By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter
As Mitsubishi tells us, this is a return to the original RB, Red Board profile. With new material technologh and an “active tip section.” Translation, softer.
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Russ
By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter
There have been a lot of ultra light golf shafts released in 2024 and 2025. The Mitsubishi Vanquish is the recent release aimed at this market segment. I remember the Bassara UltraLight Mitsubishi models from 2014 – 2016. This series was discontinued and Diamana models became available in lighter weights. Currently the Diamana models are offered in 40 gram versions. The remaining ultra light is the Grand Bassara which gets down to 29 and 39 grams. While I typically avoid working with shaft ultra light shafts because of their high torque. I did have a customer that developed his swing around a Grand Bassara and hit it further than anything else I tested. The current batch of Vanquish review shafts is available from TaylorMade in 2025 at no upcharge.
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Russ
By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter
The Kai’li Dark Waves series of shafts is included in the 2025 TaylorMade Custom Shaft Options catalog as a no upcharge shaft. The Kai’li name goes back to to my early days of shaft profiling. When it was used as part of the Diamana model family I recognized as a Blue Archetype. Over the years the name was reused in 2023 with White, Blue and Red models. I have limit access to the new Dark Wave Kai’li models from the TaylorMade shaft options catalog which will be expanded as missing models arrive. Rather than posting separate reviews for each model I will cover the White, CB, Fairway and Hybrid models is this overview.
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Russ
By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Tensei Pro 1K White is among my favorite fitting shafts. The carbon fiber weave below the butt adds hoop strength and the firm mid is a great fit for skilled swings. A new shaft in the Tensei 1k model gets my immediate attention. This shaft lacks the “Pro” designation in its name so I had some concern that is lacked the same carbon kevlar weave below the handle as i see in the Pro models. Comparing hoop deformation to the White Pro 1K I don’t see any difference between shafts of the same weight and stiffness. And that is great news in a no upcharge OEM shaft.
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Russ
I have been fitting with Mitsubishi Diamana Golf Shafts since I started my fitting business. The Blue Board Archetype is the most copied shaft profile in the business. The soft mid profile delivers forgiveness to the often erratic tempo of many recreational golfers. the last three generations of the Diamana have changed very little. The Diamana BB is a significant change.
This chart compares the torque of the last four generations of the Diamana Blue golf shafts. Mitsubishi tells us high modulus 46 ton fiber was used in the bias plies and 80 ton fiber is used in the butt section of the Diamana BB. It is evident that torque, as claimed, has been reduced. The torque of the BB is 0.4 degrees lower than earlier models.
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Russ
