In this day and age of mass produced golf clubs, there are very few TRUE masters that still craft a club by hand. I have had the pleasure of watching Masayuki Sasaya of Gold’s Factory hand make all his wedges, putters and irons and in the process learning what it takes to make a golf club not only perform but a work of art.

Introducing Grind Studio…

A couple of weeks ago, I took a drive up to Gunma Prefecture to visit Grind Studio and its sole employee and owner, Masahiro Tomaru. Tomaru-san happens to be one of the few great grinders left in Japan that does every single club Grind Studio produces with his own hands. I had a chance to sit with Tomaru-san for nearly 2 hours as he talked about his designs, work and also his background in the golf industry. It was a great visit and I really learned a lot about his passion for golf club design.

The Background…

Masahiro Tomaru was an aspiring pro golfer and from 18 years of age to 22 he worked hard at trying to pass the pro test as its called in Japan to become a professional golfer on tour.  Tomaru-san came to the realization that making the tour was to high a mountain to climb so he instead joined Dunlop (Sri Sports as we know it today) in the golf sales department hoping to expand his golf background. As Sri grew, Tomaru-san wanted to move into golf club design, where his real passion lay however, Dunlop had no vacancies there so he left at age 25 and went to Fourteen Golf.  At Fourteen, Tomaru-san spent 11 years fine tuning his skills as a club designer and craftsman. He was responsible for most of Fourteen’s irons designs as well as credit as the creator of the MT-28 wedge.In case you didn’t notice, MT = Masahiro Tomaru.

Click Read More to find out about Grind Studio products and all the great pics!

RC DB Forged – a Tomaru grind…

Tomaru-san decided to leave Fourteen to start his own company called Grind Studio. At first he also lent a hand at designing wedges for other top Japanese brands including the still sought after Royal Collection DB Forged wedge (Double Bounce). This wedge has a cult following for its tour like grind and shape and was made in very few numbers, each hand ground by Tomaru-san and stamped with a small “T” on the toe face.

Original designs premium Japan forged…

Since starting Grind Studio, demand for Tomaru-san’s wedges have steadily grown as has his skill for grinding and designing wedges and irons. He currently has his own wedge designs forged for him by Kyoei and Oichi from both S25C and S20C which he then grinds, engraves, stamps and finishes from the raw head. This includes a cavity back and muscle back blade as well. Since Tomaru-san creates everything from scratch, customers are able to not only choose lofts from 45-62* as well as bounce, but also, grind type, head shape ie round or tear drop, conforming or non conforming engraved grooves, face milling, amount of offset including zero offset,  custom logos, stamping and finish including non plated raw satin and black or a plated satin or chrome.

Very large demand, heavy Japan tour usage…

Tomaru-san’s popularity has grown immensely in the last two years however he has remained a one man shop guaranteeing that every Grind Studio club is made by his hands. But because of this popularity, wait times can be long for customers wanting his wedges. As Tomaru-san noted to me in our meeting, his priority especially right now with the new golf season underway, is the over 50 pros around Asia (primarily on the Japan tour) using Grind Studio wedges.  Players who have used his wedge at one time or another include Ryo Ishikawa, Shinobu Moromizato, and Yusuke Miyazato (Ai’s brother).  At this time customers are waiting 2-3 months for wedges and irons and even at that, most customers feel it is well worth the wait as customers wedges get the same options, attention and quality workmanship that pro wedges do.

The Process…

Creating each wedge is time consuming and a lot of hand work. Here is a break down of what it takes to grind one wedge, non plated satin.

Pricey, takes a while… but worth it!

I was lucky enough to own a Grind Studio wedge a few years back when Grind Studio was just becoming popular. (since then he has been featured in Golf Digest, Albatross, Weekly Par Golf, Choice and many other top Japanese magazines.) I sold that wedge and have regretted it ever since as it was one of the softest and easiest wedges I have ever played. Not to mention it was beautiful and spun the crap out of a golf ball. I am glad that I was able to meet Tomaru-san and discuss having him create Grind Studio wedges for Tourspecgolf customers.  Tomaru-san has agreed to begin crafting wedges and irons for global golf enthusiasts through TSG starting this summer due to his heavy workload at this moment.  The exciting thing is that this also includes custom irons with any kind of grind and bounce as well as any amount of offset including zero offset. The cost will be high due to the amount of work involved and the quality of the wedge since customers pretty much get a one of a kind custom made tour quality wedge. The wait time will be long, but good things come to those who are patient and wait. (^_^)

Contact us if interested in a some Grind Studio Wedges.

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