PING CFS Iron Shafts

von Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Übersetzung von Martin Stecher, aPerfectSwing, Nienburg

Als Clubfitter ist es wichtig die Schäfte zu kennen die man fittet und die in den vorhandenen Schlägern unserer Kunden sind. Ich habe vor kurzem einen Ping Eisensatz mit neuen Schäften versehen. So konnten wir die ausgebauten Schäfte messen.

Folgendes habe ich gemessen:

Um die Schäfte mit anderen Schäften auf dieser Seite zu vergleichen, die Steifheit im Griffbereich beträgt 12,9 lbs. Das Verhältnis vom Tip zum Butt ( Spitze zum Griffbereich) ist 56%, was auf einen mittleren Ballflug hindeutet.

Der Schaft ist ein parallel Schaft Design. Das kann man durch das leichtere Gewicht der kürzeren Schäfte erkennen. Bis zu einem gewissem Maß wird dadurch die Steifheit der Schaftspitze komprimiert. Das kann man anhand des Verlaufs der Schafthärte im mittlerem Bereich im Vergleich zum Griff- und Spitzenbereich erkennen.

Das ist ein typischer Satz, der aus identischen Schäften gebaut wird, die am Tip-Bereich gekürzt werden, um mehr Härte in diesem Bereich für die schwereren Schlägerköpfe der kürzeren Eisen zu bekommen.

Was ich bei weiteren Ping Eisensätzen gemessen habe ist, dass Ping sowohl ein sauberes Schwunggewicht im Satz baut und ebenso sehr dicht an einem MOI stimmigem Satz ist. Ich bedaure, dass ich diesen Satz nicht vor dem Schaftausbau vermessen habe. Das sich verringernde Gewicht der Schäfte im Satz trägt deutlich unterschiedlich zum MOI Wert des jeweiligen Schlägers bei. Das kann der Grund für Schwunggewicht und MOI abgestimmten Eisensätzen sein.

NIPPON N.S.PRO MODUS3

von Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Übersetzung von Martin Stecher, aPerfectSwing, Nienburg

Der Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 war bereits mehrere Jahre auf der PGA Tour im Einsatz bevor er der Allgemeinheit 2010 zugänglich gemacht wurde. In 2013 wurde die zweite Version, die auf der Tour im Einsatz war, in den Verkauf gebracht. Es gibt einige spezielle Eigenschaften dieser Schäfte. Zum einen wird eine Legierung verwendet, die sonst in Stahlfedern zum Einsatz kommt. Aber anstatt dass ich die Geschichte erzähle ist hier ein Video aus meinen frühen Tagen als Vidoejournalist zu N.S. Pro Modus 3 Geschichte.

Der Schaft wird im Bereich nach dem Griffende schnell weicher und hat dann einen langen steifen Tip Bereich. Der Schaft wird von mehreren Tour Pros gespielt, und hat seinen Beitrag zu vielen Turniergewinnen seit seiner Einführung 2010 getan. Er ist dabei mit einem Gewicht von 104 Gramm leicht. Das ist etwas, was viele Spieler suchen, und so hat Nippon diesen leichten High-Performance Schaft unter Verwendung der Materialien und des Fertigungs Know-How der Mutterfirma aus dem Automobilbereich, entwickelt. Hier sind das lineare und radiale Biegeprofil des Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 120 und 2013 erschienen Modus 3 130 zu sehen.

Der lange steife Tip Bereich im Nippon Modus 3 120 ist einzigartig bei Stahlschäften. Diese Biegekurve habe ich bisher nur beim ultraleichten Driverschaft der Mitsubishi G-Serie gesehen, aber nie in einem Stahlschaft. Ich habe unzählige Spieler mit niedrigem Handicap für den Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 120 Schaft gefittet. Dabei wurde die XX-Flex Variante auf Wunsch eines ehemaligen Weltrangliste #1 Spieler gebaut. Der Schaft ermöglicht einen mittleren bis niedrigen Ballstart. Der lange steife Tip Bereich hilft fortgeschrittenen Golfern mit dem Ball zu arbeiten. Mit diesem Schaft habe ich beim Fitting mit die konstantesten Trefferkreise gesehen. Der Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 130 hat einen höheren Ballstart. Sergio Garcia hat Ende der Saison 2012 den Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 gespielt. Suzann Pettterson hat 2013 die Lotte Championship in Ko Olina, Hawaii mit dem Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 120 gewonnen. Wir haben den Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 130 einem schnellen Test auf der PGA Merchandise Show unterzogen, und haben den aufgrund des EI Profils erwarteten höheren Ballstart gesehen. Der Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 130 ist 10 Gramm schwerer als der Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 120, ist aber kein 130 Gramm Schaft. Der Torque ist beim 130 etwas geringer als beim 120.

Nachfolgend ist ein komplett vermessener Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 120 Satz zu sehen. Die Rundheit und der Feldverlauf der Nippon N.S Pro Modus 3 120 Schäfte ist hervorragend. Wir haben viele Sätze vermessen und haben immer dieselben guten Messergebnisse. Die Konstantgewicht Taper Tip Sätze haben passende Biegeprofile, wie sie von Parallel-Tip Schäften nicht erreicht werden können.

Auf der PGA Merchandise Show 2013 hat DevotedGolfer.tv Author John Taylor mit Hiro Fukuda von NHK Intex Corporation/Nippon Shafts darüber gesprochen.

Nippon N.S.Pro Super Peening

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

I am in the process of rebuilding the Fit2Score shaft knowledge base with 3 iron and wedge profiles. Nippon sent a box full of review samples including the N.S.Pro Super Peening Orange and Blue. I had briefly looked at the Super Peening Blue wedge shafts in the past. They had been suggested as a wedge addition to my fitting system. Readers have asked several times about these shaft so I was interested in getting a full set of measurements of these samples.

The N.S.Pro Super Peening shafts are no longer shown the the Nippon brochures. I had to find a 2008 catalog to see how Nippon presented the shafts. The descriptions there were brief, and the terms used to describe the shafts Orange = Mid Kick Point and Blue = Butt Kick Point brought me back to a time when I was taught to think about shafts with those terms. We were taught back then that the higher the kick point the lower the shaft would launch. My exploration of EI profiles vastly expanded my understanding of a golf shaft beyond things like kick point and frequency matching. As I looked at the measurement of these two shafts I realized they are good examples to discuss the nature of 3 point EI profiles.

The ‘mid kick’ Orange has a steeper EI curve than the ‘butt kick’ Blue. This is how one can see the launch propensity of a shaft by simply looking at the EI curve. Also, the Tip to Butt ratio indicates launch. The Blue, lower launching design has a higher number, the tip stiffness is a larger percentage of the butt stiffness. That means there is less change of stiffness between the butt and tip of the shaft. The smaller the change, the lower the launch propensity of the shaft.

Look at the Profile Signatures, there is a greater loss of stiffness in the ‘mid kick’, higher launching Orange than the ‘high kick’, lower launching Blue.

EI curves are a refined view of launch propensity. Look again at the profile signatures. The 3 iron shafts lose more stiffness near the tips than the wedge shafts from the set. A fitter that knows the profiles of the shafts he works can quickly make fitting decisions based on his knowledge of the shafts. He has a fundamental understanding of the shafts he is presenting during your fitting.  As you read iron shaft reviews here in the future, set profiles will be discussed.

