That will be a mega build, be real interesting to see how the weights affect the flight with the shafts
Xcaliber Rapid Taper 105 Iron Shaft Review
Popeye
Well-known member
So far the fastest swing I've found was 125 mph and he loved them. He swore he would snap the shaft in two. He was clearing a 230 yard sign at the range with a 6 iron. He was actually giggling.
But he did break a Prototype Driver shaft though... just not the 105.
Actually speaking of breakage the only Rapid Tapers that I know of that broke were three shafts in one day from one player. He later found out his wife slammed the trunk on them Not one other known breakage. And they would be very quick to say they did.
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Popeye
Well-known member
I have the 105s in a set of KE4 Max Maltbys. Really out of my normal span of iron designs. But my swing was junk and I embraced the UGI help. I haven't looked back yet.
Stability and great length. Not to mention distance control that is next level.
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Stability and great length. Not to mention distance control that is next level.
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These have alot of rounds under the belt now and compared to my Nippon Modus here's where I'm at now...
Pain - They were just well well worth the switch. The pain difference is just noticeable in all areas of my body.
Speed - I've lost no speed. I'm not sure I'm totally good enough to be able to say I "gained" speed, but I'd say I'm about the same.
Feel - I'm already completely used to the muted feel and would say overall I barely remember what the steel feels like now. I can definitely tell when I pure them. I will say I haven't loved them as much in my wedges with chipping. I struggle alot more to feel and land my chips consistently, but this will just take me a little time adjustment wise and I'll be fine with them.
Dispersion - I would say my dispersion is better. I'm just tighter with my dispersion overall. I'm hitting more GIR with them.
Stability - The one area where I've found them interesting, but it kind of makes sense. I've found tempo to be REALLY particular with these compared to my Nippons. If my tempo is a bit off, I top the crap out of these and makes my miss way worse. I didn't have the problem with Nippons, and after a good dozen round with these I definitely think it's the whippy feel of the shaft. If I get to fast with these I pay big time, but if I can stay in tempo they just absolutely sling.
The value for these things is just uncontested imo. There ain't a shaft that can compete price to performance wise in the "heavy graphite" category. I know there's alot of great heavy graphite shafts out there and ton of which THPr's support, but man are these things cheap for what you get.
Pain - They were just well well worth the switch. The pain difference is just noticeable in all areas of my body.
Speed - I've lost no speed. I'm not sure I'm totally good enough to be able to say I "gained" speed, but I'd say I'm about the same.
Feel - I'm already completely used to the muted feel and would say overall I barely remember what the steel feels like now. I can definitely tell when I pure them. I will say I haven't loved them as much in my wedges with chipping. I struggle alot more to feel and land my chips consistently, but this will just take me a little time adjustment wise and I'll be fine with them.
Dispersion - I would say my dispersion is better. I'm just tighter with my dispersion overall. I'm hitting more GIR with them.
Stability - The one area where I've found them interesting, but it kind of makes sense. I've found tempo to be REALLY particular with these compared to my Nippons. If my tempo is a bit off, I top the crap out of these and makes my miss way worse. I didn't have the problem with Nippons, and after a good dozen round with these I definitely think it's the whippy feel of the shaft. If I get to fast with these I pay big time, but if I can stay in tempo they just absolutely sling.
The value for these things is just uncontested imo. There ain't a shaft that can compete price to performance wise in the "heavy graphite" category. I know there's alot of great heavy graphite shafts out there and ton of which THPr's support, but man are these things cheap for what you get.
Feel - I will say I haven't loved them as much in my wedges with chipping. I struggle alot more to feel and land my chips consistently, but this will just take me a little time adjustment wise and I'll be fine with them.
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What tipping did you do for your wedges with these?
This interests me a lot as I did regular wedge tipping for my Spin Wedge 100's but am doing something different for my 105 build. My full swing wedges (50*, 54*) are tipped as regular wedge tipping but the 58* & 62* are getting an 8 iron tipping so a different feel I expect.
[/QUOTE]
What tipping did you do for your wedges with these?
This interests me a lot as I did regular wedge tipping for my Spin Wedge 100's but am doing something different for my 105 build. My full swing wedges (50*, 54*) are tipped as regular wedge tipping but the 58* & 62* are getting an 8 iron tipping so a different feel I expect.
No clue, I don't even know what that means. You're above my paygrade on the "build" front here.
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What tipping did you do for your wedges with these?
This interests me a lot as I did regular wedge tipping for my Spin Wedge 100's but am doing something different for my 105 build. My full swing wedges (50*, 54*) are tipped as regular wedge tipping but the 58* & 62* are getting an 8 iron tipping so a different feel I expect.
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I went straight in on my LW, tipped 1” on my SW as it’s a full swinger.
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I went straight in on my LW, tipped 1” on my SW as it’s a full swinger.
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Wait, this is in reference to the wedge shafts, not the iron 105’s
I went straight in on my LW, tipped 1” on my SW as it’s a full swinger.
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This is a total experiment but reasoning is softening the feel, according to my source it's a tour van trick. Will be cool to put my Hogan 58* (tipped per shaft guide) against the Sub70 58* (tipped to 8i) & see if there's any noticeable feel difference & performance
Pit some time on these today, early morning round with @J4U (Also considering them).
These were in a mixed bag of Sub70 heads (699 Pro, 659CB, 286 & JB).
Range was rushed but felt the weight difference immediately when thinking of my mixed weight Hogan's.
Swing average on the range, left it to the course to figure out.
These are definitely less lively in feel than the mixed weight ones, but that helped me start to crank on them as I loosened up.
