Graphite Design Tour AD UB Shaft Review

Graphite Design Tour AD UB Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The Graphite Design Tour AD UB is the second shaft from Graphite Design to use Torayca ® M40X pre-preg. Torayca ® M40X has both high strength and does not deform when loaded. Tensile Modulus is the mechanical property the relates force to deformation. The material in the UB does not elongate when loaded. In a golf shaft, the energy applied is not lost to elongation. It is stored in the shaft and theoretically is released at impact resulting in higher ball speeds.

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Russ

ACCRA Tour Z RPG HBP & LBP Driver Shafts Review

ACCRA Tour Z RPG HBP & LBP Driver Shafts Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

High Balance and Low Balance designs compliment the ACCRA Tour Z shaft, released in 2017. High modulus. low resin prepreg results in low wall thickness, enhancing feedback. Uniform taper provides maximum energy transfer down the shaft. A woven prepreg from Toray runs down the length of the shaft, resulting in a uniform torque profile down the shaft. ACCRA tells us this creates the lowest resin to fiber ratio of any shaft they have ever designed. The shafts are made in a Japanese and the quality and conformity across weights and flex designations is as good as I have seen. Lets explore the EI Profile flex distribution of these shafts and look at how the movement of balance point changes a shaft.

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Russ

Aldila Rogue 130MSI Black Driver Shaft Review

Aldila Rogue 130MSI Black Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The Aldila Rogue driver shafts have now all been reissued with 130 MSI prepreg. The Aldila website informs us that Mitsubishi Chemical fiber and prepreg is used exclusively in the shaft. Mitsubishi acquired Aldila several years ago. Aldila and Mitsubishi are one of the few brands, perhaps the only brand, in the business to produce the materials their shafts are made with. Lets look at the rogue Black EI profile and then compare it to the Rogue White and Silver.

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Russ

Tensei Pro White 1K Golf Shaft Review

Mitsubishi Tensei Pro White 1K Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi Tensei Pro driver shafts have been available since 2016. They feature a Carbon Fiber/DuPont™ Kevlar® (CK) weave in the butt-section of the shaft. I have seen many shafts over the years with a woven material placed in the butt of shafts. This is as an indication that shaft manufactures recognize the thin walls near the but of the shaft deform and oval under load. The ovaling of the shaft in this area can contribute to shot dispersion. The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi is the only material I have measured to date where I can see a measurable effect. Hoop deformation significantly dips in this section of the shaft. Reduced hoop deformation in the 1K weave is the same as the CK weave. Mitsubishi tells us the 1K material transmits more feel.

Hoop deformation has a significant effect on the EI profile of the golf shaft.  Hoop deformation is manifested in the thin wall, butt section of the shaft. Mitsubishi engineering integrated the woven material hoop rigidity into the Tensei Pro designs, preserving the archetypical White, Blue and Red Board profiles of the Diamana family. 

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Russ

Aldila Ascent Driver Shaft Review

Aldila Ascent Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The 2021 Aldila Ascent is a reminder that Mitsubishi Chemical purchased Aldila several years ago. The design is reminiscent of several very successful Mitsubishi models in the past. Albeit with the latest prepreg and fibers.

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Russ