Nunchuck Golf Shafts Review

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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.

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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.

Shimada Iron Shafts

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Shimada Iron Golf Shaft

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

In response to a request from a viewer, the Shimada iron shaft data available on my old shaft review page has been resurrected. it has been some time since I measured these and some of the data now shown in the current reviews is not available. The review samples are no where to be found in the shop.

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The profiles look much like the new TourTemper XP 95 S flex design, That same design is available in different weights and stiffness.

 

Talamonti Golf Shafts Review

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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

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TalamontiLS55EiGjTbTrue 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

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TalamontHL70EiGjTbLike 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

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TalamontLS70EiGjTbThe 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.