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Review XCaliber Rapid Taper Iron Shaft Review

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Nippon Shafts
Shafts came in as stated and I put one in the 5 iron ssx1 at 38.5" overall, needed to add a 8 gram tip weight to get to D2-2.5 on my scale. Looks like I might get to give it a try in the morning, if it feels right then I will go ahead and install the rest the same way SSx1.

Using the Z cord midsize with 3 extra wraps on the bottom had some to do with the extra weight needed I imagine.
 
If you really want to be humbled... play in 43° with misting fog and wind....
I haven't hit a ball in over two weeks and worked through last weeks epic weather so that is what I had today. Its was simply lovely...
Still I have definitely found a sweet spot for myself with a setup.
All Maltby TS-1 heads right now.. Gw is the 100g SpinWedge shaft that just seem perfect for me. Smooth as could be with a lot of feel on short shots.
Pw-8 Is a 95g S soft stepped. They have the perfect balance of feel and control giving me such a string sense of confidence over the ball.
The 7 iron is out being demoed so it's up in the air as to what shaft that will get but it might just be the 85g when they show up next week.
The 6-4 have the 75g S full flex. Couldn't be happier with this setup. The longer irons are just so easy to swing. Very easy for me to hit a tiny little draw. Ball is always just a few feet from its pitch mark. Never runs through a green. Again the confidence I have over the ball tells the whole story for me.
I might tinker with the 85g in the 7 and 6 just for the heck it but honestly could play any of the three weights and be pretty happy.

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Went ahead and SS x 2 the 5 and 6 iron and got the 100 gr wedges installed this morning, they will get another test tomorrow
 
The SSx2 seems to be the key with the 95S for me. I could feel the kick a bit and ball flight is higher and very predictable, the 100 gr wedge shafts in Reg. are perfect. I saw a definite distance gain on full swings with the 50, 54 & 58 with drop and stop or even a bit of pull back, played on sanded crappy greens and still managed a 40/40 despite being crazy sore from a day of yard work on Sat.

Going to put the rest of the set in tonight or tomorrow morning and see what it brings.
 
jim54 said:
The SSx2 seems to be the key with the 95S for me. I could feel the kick a bit and ball flight is higher and very predictable, the 100 gr wedge shafts in Reg. are perfect. I saw a definite distance gain on full swings with the 50, 54 & 58 with drop and stop or even a bit of pull back, played on sanded crappy greens and still managed a 40/40 despite being crazy sore from a day of yard work on Sat.

Going to put the rest of the set in tonight or tomorrow morning and see what it brings.
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Glad you found a good setup. Those Spin Wedges are seriously underrated.

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I figure if I can feel it in the 6 then the rest should be real nice. Hit a 5 iron for a layup on a par5 from a down hill lie and got close to 200 out of it, surprised the heck out of me.
The wedges are as good as anything I have tried and the leader in the clubhouse was the Paderson 125 wedge, these are every bit as good with less effort.
 
If there is anyone I haven't gotten back to on demo clubs or builds please give me a shout.

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The rest of the shafts are installed and it took 8-10 gr tip weights to get to D3 with my grip setup, I am looking forward to working with them and getting comfortable to play in my next Grint Tourament Dec 5th.
 
wristcock said:
why is Bryson not using these !!!
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Why don't you ask him? Or maybe you can hand deliver a few when you get a chance.

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Went ahead and turned the ferules on all the irons, the shafts really do look great and the red bands are growing on me. Going to get out tomorrow and see if I can swing half decent (went to the Chiro today) and get a better feel for them.
 
jim54 said:
Went ahead and turned the ferules on all the irons, the shafts really do look great and the red bands are growing on me. Going to get out tomorrow and see if I can swing half decent (went to the Chiro today) and get a better feel for them.
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I'd subscribe to jim54 text updates if those were a thing 😂:cool:
 
Got a couple of irons in for a demo. Haven't hit them yet, but I wanted to chime in on the graphics. I kind of like them. They're not too in your face and the chromish finish looks good. Take a little of the edge off the look of the quick taper when compared to the all black IMO. Weather's turning up for the weekend and I'm planning on getting these out for my round on Sunday. Possibly a range trip tomorrow if I get my honey do list done in time.
 
shanewu said:
I'd subscribe to jim54 text updates if those were a thing 😂:cool:
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Ha, it is a wild ride, kind of like the kiddie roller coaster that does loops...got the money game this morning on a real short but extremely tight course with water or O.B. on every hole. So far the body feels pretty good, I hope I can at least put a decent swing on and do the shafts some justice.
 
Much better today with 3 birdies, a triple and a couple of doubles stalled out the round (40/41) but saw some real good iron shots and may just have felt the kick everyone talks about. It is not very pronounced to me so maybe I am still too stiff with the shafts, but if things keep trending to better with the body I might just get some SS back and see the performance.

Directionally with the 0311T heads I am seeing very good accuracy when I just pull enough club, the 100 gr wedge shafts in regular are very, very good and again with a bit more pop in my swing I think I can make good things happen. Had a terrible lie pin high to a downhill hard right breaking pin and chipped in for one of the birdies, that was a fun shot to pull off.
 
JonD said:
Got a couple of irons in for a demo. Haven't hit them yet, but I wanted to chime in on the graphics. I kind of like them. They're not too in your face and the chromish finish looks good. Take a little of the edge off the look of the quick taper when compared to the all black IMO. Weather's turning up for the weekend and I'm planning on getting these out for my round on Sunday. Possibly a range trip tomorrow if I get my honey do list done in time.
Click to expand...