Most sets are ‘flighted’ to some degree. The shorter irons are not just stiffer, they are often designed, either intentionally or as a byproduct of material or structure, to, in legacy terminology, have ‘higher kick points’. And as a result, a propensity to launch the ball lower.

As I transition the iron shaft section of the Fit2Score software from a simple view of comparing 6 irons to the expanded view of sets I asked myself why iron sets had not always been presented this way to the club building community. It was through my involvement with PCS that I first encountered the concept of shaft profiling using frequency instruments. As I asked myself the question, why 6 irons and not sets, I answered it. The frequency system with a 454g tip weight could not measure tip stiffness commonly seen in the short end of the golf shaft iron sets. This was quickly confirmed by one of our editors, John Dranschak earlier today. As instrumentation and technology evolve, the systems we use to understand golf gear do likewise. Understanding iron shafts by looking only at 6i shaft profiles is better than not knowing anything about shaft bend profiles. But the expanded view of looking also at the long and short end of the sets is an essential tool in iron set fitting.

As I measured these shafts I compared them to the  Modus3 product line. I just published a review of the new Modus3 Tour 125. I quickly realized ihe Modus3 Tour 125 is so similar to the Super Peening Blue, it is hard to tell them apart. While they are both designated 125g shafts, the new metallurgy used in the Modus3 shafts resulted in the same shaft about 5 grams lighter. All else is virtually identical. If you played the Super Peening Blue in the past, you should be accustomed to the feel and performance of the new Modus3 Tour 125.

 Iron Golf Shafts – KBS TOUR V

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

When we get back to back wins 2013 in the Scottish Open and the British open the shaft in the bag of the Phil Mickelson gets a lot of attention. Well, it turns out it was it a tour prototype that is now available. It is an unusual profile for steel but not unique. Here is a look at the KBS Tour V which now is the stock steel shaft in the 2014 Callaway Apex Pro Irons. It has a long handle, every so gently declining in stiffness until the about 14″ from the tip. Then it declines rapidly. I have heard Kim Braly refer to the design as ‘fast tip.’

It is noteworthy to mention that the stock graphite in the 2014 Callaway Apex Pro is the UST Recoil. An interesting choice of premium shafts, in a classy players design iron head.

This is a new design for KBS, lets take a closer look by comparing it to the other KBS designs, the KBS Tour and the KBS C-Taper. 

Looking at the EI profile on its own, one is tempted to say it is tip soft.  But when we compare the profile to other KBS shafts of the same stiffness, the tip stiffness is about the same.  The butt stiffness is about the same. The mid section of the shaft is stiffer. And that brings to mind the research done by Ralph Mann and UST. They concluded that the order of importance in a golf shaft design was tip, mid, torque, butt. And the latest series of driver shafts from UST, the Elements, have hyper stiff mid sections.  So, why not use this design in an iron shaft. This is radically different from traditional designs, but not so radically different from some other recent designs.  Sergio has been using a similar design in the Modus3 Tour130 and has had a string of tour success in the 2013 season.

Using our new modeling software to create deflection illustrations from the EI curves, this design reveals a tendency to create a lower launch than other KBS Designs. I applied a high load to create this much deflection for the illustration. You can see how much less deflection and tip angle this design creates.
I am now in the final stages of preparing the hybrid-iron-wedge Fit2Score shaft profiling system for release to subscribers. Combining these three sections into one package opened up the ability to display set profiles. The traditional way club builders compared irons was to look at only the 6 iron shaft. That overlooks what was called ‘flighted’ sets by Royal Precision. So as I prepare the software, I am adding both the 3 irons and the wedge shafts to the knowledge base. The club fitters and builders using the Fit2Score software can see which iron sets are flighted and which are not as well as the degree to which they are flighted. What you see here is the raw unenhanced profiles of the KBS Tour V sets. What you are seeing is an example of sets that show no flighting. The wedge shaft and the 3 iron shaft have much the same bend profile. The wedge shaft is uniformly stiffer down the entire length of the shaft. All future reviews here will discuss this aspect of iron shaft sets.

Within the golf club fitting and building community there are now three methods to understand bend profiles of shafts. A future technical article will discuss the history and methods of the systems. The 3 point bend system used in these reviews is classical textbook engineering for beam measurement. It is the language spoken by the vast majority of golf shaft designers and engineers. That is why I built the Fit2Score software around this measurement methodology.

I tested a review sample installed in a Miura CB-501 on the range and was surprised at how tight my ball flight dispersion was. I had expected more variation from the soft tip. That was not the case, the balls were flying true despite a heavy cross wind the day I was testing. As with any golf shaft, you will not know if it is right for your swing without testing it.

KBS Tour 105 TaylorMade Stock Iron Shaft

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

Many of you have probably seen a KBS Tour 105 shaft in stock TaylorMade RSi 1 and RSi2 irons. As of the date this review was published this shaft is not available in the USA after market, the review samples were shipped from the KBS factory in Taiwan.

The KBS Tour 105 used in the TaylorMade RSi’s are parallel shafts. A taper version will soon be available to club makers in the USA. For those that are not club makers and are not familiar with the terms parallel and taper let me explain. This illustrations shows the bore in the hosel of a club head. Some heads, like the RSi1 and RSi2 have parallel bores. The hole in which the shaft is inserted has parallel sides. They are typically 0.370″ diameter. They are designed for parallel tip shafts. Heads designed for constant weight taper tip shafts have a tapered bore. The bottom of the hole is 0.355″ diameter and slowly increases in diameter.

Taper tip shafts are sold in sets. Each shaft in the set is specifically designed for a particular iron, 3i, 4i, 5i, etc. The shaft lengths in the set are in 1/2″ increments and typically weigh the same despite being different lengths. The stiffness of the shafts is set by the designer. The shafts are butt trimmed by the club maker to get to the lengths needed for you set. Parallel shafts are sold individually, one length for the entire set. They are tip trimmed by the club maker to create stiffness for the different irons then butt trimmed to create the lengths needed for the set. Because they are trimmed from both ends, the shaft weight gets lighter as it gets shorter.

The balance of sets made with constant weight tapers and parallels is different. You should not attach a value judgement to that fact. But you should realize that if you are accustomed to the balance of one design, changing designs will affect your game despite the fact that the swing weights will be the same. If you want to learn more about this it is explained in greater depth in the technical article, Parallel and Constant Weight Iron Shafts.

Now that you have a basic understanding of Parallel shafts, lets take a look at the KBS Tour 105 parallels.

As you can see, the KBS Tour 105 Parallel is slightly flighted as are most sets made from parallel shafts. For many, this is a good thing, the shaft adds to the loft of the club, giving a little lift to the longer irons in your bag. The KBS Tour 105 comes in two flexes.

The quality as measured by shaft to shaft consistency and radial consistency is excellent. Alignment of these shafts adds nothing to their playability. You should have no concern that the quality of the shafts in that off the rack set KBS Tour 105’s in your TaylorMade RSi 1’s or 2’s are in any way to blame for your missed greens.

