UST LIN-Q Driver Shaft Review

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UST LIN-Q Blue & Red Driver 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

I have limited access to UST shafts as they do not provide review samples. In looking at the UST website they have provided accurate EI profiles of the LIN-Q product line. I would expect as much as they own one of my EI instruments. Carbon fiber materials are constantly being improved. UST tells us that they used the latest generation TORAY prepreg in the LIN-Q. 

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Russ

Aerotech hls Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

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Aerotech hls Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

This measurements for this review were done a long time ago. For some reason they never got published. The AeroTech SteelFiber his hybrid shafts, like most AeroTech products are still in production, unchanged over 5+ years. For a custom club fitter this is a very good thing. The fitter that invests time learning them and money for fitters gets a return on these investments. To his everlasting credit, Chris Hilleray does not often change his models. The old saying, “if it works don’t fix it” comes to mind. Tour acceptance has proven the AeroTech SteelFiber works.

In a recent video Chris Hilleray, president of AeroTech explains the construction of the SteelFiber Golf Shaft. If you do not know the story of how the SteelFiber is made, he tells it better than I can.

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Russ

KBS MAX Iron Shaft Review

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KBS MAX Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

KBS continues to make graphite iron shafts. KBS started with a very popular Hybrid shaft. The KBS TGI iron shaft launched the following year and again was very successful on the professional tours. I noted in the review otf the TGI shaft that it was as stiff as the stiffest of the KBS steel shafts albeit 20 grams lighter. The KBS MAX is targeted to the recreational golfer.

If you do not follow my YouTube Channel, Devoted Golfer, you may have missed this video. We shot the 2019 KBS presentation to golf club fitters at the PGA Merchandise show. It covers the entire product line. After the slide show, Kim Braly comes to the podium and talks about tour acceptance of 2018 KBS shafts and the new 2019 shafts. The discussion about KBS graphite iron shafts starts at 19:25. The audio dropouts remove professional player names.You will hear Kim Braly talk about the target golfer for the KBS MAX.

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Russ

Aldila Synergy Blue Golf Shaft Review

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Aldila Synergy Blue Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The 2018 Aldila Synergy is the first golf shaft I know of to incorporate Graphene. What exactly does this material, that is one atom thick bring, to golf shafts. I looked it up at Wikipedia and learned that it earned its early researchers a Nobel Prize in 2010. Golf is not the first sports application, Head put in into tennis rackets in 2015. They are played by the worlds best tennis players. The racket reviews tell us that they bring new levels of stability to the racket frame. 

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Russ

Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei AV Blue Driver Shaft Review

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Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei AV Blue Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The Tensei AV is the successor to the Tensei CK. There were two versions of the Mitsubishi Tensei golf shaft, now there are three. My understanding is that the AV series will replace the CK series. The Tensei CK, like the Tensei Pro CK has a Carbon Fiber/DuPont™ Kevlar® (CK) weave just below the grip. This material dramatically reduces hoop deformation in the critical section of the what were wall thickness is thin. The Pro CK version has three times the length of this woven material as the OEM, CK version. Measurements and hitting experience shot a dramatic shot dispersion from stabilizing this section of the shaft with the long woven section of the Pro version. The shot dispersion effect from the 4″ section in the OEM version is not as dramatic.

The Tensei AV changes this. The woven section is the same length as we see in the Tensei Pro. The woven material is different. This video was cut out of a longer interview. The second camera was out of focus, but the explanation of the AV technology was to good to ignore.

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Russ

Nippon 123 Driver Fitting System Review

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Nippon 123 Driver Fitting System Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

Most reviews here are focused on a single shaft model. The Nippon 123 system is three shafts brought to market as a fitting system. There are three profiles, each with an array of stiffness and weight. This is a fitting system that will soon be accompanied by documentation to guide the fitter using it. Mark Pekarek has been fitting over 35 years. Much of that time his company, Shaftology has been the distributor for Nippon shafts in the US. When I started with Nippon, Shaftology was the only source for Nippon shafts in America. Their distributors were regionally placed and had to demonstrate their golf competence as representative of the Nippon brand. Before you look at the data I recommend you watch this video shot at the 2019 PGA Merchandise show where the system was announced to the golf business.

This is the first time, to my knowledge, that a set of shafts has been designed and presented as a fitting system. Those of us with ample fitting experience have put together our own mix of fitting shafts. It takes years of experience and access to a comprehensive database of shaft properties to outfit a fitting cart for systematic fitting. As Mark said, the profiles in this system are different enough to make a difference to the average golfer. 

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Russ