Mitsubishi Diamana Thump Iron Shaft Review

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

This is the second release of a Diamana Thump Iron Shaft. The first release, in 2010, was eventually discontinued. At $160 per shaft, or $1280 per set of shafts, there was little interest. I am surprised to see the shaft again being offered. Perhaps PXG’s success at selling uber expensive irons demonstrated there is a market for ultra premium irons.

What exactly do you get at $160 per shaft? Much like an exotic sports car you get light weight strength. I am seeing equivalent steel stiffness with 10 to 15 grams less weigh. I am not referring the the R,S,X denoted on shafts. Those letters are meaningless ways to compare shafts outside of their own particular model. I am referring to area under the EI curve, the only functional method I have seen to rate shaft stiffness. I have to get into the 125 gram range in steel to see a stiffness match to the 2018 Mitsubishi Chemical Thump 105 gram iron shafts. These are truly exotic iron shafts at a truly exotic price. Unless you are comfortable with the stiffness found in something like a 125 gram KBS tour this is not a shaft you can load. But if you are, you have to see what happens when your clubs weigh loses 15 grams. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.

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Russ

Mitsubishi Thump Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

Mitsubishi Diamana Thump Hybrid Shaft Review

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

I cannot recall how long the Diamana Thump Hybrid has been in my bag. I am playing the original 95 gram Thump that was made with a .350 tip. For many years I has been available as an unlisted special order shaft to Mitsubishi Dealers. I have ordered and installed them for many of my fitting clients. At last, the Diamana Thump has been reissued with a .370 tip and new graphics. There are three models, 90S, 90X and 100X.

I have long described the Thump Hybrid as a steel shaft made out of carbon fiber. It sits in the same weight range as mid weight steel. And it is every bit as stiff, if not stiffer than steel in the weight range. The low torque that is an inherent property of steel is built into the Thump. If the $200+ price of a Thump, or other high performance carbon fiber hybrid shafts, is not in your budget then go with steel. However, there are a few reasons you would choose carbon fiber over steel.

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Russ

The .370 tip fits most all current generation hybrids. No longer will you have to shim the .355 tips of the older design. If you have used the earlier generation you will find the tips to ever so slightly firmer in the new design. Torque is slightly lower as well. It is time to put some new hot face hybrids in my bag.[/restrict]

Mitsubishi TENSEI CK Driver Shaft Review

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Mitsubishi Tensei CK Driver Shaft Review

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

The past focus of Golf Shaft Reviews had been aftermarket shafts. With this review I am creating a new category, OEM shafts. The typical market price of an aftermarket driver shaft ranges from $300 to $1000. Those shafts are not supplied in off the rack drivers. In the not to distant past we would see the notation “Made For” or “Engineered For” on these shafts. That notation came to be recognized by the golfer for what it was. Several years ago it disappeared and the labeling of the OEM ‘Made For” shaft became much more subtle. A reasonable person understands that he is not going to get a $400 ultra premium shaft in a $400 driver. Unfortunately, many of the clerks in the retail side of the golf business are unaware of the subtle changes in graphics now used to label aftermarket and OEM shafts.

This is not a condemnation of the shafts made for the club companies that are installed in off the rack drivers. A great many golfers play a lot of good golf with these shafts. And generally the quality of all shaft has improved over that last several years. The difference is in the materials used. Those differences are most easily seen in the measurements torque and hoop deformation. In my experience those two properties affect dispersion. It is not difficult to produce bargain shafts with the same linear stiffness properties of some of the premium shafts. It is impossible to reproduce the matrix of stiffness, weight, torque and hoop strength that comes with exotic materials and high density prepreg that is used in premium shafts.

The Tensei CK Pro Blue, Tensei CK Pro White and Tensei CK Pro Orange have been reviewed earlier. They feature a long section of Carbon Fiber Dupont Kevlar “CK” material woven into the butt section of the shaft. The Pro Blue and White feature Boron reinforced tips. The notation Boron Tip is printed on the tip of the shaft. The Boron material is not included in the tip of the non “Pro” version of the shafts. The Tensei Pro Orange has a material called MR70 which Mitsubishi states is stiffer than Boron. The EI profile of the Tensei CK Pro Orange validates that claim. Let’s take a look at other subtle graphics and what the profiles of the Tensei driver shafts you will find in off the rack clubs.

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Russ

Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange Golf Shaft Review

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Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange Shaft Review

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

At this moment, all eyes are on this shaft as it is in the bags of Tiger and Rory at the Masters. Mitsubishi is sold out in the US until around May 1. The Pro Orange is the third shaft in the Tensei product line. As noted on the Mitsubishi Chemical website “this is the first of it’s kind bend profile for MCA GOLF.” Many of Mitsubishi’s designs are variations of previous themes. The Tensei Pro Orange is unique. I keep inserting the word Pro in my description of this shaft. The Tensei Orange, a shaft sold to the club companies is not the same. The difference between the two can be seen on the Mitsubishi website. The torque and the bend profiles are quite different.

The Tensei Pro Blue and The Tensei Pro White have been reviewed earlier. The three shafts are an evolution in multi material construction from Mitsubishi. Most interesting is the Carbon Fiber Dupont Kevlar “CK” material woven into the butt section of the shaft. You can plainly see it’s effect on hoop strength in the following chart.

I just listened to a PodCast where a tour fitter described the main advantage of this shaft as it being counterweighted. I never cease to be amazed at some of this banter. The tip structure of this shaft is far more likely to make it a good fit for hard swinging tour pros than counterweighting. I can counterweight with a bit of lead tape under the grip if what I am after is a swing weight change. But an elementary lesson taught when I first started club building many years ago was this is not the proper way to build. Tricking a swing weigh instrument with butt weight is not how one should achieve club balance. Counterweighting does deliver benefits for some players, but in drivers that it typically accomplished with a 20g or 30g plug in the butt of the shaft. If the small balance change created by counterweighting a shaft works, they why not just use a heavier grip.

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Russ

Mitsubishi C6 Driver Shaft Review

Mitsubishi Chemical C6 Driver Shaft Review

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

The C6 Blue is available only to customer builders, distributed exclusively through SwingScience. This is not unlike the shafts made exclusively for the head companies. To the best of my knowledge this is a new distribution channel for Mitsubishi Chemical. The many Club Builders that get their shafts and heads through SwingScience now have access to a unique shaft with premium specs at a price that will not elicit a gag reflex from their customers. The emphasis in here is on “unique”, there was not a good match to be found in my knowledge base. Lets take a look at the EI profiles.

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Russ