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Review XCaliber Rapid Taper Iron Shaft Review

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Nippon Shafts
The 4 iron TMB was my favorite club when I was playing the AP3s. This makes it even better.
Such an amazing flight. I can feel the "kick" at the bottom of the swing. Its like it whips at the last minute. @JohnSinVA had a good analogy.... if you ever played "pencil fight" when you were a kid? That last "Pop" occurs at the bottom of the swing. I can bet that if I was on a simulator, the ball speed would be higher with these.

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golfinnut said:
The 4 iron TMB was my favorite club when I was playing the AP3s. This makes it even better.
Such an amazing flight. I can feel the "kick" at the bottom of the swing. Its like it whips at the last minute. @JohnSinVA had a good analogy.... if you ever played "pencil fight" when you were a kid? That last "Pop" occurs at the bottom of the swing. I can bet that if I was on a simulator, the ball speed would be higher with these.

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It’s precisely what I saw in my review of the ones you guys have now, the bullwhip analogy works really well here. Speed will be up, but you won’t be seeing the crazy spin you might expect with the easy launch! Love it.
 
Really excited for you all to get to dive in on these. I’ll say this about the 95’s I’m working with, if I can manage to get my paws on the rest of the set, I would install them in my Hogan’s. That’s high praise as I shouldn’t even touch the way that set is setup.
 
Jman said:
Really excited for you all to get to dive in on these. I’ll say this about the 95’s I’m working with, if I can manage to get my paws on the rest of the set, I would install them in my Hogan’s. That’s high praise as I shouldn’t even touch the way that set is setup.
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Shipped......
Last week when I was home a very talented college player was on the range beside me. I handed him a 6 iron and let him go. He was hitting these majestic shots that were pretty awe inspiring.and dead straight. Kid said he is struggling with a hook. His dad walked up and said, what are you doing, he shouldn't be hiting a graphite shaft. He told him to hand it back to me.
The kid refused and told his dad to just watch.
These shafts may take a while to catch on but they flat out work.

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I put these together too quick cause I wanted to get them out on the course. So the swingweight is all over the place. The wedge at D8, the 7 iron at D1 & the 4 iron at C6.
So I've got a bit of maintenance to do before I get them out again.

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Here is a message from an 82 YO golfer with a RTi75g R flex. I put together a 7 iron with the new Maltby 890 iron. Its an UGI design for slower swing speeds. Similar to what he is playing now. The A flexes were not in yet so I let him just run with the R flex.

Brian, got the club Friday. Played sat. Club felt good in my hands. Used it 4 times. Pulled it to the left of the green 2 times, just off the edge both times. Approximately 120 yards. I normally hit about 110 yards. Next, I basically duffed it to the front of the green. And the last time I hit it about 125 yards and on the green about 10 feet from. Missed the birdie, got the par. Not bad for first use. Had no time to warm up. I’ll keep on giving you results. I think it’s a keeper. Thanks, Brian.

I know some guys were curious about the weaker flex and slower swing speeds.

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I'd love to get these on a SIM ... I'm sure all the numbers would be up
 
golfinnut said:
I put these together too quick cause I wanted to get them out on the course. So the swingweight is all over the place. The wedge at D8, the 7 iron at D1 & the 4 iron at C6.
So I've got a bit of maintenance to do before I get them out again.

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So this past weekend I set aside the shoddy job @golfinnut did assembling the test clubs and played from his bag quite liberally. The 7i at D1 was right in the wheelhouse and I was able to hit some very good shots with it, including a pin high tee shot where I would normally pull my own 6i. I would say the stars aligned on that particular instance but in general I would count on this 7i to carry 1/2-3/4 club more than my current one. I even managed to hit a low draw with it to fight some wind that was up for a GIR.

I used the tmb 4i for several tee shots and a couple layup shots on par 5s (and out of the rough on one embarrassing tee shot). High and straight-to-tiny-fade with carry approaching my Exotics 2IW was the order of the day. Launch was certainly not a problem - that being said a fairly stiff facing breeze did cause one tee shot to balloon a bit.

The 50° was a different story. The head weight tended to really accentuate the ‘bull whip’ effect and send full shots skyward. Part of this problem was certainly me as I tend to struggle with adding loft, but comparable swings with my 52° yielded noticeably lower peak height when trying to carry longer distances. On the flip side I did take the opportunity to drop a few balls inside 50yds to see how it would fare with partial shots. In this area the shaft was able to do whatever I asked of it, even letting me stick a spinny hop and stopper in close (I missed it 😑).

Given my swing faults I went in expecting the late snap of these shafts to send all my shots into the stratosphere, but I found that unless I swung out of my socks the ball flight was what I was used to with the benefit of some added distance. I would definitely play these in my set irons up to PW, but would probably stick with standard shafts for wedges. Definitely fun to hit and ‘nut better get used to carrying 17 clubs with him 😏
 
I believe @Wholeinone and @etakmit have also received their shafts now and should be joining the feedback as well.
 
JohnSinVA said:
So this past weekend I set aside the shoddy job @golfinnut did assembling the test clubs and played from his bag quite liberally. The 7i at D1 was right in the wheelhouse and I was able to hit some very good shots with it, including a pin high tee shot where I would normally pull my own 6i. I would say the stars aligned on that particular instance but in general I would count on this 7i to carry 1/2-3/4 club more than my current one. I even managed to hit a low draw with it to fight some wind that was up for a GIR.