What you might notice is that there is very little difference in weight between the R and S models. This shaft might be referred to as having a “dynamic” design.

The difference between the R and S flex is the length of the tip of the shafts. The first step on the R is 10″ from the tip while the first step on the S is 9″ from the tip. The stiffness difference is not great, as seen in the 5 lb deflection rating. But the flighting will be, with the shorter tip S launching lower. This illustration shows how the R flex, with 1″ removed from the tip is much the same as the S flex. This design is common to what we know as ‘Dynamic’ shafts. The nominal 105 gram weight of this shaft is a great fit for many amateur recreational golfers.

The after market addition to the KBS Tour line of shafts, the 105 constant weight tapers is coming soon. Stay tuned, 105 grams is a great weight and will be a great compliment to the CTaper light in a fitting system matrix of shafts.

Iron Golf Shafts – KBS TOUR 105

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

The KBS Tour 105 Constant Weight Taper released in August 2015. The label looks much like the KBS 105 Parallel that is offered in the 2015 Taylor Made RSi irons, the shaft is not. The KBS Tour Taper 105 is generally stiffer and has a firmer tip than the TaylorMade only KBS 105 Parallel Shaft.

My fitting experience has taught me that the 105 to 115 gram weight range is the best fit for most amateur golfers. My understanding from the tour fitters is that this range is rapidly gaining traction among professional players as well. The KBS Tour iron shaft profile is not new. It is available in two 90 gram versions and the ‘standard’ version that ranges from a 110 gram R to a 130 gram X in 5 steps, 5 gram increments. The Tour 105 overlaps that range as seen in the table below. It comes in 5 gram increments, a 108 gram R, a 111 gram S and a 117 gram X. The 111 and 117 are much the same as the same weight KBS Tour shafts.

Radial consistency is 99.8% with a 0.2% standard deviation. Do not waste your money or time aligning these shafts. It will not make any difference, they are perfectly round. As you can see, weight equals stiffness, the S and X simply weigh more and are stiffer with exactly the same profile shape.

The set profile shows a very slight amount of flighting. The shaft bend profiles are much the same throughout the set. The tips of the longer irons are slightly softer in relation to the rest of the shaft than the shorter irons. And that indicates slightly higher launch propensity in the longer iron shafts.

When I started fitting, many years ago, I learned shaft profiling with a frequency instrument. I will not go into the discussion of that system here more than to say it focused entirely on matching 6 iron shafts to each other as the method for understanding iron shafts. After I created an affordable shaft EI instrument I began looking at the bend profiles of all the shaft in a set of shafts. I quickly became aware that not all sets of iron shafts have the same bend profiles throughout the set. We do not play 6 irons only, we play sets and an important understanding of iron shafts are the set profiles. In the illustration above you see the enhanced profiles of the 3i, 6i and wedge shafts of the KBS Tour 105 S iron shaft set. And you can see a small difference between the shafts in the set. The tips of the short iron shafts are stiffer relative to the rest of the shaft than the long iron shafts. EI stiffness profiling extends to the very tip of the shaft. The legacy frequency profiling method is accurate at 17 inches from the tip, marginal at 11 inches and cannot read below that. It simply cannot reveal what you see above.

Lets take a closer look at the difference between two similiar sets the KBS Tour 105 S and the KBS CTaper Lite 110 S, These are the raw graphics available in the Fit2Score shaft software. Look closely at the two sets as they scroll. The steepness of the Tour profiles indicates a higher launching design than the CTaper. This is validated in years of fitting experience. If you need launch assistance, use the KBS Tour models. If you want to keep the ball flight down, use the C Taper models. Once you learn the relationship of the profiles to ball flight, you can easily predict performance by looking at the EI charts.

Now look closely at the difference between the profiles of the short and long irons in the two sets. You will see a flatter short iron vs long iron in the C Taper profiles than in the Tour set. This is what is referred to as a flighted set. Neither set is intentionally flighted, but one would expect the CTaper Set to deliver lower, more piercing short iron trajectories than the Tour set. And this is precisely why it is important to know set profiles not just 6 irons when fitting irons. The KBS Tour model will flight high throughout the set while the C Taper will offer some assistance in launching the long irons while keeping the short iron trajectories lower. Which is best is simply a function of your individual style. Knowing the profiles, your fitter can match you to the iron set that enhances your game.

Nippon Modus3 Tour 125 Iron Shaft

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Translation by Jacobo Canal Vila

Una nueva varilla, la tercera en la línea Nippon Modus3, se lanzó en EEUU en Mayo de 2015, y está disponible en los Distribuidores Autorizados de Nippon. Eché mi primer vistazo a un par de ellas utilizadas en la PGA Mechandise Show hace dos meses. El perfil se me describió como una mezcla de las otras dos versiones. Nippon ha puesto un sustancial conocimiento técnico en el material y la fabricación de estas varillas. Aquí tenemos una mirada a los perfiles de tres varillas de la familia Modus3.

Como me dijeron, la Modus3 125 se encuentra entre los otros dos diseños. La calidad radial de las muestras era excepcional, 100%. No consideréis nunca alinear estas varillas, son perfectas.

La varilla está marcada como se muestra en esta foto. Llevará el logo del System3 Tour 125. Cortar a la longitud estándar la convierte alrededor de 120 gramos. No es el típico peso amateur en estos días. Se encuentra en el segmento de la parte alta (referido a términos de peso), dónde encajo yo a la mayoría de los golfistas. Es un perfil que se parece mucho a Dynamic Gold X, con una punta ligeramente más rígida. Estoy anticipando una propensión baja al lanzamiento.

Una mirada rápida a las curvas de deflexión nos muestra las diferencias en los modos de flexión S de estas varillas. Usando los valores de las secciones de estas varillas, cargamos la varilla matemáticamente para trazar el modo en que se dobla bajo cargas en punta y en extremo. La carga en el extremo ocurre al principio del swing, en la punta ocurre más tarde.

Este perfil complementa a la familia Modus3, ampliando el rango de encaje y sensaciones de alguien que ha crecido con Dynamic Golds. Los perfiles de la varilla Modus3 al final del set, en el hierro 3 y en el wedge, muestra un cambio en el perfil para favorecer un vuelo más alto de bola con los hierros largos.

Nippon N.S.Pro Modus3 Tour 105

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

The N.S Pro Modus3 Tour105 was released to the US public in August 2015. I had seen a set of these earlier in the year, labeled Prototype ST. The Modus3 Tour 105 is the same shaft that has been available on tour for several months. The word Prototype has been replaced with Modus3. I have been told it was put in play by a number of players. Lighter weight iron shafts are gaining broader acceptance in the tour community. In a slightly different form, this shaft has been with us for quite some time. The Modus3 Tour 105 is very similar to one of my long time favorite shafts, the N.S.Pro 1050. Lets look at the charts and numbers:

As you can see, the profile of the Modus3 Tour 105 is very close to the N.S.Pro 1050. The flexural signature shows It is a little softer in the butt and stiffer in the tip than the 1050’s, tilted in such a way to slightly lower launch. The set is slightly flighted. At this weigh range, these could become a very popular shaft. The N.S.Pro 1050 is one of my fitting favorites. I regard this weight range as a sweet spot for many golfers. We are looking at an update to the Nippon line, bringing the Modus style graphic to a very successful design.

