TPT Red Driver Shaft Review

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TPT Red Driver 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

TPT, Thin Ply Technology, has its roots in America’s Cup yacht racing. They developed carbon fiber sails for America’s Cup yachts. They shaped carbon fiber into sails that maintained their shape. After successive America’s Cup wins, TPT moved their innovative carbon fiber processes to other industries, automotive, aerospace, aviation, snow sports and golf. They construct their own prepreg from the best fibers. Then form it into structures.

TPT makes their shafts out of carbon fiber ribbon cut from the prepreg sheets they make. The ribbon is wrapped around the shaft mandrel. The result is a seamless shaft with uniform stiffness in all orientations. That was verified in my measurement, Radial Quality, shown below. It is the best in the business.

Most shafts are hand wrapped resulting is shaft to shaft variance. TPT shafts are CNC wrapped around the shaft mandrel. This eliminates shaft to shaft variations. The shaft you are fit with is exactly the same as the shaft that will be installed in your driver.

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Russ

Fujikura Speeder Driver Shaft Review

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FUJIKURA SPEEDER 757, SPEEDER 661, SPEEDER 569 & SPEEDER 474 DRIVER SHAFTS

Golf Digest 2013 Americas 100 Best transparent.fwKirk James & Mark Vallier, Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
MK Golf Technologies,San Antonio, Texas

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

The Fujikura Speeder 757 – possibly the most iconic shaft in the history of the PGA Tour. It has never left the Tour since its debut in 1998. The new Speeder shaft line, including the 757, 661, 569 and 474 models, have been brought back by Fujikura for 2014. These shafts have been designed using Fujikura’s Triax Core Technology, a three-directional woven graphite material on the inside layer of the shaft that contributes to increased speed and stability. Ultra high modulus materials provide excellent feel and stability. The weights – ranging from 48 grams in the 474 R2 to 79 grams in the 757 X, fit a wide range of players and swing types. 

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

Here is Alex Dee, Vice President of Fujikura Golf shafts talking about the research being done at Fujikura and the 2014 shaft designs:

Mitsubishi KuroKage Blue Driver Shaft

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Mitsubishi KuroKage Driver Shaft Review

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

MRC_KuroKageBlue_Image

In 2014 Mitsubishi reintroduced the Bassara V shaft as the dealer only KuroKage. It is a great looking shaft, Blue ion finished. It has a great history, this was Lorena Ochoa’s shaft. Many years ago I fit a great many of these. It is a Diamana Blue with about a half degree more torque. The radial consistency of all the samples measured was 99.6% with a 0.3% standard deviation. Translation, excellent. Install this shaft in any orientation, use it in a rotating hosel. Shaft to shaft consistency; as good as it gets, the fitter and the shaft your club gets built with will be indistinguishable from each other.

MRC_KuroKageBlue_EiGjTbIf you are familiar with the Misubishi Blue Board design, you know this shaft. In a former life it looked like this:

MRC_BassaraV_ImageSome of the shafts I measured for this review came from the fitters that were still in my shop. I was impressed that many years ago when this shaft was first available that the radial quality was exceptional.

 

Matrix Ozik Black, Red and White Tie Driver Shaft

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Matrix Ozik Black Tie, Red Tie, White Tie

By Grant James, The Golf Doctor
Sydney Australia

Matrix Golf introduced the Ozik Black Tie, Ozik Red Tie and Ozik White Tie early 2013. The M3 Black Tie came first and it was met with instant success and popularity on the professional tours. A few months later the Red & White Tie series were introduced. Each shaft is marketed with different launch/spin characteristics:
Black Tie M3; low launch, low spin
Red Tie Q3; Mid launch, Mid spin
White Tie X3; High launch, Low spin

The Tie series incorporates many cutting edge golf shaft manufacturing processes, two of which I feel contribute to the performance benefits of the Matrix Tie series.

HD internal structure

Matrix uses 16 sided mandrels, the metal core around which the graphite sheets are wrapped during manufacturing. This creates a straighter structure than steel and in their testing transfers more feel to the golfer in the heavier shaft designs.

