Yearly Archives: 2013

Mitsubishi Fubuki Ax Iron Shaft Review

MITSUBISHI FUBUKI IRON SHAFTS

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

Fubuki i Image
Introduced in 2011, the Fubuki iron shaft is a member of a family of shafts from Mitsubishi Rayon that include driver, fairway, hybrid and iron. The EI curves, by design, are quite similar. With the current buzz created by top PGA tour players using graphite iron shafts, it is easy to forget that premium graphite has been around for quite some time.  The Fubuki AX irons shafts are designated 375, a 75 gram shaft and 425, a 85 gram shaft.  With an installed price of around $120 each it was never that popular. Distribution is through Mitsubishi authorized club building distributors. In its limited weight range, it is one of the smoothest shafts available. The quality is outstanding, shaft to shaft profiles are consistent in the sets and the profiles are consistent among the three models.
Fubuki i Table
Fubuki i EiGjThe stiffness change from butt to tip is uniform, firming up mid shaft into a 12 inch long stiff tip. I see the Diamana Blue Board profile when I look at this.  The firm bend profile in the tip is complimented by low torque. This creates good dispersion control in a light weight carbon fiber golf shaft. Radial consistency is outstanding, meaning no benefit to alignment. If your looking for a soft flex, light weight iron golf shaft with a stable tip, it does not get any better than this.

Mitsubishi KuroKage Driver Golf Shaft Review

Mitsubishi KuroKage Driver Golf Shafts

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

The Mitsubishi Kuro Kage (Black Shadow) shipped to dealers in Mid March, 2012. The pregreg has less resin and more fiber, making a design that was not possible in the past.  This was the first of the Mitsubishi shafts to use high density prepreg. High density prepreg was later used in the third generation Diamana B.

The Kuro Kage TiNi is a tour quality shaft Mitsubishi. It exhibits the extremely smooth profile and low torque one would expect in a $400 product.  The KuroKage Black and Silver are budget priced $175 shafts from Mitsubishi. Like the second brand of a vineyard, a great shaft, but not quite the tight torque typical on the premium models.

All of the KuroKage’s measured had excellent radial consistency.

MRC__KuroKage_EiGj

 KuroKage Proto TiNi

MRC_KuroKage_Tour

The KuroKage Proto TiNi is available only through selected Mitsubishi dealers. The profile is very similiar the the ilima, launching just a little lower and spinning a little less. A special stiffer version of this shaft is now in the bag of the #1 player on the PGA tour. His shaft is panted to look like a KuroKage Silver. A full review of the KuroKage TourEdition aka Proto is now available.

KuroKage Black

MRC_KuroKage_Black_Driver

The KuroKage Black has the same profile as the KuroKage TiNi, until it gets to the tip. There is where we can see the difference. The stiffness humps slightly at 12 inches, then turns softer.  Tip torque ranges from 5.0 in the 50A to 2.2 in the 70X.  Butt torque ranges from 5.2 in the 50A to 2.9 in the 70X.  The 70 gram shaft is the stock shaft in the Adams Golf 2013 Super S fairway.  The low tip torque numbers of the 70 gram versions indicate a low dispersion shaft in a fairway head I regard as one of the best in the business.

KuroKage Silver

MRC_KuroKage_White_Driver

The KuroKage Silver release a few months after the KuroKage Black.  Its profile is a close match to the original Diamana White Board. It is a low launch design, differing from the Diamana White board in torque.  The KuroKage 60S tip torque is 3.1 compared to the original White Board at 2.0. In late 2013 TiNi wire was added to the tip. A full review of the upgraded KuroKage Silver TiNi is now available.