Phabs WITB -Nitrided Nikes / Raw Bridgestone J15's / Artisan

[Phabs]

Time to get busy tomorrow.  
 

Dicks had a glitch on UTX grips that priced below what they should have so I about cleaned them out.  Grips are all with in a gram of one another so that’s good.  Shafts are pretty close too but worth sorting 

[Phabs]

Got everything file fit, cut to play length and all the tip weighting figured out.  Have to order a few weights and I’ll finish them up.  Pw was D3 everything else was D2. 

[Phabs]

Played the first round on the Bridgestones yesterday morning.  Only hit balls twice this year and haven’t done any short game work so my expectations were low.  
 

All I can say is the CB’s are probably the best feeling cavity back iron I’ve ever swung.  The blades feel like blades - great out of the middle but clank anywhere a 1/4” either side of the sweet spot.  
 

I was pleasantly surprised to shoot one under first round out.  On 18 I hit a 5 iron to kick in from about 225 out.  

[DE-ILLINI]

Any pictures of the finished irons?  BB&F ferrules?

[Phabs]

14 minutes ago, DE-ILLINI said:

Any pictures of the finished irons?  BB&F ferrules?

This is the only one I had of them in the bag 

 

Edited April 13 by Phabs

[SharkC]

@Phabs looks like you shipped these out in December-ish?? What was the ballpark turnaround time? I sent a handful of clubs out in early March and I’m really excited to see the finished product. Certainly not worth bugging Doug with an email, just more so curious what the current timelines are looking like. 

[Phabs]

On 5/15/2025 at 12:19 PM, SharkC said:

@Phabs looks like you shipped these out in December-ish?? What was the ballpark turnaround time? I sent a handful of clubs out in early March and I’m really excited to see the finished product. Certainly not worth bugging Doug with an email, just more so curious what the current timelines are looking like. 

Yeah they took about 3-4 months to get back.  I called just to see how close they were at around 3 months. 

[golffan17]

Lovely set of clubs Phabs.

[Phabs]

On 5/20/2025 at 12:47 AM, golffan17 said:

Lovely set of clubs Phabs.

Appreciate the compliment - I enjoy building them for sure.   The bridgestones are an amazing club for sure and I totally get the cult following they have on here. 

Edited June 3 by Phabs

[golffan17]

4 hours ago, Phabs said:

Appreciate the compliment - I enjoy building them for sure.   The bridge stones are an amazing club for sure and I totally get the cult following they have on here. 

 

Bridgestone’s are great. I have a set of the Original XBlades and a set of 905’s (brand new). They’re great irons. 

 

Do you still have the Artisans? 

[Phabs]

8 hours ago, golffan17 said:

 

Bridgestone’s are great. I have a set of the Original XBlades and a set of 905’s (brand new). They’re great irons. 

 

Do you still have the Artisans? 

Yeah they’re super under the radar for sure 

 

I do still have the Artisans and play them often.  I primarily practice with the Bridgestones with the graphite so I don’t hammer the tendon in my elbow as bad and play rounds with whatever set I feel like swinging that day 🤣

[Phabs]

Had to go break in the new 54 at golden hour.  
 

 

[Phabs]

Had my best range session of the year tonight so I'm sure I’ll fire a million tomorrow. I’ve been using a tour rotation stick and the hanger aids on the range and at the house pretty consistently. Playing one of the more exclusive county clubs tomorrow morning. Never seen the course obviously but I’ve heard it’s a nightmare from the back tees.  My last round out was a 67 with four straight birdies to end so I’m due for a big number 🤣
 

Built a few more sets of irons for friends and the new digital swingweight scale I grabbed was worth every penny.  Saves so much time and back and forth when doing dry fit ups.  Need to find a good used loft and lie machine and I’ll be completely set to do everything in house 

[shoot4par]

On 4/13/2025 at 3:05 PM, Phabs said:

This is the only one I had of them in the bag 

 

Quite clean, hope they feel as good as they look. 

[Phabs]

1 hour ago, shoot4par said:

Quite clean, hope they feel as good as they look. 

Thanks.  They definitely feel amazing when you’re swinging right.  The CB’s are some of the best feeling heads I’ve ever hit.  

[Phabs]

Really been trying to have focused practice for the last month - focused drills with pressure when chipping / putting etc.   Using a training aid at the range to get my club slotted and into position on full and partial swings. 

 

Shot my second best score since college this afternoon with two of my buddies at a pretty easy course close to the house.   Lipped out a hole in one on 8 with a gap wedge and made just about everything I looked at with a putter.  

 

Nice to see working your a** off gets rewarded every once in a while.    

 

I'm fighting the urge to replace my driver with the Adapt X in a 9* head - this round definitely put the brakes on that thought. 

[MattM97]

3 hours ago, Phabs said:

Really been trying to have focused practice for the last month - focused drills with pressure when chipping / putting etc.   Using a training aid at the range to get my club slotted and into position on full and partial swings. 

 

Shot my second best score since college this afternoon with two of my buddies at a pretty easy course close to the house.   Lipped out a hole in one on 8 with a gap wedge and made just about everything I looked at with a putter.  

 

Nice to see working your a** off gets rewarded every once in a while.    

 

I'm fighting the urge to replace my driver with the Adapt X in a 9* head - this round definitely put the brakes on that thought. 

 

What's the current driver again for you? 

[Phabs]

2 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

What's the current driver again for you? 

Standard Aerojet head with some melt 

[MattM97]

5 hours ago, Phabs said:

Standard Aerojet head with some melt 

 

My bad influence would say test the Adapt but I know you're more particular with drivers over irons.

