Com took a look into the driver setups of the top 10 players in. Tpt golf automatic improvement driver, fairway, hybrid. Trimming shafts helps elite players zero in on the right. The spaniard uses 100gram shafts in his 3 and 5woods. Jul 29, 2019 project x stiffness number is one of the interesting things. Rickie fowler switched to graphite designs tour ad iz driver shaft.
Four distinct driver shaft profiles are available in a wide range of flexes. Regular vs firm shaft clubs, grips, shafts, fitting. The softer midsection bend profile of the tour ad di allows the player to load the shaft properly, yet it maintains a firm enough tip section through impact promoting a high launch and low spin ball flight condition. Tipping a shaft golf term the process of trimming the tip end of a shaft to increase its stiffness. No matter how good they are, tour players know that the longer the length of the driver, the more difficult it will be to hit on center and to hit with accuracy. Driver shaft length is shorter better than standard length. The stiffness, weight, spin, and torque are all labeled right in the shaft. While practically every golf club fitting guru and gearhead knows what it means to tip a clubshaft, most golfers dont know what it is or what. All players are playing designated x flex but no information is available on any tipping being done. We recommend working with an approved club fitter to ensure all elements of your swing are factored into selecting the. What difference would i expect from a heavier shaft. For this test, we brought together five golfers with a range of swing speeds and handicaps. Best driver shafts for distance in 2020 having the right driver shaft can improve your all round driving on a golf course. If you are looking for a wellconstructed, flexible graphite shaft for your taylormade drivers then you should definitely get the graphite design tour ad bb 7 shaft.
Tipping a shaft is essentially a way of fine tuning the flex and playing characteristics of a particular shaft. In a relatively short time, kbs shafts have been adopted by top pga tour professionals and the custom department of every major manufacturer. The 8 hottest driver shafts of 2018 on the pga tour. Its impossible to get a new shaft that feels or performs the same if that shaft is made by hand.
I have no idea what my swing speed is, but im pretty sure its not much over 100. As with changing putters to make more putts, golfers change out driver shafts semiregularly looking for more distance or more fairways, but preferably both. Thats why its such a big deal when a tour player has to replace a shaft. Soft tip shaft required i think clubs, grips, shafts. By shankopotamus, june 3, 2011 in japanese golf clubs. Pro 950gh came to market in 1999, it was the first consistentlymade sub100 gram steel shaft in the world. Driver shafts, especially in professional golf, are very similar to putters.
For nongolfers or those just starting to get into the sport it can seem almost impossible that the design of the shaft will have much effect on the overall swing of the user. The atmos tour spec line is geared towards the performance golfer looking to keep the ball flighted down with low spin. Throughout this guide we will bring you the very best driver shafts for distance. Many pros have their shafts tipped as much as one or two inches. Heading into the 2019 pga championship at bethpage state parks black course, which demands long and straight tee shots, pgatour. Although, my first experience with the new driver i. New atmos tour spec patriot edition the patriot edition is based on the tour spec black launch profile but has slightly softer tip flex for more feel of the club head and slight increase in launch. Pros choice golf shafts encourages consulting a pga professional or qualified graphite. Mar 07, 2014 since driver shafts are now interchangeable with an adaptor, i was toying with the idea of getting the same shaft for my driver that i have in my tour spoon, since i seem to get a lot more performance out of the latter. As our players moved from the untipped shaft to the 12. Apr 26, 20 according to don brown, product development manager for true temper who works on project x and grafalloy driver shafts, kick point is a somewhatdated term that is used a lot more by consumers than tour pros and people within the industry.
However, two of them registered their highest spin numbers with the most heavilytipped shaft. I didnt bother trying the regular shaft but if memory serves me, regular or whippier shafts make my slice that much worse. The right weight can mean an extra club in distance. Designed and manufactured exclusively at the graphite design factory headquarters in japan, the tour ad di orange colored option received a cosmetic refresh in the spring of 2020 and are available in 50g r2 lite, r1 regular and s flex, 60g sr stiff regular, s, x and tx tour x. For that reason, it makes sense as a driver shaft, or as a fairway wood shaft for golfers who struggle to control spin with their fairway woods. Notice how the tipped shaft slightly shifts the profile toward the tip. Stiff regular sr flex shafts are available in the tour ad wood models only.