Radial consistency of the Modus3 our 105 were perfect, averaging 99.9% with virtually no standard deviation. Any form of shaft alignment of these is a waste of time and money.

Studying the measurements very closely, what looks to be very similar EI profiles are subtly different. The Modus3 Tour 105 R & S flex models appear heavier only because the uncut shafts are 2″ longer. The stiffness as measured on a deflection board are softer, but the tip to butt rations are much higher. That means the tip stiffness is closer to the butt stiffness. That indicates lower launch. For a detailed discussion of reading launch from EI profiles read Understand Golf Shaft EI Profiles at Fit2Score. If you are a club fitter or club builder and would like to see more in depth information about golf shafts, subscriptions to the Fit2Score shaft profiling software are now available.

The English Nippon Shaft site has been significantly updated recently. The update shows and explains the EI profiles of the Modus products. The section of that site that discusses EI profiles is excerpted below.  When one of my fitting associates happened on it, I got a call telling me they copied my graphics. I had to explain, sorry, in fact, they were first, I copied them. Nippon and the other major shaft companies have designed and manufactured shafts with 3 point EI software for decades. It is only now, that the golfer and club makers are developing literacy in the language  of the shaft engineer.
Nippon is one of the few shaft companies that has for many years explained and defined their products to club fitters with EI graphics. The other is Mitsubishi Rayon. The 2015 Fujikura shaft product brochure does the same. This is the language by which one can under the subtle nuances of today’s shaft choices.

Shafts Fers – KBS TOUR 105

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Translation by Herve Francillon, BackSpin Fitting, Draguignan, France

Le KBS Tour 105 à poids constant est sorti en Août 2015. L’étiquette ressemble en tout point au KBS 105 Parallèle proposé sur les fers Taylor Made RSi, le shaft non. Le KBS Tour 105 conique est globalement plus raide et a un Tip plus ferme que le shaft KBS 105 Parallèle que l’on peut trouver sur les Taylor Made.

Mon expérience du fitting m’a appris que les shafts compris entre 105 et 115 grs étaient le meilleur la gamme qui fittait le plus grand nombre de golfeurs amateurs. Les fitters du tour m’ont dit que cette gamme de poids gagne beaucoup d’intérêt auprès des joueurs pros. Le profil de shaft n’est pas nouveau. On peut le voir sur les deux versions à 90 grs et sur la gamme standard KBS Tour qui va de 110 grs Reg au 130 grs Xstiff. Le Tour 105 s’intercale donc comme indiqué dans le tableau ci-dessous. De 5 grs en 5 grs, à partir de 108 grs en R, 111 en S et 117 grs en X. Les 111 et 117 sont quasi les même que les déjà connus shafts  KBS Tour de même poids.

La constence est de 99.8% avec une déviation de 0.2%.Dépensez pas votre argent ou votre temps à aligner ces shafts. Ca ne fera aucune différence, ils sont parfaitement ronds. Comme vous pouvez le voir, poids égal rigidité, le X est simplement plus lourd et plus raide que le S avec exactement le même profil.

Le profil du set montre une très légère tendance ‘flighted’. Les courbes sont sensiblements les même sur tout le set. Les bas de shafts sur les longs fers sont légèrement plus souples par rapport aux fers les plus courts. Cela montre une tendance de vol un peu plus haut sur les shafts de fers longs.

Quand j’ai commencé à fitter il y a plusieurs années, j’ai appris les profils de shaft avec une machine à fréquence. Je ne rentrerai pas ici dans une discussion sur ce système mais dire que ce système sert simplement à mesurer et comparer des shafts de fer6. Après avoir créer un instrument à mesurer les profils de shaft, j’ai commencé à étudier les profils de tous les shafts d’une série. J’ai rapidement compris que pas tous les sets de shafts de fer ont le même profil sur toute la série. On ne joue pas que des fers 6, on joue des séries et il est important de comprendre les profils de shaft sur une série. Dans le graphique dessus vous voyez les profils des shafts de fer 3, 6 et wedge d’un KBS Tour 105S. Et vous pouvez voir une légère différence entre les shafts. Les bas de shafts des fers les plus courts sont plus raides par rapport aux shafts les plus longs. Le profil de rigidité s’étend jusqu’au plus bas du shaft. Un profil en fréquence n’est précis que jusqu’à 17 inch du bas, marginal à 11 inch et impossible à lire au delà. Il ne peut simplement pas révéler ce que vous voyez au dessus.

Jetez un coup d’œil sur la différence entre deux sets KBS Tour 105 Stiff & KBS CTaper Lite 110 Stiff. C’est une vue que vous pouvez voir grâce au logiciel Fit2Score. La pente plus prononcée du Tour 105 indique un lancement plus haut que le CTaper. Si vous avez besoin de plus d’angle de lancement, orientez vous vers les modèles KBS Tour. Contrairement, si vous avez besoin d’une balle plus basse utilisé le CTaper. Une fois compris la relation profils / vol de balle, vous pouvez facilement prévoir les caractéristiques simplement en regardant les diagrammes.

Maintenant observez la différence entre les profils des shafts de fers courts et de fer longs dans les deux séries. Vous pourrez y voir un profil plus plat sur les fers courts / fers longs sur le CTaper que sur le KBS Tour. Voilà ce qu’on appelle une série ‘flighted’. Aucunes séries n’est intentionnellement ‘flighted’, mais on peut s’attendre à ce que le CTaper donne une trajectoire plus basse et plus pénétrante sur les fers courts que le KBS Tour. Et c’est la raison pour laquelle il est important de connaitre le profil de la série et non pas simplement du fer 6 quand on fitte des fers. Le KBS Tour volera plus haut et ceux, sur toute la série alors que le CTaper vous aidera à lever la balle sur les fers longs et aura une trajectoire plus basse pour les fers courts. Quel est le meilleur ? C’est simplement une appréciation personnelle. En connaissant les profils de shafts, votre fitter pourra vous conseiller au mieux pour votre série de fer.

 KBS TOUR C-TAPER LITE GOLF SHAFTS

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Translation by Herve Francillon, BackSpin Fitting, Draguignan, France

Le C-Taper Lite est le nouveau venu de chez KBS. Le C-Taper est un de mes shaft favorit pour les joueurs recherchant une balle basse et pénétrante. Les profils sont réguliers de flex en flex, rendant facile le changement de poids et de rigidité pour coller parfaitement aux sensations et au vol de balle désiré par le joueur. Certains disent que c’est un C-Taper au régime ! Le C-Taper Light est le bon compromis pour un shaft leger avec un shaft qui garde une balle basse.