Ended up having to cancel my round as I wasn't feeling well this weekend. Going to keep these in the bag though and planning on playing at least once this weekend.
 
Well this was something unexpected today! I love getting boxes in the length of a golf club, especially when I know I didn't order anything.
Opened to find 3 raw shafts, 95g, with the new graphics!
The new graphics are cool. Not overzealous with too much going on, but enough detail to draw your attention to it.
Also in the box were a dozen Bridgestone Tour BRX and a cool ball marker.
I've been wanting to try the RX for quite some time.
Looks like I have some building to do over the weekend. 1 more shaft and I will be able to have a complete iron set. I hope these 95s end my quest for the perfect shaft.

Thanks again! This was a very nice surprise.
 

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golfinnut said:
Well this was something unexpected today! I love getting boxes in the length of a golf club, especially when I know I didn't order anything.
Opened to find 3 raw shafts, 95g, with the new graphics!
The new graphics are cool. Not overzealous with too much going on, but enough detail to draw your attention to it.
Also in the box were a dozen Bridgestone Tour BRX and a cool ball marker.
I've been wanting to try the RX for quite some time.
Looks like I have some building to do over the weekend. 1 more shaft and I will be able to have a complete iron set. I hope these 95s end my quest for the perfect shaft.

Thanks again! This was a very nice surprise.
Click to expand...
Who sent those to you? Nice score.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
 
golfinnut said:
Well this was something unexpected today! I love getting boxes in the length of a golf club, especially when I know I didn't order anything.
Opened to find 3 raw shafts, 95g, with the new graphics!
The new graphics are cool. Not overzealous with too much going on, but enough detail to draw your attention to it.
Also in the box were a dozen Bridgestone Tour BRX and a cool ball marker.
I've been wanting to try the RX for quite some time.
Looks like I have some building to do over the weekend. 1 more shaft and I will be able to have a complete iron set. I hope these 95s end my quest for the perfect shaft.

Thanks again! This was a very nice surprise.
Click to expand...
That is an awesome package and helluva surprise!
 
Got a bit of range time with these as well as a couple swings on the course when time allowed. I've covered the looks, and stick by my previous assessment. Nothing from having them out makes me feel any different there. Spent most of my time with the 95 in the 8I this weekend. Mainly because it was the one I grabbed for the range and I had more shots that it fit on the course distance wise.

Performance wise, this is an interesting shaft for me. I'm not used to this light of a profile with my current gamers being Modus 120S, but honestly had no issue grabbing the demo with this shaft in it and swinging interchangeably with my clubs. Flight was similar if not a little higher on some shots, but the shape was pretty consistent with what I was seeing at that point with my gamers. I was seeing maybe a half club less distance, but I'm guessing that can be chalked up to the PTM heads vs. my Apex and my familiarity with my gamers. While I did see some that appeared higher than my gamers (no LM data, just the eye test), I didn't see any more impact from the wind. It wasn't too breezy so time will tell there, but they seemed to hold up pretty well.

Feel wise, they were... interesting. Ever since trying @golfinnut's demos I've been paying more attention to feeling the kick at the bottom of the swing. I didn't feel it on every swing with the 8I but definitely felt it a few times. I saw the best results when I swung smooth, but feel like with time you could get some decent results if you decided to go after one.

All in all this is a fun offering. Definitely one I could see playing. I'm going to try and get some more time with the 75 before sending the demos back so I can provide a little more feedback there.
 
The 85g shafts have arrived and are available. Im about to head back out to sea so I won't be able to tinker with them.
I know there is about 4 builds who were waiting on the 85g shafts to arrive.

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Work has gotten in the way lately but I still have a couple clubs to build.

Just a quick question for @Popeye ... the demo shafts that were sent in the beginning, were they 75g?? or 95g?? I want to say 75g because they feel on the lighter side. Reason for asking is I'm trying to figure out which way I want to go. I want to put these 3 95g shafts somewhere in the lineup .... I'm thinking towards the bottom of the bag. But the problem being is that 2 of them are in the 8 iron & wedge .... so they are cut for those slots. I have the 4-iron TMB that I can take out & put in my T300 4-iron ... but

4-iron .... 75g or cut to fit 9 iron
5, 6, & 7 ... new 3 shafts at 95g
8, 9, & PW .... 75g

I would rather see the lighter shafts at the top end of the bag & the heavier at the bottom. See my dilemma?? :unsure:
 
Very nice write up on what seems to be a fine product and glad you discussed price point with so many excellent shafts out there.
 
golfinnut said:
Work has gotten in the way lately but I still have a couple clubs to build.

Just a quick question for @Popeye ... the demo shafts that were sent in the beginning, were they 75g?? or 95g?? I want to say 75g because they feel on the lighter side. Reason for asking is I'm trying to figure out which way I want to go. I want to put these 3 95g shafts somewhere in the lineup .... I'm thinking towards the bottom of the bag. But the problem being is that 2 of them are in the 8 iron & wedge .... so they are cut for those slots. I have the 4-iron TMB that I can take out & put in my T300 4-iron ... but

4-iron .... 75g or cut to fit 9 iron
5, 6, & 7 ... new 3 shafts at 95g
8, 9, & PW .... 75g

I would rather see the lighter shafts at the top end of the bag & the heavier at the bottom. See my dilemma?? :unsure:
Click to expand...
If you can go with the 95g in the low irons.

The demos that initially went out were 75g.

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