Honma golf clubs have enjoyed legendary status in local golf circles but more for the exotic metals and stratospheric price that they commanded than for performance. Honma’s TW747 line of golf clubs are here to change our perception about the storied Japanese company.
Honma Golf Company was founded in the early sixties by the Honma brothers. They were well known for their custom golf clubs and pioneered technologies such as graphite shafts in the early seventies well before other manufacturers. Eventually, Honma’s reputation shifted to one as a purveyor of very high-end custom golf clubs and away from their performance line.
The company fell on hard times after the turn of the century and in 2010 was acquired by Marlion Holdings Ltd. after it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005. Marlion Chairman Liu Jianguo’s dynamic leadership has shaken Honma out of the doldrums and has thrust the company back on the world stage with the high-profile signing of world number one Justin Rose at the onset of the new season.
Honma’s TW (Tour World) line is their no-nonsense performance line. Designed to go head-to-head with Callaway, Titleist and TaylorMade on the world’s professional tours in the hands of the world’s best golfers. The TW line has gotten a lot of notoriety lately after Justin Rose won the Farmers Insurance Open at the tough South Course at Torrey Pines on his first outing with his Honma clubs.
The Honma TW747 P and TW747 VX irons aren’t in the world number one’s golf bag but they’re going to be in the bags of many that are new to the brand. The P iron is the game-improvement club and will work wonders for the mid-to-high handicapper. It uses tungsten weights positioned uniquely in the individual clubheads to provide the ideal ball flight for each iron.
The TW747 VX is Honma’s entrant in the hotly contested players’ distance iron segment. Forged of soft S20 carbon steel, the VX iron also features tungsten weights in the toe of the 3-8 irons to precisely locate the club’s center of gravity in the center of the clubface and to increase the iron’s moment of inertia. Both P and VX irons sport shorter necks to pull weight down into the clubhead for increased forgiveness.
Perhaps the most surprising development of Justin Rose’s switch to Honma was his decision to put a Honma driver in his bag. Rose disclosed that he found another 5 miles per hour of ball speed with his Honma TW747 460 driver.
In the high-tech driver wars, Honma doesn’t disappoint; the TW747 455 and 460 drivers are packed with the latest technologies in golf. Both are adorned with internally ribbed carbon crowns made from ET40/Toray. Honma says it’s the lightest crown in any driver today.
Both 455 and 460 drivers feature replaceable weights. In the 455, the weight is positioned as far from the shaft’s axis as possible to promote the fade that many of the best players prefer. On the 460, the two weights can be flipped, changing the club’s center of gravity to better fit the club to the golfer.
Both drivers also feature what Honma calls 4-Fang Technology; reinforcing ribs that frame the center of the clubface. Enhancing the rigidity around the face increases the elasticity of the club face over a wider surface area providing faster ball speeds.
Most impressive is Honma’s adjustable hosel. The clubface can be adjusted for loft (+/- 1-degree), lie (+/- 2 degrees) and face angle (maximum of 1.5 degrees) all without changing the shaft’s orientation or spine. While other manufacturers downplay the effect of the spine on the consistency of the shaft’s performance, Honma recognize its worth and have taken pains to make sure the adjustments do not adversely affect shaft performance.
Both drivers absolutely look the business. The clean aesthetic is devoid of flash or gimmicks and gives the TW747 drivers a stealthy performance advantage.
Speaking of shafts, Honma makes all its graphite shafts in-house. Any questions on the quality of their shaft were dashed when Rose won at Torrey Pines with a Honma Vizard shaft in his TW747 460. These shafts are as good as any you’d care to name.
Of course, Honma filled out its line with extremely competitive fairway metals and hybrids, as well as an assortment of wedges with multiple sole grinds to suit any course conditions that you might encounter.
We got to test the new TW747 line of clubs at one of Honma’s demo days at the Army Driving Range in Fort Bonifacio. Both drivers are noticeably fade biased but were easily adjusted by closing the clubface until our drives straightened out. The two available shafts should work nicely for most golfers and compliment both clubheads nicely.
The irons are what you’d expect from a premium manufacturer like Honma; they’re easy to hit and feel really good at impact. The TW747 VX was particularly impressive. It should see favor with many mid-to-low handicap golfers.
Although we can’t definitively say that the TW747 line of clubs are world beaters, they are competitive and deserve to be in the conversation if you’re considering an upgrade to any of the clubs in your bag.
The TW747 line is more than a pretty face, it’s a contender and has put Honma back in the spotlight.