LAGOLF Tour AXS Iron Shafts Review

LAGOLF Tour AXS Iron Shafts 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 LAGolf Partners Tour AXS family of golf shafts includes matching iron shafts that have similar profiles to the driver shafts. They are all .370 tip parallel shafts. Lets take a look at the LAGolf Tour ASX iron shaft data.

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

True Temper Dynamic Gold Pro Iron Shaft

True Temper DG Pro

DG Pro R300
DG Pro S300
DG Pro X100

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

DGProLabelsThe Dynamic Gold Pro iron shaft is now available to the public through True Temper Performance Fitting Centers.  Pro is a play on words, it is short for progressive.  In my golf vernacular the word flighted comes to mind to describe these shafts. But True Temper feels progressive is a better word to describe these sets of shafts.  They are sets. There are three different step patterns in each flex. The design promotes higher launch and spin on the long irons and lower launch and spin on the short irons.  There three step patterns in a set, 2-5, 6-8 and 9-W.  There is a unique design for the 9 iron and the wedge.  This is not always the case in many constant weight shaft sets.  These sets are not exactly constant weight. The weight of the raw shafts decrease slightly from 2 iron to wedge by around 6 grams.  I am told this was necessary to hit the bend profile targets.

The progressive design of these shafts came from tour experience. The modern ball is designed for low spin off of low lofted clubs. This carries over to long irons. Low spin is a benefit on clubs like drivers where the primary objective is distance. But on irons, where control, stability and stopping on impact is important, spin is the golfers friend. The design of the Dynamic Gold Pro “Progressive” is to make the long irons playable, add a little spin to the mid irons and keep the short irons much the same as the Dynamic Gold. We have not tested a set, but the bend profiles indicate a truly progressive set, shaft to shaft through out the set.

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

The length of the tips, the distance between the tip and the first step are different in each flex design. That results in a different launch between the three designs. This, combined with making the softer flex models lighter is a great update to this iconic brand.

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

Mitsubishi Bassara Phoenix UltraLite Driver Shaft

Mitsubishi Bassara P UltraLite Driver Shaft

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

Bassara_Phoenix_Image

In 2013, Mitsubishi Rayon began the introduction of shafts that are available only from Authorized Mitsubishi ClubFitters. The UltraLight Bassara Phoenix released in 2014, is the third such shaft.. The color is dramatic, a burnt orange with a clear coat finish. The bend profile is a perfect match to the KuroKage Proto TINI, the first of the fitter only shafts. That profile is one of my favorites for a well trained swing. TINI stands for Titanium Nickel Wire. It was first use in the Ultralight Bassara “G” series shafts. It is now being added to many shafts. It is a high elastic material that can stretch and immediately regain its original shape. In addition to storing and releasing energy, it stabilizes the shaft tip.

TINI_illustrationTip stability results in tight dispersion. A consistent loss of stiffness makes this profile easy to load and many find it adds dramatic distance to their drives. The KuroKage Proto TINI is only available in 5 models ranging from 60S to 70XX. The Bassara Phoenix completes the range, starting with a  30 gram L flex and ascending to a 59 gram TS flex.

Bassara_Phoenix_EiGjTb

The radial consistency is excellent, averaging 99.4% with a 0.3% standard deviation. If we look for similar designs in iron shafts, the KBS Tour is the closest bend profile design. Both have a consistent loss of stiffness from butt to tip, Near the tip, the stiffness increases to stablize the head during impact. With such designs, tipping will actually remove some of the tip stiffness. With the Bassara Phoenix, if you want more stiffness, get a heavier, stiffer shaft. Tipping is not recommended for this shaft. Alignment of the Phoenix is not necessary nor will it be beneficial. The radial consistency of the Phoenix makes it excellent for rotating hosels.
Bassaras_EiGjA comparison of the current Bassara UltraLight models shows the Phoenix and the Wyvern to be quite similar. The Phoenix profile indicates a little more launch. The Phoenix is modeled after the ilima profile. In fitting after fitting, I put more ilima’s into fairways metals than all other shafts combined. The 53TS Bassara Phoenix is a great shaft if you are looking to build an ultralight fairway.

