By Brian Sommer
For more than two decades, I’ve maintained an occasionally torrid, occasionally exasperating relationship with the so-called JDM – the Japanese Domestic Market- those exquisite implements forged in the shadowlands of precision and quiet fanaticism. My first entanglement was with Tourstage, the flagship line of Bridgestone Golf in its more dignified, Japanese incarnation.
In recent years, seven, if we must be exact, I found myself consorting with a different pedigree of Japanese craftsmanship: Honma. This is a company whose founding mythology involves crafting samurai swords, and the high-priced Beres line, unlike most of its Western counterparts, has managed to preserve something of that unembellished beauty and sense of purpose in its modern clubs. One suspects that a lineage that begins with weapons of war places the designing of golf equipment in its proper philosophical place.
My relationship began with the TR20 line, continued through the TR757, and recently the TR767, a line whose astronomical MOI figures caused the equipment world to temporarily hyperventilate. And now, as the calendar limps toward its final page in 2025, Honma has produced the new TW777 series: driver, mini-driver, fairway woods, and hybrid.
One of the small consolations of Japanese engineering is its allergy to the garish. While the rest of the golf industry is busy producing golf clubs that look like props from a Marvel franchise carbon face, “twist-face” gimmickry, aerodynamic protuberances, and color palettes selected by apparently upset graphic designers, Honma has the good sense to keep its clubs looking like golf clubs. Round, pear-shaped, classical, civilized. A quiet rebuke to the Age of Noise.
The TW777 line preserves this aesthetic decency. The clubs present a sober black-gloss carbon crown, nothing revolutionary there, but what is notable is the presence of Honma’s “Non-Rotating System,” a hosel mechanism that allows one to adjust loft, lie, and face angle without disfiguring the shaft’s alignment. That they’ve now extended this sacrament to the fairway woods is perhaps the closest thing to a technological “statement” you will find from them.
Now, to the matter of performance. Given my long-standing trust in Honma Golf, I installed, sight unseen, the TW777 driver (9°) with the Vizard Blue 6X (Honma’s in house proprietary) shaft; the 3- and 5-woods (15° and 18°) with the Vizard Blue 7X; and the TW777 hybrid (19°) with the Vizard Blue 7S. I made no loft tinkering and did not engage in the modern ritual of obsessively rearranging sole weights like a nervous launch monitor obsessive.
The driver is, in a word, delightful. It looks smaller at address, though it is a full 460cc, because the face is deeper rather than broader, and it produces a satisfying, muted thud on impact, a welcome departure from the unnecessarily theatrical acoustics of the TW767. Ball flight was high, spin low, and performance honest in all winds: down, cross, and headlong. On this day, I averaged 285 yards, with a longest of 315. Respectable and repeatable, which is more than one can say for most modern promises in golf.
The fairway woods are charmingly obedient: smaller, shallower echoes of the driver, launching cleanly from both turf and tee. The 3-wood reached par fives from 245, and off the tee carried 250+ with ease; the 5-wood, a sturdy 240. The hybrid, slightly larger à la the 767 lineage sits kindly behind the ball and performs the venerable duty of the 3-iron surrogate with admirable predictability: 215–220 carry.
Honma Golf might not be a household name in the United States though in a country where people still buy equipment based on television jingles, this should not surprise anyone, but its marriage of elegance and performance is undeniable. These clubs have marched directly into the bag without hesitation.
Brian Sommer holds a Ph.D. in Leadership from Concordia University Chicago, where his dissertation: “A Paradigm Shift in Teaching and Learning Golf”, reflected his commitment to presence-based learning. His academic background also includes degrees in History, Political Science, Business Administration, and Finance (Cornell University, University of Miami, and Lynn University).
As a Partner at CDI Global, Brian has advised clients across the aerospace, defense, construction, technology, and energy sectors, supporting transformational growth in companies ranging from startups to multinationals.
In each of his roles – coach, professor, strategist, and partner – Sommer brings people back to the ground of being. He invites them to look beyond technique, narrative, or image, and return to the source of authentic performance.
Photo Courtesy of Honma