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Driver shaft characteristics.

Nippon Shafts
Esox

Esox

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We went to the Milwaukee Golf Show today, and took a flyer on a driver for Junior Lancer. Bought a demo Tour Edge Exotics XCG driver for $80.00. 10.5* with a regular shaft. The thing is in what I would call good to excellent condition. Obviously this is an older model as they are now making the XCG4.

Anyway, it has a Graphite Design Tour AD Exotics shaft. My knowledge of shaft specs is less than minimal. Seems this would be Graphite Design's made for TEE shaft. The shaft is labeled at 66 grams with a 3.7 torque and a mid kick point.

I'm hoping for a translation of that labeling, and also hoping someone might have an idea what type of spin and launch this is designed to provide. Due to the model of club, there are no specs for the shaft I can find on the TEE site, and nothing seems similar on the Graphite Design Shaft.

We went to the dome after the show and she hit a few balls. She's still rusty coming off her January surgery, but she liked the feel and look of it, and hit a few goods one, but only a couple that got up in the air really well.

Hoping one of the many THP equipment gurus can give me some info.

Thanks.

Kevin
 
Moved this one over to club fitting & shafts.

It is a GD shaft that was made for Exotics. Ironically even in the latest model, they are still using the GD Tour AD.

It will be a mid-launch, but when I tested it, I found it slightly lower than mid. Spin was pretty much in the middle as well bordering on lower (made for version).

This might be the reason that she is struggling getting it up in the air. I am wondering if on a monitor that the spin she ends up seeing is too low.
 
JB said:
Moved this one over to club fitting & shafts.

It is a GD shaft that was made for Exotics. Ironically even in the latest model, they are still using the GD Tour AD.

It will be a mid-launch, but when I tested it, I found it slightly lower than mid. Spin was pretty much in the middle as well bordering on lower (made for version).

This might be the reason that she is struggling getting it up in the air. I am wondering if on a monitor that the spin she ends up seeing is too low.
Click to expand...

I had heard the face on this thing was hot, and the ball really seemed to come off it on the good ones. My thought is she needs something that is first off a little lighter, like 55-58 grams. Also higher spin and higher launch. She's particular about how she wants a club to look, and likes this one so I thought why not for $80.00. They sell them on TEE pre-owned for $139.00 to $159.00.

I guess I'll see if she can hit it on a monitor at Golfsmith and see what the numbers are. I'm so clueless on this. Can she be fit for a shaft in another club that will translate to the TEE? Nobody carries them around here.

Kevin
 
There are a LOT of shafts that fit that bill. Depending on cost and what you have in mind, I would definitely recommend looking into Miyazaki Kusala Silver (61 gram) and the C. Kua line in 43 or 59. Both are incredibly smooth. Another option is the new UST shafts we put up that are in the $50 range and are quite light. I have not tried them to see ball flight first hand, but will next week.
 
I'll have to double check but I'm pretty sure the TEE's take .335 shafts so there should be a zillion options out there for her.

You can try and fit a shaft in another club to port over to this one but there's somethings you'll have to be aware of
A: Stock shafts in clubs, the "made for's" have altered characteristics most time from the shaft company. IE an Aldila habenero in a Diablo edge will play different then the one in the G15 and again different from the model on Adila's website. Now, when I say different I don't mean drastically different. The torque rating will change a bit and likely the kick point will change slightly as well (for example the Callaway Habenero launches higher then the one you would buy from the online Aldila store) but they play similair mostly.

B: If you want to port a shaft from another brand to the TEE you'll also have to be careful in terms of the flex. A regular flex doesn't always mean regular, it could play like a stiff or a seniors. If you find one you like, hang on to it and port that specific shaft.

C: Rather then B, I'd say go to a club fitter and tell them what head you want to use along with the characteristics you want. They should be able to shrink the list of zillions to just a few and you can go from there. Most club builders tend to have testing shafts on hand so you can get a better idea of what the ball flight is before pulling the final trigger.
 
JB said:
There are a LOT of shafts that fit that bill. Depending on cost and what you have in mind, I would definitely recommend looking into Miyazaki Kusala Silver (61 gram) and the C. Kua line in 43 or 59. Both are incredibly smooth. Another option is the new UST shafts we put up that are in the $50 range and are quite light. I have not tried them to see ball flight first hand, but will next week.
Click to expand...

JB, have you talked about the UST shafts you referenced somewhere. I've been looking but can't find anything.

Kevin
 
Super Tuna said:
I'll have to double check but I'm pretty sure the TEE's take .335 shafts so there should be a zillion options out there for her.

You can try and fit a shaft in another club to port over to this one but there's somethings you'll have to be aware of
A: Stock shafts in clubs, the "made for's" have altered characteristics most time from the shaft company. IE an Aldila habenero in a Diablo edge will play different then the one in the G15 and again different from the model on Adila's website. Now, when I say different I don't mean drastically different. The torque rating will change a bit and likely the kick point will change slightly as well (for example the Callaway Habenero launches higher then the one you would buy from the online Aldila store) but they play similair mostly.

