“Part of the same 2025 black-finish Beres lineup as the 09 Black driver, this fairway wood pairs a very light shaft with a variable-thickness face for easy launch. It runs about 600 dollars and is hand-built in Sakata, Japan, matching the craftsmanship and look of the rest of the black series.”
The Beres 09 Black is Honma's 2025 entry in its ultra-premium Black Series, built around a tungsten-nickel back-heel weight that pushes CG angle to +5.0 degrees and a face/crown of uneven thickness meant to widen the sweet spot. It's paired exclusively with hand-crafted Vizard shafts made in Sakata, Japan. At roughly $600 per club, it's priced and positioned less as a performance fairway wood competing on robot-test numbers and more as a boutique, tempo-friendly club for smooth-swinging players who buy into Honma's Japanese-craftsmanship story.
The broader Beres line has decades of devoted following in Japan and among collectors for its lacquer/gold-flake aesthetics and hand-built shafts, but this specific 09 Black release is only months old with no independent long-term reviews yet.
Aimed at smooth-tempo, often older or slower-swing golfers, typically in Japan or collectors elsewhere, who want a premium boutique club and don't mind paying a large premium over mainstream OEM fairways for craftsmanship and brand cachet.
Competes less on launch-monitor numbers and more in the small ultra-premium tier alongside past Honma Beres releases and Japan-market boutique brands, distinct from the mass-market Callaway/TaylorMade/Cobra forgiveness race happening at a third of the price.
Expanded sweet spot and uneven-thickness face help off-center hits, but Honma's ultralight shaft-first design is tuned for tempo and feel rather than max forgiveness, so mishits aren't as protected as in a Western game-improvement fairway.
Calibrated across the whole catalog — a tour blade scores low here on purpose; it means control, not ease.
Rarely seen used given low sales volume in the US; when it does surface, expect $350-450, still a steep premium over mainstream fairway woods reflecting the brand's boutique positioning rather than resale demand.
Reading is one thing — hitting is another. Book a bay and see the numbers for yourself before you buy anywhere.