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Review XCaliber Rapid Taper Iron Shaft Review

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Nippon Shafts
Big news today. Recieved the first batch of 85g Rapid Tapers. I expect these to fall perfectly in line with what we have seen so far. The taper is split in between where the 95 and the 75 are at.
Bad news is im heading to work..... two weeks waiting to hit these bad boys.
Still believe the retail shafts to arrive first days of September.
Now having all three weights available will give the chance to build a nice multiple weight set.

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Popeye said:
Big news today. Recieved the first batch of 85g Rapid Tapers. I expect these to fall perfectly in line with what we have seen so far. The taper is split in between where the 95 and the 75 are at.
Bad news is im heading to work..... two weeks waiting to hit these bad boys.
Still believe the retail shafts to arrive first days of September.
Now having all three weights available will give the chance to build a nice multiple weight set.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
forget work -- get out there and test these puppies
 
My senior tester update.

A recap on what he has. Maltby M890 7i in a 75g R flex.
He is 80 yo and still plays 3 times a week. Still moves ok but struggles with getting the ball in the air, also a lot of fat strikes. I wanted to give him an A flex but didn't have one so I sent him the R flex.
His first results with the 7i were a lot of just off the green left shots. He was getting a good 15 yards more but he was not accurate.
He realized he was swinging far too hard hoping to relive his old days with the promis of added distance.
He slowed to his normal tempo and has found a revelation. His 7i is going 110-115 with a much higher ball flight. It now allows him to land on the green and stop within a few feet rather than run the ball up and hope. He has also been striking the ball first. He believes there is just enough lag and release and it's keeping the head back just enough for ball first.
He has been tearing up his dollar a hole leauge and they are on to his mysterious new weapon.
What strikes him as surprising is how much confidence it has given him with his other clubs. The feeling of the pure strikes and better tempo has helped all other clubs. He plans every hole he can to wind up with the 7i in his hand.
The 7i has also turned into a greenside weapon. The feel and control with small chips has allowed him more up and downs than he can remember.
I will send him down a matching 8i but with a 75g A flex and see how he does.
He has now become the favorite draw in the daily matches.
Its pretty unique how wide of a spectrum of players can be successful with these clubs. Even when they don't match up on paper with specs.

Part of what has excited Robin Arthur about this release is how much joy testers have seem to be having with these clubs. It will be a fun year as these irons gain traction and players.

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Boy I wish these would get out to the public, so curious and I have a older friend that these might be right in his wheelhouse.
 
jim54 said:
Boy I wish these would get out to the public, so curious and I have a older friend that these might be right in his wheelhouse.
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Hell im playing them, and incredibly well. There is a wide range in play with these.
 
Jman said:
Hell im playing them, and incredibly well. There is a wide range in play with these.
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Yep if the 95 are holding up to your swing and doing very well by your reviews, they most certainly should be more than enough for me. I am playing the 95 Padersons now in Reg and really not having any issues that are not self inflicted.

I just want to try a heavier shaft to put it out of my mind that it will help my tempo. But the right profile should solve that no matter what the weight should it not?
 
jim54 said:
Yep if the 95 are holding up to your swing and doing very well by your reviews, they most certainly should be more than enough for me. I am playing the 95 Padersons now in Reg and really not having any issues that are not self inflicted.

I just want to try a heavier shaft to put it out of my mind that it will help my tempo. But the right profile should solve that no matter what the weight should it not?
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The review in the OP is with the 75g fwiw, and they held up to my swing as well.

Weight to me isn’t as important as it used to be.
 
bundyloco said:
Is this still the current ETA? Interested in trying.
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Shafts being shipped from China on Aug 14th. So a solid week after that.

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I'm so curious to try these. @golfinnut don't forget to bring the 9I or something to the range on Saturday! I'll let you hit my Zipcores. Lol
 
I continue to do just absurd things with these in the Hogan Players Combo set. I’m running out of superlatives.
 
Jman said:
I continue to do just absurd things with these in the Hogan Players Combo set. I’m running out of superlatives.
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Im trying to swing a deal for some Combo set black.. heads only. With the new shafts just around the corner I need a new set of heads to mount them in.

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Popeye said:
Im trying to swing a deal for some Combo set black.. heads only. With the new shafts just around the corner I need a new set of heads to mount them in.

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That would be fun set to test! 🔥
 
shanewu said:
That would be fun set to test!
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I worked out a deal with Hogan.. they will be on their way.

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Popeye said:
I worked out a deal with Hogan.. they will be on their way.

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That is awesome. If they accidentally send you two sets, PM me! :ROFLMAO: Seriously though, I hope they work out great for you.
 
