Oban Hashimoto Golf Shaft Review

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Oban Hashimoto 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 OBAN Hashimoto is not a new release, it has been available for several years. I am in the process of updating the data of OBAN shafts to include hoop deformation corrections.

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Russ

ACCRA Tour Z Golf Shaft Review

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ACCRA TOUR Z DRIVER SHAFTS

By Woody Lashen, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Pete’s Golf, Mineola, New York

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ACCRA started in 2002 as a Canadian distributor for Royal Precision and UST. In 2004 they started into the shaft business licensing the ACCRA brand name from UST. In 2007, they purchased the brand name and embarked on independent development of premium golf shafts distributed exclusively through certified ACCRA fitters.

LS_ST_CB_DeflectionsThe ACCRA Tour Z is available in three launch designs; ST (stable tip) low launch, CB (counter balance) low mid launch and LS (low sping) mid launch. The Tour Z has an iridescent logo that changes color in the sunlight as the shaft is rotated. The weight and flex are noted near the tip. The raw shafts are market with the stiff and weak planes facilitating alignment for those inclined to do so. Our testing has shown excellent radial consistency, the ACCRA Tour Z is suitable for use in rotating hosels without regard for alignment.

I had a chance to talk to Gawain Robertson, co owner of ACCRA Golf, at the 2014 PGA Merchandise show about club fitting and ACCRA golf shafts.

ACCRA Tour Z CB Driver Shaft

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The ACCRA Tour Z CB driver shaft is the latest addition to the Tour Z brand. Although it says “CB” in it’s name, this shaft is really not counter balanced. What ACCRA has done is raised the center of gravity (CG) to offer golfers a different “feel” and launch condition from their popular ST series.
The Tour Z CB series of shafts was patterned after the extremely popular ACCRA XE and XC lines of shafts using updated materials and new design concepts.

The tip section in this shaft is slightly softer that the Tour Z ST and the torque is lower combined with the higher CG it promotes a ball flight that is only slightly higher than the ST (Mid) a spin rate that would be considered mid to low.

As with all Tour Z shafts, the CB offers Constant Flex Technology, ACCRA’s super Thin Wall design and the platinum band around the cool matte black finish certainly makes this shaft distinctive. What really makes this shaft stand out is the unique feel that is created by the combination of many technologies in one shaft.

TourZ_CB_EiGjTbRadial consistency was 99.5% with a .3% standard deviation. It does not get much better than that. The ACCRA tour Z shafts FLO planes are marked on the butts. You can ignore them, these shafts are good to play in any orientation.

 ACCRA Tour Z  ST Driver Shaft

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ACCRA’s first introduction in the Tour Z line was originally named Tour Z+, with the introduction of the CB and LS lines it was renamed ST in 2013. This shaft was originally designed for a specific PGA Tour player who was looking for a very stable shaft from top to bottom but still wanted “feel”. ACCRA’s engineers tested many combinations to accomplish this the final design features a super thin wall design, something that has been incorporated in all ACCRA Tour Z shafts. The super high modulus materials enabled ACCRA engineers to use these thin wall structures that enhance energy transfer and feel to the golfer yet maintains strength and durability.

From a playability stand point, this shaft certainly accomplishes what it advertises.  The ST is Accra’s must popular shaft on tour with many players using the Tour Z ST 55 shaft as the stability of this shaft gives them the confidence of a heavier shaft in a 55 gram product that helps them generate more speed, without sacrificing control.

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Once again, radial consistency was 99.2% with a .3% standard deviation. It does not get much better than that.

 ACCRA Tour Z LS Driver Shaft

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The ACCRA Tour Z LS series of shafts was originally patterned after the shaft that brought ACCRA to prominence in the premium golf shaft market. The ACCRA SE and SC series of shafts each featured a responsive tip section combined with very low torque. This was revolutionary 10 years ago.

