What you need to know: Honma, the legendary Japanese high-luxe golf brand, introduces its latest Beres line: the 09 gold and silver. Aimed at moderate to slower swings speeds, the Beres 09 woods incorporate an intricate uneven-thickness design, precisely engineered to optimize face flex. The irons utilize slots to create deeper face deflection at impact for better ball speed. The irons also use L-shaped face design that wraps around the sole to improve launch and distance. The line also adheres to traditional BERES 2- to 5-Star grading, with more advanced shaft technology as the grades progress.
Pricing: Drivers start at $900, fairways/hybrids at $400 and irons at $3,150 for a set of 5-11, AW, PW.
3 Cool Things
1. Driving force. It’s easy to get caught up in the snazzy looks, but that would be overlooking the technological horsepower that lies inside the chassis, particularly on the driver. A new face design yields an intricate pattern of uneven thicknesses that have been engineered to optimize face flex. That combines with an internal “quad-bridge structure” that not only supports structural integrity, but also assists bend.
A high-strength lightweight carbon material is employed on the toe side of the sole to help produce a draw bias—something many golfers find useful—as the saved weight is positioned on the heel side. A stainless-steel weight (10 grams) at the rear of the clubhead enhances initial velocity as well as further assisting draw bias.
2. From the fairway. Everyday players, especially those speed challenged, often struggle with longer shots from the fairway. The Beres 09 fairway woods and hybrids are designed for such players.
Honma’s engineers used a tungsten nickel weight positioned near the back heel, not only enhancing energy transfer at impact, but creating a draw-biased center-of-gravity position. The face design features a similar uneven thickness to the driver, boosting rebound by thinning not just the face, but the crown as well.
3. Today’s letter is L. Thinning faces is one way to improve distance in irons and Honma achieves that in the Beres 09 through a series of uneven semicircles which offer an interesting take on variable-face thickness. That face is then extended over the lip of the sole, creating an L-face structure that delivers plenty of heat, including on shots struck low on the face.
An integrated vibration-absorbing resin midlayer was created with an inner cavity filled with vibration-absorbing resin. That dampens unwanted vibrations while producing a pleasing sound at impact.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