Le profil montre une légère différence avec le C-Taper. On a un shaft simplement plus léger avec les même caractéristiques en terme de vol et de sensations que le C-Taper. C’est la tendance actuelle.  Abaisser le poids du club en général en diminuant le poids du shaft donnant un poids plus concentré sur la tête de club. Le C-Taper light est de cette génération de shaft plus léger tout en maintenant la rigidité d’un shaft plus lourd. Le C-Taper light est d’ailleurs différent en ce sens de la gamme KBS Tour. Il n’est pas plus souple et plus léger, il est simplement plus léger. Ca donne accès a un type de golfeur qui cherche le vol d’un C-Taper mais qui n’a pas le physique de manier un shaft à plus de 120 grs.

Les poids du C-Taper Lite peuvent être mélangé pour créer une série à poids croissant comme on pouvait trouver sur le shaft Nippon 999. Je joue ce type de montage et j’ai fitté beaucoup de mes clients dans ce sens. Ils adorent ça. Un 110 grs Stiff en soft stepped sur les longs fers, le 105 grs Reg en hard Stepped sur les petits fers. La même chose peut être réalisé en combinant le 115 grs XStif et le 110 grs Stiff. Quant au shaft pour fer 2 est une bonne option pour un shaft d’hybride pour les joueurs les plus costauds cherchant le contrôile de l’acier pour un hybride ou pour la dernière génération des ‘Fer Drive’.

Peu de temps avant la sortie du C-Taper Lite, j’ai enregistré cet entretient avec Kim Braly au PGA Tour Crowne Plaza Invitational. Cette interview a été tournée à côté du practice. On a parlé des journée de Kim au début des tournois, du fitting de fer et du C-Taper Lite.

Sur le droite vous pouvez voir le profil du premier set KBS C-Taper Light Stiff que j’ai utilisé. Comme vous pouvez le voir le profil est parfaitement identique sur toute la série. Le poids du shaft pour cette série montée à +1″ de longueur était de 106 grs. A ce poids c’est une super option pour monter des clubs rallongés pour les grands joueurs où le poids peut être un problème.

La gamme de poids du KBS C-Taper Lite est parfaite pour les joueurs un peu plus puissant que la moyenne. J’ai moi même fitté beaucoup de série pour créer un poids ascendant que j’ai monté sur des clubs Mizuno. La touche finale de ces séries est d’utiliser un shaft de fer 8 en stiff ou XStiff sur vos wedges. Cela crée un shaft pour spinner comme enseigné à l’époque par Royal Précision.

KBS Tour FLT Iron Shafts

By Russ Ryden

Russ is the owner of Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter 

Kim Braly has been designing and making shafts for around 40 years. That’s a long time. In my opinion fitting is an experience based art form and is likely to remain so. That said, over 40 years one accumulates an impressive amount of experience.

The KBS Tour was the first shaft produced by Femco steel as the KBS brand. We have seen a lot of designs since its introduction, most of which are reviewed here. This year, KBS is introducing its first flighted design. My experience with ‘flighted’ shafts goes back to the Project X Flighted designs. That design was promoted as having the propensity to create the same ball flight height throughout the set. The short irons height apex being lower and the long iron height apex being higher than the conventional set of Project X shafts.

It was not until I measured the KBS Tour FLT shafts and compared them to the KBS Tour that I understood exactly how that is accomplished. In a shaft product line like KBS, the shaft bend profiles are the same for all shafts in the design family. As they get heavier, they get stiffer. And, as they get stiffer for any particular golfer, the launch angle tends to come down. This is what I love about the KBS mix of shafts. They are available in 5 gram increments, with flex designations of R, R+, S, S+ and X. If I want to change a clients launch angle I move the stiffness up or down 5 grams. Now before the professional fitters reading this jump on me, that can also be accomplished by hard stepping or soft stepping the set. Leaving the weight the same but altering the tip lengths.

The fundamental concept is that stiffness changes launch angle. When we look at the standard set of KBS Tour shafts we see a difference in stiffness between the 3 iron shaft and the wedge shaft. When we look at the FLT set we see that difference is expanded. The 3 iron shaft is softer, the wedge shaft is stiffer.

How did that standard range of stiffness get established in the first place. In many of the interviews I have done with Kim Braly you hear him say the early work he did on tour with his dad, Dr. Joe Braly was research. They wrote the standard. Using a frequency instrument they evaluated the stiffness of the clubs used by tour players and developed a sense of what the range of stiffness difference was between clubs preferred by the best players of the time. The result of that research was the concept of frequency matched iron sets.

I am certain many of the golfers and club fitter / builders reading this have heard of frequency matching. In its day it was a practical tool for matching iron shaft stiffness when no other tools existed. It is still practiced by some club builders to this day. And there is a long history of misapplication of the concept. That misapplication occurs when shaft tips are dis-proportionally trimmed to hit butt frequency targets. In today’s world of golf shaft production control, constant weight taper sets inherently provide consistent club to club stiffness gradients.

To understand the stiffness gradient of any particular set of irons you must look at the stiffness of the shafts at the ends of the set. This assumes that the shafts within the set have consistent EI profiles. If they do not, no amount of frequency matching is going to fix that problem. It is likely to make it worse. Now with that bit of history behind us, lets look at the illustration above, showing the KBS Tour and the KBS Tour FLT 3 iron and wedge shafts. You will see the stiffness gradient is different. For the frequency practitioners reading this it means the slope, that 8.6 CPM per inch you work to changes.

Looking at these two designs is a lesson in finding the appropriate set of iron shafts for your swing. Do you want to bring your wedge flight down and your long iron flight up. If so, look for a set of shafts with a steeper stiffness gradient. If not, look into sets with smaller stiffness gradients. Compare this set profile shaft from the KBS CTaper Lite 110S to the charts above. You will see flatter profiles indicating a lower launch propensity design with a conventional stiffness gradient.

In this video Kim and I discuss set stiffness gradients. After a discussion of the KBS Tour 560 and 580 shafts we talk about the FLT design. He tells us this shaft is already getting tour play. When you push the flight apex of those longer irons out, not only is there likely to be some distance gain, but the ball will have a steeper angle of descent. What I refer to as drop and stop trajectory.

Lets take a look at the numbers in a way I have not presented the here before. This style of information is now incorporated into the latest version of the Fit2Score shaft knowledge base. The set charts shown above are also from that software. 

Radial consistency and shaft to shaft bend consistency within the sets I checked were excellent. Radial consistency was 99,7% with a 0.2% standard deviation hard to soft side. Perfect! Don’t bother aligning these, they are round out of the bag. The tip to butt rations indicate a mid launch as is typical on the KBS Tour. Torque is typical for steel, low. Balance is conventional, the weight range works for the average to tour level player. The low ninety driver swing speed player is going to fit into the 110 or 115 gram R or R+ models.

