Nunchuck Golf Shafts Review

Nventix Nunchuck Driver, Nunchuck Hybrid, Nunchuck Iron

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

Nunchuck Driver Shaft

The Nventix folks are Dallas based as am I. The CEO, Mike McCall lives less than a mile from me. I have known about this shaft since its early days. The design idea comes from Bruce Devlin, a nine-time PGA Tour/PGA Senior Tour winner. Create a shaft with a stiff handle and tip, focusing all the flex in the middle of the shaft. An extensive discussion of the science is presented on the Nventix web site with a detailed explanation of the concept in the frequently asked questions tab.

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The stiff tip facilitates less shaft related head movement as you approach impact. That is a good thing. A 103 gram driver shaft raises my eyebrows. But, for many, adding a counter weight to a shaft is going to accomplish much the same from a total weight perspective. And I and fellow fitters have put a great many players into counterweights.

NunchuckDriverImage
Radial consistency is 99.4%, orientation in rotating hosels is a non issue. Before you look at the profile and wonder how such a severe change in stiffness will even be playable, look at this next image. This is the translation of EI into deflection.

Variations of this EI profile are seen in a few other shafts. Not exactly, but much closer than I had thought. What is rarely seen is the weight in a driver shaft. And that is something you will have to try for yourself. The butt stiffness is off the charts. That illustrates the inherent flaw in using butt stiffness to rate shafts. Feel comes from many factors. The rate and amount of loss of stiffness down the shaft as well as torque combine to produce feel.

It is fairly well known among radar equipped fitters that shaft stiffness reduces dispersion. To the degree that stiffness does not change your swing, it is a good thing. The Nunchuck driver shaft is stiff by all measurements, deflection, load, frequency. It has an EI profile that we are new seeing in a number of iron shaft designs. A rapid loss of stiffness in the middle of the shaft followed by a long stable tip. If you can handle the weight, it is now becoming a popular design.

Nunchuck Hybrid Shaft

The Nventix Nunchuck Hybrid shaft came along a year to two after the introduction of the driver shaft. The design is similar. The automatically enhanced graphic below does a bit of injustice to the actual design, but is comparable to the rest of the images on this site.

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NunchuckHybrid_EITBTbRadial consistency is 99.7%, outstanding, orientation in rotating hosels is a non issue. Once again, remember, EI profiles show the sitffness of the 36 ‘springs’ we measure that constitute a golf shaft. When these springs are interconnected, the deflection profile is smooth. On this shaft, I see a weight range that is without question acceptable in many bags. The stiffness is in the range of many shafts I fit strong players into. The unique design is one of the lowest launch propensities I know of.

Nunchuck Iron Shaft

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Like all the Nventix shafts, the radial consistency of the iron shaft is exceptional, 98.9%. It is an unusual design with a unique trim pattern. The typical shaft of this style, a single shaft often called parallel blanks get trimmed from the tip, creating increasing stiffness as the shafts get shorter in response to the heads getting heavier. The Nunchuck is a taper tip design, and a single shaft is used to create the set, trimmed from the butt. That is an unusual approach but I have build a few of these on request for some good ball strikers.

Aldila RIP Alpha Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

Aldila RIP Alpha Hybrid

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

HB2014AldilaRIPImage

This is not a new shaft from Aldila, it was released several years ago. It was the pioneering release of Reverse Interlaminar Placement in Aldila shafts. It has been used in all subsequent shafts. It has never been clear to me exactly what was done. Their illustrations show bias plies at both the inner and outer wraps of the shaft. Most premium shafts over the last few years have adapted to some variation of this layup design.

What brought the RIP to my attention was the release of the KBS Tour V and the Nippon Modus3 Tour 130 designs. Both have a long stable butt and mid with a rapid loss of stiffness toward the tip in the high tip section of the shaft. When working on my Hybrid fitting system I saw this pattern in the RIP Alpha Hybrid.

