Today I’m going to take a closer look at what’s in the bag of ONOFF Pro Shingo Katayama. Katayama has long been one of the top Japanese players on tour here in Japan. Last year Katayama won his 25th tournament automatically qualifying him for a lifetime exemption on the Japanese tour. He’s now up to 26 wins and counting ranking him 7th on the all time list in Japan. He turned pro in 1995 and began playing full time on tour in 1997. He has topped the Japanese money list 5 times including last year and is currently 4th on the all time career list at just over 14 million dollars in winnings.
Not a big player by any means at 5’6″ or 168cm tall, Katayama who has been called Cowboy Shingo because of the cowboy style hat he frequently wears relies on his creative play and deft touch around the greens. He is in no way a long hitter but accurate and controlled. Katayama was one of the first players during his days as the number one Nike Pro in Japan to proclaim that he needed all the forgiveness he could get and did not hesitate to play a 10.5* loft driver (which was rare at the time among men pros) and over sized irons with graphite shafts. In the past few years Katayama could be seen in many Nike ads, sometimes even along side world number 1 Tiger Woods promoting the latest in Nike gear.
This off season signaled a humongous change as Katayama parted ways with Nike, his clubs, shoes, clothing and ball sponsor. He was signed instead by several Japanese brands including ONOFF from Daiwa Golf for his clubs and bag, Dance With Dragon for his clothing, Asics for his shoes and Titleist for his golf balls. Even while transitioning to a new bag of gear he played confidently on his way to a 4th place finish at the Masters last month, tying the best finish ever by a Japanese golfer at the Masters.
Katayama’s fashion and gear gain as much attention as his creative play so here is a break down of his official bag as of last weeks Tsurya Open and my take on the clubs of course!
Katayama is playing the 2009 ONOFF Red Driver 9* with Roddio Prototype at 46.75″ 272.7cpm and 310.3g. He has opted for the more forgiving Red Driver over the athlete model ONOFF Plus Driver. He has also gone to a lower loft and considerably longer overall driver length. The Roddio will launch higher for max carry so paired with the 9* loft, Katayama appears to have found the right combination of launch, carry and run with these specs. The ONOFF Red is considered the average golfer model in Japan and provides a ton of forgiveness which Katayama likes.
Katayama’s 3 wood is another super forgiving club. The PRGR Egg PX-03 is a composite style fairway wood with a high MOI scoop back crown that is very very easy to hit. I bag this same club in my setup and for the sole reason – forgivness. It is easy to launch long and far and has a lot of leeway on mis hits. Katayama is playing the 15*. This is his go to club in narrow fairways and when he needs control down the middle, or to reach those ultra long par 5’s in two.
An ONOFF Fairway Arms Plus 5 wood occupies Katayama’s bag. This 18* club features a square to open face and is made more for control. The Plus however only has a semi-deep face so still provides forgivness that Katayama likes. Also unlike typical all steel fairway woods that are used by most pros the ONOFF Plus features a maraging face which provides great feel. (the Egg 3W he uses I might add uses a Titanium face).
Another sign of forgiveness in the bag is Katayama’s use of a 21* 7 Wood. This is the last remaining Nike club in his bag. He likes to use the Sasquatch2 instead of a 3 iron as it gives him an easy to hit club that still provides a super soft landing.
Katayama is carrying a Cleveland HiBore 4i UT that he has been using for quite some time. In other words he does not carry a 3 or 4 iron! Once again forgiveness is the focus for his bag.
ONOFF Plus Forged irons 5-9 iron are Katayama’s choice irons. They are definitely more compact than his old Nike OS irons but the ONOFF Plus do provide great feel and balanceｄ forgiveness. He is still experimenting with shafts on his irons now but it seems he may be playing either his black Graphite Design Prototypes or moving on to Roddio iron shafts.
Katayama is carrying 3 wedges, all three are signature prototypes from ONOFF based on the Labospec 247 series. A 46* 53* and 59* occupy his bag with the 46* taking the place of his pitching wedge.
A Taylormade Rossa Spider ASGI+ makes his putts for him and he now uses the Titleist Pro V1x 2009 ball. As I mentioned above, all his clothes are the very stylish Dance with Dragon and his Asics prototype shoes which are not yet available retail have drawn much interest from golfing enthusiasts worldwide.
So there you have it a look into Shingo Katayama’s current bag. A very nice JDM bag with a strong emphasis on forgiveness. One can never have enough forgiveness and we should never forget that!