Nippon N.S.Pro Modus3 Tour 105

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Translation by Herve Francillon, BackSpin Fitting, Draguignan, France

Le Modus3 Tour105 est sorti en Août 2015 aux US. J’avais déjà vu une série de ce shaft plus tôt dans l’année sous l’appellation Prototype ST. Le Tour105 est le même shaft déjà vu sur le tour depuis plusieurs mois. Le mot Prototype a été remplacé par Modus3. J’avais entendu dire qu’il était utilisé par plusieurs joueurs. Les shafts de fers plus léger commence à susciter de l’intérêt sur le Tour.Sous une forme légèrement différente, ce shaft existe déjà depuis un certain temps. Le Modus3 Tour 105 est très proche d’un de mes shaft préféré, le N.S. Pro 1050. Jetons un coup d’œil sur les courbes et les chiffres :

Comme on peut voir, le profil du Modus3 Tour 105 est très proche du N.S. Pro 1050. Les courbes montrent qu’il est un peu plus souple au Butt et plus raide au Tip que le N.S.1050, qui donne un vol de balle plus bas ou pénétrant. Le set est légèrement ‘flighted’. De ce point de vue, ça devrait devenir un shaft très populaire. Le N.S.Pro 1050 est un de mes shafts favori. Je m’aperçois que ce poids cible un large public de golfer.

La qualité du Modus3 Tour 105 est parfaire avec une déviation moyenne de 0.1%. Aucune sorte d’alignement n’est nécessaire.

En analysant de plus près les mesures, ce qu’il semble être des profils très similaires sont en fait différents. Le Modus3 Tour 105 R & S semble plus lourd seulement parce que les shafts sont plus long de 2″. Les rigidités mesurées sont plus souples, mais le ratio Tip/Butt est plus haut. Cela signifie que la rigidité au Tip est plus proche de la rigidité au Butt. Résultat, un vol plus bas. Pour une explication plus approfondie lisez l’article sur comprendre le profil d’un shaft de golf. Si vous êtes un fitter ou un monteur et que vous souhaitez une information en profondeur sur les shafts de golf, le logiciel sur les profils est maintenant disponible.

Le site web de Nippon Shaft a récemment été mis à jour. Cette maj montre bien et explique les différents profils des shafts Modus. La partie du site expliquant les profils est a disposition ci-dessous. Quand un de mes associé fitter est tombé dessus, il m’a appelé en me disant ‘ils ont copié tes courbes. J’ai dû m’expliquer, en m’excusant, que c’était eux les premiers. Je les ai copié. Nippon et d’autres grands fabricants de shafts avaient créé depuis des années des shafts avec un logiciel de profil à 3 points comme le mien. C’est seulement maintenant que les golfeurs et les clubmakers démocratisent le langages des ingénieurs.

Nippon est une des rares marques qui explique leurs produits depuis de nombreuses années par un graphique sur le profil. L’autre est Mitsibishi Rayon. La brochure 2015 de Fujikura le fait également. C’est la seule façon de montrer les subtilités pour faire son choix.

Dynamic Gold AMT Iron Shafts

By Russ Ryden and Mark Maness

Russ is the owner of Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter 

AMT stands for Ascending Mass Technology. It is not a new concept. Ping has had ascending weight shafts for many years. Nippon 999’s were ascending. Aerotech Players Spec were ascending. If you are not a club maker you probably have not been exposed to the concept. Briefly, there are primarily two kinds of shafts; constant weight tapers and parallel’s. Constant weight tapers are made to length in the factory and the shafts in the set are all the same weight even though they are different lengths. Parallels are made to one length in the factory. The club maker cuts them to the length needed for the club he is building. As they are cut shorter they weigh less. The shafts in a set are lighter in the short irons than in the long irons.  I wrote an article about this some years ago in the technical stuff section of this site; Constant Weight vs Parallel Iron Shafts.

Iron heads get heavier as the the numbers get higher. The 4 iron head is heavier than the 3 iron, the 5 iron is heavier than the 4 iron and so on down to the gap wedge. In sets made of parallel shafts, the shafts get lighter while the head gets heavier. In sets made from constant weight shafts, the shafts are the same weight while the heads get heavier. In ASCENDING WEIGHT sets, the shafts get heavier as the heads get heavier. This has always been an attraction the club builders that create MOI, Moment of Inertia, matched sets.

The term MOI is most often used when discussing heads. It is the force required to spin a golf head. The golf club rotates around its handle during the golf swing and it too has an MOI. It is typically measured at the butt end of the club. The club is fixed at a pivot point at the top center of the grip and swung like a pendulum while the rate of rotation is measured.

MOI matching is an alternative to Swing Weigh matching in the building of a set of irons. Ascending weigh shafts make building MOI matched sets easier. I have seen some Ping sets with ascending weight shafts come close to both a swing weight match AND an MOI match. That is the attraction of Ascending Weight shafts to the custom builder.

Because this is such a unique set of iron shafts, this review is going to contain more information than I usually present. Lets start with a look at the weights of the uncut shafts in the sets. As you can see, they clearly get heavier as they get shorter. More so than any ascending weight set I have seen to date. That being the case I did full documentation on a set or irons built with the Tour Issue X100s.

This is very detailed information from the Fit2Score building worksheet I use to prepare and document custom built sets. This set is 1/2 inch long built for a former PGA Tour player that has been accustomed to swing weights above 6 because of the extra length he uses. As you can see, the set has slightly ascending swing weights with nearly flat MOI values. I will go back into that P wedge and add some weight to align it with the rest of the set. On the initial build I wanted to see how the set built and played without modifying head weights.

Mark Maness, Director of Instruction, The Golf Center at the Highlands has been testing this set of irons built with the Tour Issue X100 AMT shafts. His comments: I have played KBS Tour shafts the last 3+ years and enjoy them.  Before that, flighted rifle 6.0’s and various Dynamic Gold flexes. Testing the Dynamic Gold AMT X100 was a new experience. I’ve never had a set of clubs that were MOI weighted and now I wish I had. Over the last several years, I’m now 55, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to hit long irons to my desired distances without doctoring the clubs or “cheating” to an iron hybrid like the Titleist TMB (with an AMT shaft). As I hit the  AMT’s in my 714 MB Titleist’s the short irons felt familiar, a bit like my current KBS Tours and my old Dynamic Gold X100’s. The mid irons were a little lighter, but not a major difference. When I got to the 5 and 4-irons things changed.  I felt at ease swinging them and getting easy distance.  Over the last few years I felt like I had to work my long irons for distance. That was not the case with the Dynamic Gold AMT’s.  I’m looking forward to playing with them and really coming around on the notion of MOI weighting iron sets.

Let’s take a closer look at the profiles of the Dynamic Golf Ascending Mass Technology shafts. Like all Dynamic shafts from True Temper, the profiles of the R, S and X sets are different. This is explained in detail in the article on the Dynamic Gold. The tip length effect on the profiles of the different flex’s is apparent in these charts.  The flex profiles within the sets are very consistent despite the weight changes within the sets. There is a very small weight change between the sets, but as with all True Temper Dynamic designs, the different flex’s represent different flighting patterns. The R being a high launch, S mid launch and X low launch.

Comparing the AMT X100 to the standard X100 I see a small amount of what we traditionally call ‘flighting’ in the set. The stiffness gradient is larger. The longer iron shafts are softer in the AMT set than the standard X100’s. Fitting experience has shown that softer flex’s tend to launch higher for a reasonably skilled golfer. I can make subtle launch changes by hard stepping or soft stepping a set of shafts. The AMT not only makes it easier to create a MOI matched set, they also add progressive launch in the long irons. This is all good stuff if you find your Dynamic Gold long irons a challenge to launch as you age.