AldilaRIPHybridEiDfTbI secured a few more review samples from Aldila and took a hard look at the model. It has really low tip torque numbers and excellent radial consistency. If you are familiar with the table from other reviews you will notice that the format of the balance column has changed. It is now expressed in terms of the midpoint of the shaft. A positive number indicates the balance is above the midpoint, a negative number below the midpoint. This makes it easier to see the amount of counterbalance build into a shaft. What we see in the Alpha is a ‘balanced’ shaft.

RIPHybridDeflecting

In future reviews you will see deflection profiles The EI profiles I have been using may cause some confusion and consternation when looking at the charts. You can see unusual peaks and valleys is many designs. This is not how the shaft bends. That is how the designer tailored the stiffness of the shaft to create a bend profile. In this illustration you can see increasing and decreasing load applied to the EI numbers and watch how the shaft bends in response to loading and unloading.

The Aldila RIP Hybrid shaft profile, what one shaft company tour rep explained as convex vs concave when discussing two popular models, is seeing a lot of play recently. I found an example of two shafts with similar butt and tip stiffness and in my new bend modeling software applied increasing tip loads to the shafts to help me envision how these two extremes compare to each other. LoadingAnamation
This is new methodology, I am not aware of any other software implementation of load modeling based on EI profiles. What we clearly see here is the mid shaft stiffness creating a propensity for a lower launch. What you also see is the importance of matching the load you apply to a shaft. Shafts that are too stiff for you barely bend, giving you a boardy feeling. Shafts that are too soft, bend too much. As they recover from applied load during the reduced acceleration that happens just before impact, they add too much variation to head speed and orientation. That is why being properly fit into a shaft is a huge factor in shot dispersion.

When warm weather returns to Dallas we will get to reaction from the local golf professionals comparing the feel of these two designs.

Fujikura Motore Speeder Hybrid Shaft Review

FUJIKURA MOTORE SPEEDER TOUR SPEC HYBRID SHAFT

By Kirk James & Mark Vallier, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
MK Golf Technologies,San Antonio, Texas

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The Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec hybrid shaft is an extension of the Tour Spec line of shafts from Fujikura. As with the Tour Spec driver and fairway shafts, these hybrid shafts are state of the art shafts designed for elite amateurs and tour players looking for the best performance available.

HB Speeder EiGjTbThe Tour Spec hybrid shafts are designed with a very stiff butt profile, a moderate mid section and a very stiff tip. Using very high modulus materials, the shaft design team at Fujikura is able to create a shaft with torque numbers approaching those of steel shafts. These low torque values combined with a stiff tip result in outstanding dispersion control and a lower controlled ball flight even for the strongest players.Our personal experience is that there is no greater pleasure than knowing you can count on your hybrid shafts to deliver greens in regulation consistently. And that comes from steel like control. The Fujikura Motore Speeder Hybrid is designed to deliver steel like control in a graphite hybrid shaft.

These Tour Spec hybrid shafts are highly recommended for the elite player or other stronger amateur players with high swing speeds and heavy shaft loads looking for control in vertical launch, ball flight and dispersion that can only come from the state of the art in graphite hybrid shafts.

Fujikura Fuel Hybrid Shaft Review

FUJIKURA FUEL HYBRID SHAFT

By Kirk James & Mark Vallier, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
MK Golf Technologies,San Antonio, Texas

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The Fujikura Fuel hybrid shaft utilizes the same Fuel technology found in the other driver and fairway shafts in the Fuel line of shafts. This technology results in an extremely stable feeling shaft at a fairly moderate price point. These shafts have the same tight, low launching characteristics of the other Fuel shafts that will generate greater distance and accuracy on a more consistent basis.

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The Fuel’s torque numbers shown above are very impressive for a moderately priced hybrid shaft. These torque numbers are very similar to steel, which in our fitting experience means lateral dispersion control. The design of this shaft creates a low boring trajectory with excellent lateral dispersion. It may feel slightly harsh for the slow to average swinger, but is an excellent choice for the stronger player that can load the shaft on the downswing. The Fuel hybrid shaft is highly recommended for the stronger player looking for a boring trajectory, good dispersion and a moderate price point.

 

 

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

Oban_Devotion_Driver_ImageThe 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.

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Russ

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Russ