Aldila Rogue I/O Golf Shaft Review

Aldila Rogue 110 MSI I/O Driver Shafts

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

Rogue_IO_ImageIOTipLogoThe Aldila Rogue I/O is an update the the Rogue Silver. The tip section of the shaft has a notation, RIP I/O. The tip section of the Rogue I/o is made with Aldila’s RIP technology. RIP (Reverse Interlaminar Placement) means some of the bias wraps are moved from the core of the shaft to the outer wall. Outer layers of material exert a greater influence on tube performance than inner layers. The bias (angular) wraps of material create torsional and hoop strength in a tube. Moving those layers to the exterior of the shaft generally means lower torque and higher hoop strength. In the Rogue I/O the torque and hoop strength of the original Rogue Silver shafts are matched in the Rogue Silver RIP in a 5 to 9 gram lighter shaft.

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

- Golf Professional Notes -

Mitsubishi KuroKage XM Driver Shaft Review

Mitsubishi KuroKage XM Driver

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

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Some shafts are simply too good to change. The Mitsubishi KuroKage Proto TiNi is one such shaft. The new KuroKage XM is the KuroKage Proto with new graphics and a wider range of weights. It is promoted as a mid launch – mid spin shaft. I view launch and spin as a propensity not an absolute. Your angle of attack, the club head loft,  where you strike and how the shaft, interacting with your loading and release, deliver the head are all part of the launch and spin equation. The XM, in the right hands, is not what I would define as mid launch / mid spin. But, shaft companies have to fill in those words for the golfing public.

The Mitsubishi website has always presented shaft EI graphics alongside their verbal descriptions. If you spend years looking at those charts and testing them on a wide range of golfers they being to have meaning. I view the difference between the KuroKage XM and the KuroKage XT as more feel related than launch. The XT has a stiffness bump low mid. That bump does contribute to a lower launch, but more important, gives a better sense of tip stability to a hard swinging late release golfer.

The technical discussion, measurements and testing results are available only to registered readers

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Russ

Project X HZDRUS Yellow Golf Shaft Review

Project X HZRDUS Yellow Driver Shaft

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

HZDRUS Yellow Image
The Project X HZRDUS Yellow is the third driver shaft in the Hand Crafted family from True Temper. It has a notably soft midsection. This is much like the first in the series, the Project X Loading Zone reviewed earlier. The bend profile is much like the profiles of the 70 gram versions of the Project X Loading Zone model. The soft zones of those shafts moved with weight and flex. I have fit a number of players into the 50 and 60 gram versions of the Loading Zone. Therefore, another shaft with that design grabbed my attention.

I had a chance just recently to test it during a fitting with a single digit handicap player that showed up with a 6 year old driver and a 103 mph golf swing. Working with the Yellow HZRDUS and a TaylorMade M1 we added 2 mph to his swing speed, 3 mph to his ball speed, dropped his spin 800 rpm all of which added 17 yards to his drives. His playing buddies are in for a surprise.

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Russ

Project X HZRDUS Black Driver Shaft Review

Project X HZRDUS Black Driver Shaft

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

HZDRUS Black Image

The Project X brand is a flagship in the golf shaft business. The brand started as an unstepped steel shaft and has morphed into carbon fiber driver and hybrid shafts. This shaft, like the Project X loading zone that came before it is hand made in the US under tight quality control processes.

The product information from True Temper tells us the shaft has a firmer midsection than the Loading Zone model. And indeed it does, lets look at the numbers:

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Russ

Aldila 2KVX NV Golf Shaft Review

Aldila 2KVX NV Driver Shaft

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

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A new generation of carbon fibers, that boost the strength of the material used in the construction of golf shafts are boosting strength while reducing the weight. Applying these new material to classic designs is changing the game. Advances in head design are helping us hit the ball further, advances in shaft design are keeping those longer balls in the fairway. The Aldila 2KVX NV is the third iteration of a classic design. Who can forget the original lime green Aldila NV. Of course, it was introduce such a long time ago many younger golfers have never seen it. I looked in the 2016 GolfWorks catalog and it is still there. The official second generation design, the RIP NV was reviewed here, a few years ago. When you have a design that works, and new materials, the old designs get updated.

Aldila was one of the first shaft companies to use thinner layers of material in shaft design. It was called MLT, Micro Laminate Technology, and I believe the original NV was the first shaft to use it. We are now in an time when a lot of new high density, high strength materials are being used in golf shafts. The new fibers are thinner with the same strength. The prepreg, the sheets a shaft is made from, have more fiber and less resin. This denser material is redefining how a golf shaft can be made. A new dimension of what started as MLT is evolving. What we are seeing is torque numbers going slightly higher to restore a conventional feel to high density shafts. As you compare the torque numbers of the 2KVX NV to older designs and see larger torque numbers, do not be alarmed. It is happening everywhere high density materials are used.

The technical discussion, measurements and testing results are available only to registered readers

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