The charts and graphs provided by any golf manufactures are only guidelines with respect to fitting. The 5 increments allow you to get right at the exact stiffness you are expecting without tipping the shaft. Ideal for a player seeking a mid to high ball launch mid trajectory to high trajectory and a low to mid spin. This enables them to keep the same length club but have a slightly. Each player hit seven drives with each of three driver shaft lengths. Most male golfers are wielding drivers that measure 45 to 48 inches, the maximum allowed under the united states golf associations rules of golf. The technologically superior design reduces ovalization while increasing swing speed. Fujikuras new ventus shaft debuted on the pga tour at the 2018 safeway open. Going with the same weight with the driver shaft keeps. Lastly, tipping wont do much to affect spin rates and launch angle two popular misconceptions when it comes to trimming the lower end of a shaft. Continuing with our iconic tour spec white paint, atmos is a true tour flighted line of shafts with a simple color coding red as the higher launching, blue as mid launch, black as the lowest launch similarities include keeping the handle flexes the same for feel. Tipping a shaft instead of going stiffer team titleist.
The only way to properly ensure that a shaft head combination is truly the best fit for your swing is to be analyzed by a professional club fitter. The average tip on drivers is about an inch, although some players go to greater lengths. I went straight for the firm shaft on the callaway 454 ti driver i just purchased from golftown. Driver shaft length custom fitting for the correct length to help improve your strike pattern and. Tour edge year description shaft description shaft manufacture flex weight tip dia. The 8 hottest driver shafts of 2018 on the pga tour golfwrx. How to understand golf shaft trimming charts hireko custom golf. Best driver shafts for distance in 2020 golf rating. Regular vs firm shaft clubs, grips, shafts, fitting the. Aug 18, 2006 i went straight for the firm shaft on the callaway 454 ti driver i just purchased from golftown. Generally speaking, generic graphite wood shafts are tipped to some degree if they are destined for a fairway wood and tipping is a common tactic in order to make shafts play stiffer. Even the shafts pros use have serious consistency problems. Tipping instead of trying a different flex allows a player to find a shaft with a firmness in between flexes.
Choosing the right graphite design tour ad shaft dlance. Since 2010, penley has had over 100 shafts in play and have placed in the following tournaments using the et2 and the hybrid heater2. What this tells me is that these players have been fit very well to shafts that match their swing. Or better yet, have a new driver customfit and custombuilt not only at a shorter length, but also for loft, face angle, shaft, total weight, swingweight, and grip size. The tour green has a stiffer tip section than the tour blue, making it launch lower and spin significantly less about 500to700 rpm less on average for me. Tipping a shaft, just like choosing a stiffer flex, does not guarantee lower spin. It helps you to be the champion with unbeatable accuracy. Take an old driver to a certified club builder, get it shortened and reweighted, and give it a try, suggested wishon. Consistent weighting is the reason garcia takes on extra heft in his driver shaft. Of course, choosing the right head, loft, clubface angle and grip is important too, but how the shaft functions during your swing is, in our opinion, what matters the most.
This is the primary reason they, on average, use driver lengths that are much shorter than what the golf companies make to sell to regular golfers. The standard length of a driver for men used to be 43. Driver shaftfitting is arguably the most important part of the clubfitting process. From my experience, tipping a shaft 1 inch will make it circa 12 flex stiffer, but it depends on the shaft in question. Thats because both shafts have very similar characteristics. Taking a look at popular driver shafts on the pga tour.