This is a great step forward in iron shaft technology. Keep it coming, True Temper, the club building community has waited a long time for a set of iron shafts like this!

Nippon N.S.Pro Modus3 Tour 105

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

The N.S Pro Modus3 Tour105 was released to the US public in August 2015. I had seen a set of these earlier in the year, labeled Prototype ST. The Modus3 Tour 105 is the same shaft that has been available on tour for several months. The word Prototype has been replaced with Modus3. I have been told it was put in play by a number of players. Lighter weight iron shafts are gaining broader acceptance in the tour community. In a slightly different form, this shaft has been with us for quite some time. The Modus3 Tour 105 is very similar to one of my long time favorite shafts, the N.S.Pro 1050. Lets look at the charts and numbers:

As you can see, the profile of the Modus3 Tour 105 is very close to the N.S.Pro 1050. The flexural signature shows It is a little softer in the butt and stiffer in the tip than the 1050’s, tilted in such a way to slightly lower launch. The set is slightly flighted. At this weigh range, these could become a very popular shaft. The N.S.Pro 1050 is one of my fitting favorites. I regard this weight range as a sweet spot for many golfers. We are looking at an update to the Nippon line, bringing the Modus style graphic to a very successful design.

Radial consistency of the Modus3 Tour 105 were perfect, averaging 99.9% with virtually no standard deviation. Any form of shaft alignment of these is a waste of time and money.

Studying the measurements very closely, what looks to be very similar EI profiles are subtly different. The Modus3 Tour 105 R & S flex models appear heavier only because the uncut shafts are 2″ longer. The stiffness as measured on a deflection board are softer, but the tip to butt rations are much higher. That means the tip stiffness is closer to the butt stiffness. That indicates lower launch. For a detailed discussion of reading launch from EI profiles read Understand Golf Shaft EI Profiles at Fit2Score. If you are a club fitter or club builder and would like to see more in depth information about golf shafts, subscriptions to the Fit2Score shaft profiling software are now available.

This is a discussion about Nippon Golf Shaft shot at the 2016 PGA Merchandise show. Be warned, it is a technical discussion between technical fitters.

The English Nippon Shaft site has been significantly updated recently. The update shows and explains the EI profiles of the Modus products. The section of that site that discusses EI profiles is excerpted below.  When one of my fitting associates happened on it, I got a call telling me they copied my graphics. I had to explain, sorry, in fact, they were first, I copied them. Nippon and the other major shaft companies have designed and manufactured shafts with 3 point EI software for decades. It is only now, that the golfer and club makers are developing literacy in the language  of the shaft engineer.
Nippon is one of the few shaft companies that has for many years explained and defined their products to club fitters with EI graphics. The other is Mitsubishi Rayon. The 2015 Fujikura shaft product brochure does the same. This is the language by which one can under the subtle nuances of today’s shaft choices.

Project X LZ Iron Shaft Review

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

True Temper introduced the term “Loading Zone” with the Project X Loading Zone driver shaft a few years ago. I was skeptical at first, having seen other shafts with severe approaches to mid shaft stiffness that did not work for many of my clients. I put a Project X Loading Zone shaft in my own driver and it stayed there for several months. It comes back when I finish play testing a new design. It loads effortlessly and gives my unfixable negative angle of attack the launch I need to buy some distance. I was anxious to see how this approach would be implemented in an iron shaft.

The Project X Loading Zone irons shaft has a rapid loss of stiffness in the mid zone of the shaft. It then runs out in a long stable tip. We have seen some very successful implementations of this design over the last few years. Each with its own particular flavor. But overall in my fitting experience a very playable shaft for a wide range of golfers. This design is easy to load, creates a moderately higher flight but remains workable for the highly skilled golfer. I have seen this design add distance without adding dispersion. As of this writing, the Project X LZ has won 3 PGA events and is being played by close to 20 players between the PGA and Web tours.

 The radial quality of the Project X LZ shafts I tested were all greater than 99%. That is a big number. Spining, aligning or puring these shafts is a waste of time and expense. Label up or label down is the only installation choice that you need to make. They are neutral balanced. I showed the hoop stiffness to illustrate its cofluence with the stiffness profile of steel shafts. To the degree that hoop stiffness adds ‘kick’ to a shaft, the Project X LZ shaft far exceeds any carbon fiber shaft I have seen. And it does so with a very similiar stiffness profile to some carbon fiber shaft designs.

The Project X LZ comes in 4 different weights, with weight comes stiffness. The True Temper Project X iron shafts retain their EI profiles as they get stiffer. The same is true for the True Temper Project X shafts. This is much different from the Dyanamic Gold and XP designs. This gives True Temper fitters unique fitting option. Vary weight while retaining profile in the Project X designs. Or use a consistent weight and very flighting with flex in the Dynamic designs.

In my experience flex consistency in a set of iron shafts is critically important. It is this property that keeps me fitting steel over carbon fiber. Steel is a monolithic material. Its bend properties are determined by wall thickness and diameter. With conscience manufacturing and quality control most sets have consistent stiffness profiles. Meaning, the stiffness profiles from shaft to shaft within the set are much the same. If your fitter has one of the Fit2Score EI instruments they can validate the stiffness makeup of your iron set. This certification is far more important than spine finding or frequency matching. Quality shafts are spineless to start with. Frequency matching measures a single point near the butt of the shaft and ignores the consistency of bend points down the length of the shaft.
This illustration is a composite taken from the Fit2Score iron set certification process. Each shaft is checked in 2″ increments for stiffness. What you see is a set that is consistent with a slightly stiffer tip in the 9i and wedge. The deflection profiles and EI area show a consistent increase in overall stiffness through out the set. The weights and balance points are indeed constant. Radial integrity is as stated earlier, as close to perfect as I have seen. This set of shafts will build out to as perfect a set of irons as can be made.

A couple of sets are going out to local pros for play testing, stay tuned.

Rifle Project X Iron Shaft Review

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

The Precision Rifle Project X has been with us for a very long time. It somehow got missed when I was in the early days of measuring the vast number of shafts in the market. I noticed its absence when I measured the Project X LZ model. It was originally made by Royal Precision Shaft Company in Connecticut. They were acquired by TrueTemper and the production was moved to Tennessee.  You will see many of the best players in the world playing this shaft. Compared to a Dynamic Gold X100, it is slightly softer in the butt and stiffer in the Mid. Unlike the TrueTemper Dynamic Gold, the  Project X profile is the same for all weight/stiffness variations. The heavier the shaft the stiffer it gets. The profile remains the same for all flex designations.

Shaft stiffness is expressed as a number, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0. The numbering system was derived from the Royal Precision Rifle shaft. There was a formula that rated stiffness as a function of frequency and length. That formula and variations of it are still used by some club makers today. The radial consistency of all the review samples was excellent. The labels are placed on one of the stiffness planes. If you are concerned about shaft orientation, label up or label down will work as good as anything. However, the radial quality of all the shafts I measured indicated they could be installed in any orientation. The Project X is known to be easy to load and typically produces a low spin, piercing trajectory.

