Makes of driver shafts - What brands are considered the best....

[Alan P Mills]

In a previous thread I mentioned I had acquired an RBZ Stock Stiff shaft for my R11S driver. Tested it out and was not for me, so have put onto EBay. Whilst on EBay I was looking at the myriad of shafts from the various manufactures. It got me thinking what brands are considered the best? As a golfer I'm familiar with the major golf club brands and have an appreciation on who are considered good for irons, drivers etc but not for shafts.

would welcome any views from the forum.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

As with makes of clubs - it will be down to personal experience of the shafts

 

[One Planer]

I don't believe there is a best per Se, only suited and less suited.

One of my personal favourites is the Fubuki shaft in stiff despite it not being ideal for my swing.

 

[GreiginFife]

Mistubishi Rayon ans Aldila are 'considered' to be good shaft manufacturers. As are Oban, UST and Graphite Design. However, many manufacturers will put their name to a, how shall we say, not as high standard mass produced model for OEMs like Talyormade and Callaway.

There are a couple of shaftistas on here that could probably talk all day and night about them and much of it is interesting.

 

[Foxholer]

Impossible to tell!

All shaft-makers have a 'mid-mid-mid' that suits 80+% of golfers.

Then they make a few towards either end of their scales that suit the particularly particular!

I used to be into exotic shafts, but have now found that the stock shafts, which are generally much better these days, work fine for me. There are some notable exceptions - and a certain brand seems more obsessed with price than quality in its stock shafts - to its' detriment, though a company that it bought really values 'proper' shafts. It will be interesting to see how that 'philosophical battle' turns out.

I must say that the Callaway stock shafts that I experienced yesterday were extremely good!

 

[Alan P Mills]

Thought the response may be along those lines so will refine question.

Are there shaft brands considered as the Titleist/Ping/Callaway brands and are there shaft brands considered in the same way as BenRoss etc. No offence intended for any BenRoss club owners.

 

[GreiginFife]

Thought the response may be along those lines so will refine question.

Are there shaft brands considered as the Titleist/Ping/Callaway brands and are there shaft brands considered in the same way as BenRoss etc. No offence intended for any BenRoss club owners.

Ping tend to use their own shafts. So not quite the same. As Foxholer said above stock shafts can be much a muchness and Benross use many of the same stock shafts as other OEMs.
When I think about what is 'considered the better' shafts I am thinking of the exotics FH mentions. Oban Devition, UST ATTAS, 'real deal' Fubuki etc. And its unlikley these would be used unless a custom request. The ATTAS runs at about 200-300 quid depending on the model so wouldnt be in a £199 driver.

 

[Ethan]

Lots of good brands, and each has dozens of models (including weight variants), immeasurably better than graphite shafts used to be. Each brand probably has shafts which are suitable and unsuitable for you, so it is probably better to group them by characteristics appropriate to your swing.

Titleist do a nice chart for their custom fitting which shows the spin and launch of all the shafts they offer.

Budget is another consideration. Some exotic brands can cost loads of money, and it is unlikely you need to spend as much as those cool shafts cost.

One other issue is that some of the shafts you see as stock in retail drivers are not the real deal, but cut price versions branded to look good. Those shafts will generally be a bit weaker and less well built than the real deal shafts. If they work for you, fine, but beware comparing a made for shaft and the real deal. They won't be the same in many cases.

 

[Foxholer]

One other issue is that some of the shafts you see as stock in retail drivers are not the real deal, but cut price versions branded to look good. Those shafts will generally be a bit weaker and less well built than the real deal shafts. If they work for you, fine, but beware comparing a made for shaft and the real deal. They won't be the same in many cases.

It's for this reason that I always recommend that if you go and audition several heads and shafts and 1 feels just right for you, then absolutely insist on buying THAT head and THAT shaft! Because of the tolerances in the manufacturing process, an equivalent 'brand spanking new' supposedly exactly the same spec will not be exactly the same spec and will feel different! So go for THE one that feels right for you.

Typically, back in the early to mid nought-ies (and the original BombSquadGolf) I got used to (and could afford) the feel of the somewhat more expensive Oziks - one of which (TP7) was the original $1000 shaft, though the most I ever paid was £80! Nice shafts, but not worth the original retail price imo! I did transfer my favourite one into 7 different heads though - and regret selling it last year (though it found its way tp a mate, so I might get it back!). The standard low torque Callaway and Ping offerings work fine for me now. As a 'swinger', I'm not keen on their XCon line except for hybrids, but that merely demonstrates why such a range is desirable/required - some folk love that snappy feel. Quiros uses the simplest rigid pole ever made imo - Grafalloy Blue. He must own the last remaining stock of the blue ones - as they changed to mainly white a year or so ago.

Benross actually have always used genuine better shafts than their market position would indicate - it's part of their 'better than you would expect' approach imo. Again, it's normally the 80+% for their target market, so Aldila Blue suits most of their market - high launch (with consequent high spin).

My advice re shafts is don't get hung up on searching for the holy grail, but do check out which ones work best for you and your 'needs'.

 

[CMAC]

I've tried many, and through the years just tried the clubs and bought what suited.

Interestingly enough when there was a shaft question on awhile back I checked my woods and found that my driver and hybrid both were Diamana, both bought 5 years apart.

A purely driver shaft fitting I attended 2 yrs ago through up Accra as the best fit (expensive so ain't bought one)

 

[Coatsy79]

I found the grafalloy red shaft works for me (5 wood) but then so does the project x in my driver.

I've got an 85g fubuki in my hybrid which is also good as well as a stock TM regular in my 3 wood, which also seems to work

That said I had an exsar in my old mizuno driver which was incredibly whippy and I hated it, high flight always sliced off to the right, even though the numbers on the launch monitor said otherwise

I tend to stick to the heavier/stiffer end of regular and it appears to work well for my swing

I guess you need to find out what's best for you

 

[HawkeyeMS]

The best shafts is the one that suits you best. It doesn't matter if it's a "made for" or an uber-expensive upgrade.

 

[Foxholer]

I'
A purely driver shaft fitting I attended 2 yrs ago through up Accra as the best fit (expensive so ain't bought one)

Accras aren't actually all that expensive, though they are not particularly cheap either.

Worth creating a 'Watch' on Ebay for the particular one identified - as long as it's not (much older) SC65 M3/4 as I've got one for those ! Diamanas, Blue or later equivalent, tend to be reasonably similar and probably more plentiful. Accras are popular with fitters, as, like component suppliers, they are the 'retailers' for the company.

 

[guest100718]

I have a Fujikara Blur (Blue) shaft in my driver, very nice it is too.

 

[mab]

As an additional random piece of information, if you don't know what you're looking for then it is fairly easy to purchase a 'made for' shaft from one of the better known shaft manufacturers. In certain circumstances, the same name is given to both the 'real deal' and 'made for' shafts (e.g. Ahina, Fubuki, Speeder, Blur, etc.), so you need to know what text to look for on the shaft to differentiate.

The only manufacturer which immediately springs to mind as not getting into and never having got into the 'made for' game is Oban. If you pick up a Revenge / Devotion / Kiyoshi / Prototype / any other Oban shaft, you know this is the 'real deal' exotic product, which I find rather refreshing.