Grafalloy BiMatrix Tour Prototype Golf Shaft Review

Grafalloy BiMatrix Tour Prototype

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

Bubba Watson plays the Grafalloy BiMatrix driver shaft and won the 2012 Masters with it. When he came on tour he showed up with one painted pink. Grafalloy accommodated him and made them in pink. For those that are not ready to play with a pink driver shaft it is also available in baby blue.

This design was introduced about 10 years ago and I tried it at the time. It was black back then and I still have an original R in the shop. I profiled it a few years ago and was surprised at the profile. It looked like a high launch design. The R flex profile from the original looks like the X flex I just profiled for this review. The current R & S flex have been redesigned for the typical R or S player.

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Russ

Project X PXi Golf Shaft Review

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Project X PXi Iron Shaft from True Temper

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

Iron shafts are getting lighter. Lighter means faster, it means more maneuverable. Think of the difference between a Carbon Fiber Lamborghini and a Heavy Metal Chevy. The light weight Lamborghini accelerates quicker, there is less weight to get moving. It corners quicker because it has less centrifugal force acting on it. The Project X PXi is a lighter faster Project X. The 6.0 model lost 12 grams of weight and 2 pounds of butt stiffness. Does it work? Ask Jason Dufner and Ian Poulter, they are both using it. And we have Tiger and Rory using it in their utility/driving irons.

Loss of weight typically means loss of stiffness. As you can see, the average stiffness profile of the PXi is softer than the average stiffness of the Project X. Once again, we see stiffness numbers on a shaft that do not indicate an absolute reference. Do not take that comment as a criticism of True Temper. It is the same scheme used by every shaft company. That is one of the many reasons that club fitting is so critically important to game development.

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Russ

Project X Golf Shaft Review

Project X Iron Shaft from True Temper

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

The Project X design is different from the stepped shafts designs made by True Temper. The EI profile is constant from flex to flex, The stiffness increases as the shaft weight increases. The numbers on the shaft, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 represent stiffness. They are a patented numbering system that dates back to FM Precision. Frequency of the shaft was translated via a linear formula into a stiffness numbering system. A 10 Cycle per Minute, CPM, difference equated to a stiffness number change. When you hear the term frequency matched shafts, it refers to a system, not necessarily the original Braly system, of matching iron set stiffness.

Here is a little history if you are interested, Union Hardware was the first manufacturer of steel golf shafts in the US in 1924. They were acquired in 1956 by Brunswick, which also owned MacGregor golf. Brunswick supplied blanks to FM Precision, a golf shaft company owned by Kim Braly and his dad, Dr. Joe Braly. In 1986 Brunswick acquired FM Precision. At some point, the name was changed to Royal Precision. In the early 2000’s Kim Braly designed the Project X and it quickly gained wide acceptance on tour. In 2006 True Temper acquired Royal Precision and the Project X brand.

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Russ

The Project X is a classic, with too many tour wins count. Until competitive designs emerged, it was for many good players, the shaft of choice. Radial quality and shaft to shaft consistency in the shafts I have checked is excellent. The Project X can be installed in any orientation, being nearly perfectly round, orientation will have no affect on the play-ability of the Project X.

True Temper Project X PXV 39 Golf Shaft Review

True Temper Project X PXV 39 Driver Shaft

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

I have seen fair number of driver shafts with labels implying light weights, but I have only seen one shaft that was labeled with a number that actually was the weight of the raw 46″ shaft. The True Temper Project X PXv 39 is correctly labeled. The raw shaft is 39 grams. It is like holding a feather in your hands. When I start measuring a shaft I usually start with the EI profiles. With the Project X PXv 39 I started with radial quality. Surely a shaft this light was likely to have a low number. The number was shocking, the review samples were close to perfect. If you are going to make a shaft with walls as thin as they are on the PXv 39, they need to be perfect. This is a 39 gram shaft that can be oriented in any direction in a rotating hosel. It is the light weight version of the Project X PXv family of shafts.

While the torque numbers at first glance look high, they are as low as I see in shafts of this weight. I would not be putting this shaft in the hands of an aggressive high speed ball striker. However, at 6.4 to 7.0 pounds of butt stiffness, these are not wimpy shafts.

The bend profile is not uncommon for shafts in this weight range. I have had a lot of success fitting a similar profile in this weight range. The quick decline in stiffness in the high mid area, combined with a long stable tip section results in the launch needed in this weight range with good dispersion control. I am seeing this design in a number of high performance golf shafts.

I have heard shaft designers discuss the weight of paint on ultralight driver shafts. There is no elegant glossy overcoat on the Project X PXv 39, every possible aspect of weight control went into this design. It is available only through True Temper Performance Fitting Centers. One look at the wall thickness of the tip and you will quickly realize this shaft should be installed by a competent club builder. High modulus carbon fiber are making designs possible that could not be considered a few years ago. The Project X PXv 39 is one such design.

True Temper XP Golf Shaft Review

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True Temper XP 95 Iron Shaft

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

The True Temper XP 95 is the first of a new family of iron shafts from True Temper. It is an evolution of the GS series which it will be replacing. Like the GS family, it uses a special steel alloy which has higher tensile strength allowing for lighter weight designs. That alloy has evolved from what True Temper designated as S3 in the GS75 to S5 in the XP models.

True Temper testing and player feedback is addressing the low spin balls designed to deliver driver distance. Those balls do not spin enough to get distance and drop and stop performance on longer irons. To address this, True Tempers current generation of iron shafts are aimed at increasing spin. This is also addressed in the design of the Dynamic Gold Pro progressive launch model also releasing in 2014.

The True Temper XP uses a dual step pattern. Longer steps near the butt of the shaft, shorter steps closer to the tip. The longer steps. smaller changes in diameter per step, are called speed steps by True Temper. The shorter steps create a quicker loss of stiffness in the shaft as it gets closer to the tip. It is this property of the shaft that increases launch. That progressive stiffness loss can be seen in the EI bend profile.

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Russ

I had a chance to talk to Bill Lange, the True Temper Director of Sales, at the 2014 PGA Merchandise show about the XP shafts.

The XP 105, available exclusively from Mizuno in 2014 is the first expansion of the XP family of shafts. I am told we will see both 85 and 115 gram versions in the near future.

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Russ