When I entered the golf club fitting business about 15 years ago, there was not a standard rating system for golf shaft stiffness. Nor was there a way to compare golf shafts. This journal gives you a way to compare golf shafts with a uniform stiffness rating evaluation. Understanding the properties of a golf shaft which is your best fit leads to a better game.

Describing golf shaft properties is not a simple task. Shaft company marketing 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 change of stiffness down the length of the shaft. Many years ago a tour of a shaft company R&D lab enlightened my understanding of golf shaft technology.

That lead to me designing and manufacturing a very accurate shaft stiffness measuring instrument. It is now used by several shaft companies. I have been writing about shaft properties for 10+ years. The term EI profile, is now part of the discussion some shaft companies are having with golfers.

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.

A system which defines the distribution of flex down a golf shaft is how most shaft companies design golf shafts. But the information, for fear of giving that information to their competitors, is not shared with the public. It took a few years to refine my measurement 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 here, the TECHNOLOGY MENU is a collection of articles that will guide your 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. Acquiring shafts, measuring them 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 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.

Mitsubishi Kai’li Blue CB Driver Shaft Review

Mitsubishi Kai’li Blue CB Driver Shaft

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 Mitsubishi Kaili Blue CB is another no upcharge option in the 2026 Taylormade Custom Driver / Fwy shaft options. The 2026 TaylorMade fitting system designates shafts to match a player’s rotation profile as follows:
HR – High Rotation Designed for players who release the club early, with the shaft lining up with the lead arm before or at impact. The shaft is a soft-tip profile to aid in closing the face.
MR – Mid Rotation Designed for players with a neutral release, with the shaft lining up with the lead arm just after impact. The shaft is a middle-of-the-road tip stiffness.
LR – Low Rotation Designed for player who hold the release, with the shaft lining up well after impact. The shaft tip is stiff to prevent the face from closing too quickly.

While other shafts with the rotation designation reference tip stiffness, the Kai’li CB ratings appear to be entirely stiffness related. that is not an issue from my perspective.

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

Mitsubishi Vanquish Shafts

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

There have been a lot of ultra light golf shafts released in 2024 and 2025. The Mitsubishi Vanquish is the recent release aimed at this market segment. I remember the Bassara UltraLight Mitsubishi models from 2014 – 2016. This series was discontinued and Diamana models became available in lighter weights. Currently the Diamana models are offered in 40 gram versions. The remaining ultra light is the Grand Bassara which gets down to 29 and 39 grams. While I typically avoid working with shaft ultra light shafts because of their high torque. I did have a customer that developed his swing around a Grand Bassara and hit it further than anything else I tested. The current batch of Vanquish review shafts is available from TaylorMade in 2026 at no upcharge.

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

Project X HZRDUS Black Gen 5 Driver Shaft Review

TrueTemper HZRDUS Black Gen 5 Driver Shaft

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 TrueTemper Project X HARDUS Black Gen 5 is another no upcharge option in the 2026 Taylormade Custom Driver / Fwy shaft options. The 2026 TaylorMade fitting system designates shafts to match a player’s rotation profile as follows:
HR – High Rotation Designed for players who release the club early, with the shaft lining up with the lead arm before or at impact. The shaft is a soft-tip profile to aid in closing the face.
MR – Mid Rotation Designed for players with a neutral release, with the shaft lining up with the lead arm just after impact. The shaft is a middle-of-the-road tip stiffness.
LR – Low Rotation Designed for player who hold the release, with the shaft lining up well after impact. The shaft tip is stiff to prevent the face from closing too quickly.

the HZRDUS Black Gen 5 driver shafts are rated with this system and noted in the charts below.

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

TrueTemper Frost Denali Driver Shafts

TrueTemper Frost Denali Driver Shaft Reviews

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 TrueTemper Project X Frost Denali is a no upcharge option in the 2026 TalylorMade Custom Driver / Fwy shaft options. the 2026 TaylorMade fitting system designates shafts to match a player’s rotation profile as follows:
HR – High Rotation Designed for players who release the club early, with the shaft lining up with the lead arm before or at impact. The shaft is a soft-tip profile to aid in closing the face.
MR – Mid Rotation Designed for players with a neutral release, with the shaft lining up with the lead arm just after impact. The shaft is a middle-of-the-road tip stiffness.
LR – Low Rotation Designed for player who hold the release, with the shaft lining up well after impact. The shaft tip is stiff to prevent the face from closing too quickly.

The Frost Denali series is calorized with this system, Red = HR, Blue = MR and Black = LR.

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

UST Helium NCT Driver Shaft Review

UST Helium NCT Driver Shaft

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 UST Helium NCT shaft is available in TaylorMade 2026 Qi4D drivers as a $50 upgrade. It is an ultra light model, uncut ranging from 44 to 55 grams. At that price, the profile the quality of the shaft is first class. It is mid soft profile, the design of choice for the recreational golfer.

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