The Tour Z LS takes that philosophy and uses the latest in design and manufacturing techniques to produce and updated version of these classic ACCRA shafts. The first thing that a golfer feels with this shaft is the responsiveness (or kick) in the tip section, this is followed by the realization that this shaft offers tremendous stability from torsional strength in the tip section.

As with all ACCRA Tour Z shafts, the LS features Constant Flex Technology and the Super Thin Wall design, enabling professional Club Fitters to perfectly fit a golfer to flex, weight, ball flight and feel. This shaft has become popular for many levels of golfers as a fairway shaft and has also become and excellent option for golfers looking for a mid-high launch/low spin option.

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Radial consistency was 99.3% with a .7% standard deviation, outstanding.

The Tour Z family offers many options for all different types of swings, as with any shaft, getting fit for them by a top fitter is critical to getting the maximum performance for them.

Aldila RIP Nasty Long Golf Shaft Review

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ALDILA RIP Phenom Nasty Long

By John Dranschak
Dead Solid Perfect Golf Clubs, Columbus, Ohio

AldilaPhenomNLImageLike many designs from Aldila, the Rip Phenom Nasty Long has profiles matched fit to the anticipated use of the shaft weight. The 60 gram version is a higher launching design than the 70 gram model. The design profile is similar to the RIP line and the RIP NV,where we see a reversal of the mid stiffness, compared to the original NV. However the Nasty long takes this to a new level, with the mid stiffness staying constant or slightly increasing from about 25″  to near 15″. This gives a much stiffer mid and upper tip section before declining again as it progressed toward the tip. AldilaNLEiGjTbAldilaNLDeflectionsRadial quality is excellent and is suitable for the popular adjustable drivers. The low torques of the Tour shafts provides good tip stability for higher swing speeds.  

Performance Testing

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The  performance of the Aldila Phenom Nasty long was conducted using a Foresight Launch Monitor. Joe Stago, a PGA Professional at Golftec (Easton) in Columbus, OH hit the 60S and 70S versions of the shaft.  Joe’s comments follow:

AldilaNLDeflectionPhenom Nasty Long 60S – This shaft really performed well with my normal swing. It felt a little stiffer than the RIP NV, which feels good,  but it certainly gave me excellent performance. I like to hit a slight draw and I was able to hit that shot with little effort and it gave me the launch and spin I was looking for.

Phenom Nasty Long 70S – This shaft performed very well, but I had to work really hard to make it perform. I can make it work but it is probably a little too heavy for me with my normal swing. I prefer lighter feeling shafts and this would not be my first choice but it performed as well as the 60S, it just took a little more effort than I prefer.

Shimada Iron Shafts

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Shimada Iron Golf Shaft

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

In response to a request from a viewer, the Shimada iron shaft data available on my old shaft review page has been resurrected. it has been some time since I measured these and some of the data now shown in the current reviews is not available. The review samples are no where to be found in the shop.

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The profiles look much like the new TourTemper XP 95 S flex design, That same design is available in different weights and stiffness.

 

Golf Shaft Deflection

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Modeling Static Load Deflection

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

Understanding the differences in golf shafts has never been easy. Bending is the product of the elastic modulus E and the area moment of inertia I of the beam cross section at a point on the beam. The formula looks like this:

w is the bending of the beam, x is the location and k is the curvature. This is the fundamental science used by all golf shaft designers of significance. It makes simple sense to use the same system to understand their designs.

Working with my friend and technical mentor, Dave Tutelman, I added deflection modeling to my shaft knowledge base. Deflection can be calculated from EI. Knowing the EI of 36 sections of a driver shaft, a composite bend can be modeled with weight as a variable. This illustrations shows the EI profile of two shafts on the left. On the right the shafts are loaded with different weights to model their deflection when loaded.

I picked these two shafts to illustrate the value of knowing the EI profile of golf shafts. These two shafts are both rated by their respective manufacturers as S flex. The EI profile shows the butt and tip stiffness to be about the same. And yet, they show very different bend patterns when loaded as shown on the right.

