The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi Tensei Pro driver shafts have been available since 2016. They feature a Carbon Fiber/DuPont™ Kevlar® (CK) weave in the butt-section of the shaft. I have seen many shafts over the years with a woven material placed in the butt of shafts. This is as an indication that shaft manufactures recognize the thin walls near the but of the shaft deform and oval under load. The ovaling of the shaft in this area can contribute to shot dispersion. The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi is the only material I have measured to date where I can see a measurable effect. Hoop deformation significantly dips in this section of the shaft. Reduced hoop deformation in the 1K weave is the same as the CK weave. Mitsubishi tells us the 1K material transmits more feel.
Hoop deformation has a significant effect on the EI profile of the golf shaft. Hoop deformation is manifested in the thin wall, butt section of the shaft. Mitsubishi engineering integrated the woven material hoop rigidity into the Tensei Pro designs, preserving the archetypical White, Blue and Red Board profiles of the Diamana family.
To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership. Russ
ACCRA introduced the FX product line in 2015. There are 4 versions, FX1, FX2, FX3 and FX4. The FX line of shafts replaces the Dymatch line for Accra. Quality has always been excellent in Accra shafts and it moves to the top of the class with the FX line. The FX 200,300 and 400 are made in Japan in a small boutique manufacturing plant. This divers line allows us to fit many different players in to the FX series. Accra’s concept was to have one family of shafts but with 4 different profiles. With the FX 100 being the highest launching shaft, FX 200 mid launch, FX300 low launch and the FX 400 lowest. (Note the 400 only comes in X flex). Along with each profile there is Fairway woods and hybrid shafts designed to play the same as the driver shaft. This is rare in the shaft industry; most shafts are designed for drivers only. Accra found that on Tour it was rare for a player to use the same shaft in there fairway or hybrid as in there driver so they designed a shaft line that would allow the Fairway and hybrid shafts to feel and play the same as the driver. They had great success with this technology in the Dymatch series and the FX picks up with they left off, but even better quality.
The ACCRA FX1 series is a high launch design. That can is seen in the tip to butt rations as well as in the calculated butt loaded deflection graphic show above. They are not as stiff as the FX2, 3 or 4 models, by design. Roundness, or radial consistency averaged 99.0% with a 0.6% standard deviation. Balance is neutral.
The 100 series fits best for slow to medium speeds and tempos. With 3 weight options for the driver it covers a lot of players.
The ACCRA FX2, FX3 and FX4 bear the notation Made in Japan. They follow the ACCRA CS1 as premier examples of how attention to detail will create shafts that are consistent and orderly progressions from weight to weigh and flex to flex. A golf club fitters dream set of shafts. Roundness of the review samples averaged 99.5% consistency with a 0,2% standard deviation. By design, they launch lower than the FX1 series.
As speed and tempo rise the 200 and 300 come more in to play or those needing medium launch. The 400 is only for the rare player with high speed and tempo, however that player will really enjoy its stability.
Woody Lashen co-owner of Pete’s Golf talks with Gawain Robertson co-owner of Accra Golf shafts talk about the FX series shafts.
The Graphite Design Tour AD GP was introduced in 2016. New carbon fiber materials are being continuously developed. In the Tour AD GP, Graphite Design is using TORAYCA ® T1100G carbon-fiber pre-preg with NANOALLOY ® technology according their release information. This gives the shaft a stiffer tip without a change of weight that would typically be associated with tip stiffening by simply adding material.
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership. Russ
The Project X LZ, or loading zone shaft features a linear soft zone in the middle of the shaft which is visibly reinforced with bias wraps to maintain torsional stability. This 2014 composite driver shaft from True Temper, released under the Project X brand, is made in limited numbers in the USA facility in San Diego California. I am told only 60 or 70 can be made in any given day with current staffing.
This is an interesting option now being offered by a few companies. The general golfing public has access to the shafts that are made in the tour department for the tour players. Most graphite shafts are hand rolled. As such, the care taken by the person putting the shaft together is reflected in the quality and consistency of the finished shaft. Almost every company has some highly skilled wrappers that make their prototypes. And very often, when these people are not making protos, they are making the shafts that go to the professional tour vans. These shafts are not necessarily better than the shafts made in the volume production shops, but they are free of the shaft to shaft inconsistencies found in the factory produced product. And I have seen some inconsistencies that are hard to believe from the high volume, low cost foundries, but that is another story.