The drivers and shafts used by the top10 drivers on the pga tour. Project x stiffness number is one of the interesting things. Continuing with our iconic tour spec white paint, atmos is a true tour flighted line of shafts with a simple color coding red as the higher launching, blue as mid launch, black as the lowest launch similarities. In actual fact the best driver shafts can add a remarkable number of yards to. The shaft has to complement what the player is doing. Tour pros often have their shafts tipped, or cut back from the clubhead end slightly to make the tip of the shaft stiffer. Although, my first experience with the new driver i couldnt do anything but s. The best golf shafts of 2020 although almost all golf drivers come with their own shafts sometimes golfers like to replace them with better shafts that are designed to provide much more stability and accuracy. Conversely, a taper tip is as its described the shaft tapers towards the tip. This shaft has a soft tip, when i hit it pure my ball goes pretty straight, or i get a slight draw. The aldila rogue driver shafts have now all been reissued with msi prepreg. The tour ad di deep impact is designed to provide golfers with more power and stability in a golf shaft. When the manufacturers make a shaft, they do so in mind that is could be used for a wide number of golfers and applications, so. The drivers and shafts used by the top10 drivers on the.
When it comes to shafts played on the pga tour, true tempers dynamic gold and project x shafts are two of the most played. According to don brown, product development manager for true temper who works on project x and grafalloy driver shafts, kick point is a somewhatdated term that is used a lot more by consumers than tour pros and people within the industry. Penleys high quality golf shafts are known by long drive championship players and pga players worldwide. The charts in this article show three shafts, a 60 s, a 60 x and a 60 s tipped 1. What the top 50 pga tour players are playing in their drivers. This is a different profile option than the standard three tour spec options launched in 2017. These are just a few of the notable names with graphite designs tour ad iz shaft in the bag. In addition, all nippon shaft products are constant weighted, meaning that every iron in a players bag be it a 3iron or a pitching wedge weighs the same. High price not have much information on the internet. This is typically done during the custom fitting process to produce a very specific flex based on an individuals swing characteristics. If youre wondering how much you should tip your wood shafts or even if you should tip them at all, then youre in good company.
Later in the session, he started suggesting a shorter shaft. Which shaft weight gives the most consistently centred strike often using a shorter driver shaft can help with this, the most clubball speed and which gives the best dispersion. Tipping removes the thinnest part of the shaft near the clubhead, making that end of the shaft slightly stiffer than standard. I was on a monitor and the fitter said i hit the ball high with a lot of spin and tended to pull it. The kiyoishi tour limited combines 46 ton prepreg composite with 4axis material, running the entire length of the shaft.
Why is the shaft such an important part of the driver. One of the features that having the right driver shaft can improve is driving distance, which is something all golfers crave. As for the affect it will have on your numbers, well it certainly will not bring 4400rpm of spin, down to 2800 rpm. When we design a shaft, we dont actually measure where a kick point is, brown says. The idea behind tipping is to make the clubhead end of the shaft stiffer and even lower torque than it was designed to be to minimize twisting of the club. Closest replacement shaft 2012 exotics xcg6 driver exotics matrix ozik hd graphite matrix r,s,x 53 69. The only way to properly ensure that a shafthead combination is truly the best fit for your swing is to be analyzed by a professional club fitter.
However, in the 21st century a standard driver is considered to be 45 inches. A parallel shaft is one that has a constant diameter from the tip and up to a specified distance on the shaft. Thats because shaft tipping where the tip end of the shaft that goes into the head is trimmed is commonplace on the pga tour. Kim braly signature kbs tour shafts was formed in early 2008 and has rapidly become the fastest growing steel shaft brand in the industry. Driver shaft length are you shorting yourself using a 46. Golfers can gain distance through a proper shaft weight fitting, but it might be at the expense of dispersion, or vice versa. Padersons filamentwound construction used in three profiles offers a unique feel. The tour ad di also utilizes premium, aerospace quality 50t carbonfiber materials to provide the best performing shaft available. We recommend working with an approved club fitter to ensure all elements of your swing are factored into selecting the best oban performance golf shaft for your game. Since driver shafts are now interchangeable with an adaptor, i was toying with the idea of getting the same shaft for my driver that i have in my tour spoon, since i seem to get a lot more performance out of the latter.