Author Archives: Russ

Fujikura MCI Iron Golf Shaft Review

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Fujikura MCI Metal Composite Iron Golf Shaft

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

FujiMCIImage

We are in a new era in iron shafts. Composite shafts have found their way to the PGA Tour. Acceptance of ‘graphite’ shafts by tour pros means serious amateurs will consider playing them. The shaft companies are responding with tour quality composite shafts. The MCI shaft from Fujikura is truly a composite, it is made from graphite with a metal fiber wrapped into the tip section.

The bend profile is seen in many of the current generation of performance orientated iron shafts. It resembles the design seen in driver shafts. Much higher tip to butt rations than we typically see in iron shafts. That is going to create a propensity for higher launch. I confirmed that on a range. A cavity back iron fitted with the MCI launched the same as a game enhancement high launch design head fitted with a traditional bend profile design composite shaft. The feel was much the same. And for those looking for shock absorption, thin ball strikes are muted, the vibration is not transmitted to the hands. If your iron game would be improved by a little extra launch, you should be testing the Fujikura MCI shaft. The tip is similar to a Dynamic Gold S300. A stiffer butt creates a higher tip to butt ratio and a higher launch propensity.

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Radial consistency of the MCI is very good.  The average of our review samples was 99.1% with a 0.6 Standard Deviations. Spine alignment is not necessary with these shafts. Fujikura marks every shaft with one of the flat line oscillation planes and puts the label on that plane. Installing the shafts label down is the equivalent of FLO alignment.

A view of factory cut iron shafts is not complete without looking a the makeup of the complete set. This is the first of many iron shaft reviews that will be updated with this important view of set profiles.

I avoid using the word constant weight tapers because not all cut to length iron sets are constant weigh nor are they tapers. The Fujikura MCI is constant weight, averaging 102 grams uncut, but it is .370 parallel tipped. The set illustrated below is the 100S. The EI profiles ascend consistently from shaft to shaft in the set.

Fuji_MCI_SetEI
To understand this aspect of shaft sets, look at the set profiles of the UST Recoil. By comparing these to set profiles you see why I referred to the UST Recoil as a flighted set. By contrast, the Fujikura MCI is similar to most constant weight steel shaft set profiles.

 

Diamama Red Golf Shaft Review

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Mitsubishi Diamana R – Third Generation

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

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The last of the third Generation Mitsubshi Diamana driver shafts released in September 2014. The Diamana ilima, the second generation Diamana Red Board has long been my favorite fairway shafts. The expression, ‘if its not broken don’t fix it, applies the the third generation Diamana R. It changes very little over the second generation design. The butt stiffness is a little softer, allowing for a little more load at the start of the downswing. New material, high modulus 80 ton fiber is use in the hoop wraps in the shaft. In the butt, the hoop strength increases while the stiffness decreases. We are seeing more creative designs in carbon fiber golf shafts. Design is limited by the creativity of the shaft engineer and by the willingness of the golfing public to embrace these new products at ever increasing costs. At $400, the Diamana R, one of the greatest fairway shafts I know of, is beyond the typical $300 price of the off the rack fairway. You get what you pay for, and in this case, in the 70 and 80 gram models, you are paying for tip torque low enough to control the weight of a 3 wood head.

This is a high launch shaft. For those who hit their woods off the turf, where a downward angle of attack is all that is possible, a high launch shaft is a good thing. With a driver, and an upward angle of attack we would seek a lower launching design. But with a fairway, this is my design of choice.

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I checked 10 shafts, one of each weight and flex, the average radial consistency was 99.6% with a standard deviation of 0.2%. That is an example of the made in Japan tradition of excellence we have historically seen from Mitsubishi Rayon. This is the first shaft I know of to use 80 ton material. It is too stiff to be used in the linear and bias plies. It is used to create hoop strength. Because it is thin and has no open space like multi axis weaves it creates high hoop strength while leaving the shaft designer the space inside the multi layered wall to achieve the linear and torsional strengths he is seeking to achieve. All while creating a smooth lose of stiffness down the shaft and the unique Mitsubishi feel.

New to third generation Diamana R series are 50 gram shafts. The line between the ultra light driver shafts and light weight versions of standard shafts is getting blurry. The Diamana R series extends the profiles consistently into the 50 gram versions. Those with slower drive swing speeds that need launch and spin can get it without having to accept a high torque tip.

Now that the third generation Diamana release is complete, lets compare the three designs by looking at the 60 gram version of each shaft.

Diamana3Gen_60_RWBThese shafts are not as different as they once were. At least in the 60 gram versions. The Diamana B series was reviewed earlier as was the Diamana W. The profile of the Diamana W changes significantly in the 70 and 80 gram versions. But as you can see here, in the 60 gram version is it just a little higher launching than the Diamana W. The Diamana R is a different shaft. Softer handle, quicker loss of stiffness from mid to tip. All three shafts get stiffer as they approach the tip. If I want a stiffer shaft, I will always simply change to the next step on the stiffness progression, either getting the heavier of the stiffer model before I would consider tipping these shafts.