Honma T//world XP-1

Beautifully Crafted To Be Extremely Playable

Honma takes great pride in its approach to designing and building a club. The genesis of a driver for example, begins in the hands of a master craftsman shaping a block of persimmon wood by hand before the final head design enters the CAD phase.

The philosophy of beautiful craftsmanship and performance have combined to produce Honma’s latest international release of the game improvement XP-1 series of clubs that include driver, fairway woods, hybrids and irons.

Honma’s emphasis is on holistically designing every club to cohesively work as a unit for maximum performance. To that end, concept, design and production is all proudly done in-house in Sakata, Japan; and there is a sense of flow and consistency in both feel and looks throughout the entire line of the XP-1.

XP-1 Driver

The XP-1 driver sports a tour-inspired classic look that inspires visual confidence at address, with all the technology quietly hidden away until the golfer takes a swing.

Underneath the high gloss black, the super lightweight ET40 carbon crown allows for a low centre of gravity, the additional 15g of mass positioned towards the heel for increased MOI and a draw bias to help square the club face more easily through impact.

Five Fang Technology are ribs positioned around the crown and sole, stiffening the thin walls of the driver for greater face flex at impact.

On the sole sits Honma’s double slot for more distance and accuracy. Narrower in the middle, the double slot gets wider and deeper moving out towards the heel and toe. More than just increasing ball speed, the clubface flexes around the middle on mishits, creating a gear effect to bring wayward shots back into play.

Unique to Honma is the adjustable hosel system that changes face angle, lie and loft while keeping the orientation of the shaft the same. Technically, this keeps the shaft performing consistently; visually, the shaft and grip looks the same at address to the golfer no matter the adjustment.

To ensure that head and shaft work in perfect harmony, Honma takes the holistic approach of designing and building the entire club in-house, including its own range of Vizard shafts that is an easier-to-swing 45.25 inches long and lightweight 43-grams for the driver. Extremely stable and smooth swinging, the shafts promote faster clubhead speeds. Iron shafts are available in a 63-gram graphite option, or in the Nippon N.S. Pro 950GH for steel.

XP-1 Fairway Woods

Easy to square and launch, the 3-wood’s light carbon crown allows for a 44 gram weight pad to be situated low and deep within the head for a high MOI and trajectory, aided by the same double slot and thin fast face technology found in the driver.

By nature of their smaller volume and size, it was found that the 5- and 7-woods are better served by a thin high strength steel crown rather than a carbon one. The same Sakata made shafts work in synergistic unison with the fairway woods heads, playing a part in how Honma clubs

are known for being easy to play. All fairway woods are also non-adjustable.

XP-1 Hybrid

Being a game improvement club, it is no surprise the hybrids are constructed more like fairway woods, the shallower profile and lower CG a more forgiving and playable option from a multitude of lies.

An ultra-thin face and the double slot drives ball speed and keeps the ball in play, while the high strength 455 custom steel face maintains durability from the 19-degree 3-iron replacement to a 25-degree 5-iron replacement.

XP-1 Irons

Crafted to look like a forged iron design, the hybrid construction of the larger profile XP-1 irons places emphasis on low CGS and high strength fast faces, the longer irons up to the 7-iron being hollow with a tungsten sole weight for higher launch and stability on mis-hits. A wider sole also forgives less than perfect contact.

The scoring irons from 8-iron to SW are cavity backed for maximum forgiveness and straighter distance, while the high torque and lightweight Vizard shafts contain an ascending weight flow design and graphite in the tip, providing faster swing speeds.

Speaking on the release of the company’s entire XP-1 range release, Honma’s Vice President of Global Product, Chris Mcginley stated, “We are thrilled to bring the many decades of club-making knowledge and shaping talent of Honma’s master craftsmen to game-improvement golfers with XP1. This product line is incredibly beautiful and exceptionally playable and will help golfers with a wide range of skill levels enjoy the game even more.”

Available options in the Men’s XP-1 range:

driver (9.5°, 10.5° and 12°); fairway woods (15°, 18°, 21°); hybrids [19° / 22° / 25°], and offering six irons (6-10-irons) in proprietary Vizard 43 shafts or Nippon N.S. PRO Zelos for T// WORLD shafts.

Available options in the Women’s range:

driver (12°) ; fairway woods [#3 (17°), #5 (20°), #7 (21°)]; hybrids (22°, 25°, 28°); and five irons (7-10-irons) in proprietary Vizard 39 shafts.