The concept of the Load Zone was to create a soft midsection in the shaft. Mid soft shafts are among the most popular shaft in my fitting experience. No shaft company likes to hear a section of their shafts being discussed as soft. If you make the tip stiff and the butt stiff, the mid is soft in relation to those other two zones. In the Project X Loading Zone shaft, the soft mid section is reinforced by a material called flex lock. That is graphite fiber oriented on an angle from the length of the shaft, commonly refereed to as bias or hoop plies. This stabilizes the torque in this zone. A full discussion of the design is shown in the videoed discussion I had with Don Brown, the True Temper graphite shaft product development manager.
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
This is an interview shot at the 2015 PGA merchandise show in Orlando. Don Brown is the Graphite Shaft Product Development Manger for True Temper Sports. The discussion of the Loading Zone Shafts gets technical. Many readers of this site tell me they do not understand some of the graphics and discussions in my reviews. What you see in this video is a discussion using the terms you see on this shaft review site. Enjoy!
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
Whenever someone asks me what is the best shaft, the answer is always the same, ‘the one that fits your swing.’ This one fits the swing change I am working on. The other shaft fit the swing I had. So I will leave you with this thought. There is a synergy between your gear and your swing. If your swing is grooved on a particular shaft loading pattern, that shaft may not best fit a swing change you are trying to make. In fact, it may impede you from being successful with a new motion pattern.
The Graphite Design Tour AD M9003 released in mid 2015. It is an unusual addition in that it is only available in 4 models, 60 and 70 S and X. With a $550 MSRP, this is not a shaft for any but the strongest fastest golfers. Graphite design is not recommending it for anyone south of a 105 mph driver swing. That excludes me. It is made with high modulus 55 ton, Nanoalloy prepreg from Toray. Translation, the material in this shaft is as good as it gets.
Radial consistency is 98.9% with a 0.2% standard deviation. Like all Graphite Design Tour AD shafts, it is round and will play exactly the same in any orientation.
The closest match to this shaft from Graphite Design is the Tour AD BB, a shaft that was released around 2011. The Tour AD BB is one of Graphite Design’s popular shafts on the professional tours and gets a lot of play on the LPGA. The profiles are similar until we get to the tip.
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership. Russ
The Grafalloy Prolaunch Blue and Red Supercharged drive shafts are 2015 additions to the ProLaunch product line. They are $60 shafts with radial quality of 98.3% with a standard deviation of 0.6%. If you have not been reading this site and looking the radial quality numbers I will translate this for you, one word, impressive. Shaft to shaft consistency of the review sample profiles was equally impressive. I did not think a $60 shaft would get my attention. I was wrong.
If the $300 to $500 high end works of shaft art technology are not in your budget, try the Grafalloy Prolaunch Supercharged in your driver. You are going to give up some hoop stiffness and might experience some ovalizing. If that is a problem you can always get a similar design in the Project X LZ for around $350. The SuperCharged Prolaunch has a similar design to the handcrafted Project X LZ shaft, an active midsection. Does this design work for you? If you are not close to a fitter that can let you test the Project X LZ you can try a low cost test on your own with the ProLaunch Supercharged shafts.
The Blue is a higher launch design, the Red a lower launch. To my eyes they are much the same profile. The Red is heavier and stiffer. The bend point is higher. Those two properties are going to lower launch. This is not really complicated stuff to understand. Stiffer is lower for any particular golfer. Find the stiffness you feel you can load. Then, going a little softer or stiffer will move the launch up or down.
Look at the balance in this chart. These shaft are counterweighted to restore club balance when using the current generation of heavy driver heads. This is not seen at this price point.
This profile, a softer active midsection is gaining traction with the shaft companies. With this set of profiles, this particular pattern got my attention. Soft midsections are among the most popular shafts in the business. Exaggerated soft is a design I am beginning to see from a lot of shaft companies. it looks like one needs to go in my bag.
By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
I have seen many shafts over the years with a woven material placed in the butt of shafts. This is as an indication that shaft manufactures recognize the thin walls near the but of the shaft deform and oval under load. The ovaling of the shaft in this area can contribute to shot dispersion. The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi is the only material I have measured to date where I can see a measurable effect. Hoop deformation significantly dips in this section of the shaft. Reduced hoop deformation in the 1K weave is the same as the CK weave. Mitsubishi tells us the 1K material transmits more feel.