This shaft is available at shop.golfshaft.reviews 

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

True Temper Wedge Shafts

Wedge Golf Shafts – True Temper

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

TT_Wedges_Ei.fwNo set of golf wedge shaft reviews would be complete with covering the golf wedge shafts from True Temper. Most wedges come with a True Temper Dynamic Gold shaft. Shown here is the EI profile of the Dyanamic Gold S300. The S200 is used is some shafts because of its slightly different weight, but the profiles are not different enough that you could tell much difference.

TT_Spinner_Wedge_Image

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

Nippon Wedge Shafts

Wedge Golf Shafts – Nippon WV Shaft

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

Nippon WV ImageNippon makes a great dedicated wedge shaft, the N.S Pro WV. It was introduced in 2009 and has been one of my custom fitted wedge shafts since that time. It is one of the higher launch, therefore higher spin wedge shafts available. It is offered in three weights which correspond to increasing stiffness. Those weight options align well with the weights of the N.S Pro line of iron shafts. Using the wedge shaft that is just slightly higher than the weight of the iron shafts have proved to be a good fit.

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

Nunchuck Golf Shafts Review

Nventix Nunchuck Driver, Nunchuck Hybrid, Nunchuck Iron

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

Nunchuck Driver Shaft

The Nventix folks are Dallas based as am I. The CEO, Mike McCall lives less than a mile from me. I have known about this shaft since its early days. The design idea comes from Bruce Devlin, a nine-time PGA Tour/PGA Senior Tour winner. Create a shaft with a stiff handle and tip, focusing all the flex in the middle of the shaft. An extensive discussion of the science is presented on the Nventix web site with a detailed explanation of the concept in the frequently asked questions tab.

NunchuckDriver_EITBTb
The stiff tip facilitates less shaft related head movement as you approach impact. That is a good thing. A 103 gram driver shaft raises my eyebrows. But, for many, adding a counter weight to a shaft is going to accomplish much the same from a total weight perspective. And I and fellow fitters have put a great many players into counterweights.

NunchuckDriverImage
Radial consistency is 99.4%, orientation in rotating hosels is a non issue. Before you look at the profile and wonder how such a severe change in stiffness will even be playable, look at this next image. This is the translation of EI into deflection.

Variations of this EI profile are seen in a few other shafts. Not exactly, but much closer than I had thought. What is rarely seen is the weight in a driver shaft. And that is something you will have to try for yourself. The butt stiffness is off the charts. That illustrates the inherent flaw in using butt stiffness to rate shafts. Feel comes from many factors. The rate and amount of loss of stiffness down the shaft as well as torque combine to produce feel.

It is fairly well known among radar equipped fitters that shaft stiffness reduces dispersion. To the degree that stiffness does not change your swing, it is a good thing. The Nunchuck driver shaft is stiff by all measurements, deflection, load, frequency. It has an EI profile that we are new seeing in a number of iron shaft designs. A rapid loss of stiffness in the middle of the shaft followed by a long stable tip. If you can handle the weight, it is now becoming a popular design.

Nunchuck Hybrid Shaft

The Nventix Nunchuck Hybrid shaft came along a year to two after the introduction of the driver shaft. The design is similar. The automatically enhanced graphic below does a bit of injustice to the actual design, but is comparable to the rest of the images on this site.

NunchuckHybridImage

NunchuckHybrid_EITBTbRadial consistency is 99.7%, outstanding, orientation in rotating hosels is a non issue. Once again, remember, EI profiles show the sitffness of the 36 ‘springs’ we measure that constitute a golf shaft. When these springs are interconnected, the deflection profile is smooth. On this shaft, I see a weight range that is without question acceptable in many bags. The stiffness is in the range of many shafts I fit strong players into. The unique design is one of the lowest launch propensities I know of.

Nunchuck Iron Shaft

NunchuckIronImage

 

NunchuckIron_EITBTb

Like all the Nventix shafts, the radial consistency of the iron shaft is exceptional, 98.9%. It is an unusual design with a unique trim pattern. The typical shaft of this style, a single shaft often called parallel blanks get trimmed from the tip, creating increasing stiffness as the shafts get shorter in response to the heads getting heavier. The Nunchuck is a taper tip design, and a single shaft is used to create the set, trimmed from the butt. That is an unusual approach but I have build a few of these on request for some good ball strikers.