Oban Airburst Burgundy Golf Shaft Review

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Oban Airburst Burgundy 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 Airburst Burgundy is the second shaft made by Olympic for Oban. Olympic is a premium Japanese fishing rod company. They specialize is fishing rods which are much like golf shafts, hollow carbon fiber tubes. The Olympic website has an in-depth discussion of carbon fiber properties of tubes. If you have never seen the manufacturing of a graphite golf shaft I recommend you watch this video about fishing rod construction. From 0:56 to 5:30 you are watching the process of the making of a graphite golf shaft. Graphite shafts are with few exceptions hand rolled. No one in the golf shaft business will publish a video about the manufacturing process they use. This is how it is done:

Ralph Reichert, owner of Oban Golf shafts discusses the making and technology of the Airburst golf shafts in this video from my my YouTube Channel, Devoted Golfer, We shot this discussion at the January 2019 PGA show.

Lets take a look at the second Airburst golf shaft from Oban.

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Russ

KBS HiRev 2.0 and 610 Wedge Shaft Review

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KBS Wedge Shafts
HiRev 2.0  &  610

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

KBS Tour Wedges HiRev 2 Image

It is always a pleasure to spend time talking about shafts and fitting with Kim Braly. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. If you want to truly understand the two new wedge shafts from KBS watch the video embedded below. The short story is KBS has improved on the original Hi-Rev wedge shaft and introduced a new model.

The Hi-Rev 2.0 will replace the original KBS HiRev Wedge Shaft. The new design is a higher launching shaft that will create more spin. The illustration below shows the difference between the KBS HiRev and the KBS HiRev 2.0.  Butt to tip change in stiffness is higher in the new model. And additional loss of stiffness in the tip will create more launch and therefore more spin than the original HiRev design. If your club head speed does not generate enough spin, the HiRev 2.0 shaft will contribute to a higher launch wedge shot.

The 610 is modeled on last years Tour V design. A long stable butt section with a rapid loss of stiffness about 14″ from the tip. Tour testing has shown this design produces a lower, more penetrating ball flight. The softer tip will create enough spin to check the ball up without adding height to the shot with excessive spin. If you want to keep your wedge shots from getting blown around and you have the club head speed to spin the ball, you should test this design. The model name, 610, comes from the butt diameter. To create the design, butt diameter became a little larger as explained in the video.

The technical discussion, measurements and testing results are available only to registered readers

This interview was shot at the 2015 PGA Merchandise show. It is worth watching to listen to one of the most experienced club fitters of our time discuss club fitting.

Fujikura Pro Driver Golf Shaft Review

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Fujikura Pro Driver Shaft

Kirk James & Mark Vallier,  MK Golf Technologies,San Antonio, Texas

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

FujiProD_Image
The 2014 Fujikura Pro driver shaft has an interesting look. Like the iron shaft, it ts two color. On one side the upper color fills the label, on the other side, the lower color. Going beyond cosmetics, the Fujikura Pro and the Tour Spec versions are very different shafts. The Pro is a mid soft shaft. This term only has meaning in the relationship of the mid section of the shaft to the butt and tip. The stiffness of the tip relative to the mid section provides stability and lower than average spin, while the butt section has been designed to provide a smooth feel in a player’s hands. In our testing and fitting of these shafts, we have found Fujikura’s marketing literature to be fairly accurate. These Pro shafts provide the player mid launch, mid to low spin, and a great feel in the hands. The higher carbon fiber content of these shafts enhance both the stability and smooth feel provided by the bend profile. These shafts are an outstanding value at their price point for the player looking for a mid launching shaft.

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Russ

Again, we are extremely impressed with these Pro Tour Spec shafts, and feel that they are an outstanding value for someone looking for a low to mid launching shaft with low spin characteristics.

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Diamana D+ & Diamana S+ Driver Shaft Review

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Mitsubishi Diamana S+ & D+ Driver Shafts – 2015

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

Diamana Blue S+ Driver

915d2-driver
The stock shafts in the 2015 Titleist 915 drivers include the Diamana Red, White and Blue models. This year, unlike last year, they have the same appearance as the original Diamana shafts, a silver background with the Red, White or Blue Diamana logo. And, with the exception of a very slight increase in torque, they are identical to the legacy design.  We have received review samples of the Blue and a few of the Whites. The remainder of the Whites and the Reds will be added to this review when they arrive.

The Blue Diamana is perhaps the most copied driver shaft design I have ever seen. It is a good fit for golfers with a quick swing and a hard transition. The profile has a soft mid in relation to the tip and butt. The Diamana + models are available as options from most companies in 2015. Many, at no upcharge.

The technical discussion, measurements and testing results are available only to registered readers

Oban KIYOSHI Tour Limited Golf Shaft Review

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OBAN KIYOSHI TOUR LIMITED DRIVER SHAFT

By Tony Curro  –  Tru-Fit Custom Clubs
Colonie – NY, Lenox – MA, Manchester – VT & Latham – NY

Kiyoshi Tour Limited Image

The latest model from Oban Composites is the Kyoshi Tour Limited.  Released in 2014, this high modulus composite shaft features a tip section that is stiffer than all of the other  Kyoshi models.  Looking at the EI bend profile of this shaft, the shaft maintains it’s stiffness to about the 15 inch mark, then drastically softens and maintains that softness through the shaft to the butt section where it stiffens again around the 33 inch section.  We used the 60 in 04 (stiff) flex.  This shaft in the 60 and 70 stiffens in the butt section to produce higher launch conditions without increasing spin rates.   We took the shaft to the range to test it out, and came back with some profound results.

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

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

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

Oban Kiyoshi Gold Golf Shaft Review

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OBAN KIYOSHI GOLD DRIVER SHAFT

By Tony Curro  –  Tru-Fit Custom Clubs
Colonie – NY, Lenox – MA, Manchester – VT & Latham – NY

Kiyoshi Gold Image

The OBAN Kiyoshi Gold Driver shaft was introduced in 2014. It is the latest and perhaps the last we are told, of the Kiyoshi family of shafts from Oban composites.  This high modulus composite shaft features a tip section that is softer than all of the other  Kyoshi models.  Looking at the EI bend profile of this shaft, the shaft maintains it’s softness throughout the shaft into  the butt section when compared to the other Kyoshi models.  We used the 65 in 04 (stiff) flex when testing.  Although this shaft didn’t seem to be a perfect match for our tester, it did give us some interesting data to look at.

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

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

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