The loading illustration is what you would see if you used a deflection board. I borrowed this image of a deflection board from GolfWorks.This is a classic tool used by club makers to understand shaft bending properties and to rate stiffness.

Frequency instruments have replaced this instrument in most club makers shops. Frequency gauges give the club maker a number which many software systems translate into stiffness. What is not seen on frequency instruments is the bend profile seen on a deflection board. The shortcoming of deflection boards is that they do not quantify the bend profile, leaving the club maker to compare bend properties with tracings.

Using EI values along the shaft, the deflection profile can be calculated and quantified as shown. This lets shaft engineers translate the matrix of material properties used in the shaft, wall thickness, wall diameter and taper rate into computer simulated bend properties of a golf shaft. All major shaft design companies have created software to model their ideas before they develop prototype shafts.

My EI instrument brings the shafts we play with back into modeling. The club fitter, equipped with EI measurements, understands the bend properties of the shafts he fit with. That understanding is why it was necessary to invent my own instrument and system for measuring golf shafts. The fitters that are authors on this site understand the golf shafts they fit with from this perspective.

The load applied during a golf swing is transformed into shaft deflection. That deflection is what you feel as stiffness when you swing. Feel feedback helps you time your swing. The EI bend profile determines not only the amount of deflection but also the shape of the deflection. And that shape influences how your swing/shaft interaction presents the club head to the ball at impact.

Aldila RIP Alpha Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

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Aldila RIP Alpha Hybrid

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

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This is not a new shaft from Aldila, it was released several years ago. It was the pioneering release of Reverse Interlaminar Placement in Aldila shafts. It has been used in all subsequent shafts. It has never been clear to me exactly what was done. Their illustrations show bias plies at both the inner and outer wraps of the shaft. Most premium shafts over the last few years have adapted to some variation of this layup design.

What brought the RIP to my attention was the release of the KBS Tour V and the Nippon Modus3 Tour 130 designs. Both have a long stable butt and mid with a rapid loss of stiffness toward the tip in the high tip section of the shaft. When working on my Hybrid fitting system I saw this pattern in the RIP Alpha Hybrid.

AldilaRIPHybridEiDfTbI secured a few more review samples from Aldila and took a hard look at the model. It has really low tip torque numbers and excellent radial consistency. If you are familiar with the table from other reviews you will notice that the format of the balance column has changed. It is now expressed in terms of the midpoint of the shaft. A positive number indicates the balance is above the midpoint, a negative number below the midpoint. This makes it easier to see the amount of counterbalance build into a shaft. What we see in the Alpha is a ‘balanced’ shaft.

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In future reviews you will see deflection profiles The EI profiles I have been using may cause some confusion and consternation when looking at the charts. You can see unusual peaks and valleys is many designs. This is not how the shaft bends. That is how the designer tailored the stiffness of the shaft to create a bend profile. In this illustration you can see increasing and decreasing load applied to the EI numbers and watch how the shaft bends in response to loading and unloading.

The Aldila RIP Hybrid shaft profile, what one shaft company tour rep explained as convex vs concave when discussing two popular models, is seeing a lot of play recently. I found an example of two shafts with similar butt and tip stiffness and in my new bend modeling software applied increasing tip loads to the shafts to help me envision how these two extremes compare to each other. LoadingAnamation
This is new methodology, I am not aware of any other software implementation of load modeling based on EI profiles. What we clearly see here is the mid shaft stiffness creating a propensity for a lower launch. What you also see is the importance of matching the load you apply to a shaft. Shafts that are too stiff for you barely bend, giving you a boardy feeling. Shafts that are too soft, bend too much. As they recover from applied load during the reduced acceleration that happens just before impact, they add too much variation to head speed and orientation. That is why being properly fit into a shaft is a huge factor in shot dispersion.

When warm weather returns to Dallas we will get to reaction from the local golf professionals comparing the feel of these two designs.