T T R Tip Torsional Resistance

My fitting experience has taught me the importance torque, especially tip torque in containing shot dispersion. The Ozik Tie series of shafts from Matrix has the necessary tip torque resistance.

Shaft to shaft, the EI Bend profiles are very contestant, which as a Club-Maker is something of very high importance to me. I can trust the shaft coming out of the bin is the same as the shaft I used during the fitting.

DevotedGolfer.tv had a chance to talk to Nathan Fritz, PGA Tour fitter for Matrix, at the 2013 Colonial and talk about the Ozik Tie series.

The charts below, show exception Radial Quality and Torque.

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

The Tie Series is a fantastic product, they do what they say they will. Excellent shaft to shaft consistency, and a favorite in my fitting kit.

AeroTech SteelFiber Constant Weight Iron Golf Shaft Review

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Aerotech SteelFiber Iron Shafts – constant weight taper tips

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

Aerotech_SFi110_image
Aerotech Logo

I have known Chris Hilleary, owner of AeroTech almost from the day I started club building. He has always been an active supporter of the club building & fitting organizations. When Matt Kuchar started playing and winning with Aerotech Steel Fiber iron shafts, the brand became better known.

The SteelFiber constant weight taper tip model is the most popular of the Aerotech iron shafts. It comes in five weights, 70, 80, 95, 110 and 125 grams.  The profiles change slightly with each weight.  The torque is slightly higher than steel, but certainly in range for tour grade iron shafts.

AeroTechFiberDraw

Aerotech SteelFibre shafts have a stainless wire wrapped over a filament wound graphite core, combining the properties of steel and graphite into the shaft.  The construction of the ‘wire’, 1/10 the diameter of a human hair is illustrated here.

Having heard Chris say that the design of the Aerotech SteelFiber shaft eliminates ovaling in the shaft, I tested the claim. In golf shafts, the wall thickness near the butt end of the shaft is thin. In light weight shafts this creates ovaling. The shaft flattens, becoming elliptical when it is loaded. I clamped an 85 gram steel shaft and deflected it 5 inches. I could measure 0.005″ of ovaling. The 80 gram Aerotech SteelFiber shaft ovaled .001″. The combination of carbon fiber and a stainless steel wire wrap does virtually eliminates ovaling in the Aerotech SteelFiber iron shafts, even in the 80 gram version.

Perhaps more significant, Aerotech is one of the few, if not the only company, filament winding carbon fiber shafts.  The material is wound around the mandrel much like thread is wound on a spool. Other carbon fiber shafts are made of sheet of material wrapped around the mandrel. That can create seams, which can create radial stiffness differences around the shaft. The radial consistency of the filament wound Aerotech Steelfiber review samples measured averaged 

The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers

Overall this is a great iron shaft.  If your looking to shed some weight from your irons, the 80 and 95 gram versions will do that without giving up dispersion control. With the success AeroTech is having on the professional tours, availability is now longer limited to custom fitters. AeroTech iron shafts are now available as upgrades from Bridgestone, Cleveland/Srixon, Nike, Ping, TaylorMade, Titleist and Wilson. 

Mitsubishi Fubuki Z and Fubuki ZT Golf Shaft Review

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Mitsubishi Fubuki Zeta & Fubuki Zeta Tour Driver Golf Shafts
Callaway Big Bertha 2014 Stock Driver Shafts

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

Fubuki Z

FubukiZ_Image

Several years ago Mitsubishi Rayon began making high quality shaft models for the golf club manufacturers. These designs closely resemble the Mitsubishi Rayon premium shafts. The Fubuki Zeta and Fubuki Zeta Tour continue this tradition. The driver market has settled in on a $400 price point and most premium shafts range from $300 to $850.  For some, these prices are justified by performance, for others, they are not.

drivers-2014-big-berthaThe 2014 Callaway Big Bertha stock shaft is the Fubuki Zeta or simply Fubuki Z. For those that are familiar with Mitsubishi Rayon golf shafts, the shaft design is indicated by the little letter that is left of the weight.

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