I might not be able to get the blacks in the combo set.... kinda bummed.

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I find that I have to definitely slow down my swing and let the shaft do the work. When I do that the ball comes off the face quick, launches high & lands soft. I have to work with them more to make me remember to let my muscle memory take over :eek: I have to remember I'm not swinging the rest of the set that I think I need to swing harder. :golf2:
 
I might be asking something that already been talked about but I’m genuinely curious how these would play in One Length irons. I guess it wouldn’t make a big different but a stiff but lightweight shaft sounds fun!
 
mjkladis said:
I might be asking something that already been talked about but I’m genuinely curious how these would play in One Length irons. I guess it wouldn’t make a big different but a stiff but lightweight shaft sounds fun!
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I think you are the first to bring this up. There is no reason why they should not work. Assuming the one length set is properly built and all the heads weigh the same amount. It would work quite well i think.

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So got a chance to hit @golfinnut 's test 7I on the range before a scramble tournament this weekend. Limited number of swings, but was able to adjust pretty quickly with some recommendations from Chris. Started out swinging pretty easy and then ramped it up a bit as I progressed.

If forced to describe these in one word, it would be "different" but I don't mean that in a bad way at all. I've had other iron shafts that had a 'kick' at the bottom of the swing from time to time, PING CFS come to mind, however nothing as consistent or pronounced as what I was feeling with these. Feels almost like a whip effect at the bottom of the swing. Again different, but not something I couldn't get used to.

Performance wise, we were on a weird range where I couldn't see my personal 7I shots land as it was down the hill a bit. Shots with the test 7I appeared to be going about the same distance, but there's a ton of variables at play from Chris having this in more of a players iron head than the clubs I usually play, to the fact that I was kind of feeling my way out with this shaft for just a few swings. The real impact here for me was the height. I already hit my setup pretty high with my default swing, but shots with the test club were towering, and easy to visually discern from my gamers. Based on the feedback it seems like wind performance holds up, but obviously something I'd like to test with these. Would be interested to hear from the testers on how these hold up, if they're able to flight them down, etc.

Looks wise, the pictures in this thread do a pretty good job of showing you what the current iteration looks like. Just black with no graphics, so no surprises there. Anyone who's paying attention though will quickly notice the rapid taper. We discussed it on the range, but I'm really curious to see how XCaliber handles the paint & graphics on these. I'm a fan of simple, and love the black look, which is about as simple as it gets. I'm sure they have something fun in store though.

Only thing I found curious was the amount of lead tape I saw on the iron Chris handed me at the range. I figured with these at 75g, getting them swing weighted out to a heavier number (think the one I tried was D1) would have been easy, but I didn't really dig into how it was built, etc. @Popeye do these take standard graphite tip weights?

I'd be curious to see how these would shake out long term. I'm not sure I'm ready to tear down my gamers and call these the future, but would definitely like some more time with them. The 75g shafts were super light for what I'm used to but the results were pretty good. Finding these in a little heavier weight would go a ways towards making these 'feel' right in hand, but even at the super light weight they were, I can easily see the potential of this design, especially for people looking to get the ball up in the air a little more easily.
 
JonD said:
So got a chance to hit @golfinnut 's test 7I on the range before a scramble tournament this weekend. Limited number of swings, but was able to adjust pretty quickly with some recommendations from Chris. Started out swinging pretty easy and then ramped it up a bit as I progressed.

If forced to describe these in one word, it would be "different" but I don't mean that in a bad way at all. I've had other iron shafts that had a 'kick' at the bottom of the swing from time to time, PING CFS come to mind, however nothing as consistent or pronounced as what I was feeling with these. Feels almost like a whip effect at the bottom of the swing. Again different, but not something I couldn't get used to.

Performance wise, we were on a weird range where I couldn't see my personal 7I shots land as it was down the hill a bit. Shots with the test 7I appeared to be going about the same distance, but there's a ton of variables at play from Chris having this in more of a players iron head than the clubs I usually play, to the fact that I was kind of feeling my way out with this shaft for just a few swings. The real impact here for me was the height. I already hit my setup pretty high with my default swing, but shots with the test club were towering, and easy to visually discern from my gamers. Based on the feedback it seems like wind performance holds up, but obviously something I'd like to test with these. Would be interested to hear from the testers on how these hold up, if they're able to flight them down, etc.

Looks wise, the pictures in this thread do a pretty good job of showing you what the current iteration looks like. Just black with no graphics, so no surprises there. Anyone who's paying attention though will quickly notice the rapid taper. We discussed it on the range, but I'm really curious to see how XCaliber handles the paint & graphics on these. I'm a fan of simple, and love the black look, which is about as simple as it gets. I'm sure they have something fun in store though.

