Graphite Design Raune Iron Shaft Review

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Graphite Design Raune Iron Shaft Review

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 recent review of parallel iron shafts prompted me to open the recent arrival of the box of the new Graphite Design iron shaft, Raune. I don’t fit many carbon fiber iron shafts simply because the decent ones are about double the price of steel. There is so many options in light weight steel, I rarely need to go to carbon fiber shafts. I have a few in play, one former tour pro with arthritic pain in his elbows. Another strong hard swinging pro that likes the lighter weight and over the top stiffness we can get with carbon fiber. The Raune comes in both parallel and taper tip models.

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Russ

Graphite Designs Tour AD GC Driver Shaft Review

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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

I received Graphite Designs Tour AD GC shaft before the release. That gave me time to measure it and get player feedback before the scheduled release.

This is the sixth shaft from Graphite Design to use Torayca M40X in the butt section of the shaft. This is a high tensile strength and high modulus fiber prepreg. This means the shaft will exhibit more elasticity where the M40X material is applied. In comparing the models that have this material to those that don’t, I see reduced hoop deformation in the handle.

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Russ

Graphite Designs Tour AD VF Hybrid Review

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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

Graphite Designs introduced the Tour AD VF, Victories requires Force, driver shaft in late 2023. The Tour AD VF Hybrid Shaft released in 2024. The profile is a close match to the VF driver profile. . Stiffness is generally a function of weigh as you can see in the chart below. The uncut weights range from 77 to 107 grams. This wide range is similar to the wide weight range available on the VF driver. The torque numbers illustrate the low tip torque achieved by using Torayca T1100G woven fiber in the tip of the VF Hybrid shaft.

As you can see in the EI profile, the shaft profile is indeed as claimed. the tip section is firmer than all other Graphite Design Tour AD Hybrid models.

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Russ

Graphite Designs Tour AD VF Driver Shaft Review

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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

Graphite Designs introduced the Tour AD VF, Victories requires Force, driver shaft in late 2023. The Tour AD VF is available in a wide range of weights from 40 to 89 grams. Stiffness is not completely determined by weight. There is a range of stiffnesses available in different weight shafts. As with most shafts, torque is a function of weight. Graphite Design tells us, “the shaft profile is Firm in the butt section, Stiff+ in the center section and has a Very Stiff tip to promote Low/Mid launch angles and Low-ball spin rates.

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Russ

Graphite Design Tour AD IZ Hybrid Shaft Review

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Graphite Design Tour AD IZ Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

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 Graphite Design Tour AD IZ Hybrid Shaft is not new release. It was recently pointed out to me that it was not in the database. Like most Graphite Design models, they do not get recycled with new graphics every few years. The IZ driver shaft has been with us since 2017. It is an update of the Graphite Design Tour AD DI with new materials. The Graphite Design IZ Driver and IZ Hybrid profiles are very similar. If the IZ or DI driver are your fit, you should be testing the IZ Hybrid in your hybrid or rescue clubs.

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Russ