Taylormade added all their new 2012 Japan market offerings to their site today so I will briefly go over some of the products and you can see what the lineups now look like below. We will get demos to review at a later date and at that time I will go into more detail. As I mentioned the other day Gloire is the new premium distance line which is a whole new offering. Its aimed at the recreational golfer looking for max ease of use and distance in a premium club. They’ve added a few other clubs along with Gloire you can see below.
DRIVERS
The Gloire is the new distance driver and is Taylormade Japan’s forged model – yes a forged driver from TM! They’ve also added the R11-S and RocketBallz driver. One thing I did not expect was the redesigned R11-J which has been increased to 460cc in head size and 45.75″ in length and re-tuned for max forgiveness and distance. TM calls it the R11 distance model for the Japanese market.
FAIRWAY WOODS
TM Japan has added the premium Gloire FW made for maximum distance and forgiveness and they have also thrown in a Japan only R11 Titanium FW! There is also the RocketBallz FW.
IRONS
TM Japan has two models of Gloire premium irons. One is in fact a utility iron at 20 and 23* lofts and the other are max distance irons with a Maraging face and 26* 6 iron! Though I must admit it looks a lot like the RocketBallz Max shape. They also added the RocketBallz Irons.
WEDGES
TM Japan added two new All Terrain Versatility Wedge models, standard ATV wedge in tour satin and the ATV Forged wedge in smoked Ion Plating finish!
PUTTERS
TM added the new Tour Preferred Ghost which features 4 head shapes and a deep milled forged face. They also introduced Ghost Tour putters which feature 5 head shapes with Pure Roll faces as well as the Ghost Manta which goes along with the stingray and limited edition Itsy Bitsy Spider Ghost.
So it seems like an exciting time once again in Japan for new TM products. Stay tuned for live pics and reviews of all the clubs.
I’m really disappointed that TM Japan has given up on making Japan-only players’ irons like the ones we had a couple of years ago with the Nick Faldo ones.
Great tools. Taylormade is quite impressive. I might try this. Please post a review so that I’ll have details on which is better to use.
The RocketBallz is the distance driver for the US domestic market. I wonder how much more distance the Gloire, as the Japanese market distance driver, will compare.
Shankpotomus: They are indeed both distance drivers but the Gloire is considered premium since its forged which is not common for TM drivers. We’ll have both to test side by side.
Will they have lofts of 8 or 8.5 for the Gloire? I would love to have an 8