The Graphite Design G Series of shafts was introduced in 2011. A large bundle of them arrived recently for review. The measurements got my attention. I would put this shaft into the same design group that I see with the Mitsubishi Diamana Blue, the Miyazaki JDL and the Matrix Ozik Xcon. A soft mid in relation to the tip and butt. This fit is generally suitable for the golfer with a quick, aggressive transition. We can see this by looking at the average EI and GJ profiles of the Graphite Design G Series.
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
The key to the radial quality and respectable torque numbers of this shaft may be due to the attention paid to fiber orientation in this shaft. I lifted this illustration from the Graphite Design website.
There are 6 different fiber orientations used in this shaft. The bias plies are at different angles and sandwiched in between the tip to butt, linear fiber plies. Not all plies extend the full length of the shaft, But from a measurement perspective, the layup works. With radial quality numbers like these, this shaft, even in the light weight models, is suitable for the rotating hosels in todays current generation of driver and fairway designs. Looks like were are going to have to take some of these to the range and see what they feel like, stay tuned.
When I entered the golf club fitting business about 15 years ago, there was not a standard rating system for golf shaft stiffness. Nor was there a way to compare golf shafts. This journal gives you a way to compare golf shafts with a uniform stiffness rating evaluation. Understanding the properties of a golf shaft which is your best fit leads to a better game.
Describing golf shaft properties is not a simple task. Shaft company marketing developed terms, “kick point”, “stiffness”, “launch” and “spin” to describe shaft properties. These terms developed into a mythological language for describing golf shafts. Shaft engineers and designers define golf shaft stiffness as a profile, the change of stiffness down the length of the shaft. Many years ago a tour of a shaft company R&D lab enlightened my understanding of golf shaft technology.
That lead to me designing and manufacturing a very accurate shaft stiffness measuring instrument. It is now used by several shaft companies. I have been writing about shaft properties for 10+ years. The term EI profile, is now part of the discussion some shaft companies are having with golfers.
If you want to understand golf shafts you have come to the right place. Here you can learn why some shafts work better for you than others. And more important, how to recognize the properties of shafts that make you a better golfer. Please share your comments about what you experience with the shafts reviewed.
A system which defines the distribution of flex down a golf shaft is how most shaft companies design golf shafts. But the information, for fear of giving that information to their competitors, is not shared with the public. It took a few years to refine my measurement instrument and many, many years to acquire and measure the popular golf shafts. This journal provides you with uniform measurements of thousands of golf shafts. If you are new here, the TECHNOLOGY MENU is a collection of articles that will guide your understand golf shaft design.
This journal is entirely supported by subscription. To insure my integrity, there are no ads on this site, that allows me to remain unbiased in the articles. If you believe as I do, that your golf shafts are essential to good golf, please subscribe. Acquiring shafts, measuring them and writing articles takes a great amount of time. Your subscription underwrites the time and resources needed to keep this journal going and growing.
This video is a detailed discussion about golf shafts stiffness and the history of how they were measured and marketed. It is one of many videos about golf equipment technology and golf club building on my youtube channel, Devoted Golfer.
It took years to understand shaft measurement and many more years to accumulate a meaningful database of shaft measurements. The magnitude of that accomplishment did not occur to me until a golf shaft company owner said it to me. Several golf shaft companies now use the EI measuring instrument I designed and manufactured. If you are a golf professional and would like access to more data there are two choices. Golf Professional subscribers get access to a larger set of data and individual profiles of all the shaft model weights and stiffness variations that were made available. Fit2Score Affiliates have access to the entire database through Excel. To hear a podcast interview I did about golf shafts with Tony Wright, a Fit2Score Software Affiliate, Click Here.
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