Felt I was giving up some yardage overall but the gaps seemed more consistent.
Highlight shots:
699 Pro 6 iron, pin lasered at 199, pitch mark in line with hole, rolled out to a decent putt length.
659CB 7 iron, roughly 185 out, slightly thin but still stopped on the green bout 12ft past.
659CB 8 iron, approx 170 to the green, spun back a good 12ft or so.
286 50*, around 135ish, pitched just short of hole line and released out a little.
More to come, round Sunday, hopefully 9 next week before club championship (then it will be a fight to see which set are bagged)
These were in a mixed bag of Sub70 heads (699 Pro, 659CB, 286 & JB).
Range was rushed but felt the weight difference immediately when thinking of my mixed weight Hogan's.
Swing average on the range, left it to the course to figure out.
These are definitely less lively in feel than the mixed weight ones, but that helped me start to crank on them as I loosened up.
Felt I was giving up some yardage overall but the gaps seemed more consistent.
Highlight shots:
699 Pro 6 iron, pin lasered at 199, pitch mark in line with hole, rolled out to a decent putt length.
659CB 7 iron, roughly 185 out, slightly thin but still stopped on the green bout 12ft past.
659CB 8 iron, approx 170 to the green, spun back a good 12ft or so.
286 50*, around 135ish, pitched just short of hole line and released out a little.
More to come, round Sunday, hopefully 9 next week before club championship (then it will be a fight to see which set are bagged)
Haven't got enough rounds in but I'm sold.
5 iron, right side fluffy rough, 217 to the middle and it stops like this.
5 iron, right side fluffy rough, 217 to the middle and it stops like this.
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They’re good. I’m beyond pleased still.
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Awesome. I am very excited to try these RT’s out.
Popeye
Well-known member
This is a massive benefit of these shafts. The combination of height, distance and just the right amount of spin. They don't balloon yet stop on a dime.
Then there is the whole feel aspect of these that I feel is unmatched. Find the right flex for you and they are sublime.
I'll be putting a set of the R+ flex 105 shafts in this week. I believe I'll use a set of TS2 heads. I'll use the 105 S shafts in the gap and Pw with 8 iron trimming. Should make a very fun setup.
The R+ shafts have shown a bump in distance but zero loss of control.
The feel is smoother as well.
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Popeye
Well-known member
There are two places in Europe that have them. Custome Golf Scandinavia. Also somewhere in the UK is Mark Locke. MTL Bespoke Golf Club Services.
And there is one more.
Peter Doyle. Precision Fit Golf. Uk
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Popeye
Well-known member
I do have a demo with the Cobra Forged Tech head on it. But it would be a fortune to ship the demo over.
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Let me know, I have a proto 95 in matte I can ship for testing if you want. It's stiff flex in a Maltby ptm head
Minarets
Well-known member
I may take you up on that. I have PTM with the old Excalibur tour shaft that I got from Popeye a few years back. Currently I’m hitting my 921 forged. I need to get my swing back in check though. Been struggling making god contact lately.
I know I've said this in previous posts. Bought them on a total whim, not fit and they just could not be better for me if you can find the tempo.
The tempo with them is so much more important than my Nippons, but I'm finding it and playing my best golf I've ever played in my life. It has everything to do with finally being able to strike my irons. 6 GIR's today, i've gone 84, 85, and 84 this week on a hdcp that started at 20.2 at the beginning of the week. It's wild, I've been not so good at reviewing equipment in the past cause it just all kind of feels the same to me, but I feel the difference in these without a doubt and golf is very fun like this.
Only negative is, I did snap my 9i shaft at only 5 weeks old at impact, took them about a week to get back to me but they got back to me yesterday and a new one is on the way, no questions asked! I'll have to get the 9i reshafted and such but stuff happens, and I'm still absolutely thrilled with my decision.
The tempo with them is so much more important than my Nippons, but I'm finding it and playing my best golf I've ever played in my life. It has everything to do with finally being able to strike my irons. 6 GIR's today, i've gone 84, 85, and 84 this week on a hdcp that started at 20.2 at the beginning of the week. It's wild, I've been not so good at reviewing equipment in the past cause it just all kind of feels the same to me, but I feel the difference in these without a doubt and golf is very fun like this.
Only negative is, I did snap my 9i shaft at only 5 weeks old at impact, took them about a week to get back to me but they got back to me yesterday and a new one is on the way, no questions asked! I'll have to get the 9i reshafted and such but stuff happens, and I'm still absolutely thrilled with my decision.
Interesting on the breakage, where did it let go?
On the tempo side, are finding you have to stay at the same temporary for all clubs or is it per club?
My feel on these for me at least is if I try to go easy I lose feeling, as I speed up but swing easy these really come to life
Broke right where the ferrule meets the head.
Um...to be honest with you Kiwi, it's tough for me to define because I've historically just been such an awful iron striker. I honestly have no idea if I have a slow or neutral tempo comparatively speaking. I would say I'm swinging with a much slower tempo with these vs. the Nippons though. I always felt like I had to murder the nippons for some reason, I felt like my impact was always late, so I was always trying to speed up with them.
I would say I'm not speeding my tempo up for various shots. I do swing my wedges a little softer and am constantly coming up short with them, so I do need to focus getting through to a finish with GW, 54 and 58, but overall I would say, no, not adjusting tempo.
Ponder this (I posted I the xcaliber Rapid Taper review but also should've been here)sometimes I think I need to stop tinkering but other times I'm mad I haven't tested interesting offerings like these. damn ponder storm.
5 iron from 215ish out, right said fluffy rough and it stops like this.