Graphite Design Tour AD MT Golf Shaft Review

GRAPHITE DESIGNS TourAD MT DRIVER SHAFT

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

The Graphite Design Tour AD line continues in 2014 with another variation on the theme. The Tour AD MT has the familiar Graphite Design look. The profile follows the same basic design, stiff butt, rapidly losing stiffness toward the tip, and then sharply gaining stiffness into the tip. The difference in the Tour AD models is the mid section. Starting with the 2011 Tour AD DJ, a mid shaft stiffness bump was added. The placement and degree of this bump sets the launch propensity of the shaft.

In the Tour AD BB, the ‘bump’ is subtle and in the low mid region of the shaft. In the Tour AD GT, it moved back and was more pronounced. The mid section ‘bump’ in the Tour AD MT falls in about the same region as the Tour AD GT, it is followed by a rapid loss of stiffness to 16″ then the shaft quickly gains stiffness toward the tip.

What does that all mean to the golfer. This is a highly successful design that is in use by a number of marquee players. I see a mid launch, mid spin design that is a good mate for the low launch heads and balls we will see in the 2014 models.

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ

Talamonti Golf Shafts Review

Talamonti Driver Shafts

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas

Phil Talamonti has had a long history in the golf business; President of Wood Brothers, Executive VP of Softspikes, President of SST Puring, and Founder of Advanced Shaft Dynamics. Advanced Shaft Dynamics was Phil’s entry into the shaft alignment business. Several years ago he decided to launch his own shaft company. Early in that process he acquired one of my EI instruments. He used it to validate his designs and check the quality of the shafts he receives from his Chinese foundry. If you have looked around this site, you will see very familiar looking EI charts on the Talamonti Shafts Technology webpage.

I have not tested these shafts, my comments are based on comparing profiles to shafts I know. With this review I created a new category, Boutique Brands. These are smaller companies, with limited product lines, often created by someone with a lot of experience in the golf business.

Talamonti Lite-55

True to the description on the Talamonti website, this is a low spin, or perhaps better stated, low launch light weight design. I know this profile and have fit with it in another brand. its a classic low launch design. When I combine a low launch light weight design like this with a normal head weight I find the result is adequate launch with a piercing ball flight. I have had a great number of ‘surprise’ successes with this design when I am fitting someone with overactive hands. I have fit a number of strong players into light weight designs like this and created the perfect driver for them.

Talamonti HL-70

Like all the Talamonti shafts, the radial consistency of the Talamoni HL-70 is excellent. Every shaft has a subtle dot on the label indicating the ‘ideal’ alignment plane of the shaft. I found all the ‘dots’ to be on the soft plane. Aligning the ‘dot’ up or down will put the hard plane to the club head face. The marks were dead on, which I must credit to Phil’s past experience with SST and Advanced Shaft Dynamics. The dot is subtle, and with the current generation of rotating head driver hosels, not something one needs to pay much attention to. The radial consistency of these shafts makes them suitable for use in any orientation.

The HL-70 design is not a stranger to me or to most golfers. This is the classic Blue Board design. Almost every manufacturer I know offers this design in some form or another. The mid region is soft in comparison to the butt and tip. If you transition aggressively from backswing to downswing you should try this design. it is the biggest seller in the golf business. If you are looking for a mid launch fairway, this is it. The Talamonti HL-70 has the kind of torque numbers you want in a fairway shaft. If you have dispersion problems with your stock fairway shaft, replace it with this shaft.

Talamonti LS-70

The HL-70 design is not a stranger to me. It has a mid range loss of stiffness butt to tip, a mid shaft stiffness hump, followed with a rapid loss of stiffness to high tip, where it turns up again to a stiff stable tip. Translation, this is a mid launch, mid spin design, with a solid tip. With this kind of radial consistency, this is a bargain at $225 uninstalled.

Oban Devotion Shaft Review

OBAN DEVOTION DRIVER SHAFT

By Woody Lashen, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Pete’s Golf, Mineola, New York

The OBAN Devotion was one of the original shafts introduced by Oban. They come in 4 different weights plus a hybrid version. Designed to for mid launch and low spin; as with many shafts they vary in launch and spin as the weights change. As with all Oban shafts they do not use words for flex, they use a number system from 1-6 to designate flex. The 45 model ranges in weight from 46 t0 49 grams, and is offered in 1 to 4 flex. It runs much softer than the rest of the line with a very smooth feel and high launch high spin launch conditions. The 55 model is 53-59 grams and is available in 2-5 flexes. As the weight s starts to get heavier flex’s get stiffer and the launch and spin come down, the 55 is still a mid to high spin and launch shaft. The 65 version is 66-69 grams and available in 3-6 flex’s. It is one of the best mid 60 gram shafts for lowering spin while keeping the smooth feel of the devotion line. The 65 runs much stiffer then the two lower models, even for the highest loader of the shaft the 5 flex will be sufficient, in the many years of fitting this shaft we have not had the need to use the 6 flex in any of the versions of this shaft.

