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.

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Russ

Tensei Pro White 1K Golf Shaft Review

Mitsubishi Tensei Pro White 1K Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi Tensei Pro driver shafts have been available since 2016. They feature a Carbon Fiber/DuPont™ Kevlar® (CK) weave in the butt-section of the shaft. I have seen many shafts over the years with a woven material placed in the butt of shafts. This is as an indication that shaft manufactures recognize the thin walls near the but of the shaft deform and oval under load. The ovaling of the shaft in this area can contribute to shot dispersion. The woven Kevlar® material use by Mitsubishi is the only material I have measured to date where I can see a measurable effect. Hoop deformation significantly dips in this section of the shaft. Reduced hoop deformation in the 1K weave is the same as the CK weave. Mitsubishi tells us the 1K material transmits more feel.

Hoop deformation has a significant effect on the EI profile of the golf shaft.  Hoop deformation is manifested in the thin wall, butt section of the shaft. Mitsubishi engineering integrated the woven material hoop rigidity into the Tensei Pro designs, preserving the archetypical White, Blue and Red Board profiles of the Diamana family. 

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Russ

Aldila Ascent Driver Shaft Review

Aldila Ascent Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The 2021 Aldila Ascent is a reminder that Mitsubishi Chemical purchased Aldila several years ago. The design is reminiscent of several very successful Mitsubishi models in the past. Albeit with the latest prepreg and fibers.

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Russ

LAGolf TRONO Shaft Review

LAGolf TRONO Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

LAGolf Shafts is taking a new approach to the golf shaft business. Professional Golf playing partners participate in the design of their golf shafts. The LAGolf TRONO shaft is the first such shaft designed by Bryson DeChambeau and the LAGolf engineering team. it is unique as is Bryson DeChambeau. LAGolf is committed to being a different shaft company. The shafts will be designed in with playing partners and made in the USA. Many shafts today are made in offshore “foundries” that produce shafts for many brands. That probably accounts for much of the similarity I see in shafts across brands. Very few shafts are made in the USA. The shaft matching page of my software did not find a single match for the LAGolf Shafts TRONO.

The Trono is produced on a 16 sided mandrel. That is what the 16 on the label of the shaft indicates. Some might remember the unique Matrix HD shafts. Let’s look at this very unique golf shaft.

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Russ

Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX Golf Shaft Review

Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX Golf Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX is on of two shafts released in 2021 using Hexcel HexTow carbon fiber. Hexcel is a producer of aerospace grade carbon fiber used in aircraft. I reviewed the HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX last month. The Black is a firmer midsection compliment to the super soft mid Blue RDX.

Lets listen to what TrueTemper has to say about this 2021 Shaft.

The Project X RDX Smoke Black is available as a no charge option from some of the brands. Several models are available from TaylorMade. To compare the Project X Smoke Black RDX to other shafts, lets look at the measurements.

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Russ

Mitsubishi Diamana TB Golf Shaft Review

Mitsubishi Diamana TB Series Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The venerable Diamana Blue Board is now in its 5th generation, The 2021 Diamana TB series. Rather the reading me talk about what is new, just watch this video from Mitsubishi Chemical. 

The Diamana Blue defines the most popular shaft archetype, a soft mid profile. This archetype is available from virtually every driver shaft company. Many brands produce exact copies and many other produce variations of the archetype. The EI profiles of the Diamana TB Series are not much different than the 4th generation BF series. What is noticeably different are manufacturing tolerances. Mitsubishi Chemical is vertically integrated. They make their own fiber, resin and prepreg. That gives them full control over design and manufacturing. The TB series is available in 21 versions from 40 to 80 grams and in flex designations from R2 to TX. I validated what they claim, there is very little variance in Butt diameter and balance through the matrix of shafts. That makes life easy for the fitting technician.

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Russ