When I entered the golf club fitting business about 15 years ago, there wasn’t any way to compare golf shafts. There was no standard rating system for golf shaft stiffness. That was and still is a problem. Understanding what shaft is best for your game is essential. Properly fit golf gear leads to a better game.

Describing golf shaft properties is not a simple task. So as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Shaft company marketing staff developed terms, “kick point”, “stiffness”, “launch” and “spin” to describe shaft properties. These terms developed into a mythological language for describing golf shafts. Shaft engineers and designers define golf shaft stiffness as a profile, the shape of stiffness down the length of the shaft. When I had the opportunity to tour a shaft company R&D lab and my understanding of golf shaft technology was shaken to the core.

That lead to me designing and manufacturing a simple but very accurate EI measuring instrument. It is now owned and used by several shaft companies. I have been writing about EI profiles on this journal for 10+ years. The term EI profile, is now becoming part of the discussion shaft companies are having with golfers.

Golf Shaft Reviews is my freelance journal about golf shafts. If you want to understand golf shafts you have come to the right place. Here you can learn why some shafts work better for you than others. And more important, how to recognize the properties of shafts that make you a better golfer. Please share your comments about what you experience with the shafts reviewed.

Creating a uniform system to define the distribution of flex down a golf shaft was possible, in fact many shaft companies have such systems. But the information, for fear of giving that information to their competitors, is not shared with golfers or golf professionals. It took a few years to refine my EI Instrument and many, many years to acquire and measure the popular golf shafts. This journal provides you with uniform measurements of thousands of golf shafts. If you are new to my journal, the TECHNOLOGY MENU is a collection of articles that will help you understand golf shaft design.

This journal is entirely supported by subscription. To insure my integrity, there are no ads on this site, that allows me to remain unbiased in the articles. If you believe as I do, that your golf shafts are essential to good golf, please subscribe. Testing shafts and writing articles takes a great amount of time. Your subscription underwrites the time and resources needed to keep this journal going and growing.

This video is a detailed discussion about golf shafts stiffness and the history of how they were measured and marketed. It is one of many videos about golf equipment technology and golf club building on my youtube channel, Devoted Golfer.

It took years to understand shaft measurement and many more years to accumulate a meaningful database of shaft measurements. The magnitude of that accomplishment did not occur to me until a golf shaft company owner said it to me. Several golf shaft companies now use the EI measuring instrument I designed and manufactured. If you are a golf professional and would like access to more data there are two choices. Golf Professional subscribers get access to a larger set of data and individual profiles of all the shaft model weights and stiffness variations that were made available. Fit2Score Affiliates have access to the entire database through Excel. To hear a recent podcast interview I did about golf shafts with Tony Wright, a Fit2Score Software Affiliate, Click Here.

Follow DevotedGolfer on Facebook to be advised of new posts.

Graphite Designs Tour AD VF 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

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 determed 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.

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ

Fujikura Axiom 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 2023 Fujikura Axiom is a new iron shaft concept. They are parallel 0.370 tips which Fujikura states can be sanded to 0.355 tapers. The wall thickness at the tip is thick and I have no reason to doubt this can be done without damaging the tip integrity. Typically parallel sets are made from a single “blank” tip trimmed to increase stiffness in shorter lengths. The Axiom comes in three different models, short for 8, 9, W, mid for 5, 6, 7, and long for 2, 3, and 4. The idea is to create “specific performance throughout the iron set.” Lets see how this can be seen by virtual trimming a set of shafts.

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ

KBS PG 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 KBS Players Graphite Hybrid PGH is designed to partner with the KBS Players Graphite Iron. It is available in lighter weights that the earlier KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype, and is designed to promote a higher launch. It is available in 10 gram increments with a 0.370 tip that can be trimmed to increase stiffness.

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ

KBS TGI Tapered Iron Shaft Review

KBS TGI Tapered Iron Shaft Review

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

The parallel KBS Tour Graphite Iron, TGI shafts released early in 2018. The constant weight, taper tip version first released in July 2018. In 2023 60, 70 and 80 gram constant weigh tapers were added. In this video, shot in January at the PGA Merchandise Show, Kim Braly talks about the Tour Graphite iron Shafts.

If you do not fully understand the difference between parallel and constant weight tapers please read the Technical article “Parallel vs Constant Weight Iron Shafts“, Lets move on to look at the measurements of the KBS TGI tapers.

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ

KBS PGI Iron Shaft Review


KBS tells us that the Players Graphite Iron shaft was designed we be a replacement for steel shafts. I see the EI Profile as similar to the lighter weight models of the C-taper Lite.

To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