Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Golf Center at the Highlands, Carrollton Texas

At this moment, all eyes are on this shaft as it is in the bags of Tiger and Rory at the Masters. Mitsubishi is sold out in the US until around May 1. The Pro Orange is the third shaft in the Tensei product line. As noted on the Mitsubishi Chemical website “this is the first of it’s kind bend profile for MCA GOLF.”  Many of Mitsubishi’s designs are variations of previous themes. The Tensei Pro Orange is unique. I keep inserting the word Pro in my description of this shaft. The Tensei Orange, a shaft sold to the club companies is not the same. The difference between the two can be seen on the Mitsubishi website. The torque and the bend profiles are quite different.

The Tensei Pro Blue and The Tensei Pro White have been reviewed earlier. The three shafts are an evolution in multi material construction from Mitsubishi. Most interesting is the Carbon Fiber Dupont Kevlar “CK” material woven into the butt section of the shaft. You can plainly see it’s effect on hoop strength in the following chart.

I just listened to a PodCast where a tour fitter described the main advantage of this shaft as it being counterweighted. I never cease to be amazed at some of this banter. The tip structure of this shaft is far more likely to make it a good fit for hard swinging tour pros than counterweighting. I can counterweight with a bit of lead tape under the grip if what I am after is a swing weight change. But an elementary lesson taught when I first started club building many years ago was this is not the proper way to build. Tricking a swing weigh instrument with butt weight is not how one should achieve club balance. Counterweighting does deliver benefits for some players, but in drivers that it typically accomplished with a 20g or 30g plug in the butt of the shaft. If the small balance change created by counterweighting a shaft works, they why not just use a heavier grip.