Introducing A-Grind Golf and while the brand and name itself is new the people behind it have been part of the Japan Tour for over a decade. Let’s start with the man himself Yusuke Ako-san who was the lead designer for Royal Collection from 2004 to 2013 for all their clubs including woods, irons, wedges, and utilities.
Yesterday I sat down for lunch with Ako-san in Kobe Japan to talk about A-Grind and to organize special offerings for our members, Click Read More to Follow…
Above a photo from the Japan Golf Fair, this is the A-Grind Classic Driver intentionally made to be a mix of new and old with a sole design and head size reminiscent of the wooden club era yet it contains materials, manufacturing technology, and many shape angles like the face that are vital for distance, forgiveness, and performance. For those familiar with Royal Collection woods the face shape shares a similar design, Ako-san is known well in Japan for how his woods look and perform.
The A-Grind Classic Driver is 350cc’s and available in 9.5 and 10.5 lofts, it features a Forged Titanium 6-4 face dead square face angle and a standard head weight of 202 grams. it’s a club for purists and at impact it’s sound/feel is near perfect.
Here is a prototype fairway wood that Ako-san has been working very hard on, he is “the man” when it comes to fairway wood design you can give him full credit for the royal collection and also the old sonartec fairway woods of past. This fairway wood will be coming end of march to TSG and Ako-san promises it to be his greatest FW design ever. I will post specs soon on this one as it’s not released yet but in person it’s dimensions and especially face profile has us very excited.
Below the A-Grind Hybrid Utility, there are two utility clubs by A-Grind one a Hybrid style the other driving iron, Ako-san has been a Tour Rep on the JPGA Tour for nearly 10 years, he travels in the tour van during the golf season to nearly every event which is one of the big reasons why after only 1 year in business so many players have A-Grind woods and wedges in the bag and also 2 JPGA tour victories within months of the official brand launch. The A-Grind Utility is available in 4 different lofts # 2/18 ° # 3 /20.5° # 4/23 ° # 5 / 25.5 ° and all very compact and sleek looking. Made using a 455 Stainless face and 17-4 SS body.
Below the Driving Iron Version, with already 2 JPGA victories under this particular product’s belt make no mistake it’s for the professional level golfer, It’s #1 goal is accuracy in a more forgiving long iron. It’s trajectory is medium it’s a 2 piece SUS431 head done in a beautiful satin finish. Made in # 2/18 ° # 3 /20.5° # 4/23 ° # 5 / 25.5 °.
Below is the A-Grind Muscle Back forged of S25C in Japan and finished with a nickel chrome satin finish hand ground with a very thin top line, sole, and extremely minimal offset. The lofts are traditional at 47* on the PW.
The MB and CB will become available Mid March they are currently in production, the cavity back iron targets top players with its thin appearance as well, it’s a great year to be considering new blades or players cavities , Ako-san designed these with the input of Japan Tour players who play MB irons implementing what they wanted to see in a professional level CB. Lofts are semi traditional with a 46* PW.
Below a new prototype semi mid sized forged iron in the works no release date confirmed on these.
Probably the best selling product and most used on the JPGA Tour is the A-Grind Tour Wedge offered completely raw or in a nickel brushed satin finish in 50/52/56/58 lofts.
We hope you enjoyed the brief introduction to a very exciting brand, We will have more in hand images in about 1 week followed by proshop listings and on course reviews so please stay tuned!