In the review of the Project X LZ shaft I introduced a new measurement metric, Set Stiffness Range. I developed the concept as a method of looking at the difference between “Flighted” and standard iron sets. I could see the differences in the charts of wedge and 3i shafts but the vision was hard to quantify.. Adding a number to express the ratio created a new method for understanding the shaft sets I work with. The larger the range, the greater the difference in the shafts contribution to launch variation throughout the set.

As you look at this graphic you will see what I mentioned earlier. The bend profiles of all the models of the Project X do not change with stiffness. You simply find the weight and/or stiffness that feels and performs best for you. But another metric to observe is the increase in the set stiffness range of the 5.0 and 5.5 models. The long irons in these sets will launch higher than one can expect in the heavier, stiffer versions. The idea that irons shafts, which are in fact sets, can be compared by looking only at 6i profiles is shown to be lacking.

My friend and mentor, Dave Tutelman posted this comment in another discussion of the shaft stiffness range metric. I cannot express my thoughts about this new metric any better than he did. “A big advantage of “measuring” shaft stiffness by plotting the EI curve is that you can do mathematical operations like this. You chose a simple one, with simple arithmetic. But it isn’t that hard to use a butt-biased weighting function that will predict frequency, or a tip-biased weighting function to predict trajectory height. The combination of a known EI profile and spreadsheet capabilities means it’s just arithmetic. As we understand shafts better, EI will not become obsolete; just the way we use and display it will.”

Oban CT Iron Shaft Review

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

Oban in a partnership with Shimada and is introducing a set of iron shafts through their dealers called the CT-115. It is unique in that their are 12 shafts ranging from 36 inches in half inch increments to 41 1/2 inches. The club builder selects a group of shafts to build a set. Using the shorter shafts, the set is stiffer. With a group selected from the longer end of the matrix, the set will be stiffer. All of the shafts are .355 tips and all were remarkably consistent in weight as you can see in the chart below. The word remarkable meant 115.3 grams plus – minus .3 grams. To put that in perspective, a typical set of constant weight irons usually has a bit less than a 2 gram range. Adding to that attention to quality, the radial consistency was 99.9% with a 0.1% standard deviation. That’s impressive, aligning these is truly useless.

The Oban CT is offered in only one weight, 115 grams. If you are going to have only one weight, this is a good choice. It will fit the majority of amateur golfers. Comparing this profile to other know iron shaft designs I would expect to see a high launch, once again, making it a great fit for the average golfer.

When I looked at the bend profiles I saw a design that is typical of a parallel shaft. A section of uniform butt stiffness, a loss of stiffness through the mid section and uniform stiffness in the tip area.What I typically see in sets made by tip trimming parallel shafts is very small set stiffness ranges. That term set stiffness range will be explained in the technical section soon. Briefly, it is a measurement of how much launch assistance you can expect in your longer irons. A small number, very little, a larger number and the longer iron shafts contribute to launch. A low number is around 5%. The largest number seen so far is slightly less than 20%

Given the similarity to parallel shaft profiles I expected to see a low set stiffness range. That was not the case, While the numbers were smaller as the sets were stiffer, all ranged in what can be called the high mid values for set stiffness range. I don’t really want to use a branded name here, but this a a property introduced by Royal Precision called Flighted. When you see a Set Stiffness Range of 10% or higher the short irons will launch low and the long irons will launch high. For most amateur golfers, this is a good thing.

This set of iron shafts is designed for a golf fitter that wants to deliver precisely tuned stiffness to their clients. In the past, that was done by tip trimming parallel shafts. The Oban CT-115 has all the advantages of parallel shaft designs with none of the disadvantaged. Advantage one, the set will be constant weight not descending. Advantage two, the stiffness steps between clubs is precisely done by the factory and not left to the club makers frequency instrument. Advantage three, the set stiffness range is on the high side unlike parallel sets which tend to be on the low end.

The jury is out because they are so new we don’t have any testing yet, but the measurement indicate a favorable verdict.

True Temper Dynamic Gold X Seven

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

What new product can a company offer to strong golfers when they already have two of the most popular shafts in play on the PGA tour, the Dynamic Gold X100 and the Project X? We have seen the addition of the 7.0 flex of the Project X. That is a big number. How about hanging a Seven on the iconic Dynamic Gold brand. I see the Dynamic Gold X Seven profile as more like the Project X than a Dynamic Gold X100.

Nippon Modus3 Tour 125 Iron Shaft

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

The Nippon Modus3 line released in the US in May 2015, it is available through Nippon Certified Dealers. I got my first look at two pullouts that were used at the PGA merchandise show two months ago. The profile was described to me as splitting the other two versions. The Modus3 profiles are unique. Nippon has put their substantial technical knowledge into the material and fabrication of these shafts.

There have been substantial changes to my measuring software since this shaft was first reviewed in May 2015. This update to the original review is based on remeasuring with the 4 point hoop deformation. It includes DataSheets for the golf professional subscribers.

NIPPON N.S.PRO MODUS3 120 & MODUS3 130 Golf Shaft Review

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

Sergio Garcia took his first major title playing the Modus3 130 X in his irons. Unlike carbon fiber shafts which change every few years, steel shafts remain available for a long time. They do not get replaced every other year with a new model. New models get added, but the successful designs stay on the market for years. This review of the Modus3 Tour 120 and Modus3 Tour 130 was first published in 2013. I updated it with charts from the current measuring standards. I have fit countless golfers into the Modus2 120. Recently, I was given a head only account by Mizuno and added the 120 and 130 to my fitting cart. I can now fit a shaft I know well, economically, into Mizuno heads. Within days of adding it to my Mizuno cart it is a winner it producing tight dispersion patterns.

After several years of PGA tour testing, the Nippon N.S.Pro MODUS3 was made available to the golfing public in 2010.  In 2013, a second version was moved from the tour to the public.  There are some unique properties to these designs.  One of which is the use of a spring steel alloy.  Rather than me tell the story, Here is a video I shot early in my video journalism days that tells the Nippon N.S.Pro Modus3 story. Lee Oyer, the PGA Tour Representative for Nippon is one of the great fitters in golf. His fitting skills are praised by his fellow tour fitters.

The Modus3 profile shows a quick loss of stiffness near the butt and a long stiff tip. It is made from a different grade of steel. It is in the bags of several PGA tour pros and has accumulated a lot of wins since it was first introduced in 2010.  It is light, installed weight is around 104 grams.  This is where the game is headed and Nippon has developed light weight high performance shafts using materials from their parent companies automotive experience. Here is a look at the linear and radial profiles of the original N.S.Pro Modus3 Tour 120 and the N.S.Pro Modus3 Tour 130 introduced to the public in 2013.

In this interview Hiro Fukuda mentions control of wall thickness to shape the stiffness profile of the shafts.  This illustration from the Nippon 2013 product catalog illustrates what he is talking about. In a uniform material, steel being a uniform material as opposed to carbon fiber, wall thickness and shaft diameter create the bend profile of the golf shaft. By looking at these images and comparing them to the EI profiles, you can see how wall shape translates to bend profile. Those of us that are affiliated with the Fit2Score EI profile knowledge base like to see manufacturers using EI profiles to explain shafts in their publications.  It validates our system when our graphic images closely match those created by the shaft company engineers.