it is tested for compliance. Whether there is a performance benefit is debatable.

In my case, the fact that my TM RAC MBs were ex-Scott Verplank doesn't necessarily mean my game improves, but I do prefer the feel of a tour-issued driver head that sits 1.5* to 2* open and has hotmelt.

jurongtiger wrote:

Oh yes, how can I forget all those.

And did you use yoru tour issued umbrella in Dubai the last few days? I was caught in the super pour at 8pm on Saturday (eve of my bday) and had to stop in the middle of emirates highway for 30min! Incredible!

No tour-issued umbrella leh.

The downpour has been quite refreshing. Hope it rains even more, and they cancel work/school for a day or two!

I can testify to that, ghoonk. Hotmelted head feels like none other.

And the fact that you can actually buy clubs fitted exactly to your spec instead of playing something off the rack and let your swing adjust to it is priceless to your game.

Of course, some people just can't feel the difference, let alone appreciate tour issue clubs. And it is wrong to spend big bucks just for the sake of being a ho and be different without understanding and getting the added advantage.

Some people spend big bucks on Honmas, Majesties and such... we simply spend our bucks some place else. At the end, we enjoy our game the way we enjoy them. Just like those people hitting Honmas.

Nice to get to know someone like you in this part of the world, ghoonk. Most golfers I met around here bashes me for being the guy who stupid enough to spend 5-folds to get the same club.

Yarra wrote:

And it is wrong to spend big bucks just for the sake of being a ho and be different without understanding and getting the added advantage.

oi.......

mUAr_cHEe wrote:

Yarra wrote:

And it is wrong to spend big bucks just for the sake of being a ho and be different without understanding and getting the added advantage.

oi.......

Oops, let me get it straight: I was wrong to said so...

no lah... i cool one...

click on my 'WIMB' below, go thru everything... then u will know why i 'oi...' u liao....

Cool, mUAr cHEe... But I did meet some 'interesting' people playing these tour clubs. Some even hurt their games even more by playing the wrong spec of clubs! Yet, they pride themselves of playing tour issue clubs. Funny people...

Yarra wrote:

I can testify to that, ghoonk. Hotmelted head feels like none other.

And the fact that you can actually buy clubs fitted exactly to your spec instead of playing something off the rack and let your swing adjust to it is priceless to your game.

Of course, some people just can't feel the difference, let alone appreciate tour issue clubs. And it is wrong to spend big bucks just for the sake of being a ho and be different without understanding and getting the added advantage.

Some people spend big bucks on Honmas, Majesties and such... we simply spend our bucks some place else. At the end, we enjoy our game the way we enjoy them. Just like those people hitting Honmas.

Nice to get to know someone like you in this part of the world, ghoonk. Most golfers I met around here bashes me for being the guy who stupid enough to spend 5-folds to get the same club.

5-fold? No la, I get mine off some verified sources from GolfWRX. TM HFS fairway woods are around USD180 each, used, with a good shaft. And you can't fake a HFS. I'm guessing a brand new R9 fairway wood is in the same price region, but I find the HFS to have a more solid, less tinny sound at contact. To me, the shaft plays a huge role -- a good driver/fairway/iron head will only feel and play as good as the shaft that is fitted to it, and whether the club is matched correctly to the player's swing speed, swing mechanics, etc. This is why tour-issued equipment are not miracles in themselves, but fitted correctly, can help. And it doesn't necessarily have to be that much more expensive that what you pay off the shelf. Of course, there's no warranty or guarantee, so caveat emptor

ghoonk,

I agreed with you 100% in saying that tour clubs are useless without proper fitting. I didn't pay 5-fold literally, bot most guys think tour clubs are 5 times more expensive and much more harder to play. They assume that world's best players must be superheroes, impossible for us, mere mortals, to play the same club as they do!

I have yet to hit an HFS, Everybody has been talking about how good it was. I do love Adams' 3446-F. That 16* fairway is as long as any 15* I've ever hit. Easier and more forgiving, too! Code 6 in my Adams wood. Love TM's 282. If you haven't hit it, you should!

Also, tour wedges are so much better than retail too! Got some rac proto and Y-cutter. you cannot believe the amount of spin they generate compared to the same kind in retail form!

Been eyeing the TM R7 SuperQuad 282s, but man, at USD400 a pop for the head only, that's kinda off budget.

I'm gaming a TM Tour Burner with the grey crown and black face (confirmed to be tour authentic and apparently rare by several experts in SG and US), but shafted with a TM Diamana WB 63x5ct X-stiff (also a tour-issue, courtesy of my favourite clubfitter in SG), getting around 260 to 280 yds (had my swing fixed by shorthitter on my last trip, have yet to game it). Also got my hands on a TM R510 deep face / TP with the underlined loft, but have yet to find a shaft that works well with it. That R510 is one solid feeling club, just goes THWACK.

The 3446 you speak of is a fairway wood, right? Saw a couple of Adams bits going on WRX for a pretty decent price : http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/345570-adams-tour-issue-pnts-pnts-and-more-pnts-a4tour-blacks9033hf-9031df-btyspro-gold-pvd/

This guy had some pretty good stuff, but I didn't get to it quickly enough: http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/348225-some-more-half-decent-taylormade-tour-gear/

And yeah, I got 2 sets of tour-issued TM RAC Black Y-cutters (52/56/60) too, and the spin is pretty damn fine Would play them more, but I spend too much time with my Japanese mistress (Miura) these days, so the TMs are on ice for now

ghoonk,

You should really try to get your hands on one of those 282. They start to decrease in value right now, I suspect because the Superdeep is deemed to be the next 282. But you really have to go down one whole loft in order to play your current shaft. The launch is high. I got one with Kai'Li and the combo is easily the best combo I've ever hit! Worth every penny spent, trust me!

BUT, trying to fit you into a combo that works best is a hassle. Took me 3 shafts and 2 lofts before I got the perfect combos.

510 DF was good, sadly at that period I was in hibernation. Stopped playing for a few years before I picked up my clubs again in 2007.

The 3446-F is a fairway wood. Definitely the most versatile fairway I've ever hit. Played a CB2, it is very long off the tee but not as good hitting off the ground. The 07 Burner TP is better for off-the-deck kinda shot.

Miuras... Never a fan of them. I really do not think there's anything extremely special to justify the asking price. As far as I am concerned, Miura is just a forging company with no sufficient R&D facilities to develop golf equipment. They do a great job when they forge TM's, Nike's or other OEM's head because those OEM virtually did the R&Ds. No offense, just my opinion.

As for the wedge, I tried several brands, including high-end Japanese. Keep coming back to TM some reason. Didn't even like Vokeys. Didn't mind Cally, Cleveland or Mizunos, though.