Only thing I found curious was the amount of lead tape I saw on the iron Chris handed me at the range. I figured with these at 75g, getting them swing weighted out to a heavier number (think the one I tried was D1) would have been easy, but I didn't really dig into how it was built, etc. @Popeye do these take standard graphite tip weights?

I'd be curious to see how these would shake out long term. I'm not sure I'm ready to tear down my gamers and call these the future, but would definitely like some more time with them. The 75g shafts were super light for what I'm used to but the results were pretty good. Finding these in a little heavier weight would go a ways towards making these 'feel' right in hand, but even at the super light weight they were, I can easily see the potential of this design, especially for people looking to get the ball up in the air a little more easily.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback my man! I wish I had a few 95g shafts to compare them to. Especially since I have some Recoil 95s I could really compare them against. ;)
 
JonD said:
So got a chance to hit @golfinnut 's test 7I on the range before a scramble tournament this weekend. Limited number of swings, but was able to adjust pretty quickly with some recommendations from Chris. Started out swinging pretty easy and then ramped it up a bit as I progressed.

If forced to describe these in one word, it would be "different" but I don't mean that in a bad way at all. I've had other iron shafts that had a 'kick' at the bottom of the swing from time to time, PING CFS come to mind, however nothing as consistent or pronounced as what I was feeling with these. Feels almost like a whip effect at the bottom of the swing. Again different, but not something I couldn't get used to.

Performance wise, we were on a weird range where I couldn't see my personal 7I shots land as it was down the hill a bit. Shots with the test 7I appeared to be going about the same distance, but there's a ton of variables at play from Chris having this in more of a players iron head than the clubs I usually play, to the fact that I was kind of feeling my way out with this shaft for just a few swings. The real impact here for me was the height. I already hit my setup pretty high with my default swing, but shots with the test club were towering, and easy to visually discern from my gamers. Based on the feedback it seems like wind performance holds up, but obviously something I'd like to test with these. Would be interested to hear from the testers on how these hold up, if they're able to flight them down, etc.

Looks wise, the pictures in this thread do a pretty good job of showing you what the current iteration looks like. Just black with no graphics, so no surprises there. Anyone who's paying attention though will quickly notice the rapid taper. We discussed it on the range, but I'm really curious to see how XCaliber handles the paint & graphics on these. I'm a fan of simple, and love the black look, which is about as simple as it gets. I'm sure they have something fun in store though.

Only thing I found curious was the amount of lead tape I saw on the iron Chris handed me at the range. I figured with these at 75g, getting them swing weighted out to a heavier number (think the one I tried was D1) would have been easy, but I didn't really dig into how it was built, etc. @Popeye do these take standard graphite tip weights?

I'd be curious to see how these would shake out long term. I'm not sure I'm ready to tear down my gamers and call these the future, but would definitely like some more time with them. The 75g shafts were super light for what I'm used to but the results were pretty good. Finding these in a little heavier weight would go a ways towards making these 'feel' right in hand, but even at the super light weight they were, I can easily see the potential of this design, especially for people looking to get the ball up in the air a little more easily.
Click to expand...
You seem as if the 85g or certainly to 95g might be a better fit for you. But its still surprising how this shaft can work for stronger swings.
I should have the 85g inhand by Thursday and hopefully in play no later than Saturday.
The shafts will take normal tip weights and i will be doing a fun build with all three weights of shafts. 95g in the PW and the 9i. 85g in the 8-6i. 75g in the 4 and 5i. So that right there will be very entertaining. That should give me a set that will mimic an MOI build. I'll tweak the swing weight so they progress evenly.

The retail shafts show up for sale later this week. They have already cleared customs. The 95g S, R the 75g S, R. A flex is a little behind and obviously the 85g has yet to even be test hit. Cpm readings in the 85g are perfect though so I don't expect any surprises.
Im almost as excited for my own complete set of RT shafts as I am for the Hogan PTx Pro black heads. The 99 Hogans were my all time favorites. Though my swings needs a touch of help these days and the Icons are a bit much, having some Hogans back in the bag will be epic.

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golfinnut said:
Thanks for the feedback my man! I wish I had a few 95g shafts to compare them to. Especially since I have some Recoil 95s I could really compare them against. ;)
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I tried to free up some for you but they went to a big fitting center to be tested. You can always pick one up later this week.

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UPS shows I’ll be receiving the 75, 85, and 95 S on Thursday! Can’t wait to finally test these in person. Should be able to hit this weekend once made up with adapters. 😁
 
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