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ

Diamana Series W Golf Shaft Review

3 Replies

Mitsubishi Diamana W-Series Third Generation White Board

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas

The third generation Diamana White Board is a departure from previous designs. Like many shafts in the 2013-2014 season of super low launch head designs, it creates a higher launch tendency presentation of the head to the ball.

Three Generations of Diamana White Designs Compared

There was little change between the first generation Diamana White Board and the second generation ‘ahina. Torque was unchanged, weight went down slightly as the era of higher density materials began. A stiffer tip area required an adjustment to the mid section of the shaft and a quicker loss of stiffness in the mid-tip transition zone.

In the third generation Mitsubishi Diamana W Series we see a huge change in the EI profile of the shaft. The Tip to Butt ratio, a simple indicator of launch tendency is unchanged, but the path there is quite different. The signature profile of the White Board, and its cousin, the Mitsubishi Fubuki Alpha, a mid shaft bump in stiffness is gone. What we see now is a profile that is similar to many shafts, a consistent loss of stiffness from butt to tip. The signature mid shaft bump is still there, albeit lower and softer. And, unlike previous generations, there is a slight but significant change in profile as the Diamana W series gets heavier.

UltraLight vs 50 gram models

A 50 gram version has been added to the line. The Diamana W series 50 gram model have higher torque, consistent with creating feel in a light weight shaft. The tips are softer, and in looks much like a stouter version of the ultralight Bassara W series. The line between ultra light shafts and light weight versions of standard Mitsubishi models is blurred with the introduction of 50 gram shafts in both the Diamana W and Diamana B shafts. The Bassara models extend down to 40 gram models, but the 50 gram Diamana’s bridge the gap between the 50 gram Bassara’s and the 60 gram Diamana’s.

Radial quality of all the review samples was excellent. The Diamana W series is suitable for rotating hosels without any regard for alignment. As you can see from the chart above, it does not get any better than this.

UST Mamiya ATTAS 5 GoGo Driver Shaft Review

3 Replies

UST Mamiya ATTAS5 GoGo Driver Shaft

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas

The UST ATTAS5 is the late 2013 addition the the ATTAS family of shafts. It compliment the ATTAS3 and ATTAS4u reviewed earlier. The ATTAS shafts are ultra premium models made from ultra-high modulus, low resin content materials. They are available from UST Mamiya Tour SPX certified fitters only.

I see in the ATTAS 5 a design that keeps showing up in new shaft releases. A steeply descending profile showing a rapid loss of stiffness from butt to tip, with a long stiff tip. The difference between one brand and the next is the rate of stiffness lost and the length of the tip section of the driver shaft. The new ATTAS 5 and the ATTAS 3 released a few years ago are a good high launch vs low launch pair. The 6 Stiff profiles are compared in this illustration. The ATTAS 5 is softer in the mid section. It will create good launch and spin for a golfer with a flat to negative angle of attack. The stiff mid ATTAS 3, fitting the player with a positive angle of attack, looking to create a lower spin penetrating ball flight. The ATTAS 5 design is a good compliment to the low launch, low spin heads and balls that are common in the 2013-2014 marketplace.

What struck me as I measured the ATTAS 5 GoGo review samples was the radial quality. Several of the shafts had perfect radial quality measurements. So perfect in fact that they showed very little change in oscillation patterns in any orientation. That prompted me to take a hard look at the 8 stiff shaft. The red lines in this illustration show the Flat Line Oscillation (FLO) planes. These indicate the high and low points of stiffness around the shaft. On a perfect shaft such as this, they did not fall 90 degrees apart as is typical. The Bow plane of the shaft was not a point as shown on the graphic, but rather a 50 degree range, centered at the spot shown, that indicates a shaft which is not only perfectly round, but also perfectly straight. Shafts such as this show us what is possible with current production technology if you are willing to spend $605. If you have a rotating hosel the ATTAS 5 GoGo shafts can be orientated in any direction with no regard whatsoever for alignment.

If you are not a club builder you may not be familiar with the term FLO. It is located by clamping the butt of the shaft and attaching a weighted laser pointer to the tip. These images are a 5 second time delay photo of the laser tip oscillating. As you can see, the oscillation follows the stripe on the board perfectly in both planes. This simple technique quickly finds the hard and soft planes of a golf shaft.

The clamping device is a laser detection instrument that measures the oscillation rate of the shaft. This is called the frequency of the shaft. It is a method of measuring stiffness. Frequency matched shaft sets are made using this equipment. By comparing the frequency of the two FLO planes, the radial consistency of the shaft is quickly determined. If the frequency on the two FLO planes are the same, or nearly the same, the shaft is perfectly round. The UST Mamiya ATTAS 5 shafts are perfectly round.

This photo shows the clamp with a radial protractor attached to the shaft. The tip points to a board with a vertical line, That line guides the deflection perpendicular to the clamp. Suspended above the shaft is the camera used to take the photos and video for this short demonstration of shaft oscilliation