I used the tmb 4i for several tee shots and a couple layup shots on par 5s (and out of the rough on one embarrassing tee shot). High and straight-to-tiny-fade with carry approaching my Exotics 2IW was the order of the day. Launch was certainly not a problem - that being said a fairly stiff facing breeze did cause one tee shot to balloon a bit.

The 50° was a different story. The head weight tended to really accentuate the ‘bull whip’ effect and send full shots skyward. Part of this problem was certainly me as I tend to struggle with adding loft, but comparable swings with my 52° yielded noticeably lower peak height when trying to carry longer distances. On the flip side I did take the opportunity to drop a few balls inside 50yds to see how it would fare with partial shots. In this area the shaft was able to do whatever I asked of it, even letting me stick a spinny hop and stopper in close (I missed it ).

Given my swing faults I went in expecting the late snap of these shafts to send all my shots into the stratosphere, but I found that unless I swung out of my socks the ball flight was what I was used to with the benefit of some added distance. I would definitely play these in my set irons up to PW, but would probably stick with standard shafts for wedges. Definitely fun to hit and ‘nut better get used to carrying 17 clubs with him
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To be fair using the 75g pre trimmed weighted shaft for the wedges is asking a lot for a big swinger. But im glad you had a chance to use it for some short game. Around the green chipping is really unique with those. The 95g would do a far better with the wedge heads.

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Popeye said:
To be fair using the 75g pre trimmed weighted shaft for the wedges is asking a lot for a big swinger. But im glad you had a chance to use it for some short game. Around the green chipping is really unique with those. The 95g would do a far better with the wedge heads.

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I’d probably be happier overall in the 95g shafts. I had to really focus to not get too quick to transition. I hit a nasty chunker in one case where I failed to do so.
 
Popeye said:
To be fair using the 75g pre trimmed weighted shaft for the wedges is asking a lot for a big swinger. But im glad you had a chance to use it for some short game. Around the green chipping is really unique with those. The 95g would do a far better with the wedge heads.

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I wish I would have known that it was 75g shaft pre trimmed shaft cause I wouldn't have put it in such a heavy Vokey wedge head. :unsure:
 
JohnSinVA said:
I’d probably be happier overall in the 95g shafts. I had to really focus to not get too quick to transition. I hit a nasty chunker in one case where I failed to do so.
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The 95g will certainly be popular but I think the 85 might surpass both. Little more stable than the 75 with the better speed than the 95. Actually I'm dieing to build a blended weight set down the road.
The slower swing speed guys naturally enjoy the 75 more with a dislike or struggle with the 95. I've heard them say with the 95 they have to try hard to get them to work.
The aggressive guys while they do shockingly well with the 75s gravitate to the 95g. No real surprise there.

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golfinnut said:
I wish I would have known that it was 75g shaft pre trimmed shaft cause I wouldn't have put it in such a heavy Vokey wedge head. :unsure:
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Actually its not a bad thing that you did. It shows what it can and can't do. Try that wedge on little bump and run shots or out of the green collar.

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Popeye said:
Actually its not a bad thing that you did. It shows what it can and can't do. Try that wedge on little bump and run shots or out of the green collar.

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Can I get three 95g shafts? :sneaky: :ROFLMAO:
 
golfinnut said:
Can I get three 95g shafts? :sneaky:
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The batch of samples that came in have all gone out to fitters.
Im away from home or I could send you one that you could fit in that Vokey.

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I'm totally trying these when I play with @golfinnut in a few weeks
 
JonD said:
I'm totally trying these when I play with @golfinnut in a few weeks
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That means I'll have 17 clubs in the bag at a tournament :unsure: Hope no one checks my bag if I win any prizes. :rolleyes: LOL :ROFLMAO:
 
Wholeinone said:
I'm going to assemble them today and tomorrow and play on Friday. I'll report back this weekend.
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Really looking forward to how it goes.
 
I know one thing .... I don't think I have ever used a club where I could really feel the "bullwhip" at the bottom of the swing as much as I do with these shafts :unsure: but yet still stable as hell. (y) It's crazy, you would think it wouldn't work but it does.
I"m still tinkering trying to get the swing weight right .... they are working well in the backyard ... my own personal driving range :cool:
 
golfinnut said:
That means I'll have 17 clubs in the bag at a tournament :unsure: Hope no one checks my bag if I win any prizes. :rolleyes: LOL :ROFLMAO:
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I can sacrifice a club. Even if we only get to hit them at the range, I'm so curious about these.
 
Got the shafts installed yesterday - of course thunderstorms today so i can't even get out into my little yard hitting net to swing them.
 
Wholeinone said:
I'm going to assemble them today and tomorrow and play on Friday. I'll report back this weekend.
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Okay, assembled. The shafts weighed 76g. They were a bit stiffer than I normally use. Frequencies were 310, 312 & 317. I checked for spine and each had one. Interestingly each shaft had a touch of gold paint on the location of the spine. Assembled a 4 hy and 5 iron tip trimming according to instructions. Finished length 5 iron 38.5 and 4 hy 40. Swing weight was d2 on the 5 iron and d0 on the hybrid.

Went to the driving range. I’m 72 yrs old and have an inconsistent swing. I must say, on my good swings these shafts felt smooth and produced longer shots than I amused to. The hybrid was low and piercing in flight and ran forever. The 5 iron carried much farther than I expected. This in spite of using range balls and hitting into a quartering strong wind.

I’m going to play tomorrow with these in the bag and see how they do.
 
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