[Phabs]

On 6/29/2025 at 4:43 AM, MattM97 said:

 

My bad influence would say test the Adapt but I know you're more particular with drivers over irons.

Max K wasn’t too bad.  Definitely has my attention..  wasn’t my exact shaft and was a 10.5 head versus a 9* I usually play cranked up.  Only took 6 swings with the max K in the sim ice cold. 

 

Still can’t take the Aerojet out of my bag with my past two rounds.  Driving the ball on a string 

[MattM97]

28 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Max K wasn’t too bad.  Definitely has my attention..  wasn’t my exact shaft and was a 10.5 head versus a 9* I usually play cranked up.  Only took 6 swings with the max K in the sim ice cold. 

 

Still can’t take the Aerojet out of my bag with my past two rounds.  Driving the ball on a string 

 

I get that and lot of the new stuff is good but if you have something that just works there's no reason to switch. Like me with my G430LST right now, I could find something better but how much better honestly.

[rsballer10]

On 6/29/2025 at 12:43 AM, Phabs said:

Standard Aerojet head with some melt 

Interesting. Was that done because there's only 1 weight in the head? Or because you put the weight in a different area?

 

Just curious. I play an LTDx LS (I think you actually answered one of my forum posts a few years ago 😀). I have an AJ 10.5 and an AJ LS 10.5 in my garage I'm tinkering with. The standard AJ is just a bit too draw biased for me. 

[Phabs]

12 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

Interesting. Was that done because there's only 1 weight in the head? Or because you put the weight in a different area?

 

Just curious. I play an LTDx LS (I think you actually answered one of my forum posts a few years ago 😀). I have an AJ 10.5 and an AJ LS 10.5 in my garage I'm tinkering with. The standard AJ is just a bit too draw biased for me. 

Correct I wanted the weight in the carbon crown to knock some height out of the ball.  I’ve got the driver swing weighted at D2.5 @ 44.5” with a 14g back weight and I think around 4g’s of melt in the crown.   I prefer to hit a flat plateau ball with driver than the floaty stuff .  I struggle with decent angle and roll out if I get into the high floaty flight. 
 

I prefer the standard head because I play a draw ball flight through the bag until I get to gap wedge and I cut my gap and sand wedge. 
 

Id be surprised if you took the standard down a degree or so if you still hit the standard head left.   That being said - that LS is made to fade 

[rsballer10]

4 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Id be surprised if you took the standard down a degree or so if you still hit the standard head left.   That being said - that LS is made to fade 

Will try the standard lofted down a click next time I'm at the range. That's been my experience with the LS, the right bias keeps my draw in check. I don't mind seeing 'hanging sliders' for lack of a better term. Curves on the way up, falls on a straighter line.

[Phabs]

4 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

Will try the standard lofted down a click next time I'm at the range. That's been my experience with the LS, the right bias keeps my draw in check. I don't mind seeing 'hanging sliders' for lack of a better term. Curves on the way up, falls on a straighter line.

I can’t draw an LS head to save my life - feels like I have to just slam the face shut at impact to get any right to left.   Different strokes for different folks.

 

Let me know how the std head down a click works 

[Phabs]

Played a monster today.   Toughest public course in the state to me and apparently is the “longest” course in the U.S. from the pro tees at damn near 8500 yards.  Fred Funk didn’t mess around when he built this thing. 
 

We played one up from the pro tees at 7800.  Shot 3 under and lipped 3 birdies and left an eagle about a rotation short.  Course is unbelievably challenging, feels like it’s got a foot on your throat every single swing.  

Edited July 14 by Phabs

[edd13]

On 7/13/2025 at 9:53 PM, Phabs said:

Played a monster today.   Toughest public course in the state to me and apparently is the “longest” course in the U.S. from the pro tees at damn near 8500 yards.  Fred Funk didn’t mess around when he built this thing. 
 

We played one up from the pro tees at 7800.  Shot 3 under and lipped 3 birdies and left an eagle about a rotation short.  Course is unbelievably challenging, feels like it’s got a foot on your throat every single swing.  

 

Great logo honestly. 

[stratgolf]

On 7/14/2025 at 11:53 AM, Phabs said:

Played a monster today.   Toughest public course in the state to me and apparently is the “longest” course in the U.S. from the pro tees at damn near 8500 yards.  Fred Funk didn’t mess around when he built this thing. 
 

We played one up from the pro tees at 7800.  Shot 3 under and lipped 3 birdies and left an eagle about a rotation short.  Course is unbelievably challenging, feels like it’s got a foot on your throat every single swing.  

 

Very, very cool mate. Kudos.

[rsballer10]

On 7/3/2025 at 1:12 PM, Phabs said:

I can’t draw an LS head to save my life - feels like I have to just slam the face shut at impact to get any right to left.   Different strokes for different folks.

 

Let me know how the std head down a click works 

Worked like a charm to say the least. 13/14 drives yesterday were hit as good as I can hit them. I actually have a 9 degree head coming, just because as my speed is going up I don't need to loft up like I used to. Thanks for your help! 

[Phabs]

27 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

Worked like a charm to say the least. 13/14 drives yesterday were hit as good as I can hit them. I actually have a 9 degree head coming, just because as my speed is going up I don't need to loft up like I used to. Thanks for your help! 

Absolutely… glad it worked.   The standard head is really really good if you put time into it. Even for people with speed.  Sorry I cost you another 160 bucks for a head 🤣