Golf Shafts

Shaft Feel
We believe that graphite is the shaft material of the future. It has already been proven for woods, except for Tiger and everyone who wants to be Tiger. Over the next few years, we think there will be a strong move to graphite shafts in irons, particularly among better amateur golfers who have so far been afraid to make the change because of the perceived inconsistency in graphite.

If you can't imagine yourself playing graphite shafts in your irons, another reasonable alternative is to take another look at lightweight steel. Better players have been disappointed with lightweight steel shafts up until now. This has been due to absence of feel in lightweight steel shafts. Lightweight steel also has a tendency to play much stiffer than expected. We recommend the Nippon Shaft Company's lightweight steel shafts as the steel shaft of the future. "Steel with feel."

Steel v. Graphite
This is our opinion, not science.

We no longer recommend True Temper Dynamic or Dynamic Gold. They are simply too harsh. Might be OK for the pros. For some players who can't escape tradition, we recommend True Temper Dynamic Gold with Sensicore.

In Standard weight steel, we like the feel of Rifle shafts. They tend to feel "softer and squishier". The problem with Rifles has been with their consistency. They tend to be sold in sets, cut to length for easier assembly. We find them to be erratic when we measure CPM. We prefer customizing a set by starting with 1 iron shafts and cutting them to length very carefully. This technique can produce spot-on frequencies. Rifle has a new shaft, the "Project-X". They're little experience with this shaft but it has turned in a couple of PGA Tour wins. We received our first samples in mid-May and will post our hands-on experience very soon. Call for an update if you can't wait.

Our current favorite in graphite is the Apache MFS - stands for "Master Fitting System" series. K.J. Choi won at the Compaq Classic in New Orleans playing Apache shafts in his woods and irons.

Several other graphite manufacturers have promising products. We are listing Accuflex in our Products and Services section this week on the strength of their new "Icon" line. Our testing is continuous and we will report results periodically in our newsletter and on our website.

Another name to watch is the Japanese-made Nippon Shaft Company. These are ultra lightweight steel shafts. They are a little scarce and are just becoming available to custom clubmakers. We are receiving our first samples the week of May 20 so we'll have an opinion very soon. We think that this is the shaft to watch in steel.