Equipment
Company Spotlight: Epon by Endo
Golfers who are passionate about equipment know the name Endo, a forging house that accounts for 90 percent of forging on the professional golf tours worldwide. But what some of those golfers might not know is that on top of forging products for companies like Bridgestone, Callaway and Nike, Endo also produces its own line of equipment, called Epon.
While Epon is relatively unknown in the US, the company has a 35 percent marketshare of custom clubs sales in Japan. According to William Cho, North America distributor for Epon Golf USA, the company is taking steps to grow in the US and Canada, placing its products in the hands of certified clubfitters who are handpicked based on their expertise and geography.
Chris Darakdjian, owner of Pure Impact Golf Studio in Commerce, Mich., is one of those fitters. Darakdjian has been fitting golfers for Epon clubs for nearly two years, and has been impressed with the quality of Epon products, especially the irons.
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“The tolerances are pretty much always perfect,” Darakdjian said. “Most golfers who I fit hit them longer than what they came in with.”
According to Cho, the secret of Epon golf clubs is the 40 years of experience that its parent company, Endo, has spent designing, developing and forging equipment for major OEM brands.
“Throughout the years, Endo has accumulated so much information and knowledge on club design and manufacturing,” Cho said. “Endo is the only manufacturer in the world with their level of technology, design, and R&D team to truly develop and create a product from beginning to end — raw material selection to retail sales.”
That control gives Epon the ability to forge complex iron head shapes that other companies are forced to cast, according to Cho, creating products that have a much better feel. The company also uses a special robot laser welding process on its more forgiving iron models that Cho says creates club faces with 0.83 COR, the maximum allowed by golf’s ruling bodies.
For Darakdjian, this has resulted in higher ball speeds and higher smash factors during fittings, which has translated to longer distance. All this technology and attention to detail comes at a price, however. While Epon does not provide specific pricing for its products, sets usually cost $2000 or more when puchased from an Epon Certified Club Fitter.
Here is a gallery of photos
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- Webb Simpson what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist TS2 (15 degrees, B2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Blue 70 TX
5-wood: Titleist 913 Fd (18 degrees)
Shaft: UST Mamiya VTS Proforce 8 TX
Hybrids: Titleist TSR2 (24 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD D1 Hybrid 105 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (5, 6), Titleist 680 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 54-14F, 60-04L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Check out more in-hand photos of Webb Simpson’s clubs here.
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- Keegan Bradley’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. >14 clubs pictured. Obviously, Bradley will reduce that number to 14 for competition. Check out more photos from the tournament here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 70 TX
Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX
Irons: Srixon ZX5 Mk II (3-5) Srixon ZX7 Mk II (6-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (52-10 Mid, 58-6 Low)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy WristLock
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Check out more in-hand photos of Bradley’s clubs here.
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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of Mizuno 245 irons.
From the seller: (@JB_007): “1. Mizuno Pro 245 – $1000 –> 950/obo
- Purchased brand new – they have 36 holes on them, with probably 10 premium range balls. Great set of irons, I just am looking to go another way right now.
- 5-PW –> stock L/L/L
- Project X LS 6.5
- Stock MCC Mizuno Grips.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Mizuno 245 irons
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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John
Jul 30, 2014 at 7:18 pm
So J40’s from Bridgestone are just as good as epon would you say however hopefully cheaper. Does endo make the Titleist Mb CB blades and Mizuno forged products. Cheers
MyBluC4
Jan 23, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Absolutely stunning equipment in terms of design and construction.
pablo
Jan 18, 2013 at 6:25 pm
Interesting. I hit Bridgestone J40 cavity backs and never knew that Epon made them.
no@thanks
Jan 18, 2013 at 7:29 pm
I hit J40’s as well, but ENDO makes them. Not EPON, that’s the house brand from ENDO.