Aerotech Volant Iron Shaft Review

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

How do you take the shaft making technology that involves wrapping spin woven steel wire around a graphite core and make a light weight shaft. The Aerotech SteelFiber is the most popular composite iron shaft on the PGA tour. But it is built by wrapping a layer of steel wire around the outside of the carbon fiber core. And we all know steel is not light.

Aerotech’s customers, club fitters needed something light. They were impressed with the SteelFiber, but needed something lighter. Especially those fitting in Florida. The designers at Aerotech knew how to spin weaver micro thin wire, why not do the same with carbon fiber. They took the SteelFiber manufacturing process and wrapped a layer of spin woven carbon fiber over a lighter weight core and created a line of shafts called Volant. The Aerotech Volant is available in 52 grams to 64 grams in 41″ parallel blanks. And much like the steel wrapped SteelFiber is has one of the highest hoop strengths in its weight class.

Lets take at look at the measurements. 

Lets here what a Volant fitter has to say about this unique shaft:
“The Aerotech SteelFiber’s little brother, Volant, gives me tons of options to fit golfers with slower, smoother swing speeds. Although the Volant shafts also come in stiff flex (f4) they are better suited for slower and smoother swings. Volant’s two weights (55gr & 65gr) give plenty of options for those who benefit from ultra light weight shafts and super smooth feel.
The Volant is surprisingly sturdy for an ultralight. For juniors, women and seniors, the Volant lets me create light yet controllable clubs. I can give the slower swing speed golfer great feel and comfort throughout the round. In fact, I once built a set of clubs for a senior player which were just about 100 grams lighter than steel shafted clubs he was playing. Volant’s smooth feel and slick look pairs well with any clubs head.”
Jari Hakonen
BirdieFinish Golf

AeroTech SteelFiber Parallel Iron Shaft Review

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

Aerotech has a long history of providing shafts to club makers. The SteelFiber is a unique construction, a filament wound carbon fiber core is is wrapped with a braided steel wire surface layer. This process is explained in greater detail on the Aerotech website. This review is about the parallel SteelFiber iron shafts. The Aerotech SteelFiber constant weight taper shafts were previously reviewed.

Aerotech SteelFiber shafts have more PGA Tour wins than any other graphite iron shaft in history. Steel iron shafts continue to dominate tour play, but Aerotech has proven that carbon fiber composite shafts are competitive. As you look at the tip torque numbers of these shafts compared to steel in the same weight range you will not see any differences. Aerotech has proved that carbon fiber iron shafts are solid alternatives to steel. If you like the feel, profile and weight, you should have no doubt about the performance. Lets look at the profiles.

The Aerotech SteelFiber shafts have the lowest hoop deformation measurements as I have seen. The article about hoop strength in the technical section compares hoop strength of different shafts. The graphics there compare AeroTech SteelFibers to other shafts. If you believe as many do, that hoop deformation is a source of dispersion, you should test a SteelFiber iron shaft.