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Ryoma V-Spec 9.5° on Crazy Longest Yard LY01 Nero 6.9 Flex.
As you can see, the drivers are built as similar as can be, other than the head -- identical loft, shaft, grip. Kamui Works lets you customize the lie on the 456, something that I consider very important, especially if your height/build makes you radically different from a 60° lie kinda guy. As far as I know, Kamui Works is the only company that offers lie customization for ordinary folks like me and in case you didn't know, you can't bend a driver after it's been made, which makes your personal Kamui driver even more special.
The Ryoma packs a whopping 60g weight behind the face, which is supposedly a technological feat. Don't think I need to say any more about the Ryoma that's not already been said in recent times. I've heard/read about golfers of all skill levels experiencing tighter dispersions and distance gains anywhere from 5m to a mind-boggling 30m from their old drivers. However, I don't recall any of these old drivers was a customized Kamui.
I was playing the Kamui for a few months before the Ryoma and hit some of the longest drives of my life. I don't think there is any extraordinary superiority about the construction, material, etc, so I am going to assume it's the custom lie that's behind the distance windfall. It wasn't difficult to hit; I needed only a couple of range sessions and rounds before getting really comfortable with it. The mis-hits were no worse than expected -- not particularly unforgiving in terms of distance loss or dispersion from other drivers. I have no complaints about the Kamui (other than the near unusable head cover) and honestly had no reason to get another driver. But I did anyway; don't ask me why, I don't know.
When the Ryoma arrived, I was full of expectations from all the rave reviews. I fantasized about mis-hits being way long and straight and par-5s routinely within sight in 2! How quickly I fell back to Earth after the first couple of rounds. As forgiving as everyone has found it to be, I thought the Ryoma was harder to hit than the Kamui. I didn't experience any distance gains from the Ryoma off the sweet spot and I seriously didn't think the Kamui was worse off the mis-hits either. The only thing I thought the Ryoma was better -- the sound at impact; much better than the Kamui.
Long story short, I have been using the Ryoma exclusively after shelving it after those first few rounds. I've sort of gotten more used to it; in fact, I now think it 'feels' better than the Kamui. That said, I still have not experienced any distance gains over the Kamui on the good hits, though some mis-hits are indeed longer (especially the balloons -- great carry, the Ryoma). I must also admit that the Ryoma makes ugly hooks and slices less aggravated. I've not gone OB or landed in adjacent fairways yet, which is a wonder in itself heh.
My advice to golfers thinking about getting one of these drivers, first thing first -- either would be an excellent choice. If you are a good striker of the ball and a bit shorter/taller than Joe Average, go for the Kamui and get the full meal deal on the customization; face angle, lie and loft to 0.1 increments cannot be beat. At $600+ for the head, I'd say it's a frigging steal! On the other hand, if you are quite wild off the tee and want to increase your overall driving stats (length and fairways hit), Ryoma is your gun. I've not read a bad review of it yet, this is probably the worst. It's not cheap though; at $950 a head, it's at least 50% more than the Kamui but chances are, you will find it's worth it.
Final word, if you do decide to get either of these drivers, invest in the best suitable shaft that you can afford. I can't stress enough how much a difference shafts play in the scheme of things. ;)
Edited by FrankThong, 07 May 2011 - 09:49 AM.
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