As always I want to thank JB, Morgan, True Temper (specifically Scott and +7), Mizuno, Hammock Beach, and all the other OEMs who helped put our event together. Without all of that, I wouldn’t have been able to play these excellent iron/shafts for the past few months.
Now, to be honest, I initially was pretty skeptical of this line. I just didn’t see a fit for them in the market (shows how much I know haha). Of course, I also don’t know much about shaft knowledge, and Id like to thank Scott, Keenan, and DB for helping me with that.
I have been playing these for the past few months and I am trying to figure out the best way to review them. Heads/talking about full clubs is easy ish IMO, but when you’re trying to talk about just the shaft, it gets into a lot of subjective info. Especially for a guy like me who can play with pretty much anything and be happy as long as it feels somewhat decent and looks close to what I want. I also, hold head design higher on the feel chart than shaft so I was like, “oh man, how do I review these things without basically just reviewing my JPX 919 tours?” All these semi pre-conceived notions.
The elevate shafts are supposed to help your launch go up while keeping spin and overall ball flight mid to low ish. From what I have seen on the course, I think DG has done a very good job getting that profile/attributes here. I’m certainly not seeing any type of ballooning in shots even into the wind. The spin is a bit lower than I thought (numbers from recent session on GC Quad), No idea what my typical launch has been in other irons, but I feel like it is higher with these for the type of head I have them in.
I put these against a shaft that I have wanted/loved to hit in bays, a shaft that I felt was roughly the same. That would be the Project x LZ but in 5.5 (reason being that after being put on a CPM the 5.5 was the closest to the S300 Elevate). Weights are roughly the same (115 and 117 Grams). Profile is somewhat similar, better launch with a medium flight and lower spin. I didn’t hit a lot of shots, but I did want to at least get a small sample of numbers in order to see the differences between the two. I also hope to go back and go with different profiles as well, DG 120 and on the opposite side of the spectrum, xp100 in order to see just how different these launch profiles can be in an average golfer.
Between the Elevate and the LZ, there isn’t a major difference in most areas of ball flight.
Biggest take away for me? The shafts are pretty similar. The LZ is a lower spinning shaft, and while the launch and descent angles are similar, the LZ flight is certainly a little flatter/lower. Huge difference? No, but enough to give me a little bit more yardage in the elevate (though could be due to the better CS and BS). I’m no numbers expert, so I have no idea if I am near optimal or not, but I feel like the spin is almost too low for me? Maybe a test with the Elevate 95 is in order…
Now, why I would never move to the LZ (even though I have loved it in the past). The feel is way different. I thought the LZ felt great when it first came out. Nothing better. Now that I have played the elevates since September, I can say, the VSS is legit. Super good feeling with no harsh feedback (though enough to not make it feel dead), and the kick on the elevate just feels so much more lively on quality strikes than the LZ.
Verdict: I’m loving the Elevate tour. On the course, I am having a lot better command (well as much as a medium hc can haha) of my shots whether I want to hit a stock shot, a flighted lower bullet, or full on swing to hit it way high up. I thought I would never move from graphite after trying out a quality shaft offering from another company, but the elevate has certainly swayed me. One caveat to that though, is the Project x catalyst which I did get to hit the other day and it didn’t disappoint….. Although, steel is just good. I am really happy with these. The only graphite I might entertain in the near future would be a catalyst 100/80 in the long irons and a hybrid. While the launch is improved with these elevates, I just don’t have that SS to get all I need out of the longer irons (and I love long irons haha).
That is it for now. I will certainly continue to be playing these so of course will have some good feedback down the road as well. Especially once the weather truly turns into golf weather around here and I can see what these things can do on firmer greens.
Now, to be honest, I initially was pretty skeptical of this line. I just didn’t see a fit for them in the market (shows how much I know haha). Of course, I also don’t know much about shaft knowledge, and Id like to thank Scott, Keenan, and DB for helping me with that.
I have been playing these for the past few months and I am trying to figure out the best way to review them. Heads/talking about full clubs is easy ish IMO, but when you’re trying to talk about just the shaft, it gets into a lot of subjective info. Especially for a guy like me who can play with pretty much anything and be happy as long as it feels somewhat decent and looks close to what I want. I also, hold head design higher on the feel chart than shaft so I was like, “oh man, how do I review these things without basically just reviewing my JPX 919 tours?” All these semi pre-conceived notions.
The elevate shafts are supposed to help your launch go up while keeping spin and overall ball flight mid to low ish. From what I have seen on the course, I think DG has done a very good job getting that profile/attributes here. I’m certainly not seeing any type of ballooning in shots even into the wind. The spin is a bit lower than I thought (numbers from recent session on GC Quad), No idea what my typical launch has been in other irons, but I feel like it is higher with these for the type of head I have them in.
I put these against a shaft that I have wanted/loved to hit in bays, a shaft that I felt was roughly the same. That would be the Project x LZ but in 5.5 (reason being that after being put on a CPM the 5.5 was the closest to the S300 Elevate). Weights are roughly the same (115 and 117 Grams). Profile is somewhat similar, better launch with a medium flight and lower spin. I didn’t hit a lot of shots, but I did want to at least get a small sample of numbers in order to see the differences between the two. I also hope to go back and go with different profiles as well, DG 120 and on the opposite side of the spectrum, xp100 in order to see just how different these launch profiles can be in an average golfer.
Between the Elevate and the LZ, there isn’t a major difference in most areas of ball flight.
| Club Speed | Ball Speed | Launch | Spin | Peak | Descent | Carry |
| 83.2 | 113.1 | 14 | 5328 | 63 | 38 | 156 |
| 81.1 | 110.3 | 13.6 | 4842 | 57 | 35 | 151 |
Biggest take away for me? The shafts are pretty similar. The LZ is a lower spinning shaft, and while the launch and descent angles are similar, the LZ flight is certainly a little flatter/lower. Huge difference? No, but enough to give me a little bit more yardage in the elevate (though could be due to the better CS and BS). I’m no numbers expert, so I have no idea if I am near optimal or not, but I feel like the spin is almost too low for me? Maybe a test with the Elevate 95 is in order…
Now, why I would never move to the LZ (even though I have loved it in the past). The feel is way different. I thought the LZ felt great when it first came out. Nothing better. Now that I have played the elevates since September, I can say, the VSS is legit. Super good feeling with no harsh feedback (though enough to not make it feel dead), and the kick on the elevate just feels so much more lively on quality strikes than the LZ.
Verdict: I’m loving the Elevate tour. On the course, I am having a lot better command (well as much as a medium hc can haha) of my shots whether I want to hit a stock shot, a flighted lower bullet, or full on swing to hit it way high up. I thought I would never move from graphite after trying out a quality shaft offering from another company, but the elevate has certainly swayed me. One caveat to that though, is the Project x catalyst which I did get to hit the other day and it didn’t disappoint….. Although, steel is just good. I am really happy with these. The only graphite I might entertain in the near future would be a catalyst 100/80 in the long irons and a hybrid. While the launch is improved with these elevates, I just don’t have that SS to get all I need out of the longer irons (and I love long irons haha).
That is it for now. I will certainly continue to be playing these so of course will have some good feedback down the road as well. Especially once the weather truly turns into golf weather around here and I can see what these things can do on firmer greens.