B: If you want to port a shaft from another brand to the TEE you'll also have to be careful in terms of the flex. A regular flex doesn't always mean regular, it could play like a stiff or a seniors. If you find one you like, hang on to it and port that specific shaft.

C: Rather then B, I'd say go to a club fitter and tell them what head you want to use along with the characteristics you want. They should be able to shrink the list of zillions to just a few and you can go from there. Most club builders tend to have testing shafts on hand so you can get a better idea of what the ball flight is before pulling the final trigger.
Click to expand...
I reshafted my TEE with a DVS and yes they are .335.
 
JB said:
Here ya go.

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?17392-UST-Mamiya-MP5-Shafts&highlight=shafts
Click to expand...

Thank you, sir. I must be the world's worst forum searcher. Wow. $50. Like I said, we took a flyer on this thing, and I would experiment with it at that price. So you're going to be swinging this this week? I'll look forward to see what you think. Meanwhile she can swing the other one a few more times, get the rust off her driver swing, and see what kind of ball flight she gets.

Thanks again, and to you other guys for the input, too. Hell, if this goes alright, I might try to put her in a TEE 3w. I have one that I like a lot.

Well, as much as I can like a stinking 3w.

Kevin
 
We went to Golfsmith today and they had a slew of TEE used clubs. One of them was an XCG with a Graphite Design X-Quad. Not the exact same thing as the Tour AD, I guess, but Junior Lancer hit it on launch monitor. The best spin she could get was around 2,400, most were in the 1,700 to 1,900 range. Some lower. I don't think she can load that shaft.

She tried a Titleist driver with a K'ali (sp?) Diamana and was getting that up in the high 2,000s. She also hit a used XCG-V 3w with a Voodoo S7. She didn't hit that on the monitor, but into the nets. The ball was absolutely flying off the club face with that club.

The kids at Golfsmith were very nice. I wonder why they are so free with their launch monitor useage when Golf Galaxy has their's under lock and key. I won't be buying a driving at Golfsmith, so I'm going to have to buy some other stuff over the course of the summer.

Kevin
 
Nice write up. What kind of SS is she getting off the driver?
 
Esox said:
We went to Golfsmith today and they had a slew of TEE used clubs. One of them was an XCG with a Graphite Design X-Quad. Not the exact same thing as the Tour AD, I guess, but Junior Lancer hit it on launch monitor. The best spin she could get was around 2,400, most were in the 1,700 to 1,900 range. Some lower. I don't think she can load that shaft.

She tried a Titleist driver with a K'ali (sp?) Diamana and was getting that up in the high 2,000s. She also hit a used XCG-V 3w with a Voodoo S7. She didn't hit that on the monitor, but into the nets. The ball was absolutely flying off the club face with that club.

The kids at Golfsmith were very nice. I wonder why they are so free with their launch monitor useage when Golf Galaxy has their's under lock and key. I won't be buying a driving at Golfsmith, so I'm going to have to buy some other stuff over the course of the summer.

Kevin
Click to expand...

So are you considering slapping a new shaft in the driver you picked up yesterday?
 
aggro said:
Nice write up. What kind of SS is she getting off the driver?
Click to expand...

She was between 83 and 88. The upper end with the Titleist.

TC said:
So are you considering slapping a new shaft in the driver you picked up yesterday?
Click to expand...

I have to I think. She needs something lighter, higher launch, and higher spin. I need to find something relatively inexpensive at this point in time, unfortunately. I'm waiting to see what JB has to say about the UST MP5 he pointed out to me.

Kevin
 
Esox said:
She was between 83 and 88. The upper end with the Titleist.



I have to I think. She needs something lighter, higher launch, and higher spin. I need to find something relatively inexpensive at this point in time, unfortunately. I'm waiting to see what JB has to say about the UST MP5 he pointed out to me.

Kevin
Click to expand...

I got a Harrison Star Plus that I am about to have pulled. Pretty light, and it launches high. You can have it if you want it.
 
Kevin,

What length shaft would be ideal?
 
aggro said:
I got a Harrison Star Plus that I am about to have pulled. Pretty light, and it launches high. You can have it if you want it.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the offer, but we're stilling contemplating what we need. Hang on to it for now.

Kevin
 
Esox said:
I appreciate the offer, but we're stilling contemplating what we need. Hang on to it for now.

Kevin
Click to expand...
No problem. I still gotta get it pulled anyway. PM me about it if you want it. Its just too soft for me.
 
TC said:
Kevin,

What length shaft would be ideal?
Click to expand...

She does okay with the 46" in her Diablo, but looks more comfortable set up over the TEE which is 45". I think either works. She probably needs a little better tempo with the 46". Before her wrist went to hell last fall her coach was getting her a little more upright. This resulted in better iron play as it wiped out the inside takeaway she'd been fighting. Unfortunately, she had sort of mastered a sweeping slightly inside takeaway driver swing with the driver, so she doesn't release her hands as well when more upright and has been pushing/fading it off the tee. When she tries too hard to release she's hitting it off the heel for a low pull/hook.

This was happening a bit last Fall, and now that she's started back up hitting balls in the dome, we're seeing some of it. She'll get it, and the plane is much better. She needs to get outside so she can see where the ball is going. That always helps her.

Kevin
 
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