slay4klay

So I decided to try a little experiment.
Back Story: I was removing the grip on my Maltby UL that I had in my Maltby TC Pro driver head, but I cranked the vice 1 turn too many and ended up cracking the shaft 🤦🏼‍♂️. 100% my fault. 
Well "Old Blue" has been on the sidelines since I discovered the Maltby UL shaft. He's been itching to get back in the game. So I decided to cut the OG G-PLB down to play at 44". For those unfamiliar, the Maltby KE4 TC Pro is a 440 cc head so quite a bit smaller than most. It's also a very low spin monster with crazy ball speed. It outperforms my Mizuno ST-Z on every level except for forgiveness. It's not quite as forgiving on miss hits as the Mizuno . But close enough. Also, it just looks much smaller since the face is deeper, requiring a smaller top profile. I decided to go for a "mini driver Jumbo" concept. 
44" playing length and D1-2 SW adjusted up 1°. 
I played it yesterday and was just absolutely bombing it! We played a course that I know very well (The Duke in Maricopa) and was hitting every good drive past my usual "great drive" zones for this course. One drive I ended up in some bunkers that are normally out of reach. Each good shot was just a penetrating, low-spin, high draw that I could easily live with for the rest of my life! 
Now I did hit a few wayward shots, but I believe they were more due to me standing too far away and just not being fully adjusted to the shorter length. 
I really want to get this to the range for solid adjustment session. This set-up could easily be my next gamer.. or at least co-gamer lol. 
Mizuno ST-Z on the right



 

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

Amen, same here. I hit driver fairly long, and it can really be a weapon. But I go through streaks where I can't keep it near the fairway half the time.
I may have to learn how to attach grips and adapters and all that and try some shafts at some point 😐 

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

I felt that "what a dark place the tee box was becoming" line so hard. I had very similar results my first time out with my Maltby UL shaft. Can't wait to get out for a second round to see if it really is as easy as it was that first time!

And an even FURTHER update! I found I still had a few lighter midsize grips in the garage - 17g difference when blown onto the Ai Smoke. So now with that easy fix, I've got it at C9.1, so up five swingweights just with the grip! 
I'll experiment more with lead tape next time I'm at the range, but REALLY curious what this combo will feel like after the success of today

Just an update with my VERY light Ai Smokeax/Maltby UL combo. 
I only hit 5 Fairways. Before you "boo", please note I hit 7 other drives that missed the fairway by 3 yards or less. 
I'm not kidding: this was the best, easiest driving experience of my life. The ball just went where I aimed it - like, incredible straight. 
I took it to the range after the round to see if it was some kind of fluke. 
It's not. 
Now I will say, I did have one ball slice off to the right (my normal miss), and I hit another immediately after just to see if I could feel what was slightly wrong, and I realized I shifted my weight hard to the left at the top of my swing. When I kept my weight back a HAIR longer, boom - crushed and straight. 
I can't tell you what a difference this made for me today (playing from the fairway/near-fairway). Shot a -1 on the back 9, total of 76.  And I barely made a putt today. 
This could literally change my game. I'm still going to tinker a little with some lead tape to see what that does, but... My god. This was night and day better in every way (like, the number of centered strikes was astounding). 
I will say the Ai Smoke head is... Incredible. I'll be putting the PXG head on this shaft as well, but the sound on the Cally is head and shoulders better than the PXG. 
As for distance, longest drive was 295, slightly wind-assisted. Drives averaged (quick calculation looking at card) 260, which includes a 200-yard drive that hit a tree that was...200 yards out, lol. 
I'm a little bit in love with this combo. VERY curious to see if getting it up to c8/D0 somehow betters this result... Which might feel like cheating. Wow. 

... The thing I love about lead tape in a situation with a seriously low swing weight, is you can add strips at the range and instantly feel how it works for your swing. Considering C8 is the starting point for most Ladies drivers, C4.5 is very light. But like always these are just starting points and I have seen many golfers surprised at a driver swing weight that worked well for them but very different from their irons or even fairway woods. Hitting several drives with a strip of lead tape should yield "Oh yea, that's better" and kinda like an eye exam you just add more and answer the question "better or worse"? Once it feels worse, you just remove the last strip and you have a driver that feels and performs well for your swing. I have always felt the driver is a unique club all its own because it is the only club you are trying to hit a max distance. In the end whether that is D4, C8 or somewhere in-between is irrelevant if you hit it well. 

 

I agree 100%. The whole purpose of this thread wasn't to disprove the performance claims of the Autoflex but to disprove that you need to fork out $800 for that performance. Was it also partially to call to task those performance claims? Absolutely! I believe that we've done a pretty great job mainly of A) proving that the theory of the Autoflex profile can work well for many players, and B) it can be done much less expensively without having to have "Autoflex" printed down the side. Clearly there isn't 1 specific answer to this question. We've had guys who've played the actual Autoflex and found better success with one of our many $50 variants. And like @chisag stated, the actual Autoflex worked better for him. There are guys that have had great success with mid-priced shafts where the $50 PLB wasn't quite the answer. Either way, I accredit Autoflex for being bold enough to present an idea that is pretty far outside of the conventional box that we can all easily get stuck in. 

My Maltby MPF UL A-flex shaft finally arrived. Side note, it was my first time adding the adapter myself which was a fun little DIY project. Hoping I prepped everything correctly and I won't see my driver head flying off any time soon. I had been using the Grafalloy PLB but after reading more from you guys about the Maltby I knew I had to at least try it. I'd say the results were pretty good. Got to play my first round with it two days ago and I ended up hitting 5/10 fairways (and no lost tee shots OB) with three of those drives going 290+ (two of these being downhill, downwind). That is a really good driving day for me. I'm a 19 hcp and driving has always been the absolute weakest part of my game. Suffer from an over the top swing that leads to the dreaded two-way miss but on this day I had a nice tight fade going. A typical drive for me before trying the Otto Phlex shafts were 230-250 yards I'd say. I can't really pinpoint what exactly feels different between the two shafts but I was seeing slight improvements over my stock shaft when I was trying out the PLB. It's also only one round so I'm looking forward practicing and playing with it a bit more! BTW, I'm using a G430 Max 10.5 degree head, turned down to 9 degrees. Also added some lead tape to the front of the head. This helped me get to my preferred D2/3 swingweight and I also think it helps keep the flight of the ball down even though I know adding weight to the front of the head, and especially a Ping head, might take away from some of its forgiveness but so far it hasn't been too much of a sacrifice. 

I'm back with a report about the Maltby MPF UL shafts. After about a month with the shaft I've concluded that this thing is kickass! I wanted to try something just a little bit more firm than the garofaloi PLB A flex but in the same relative weight class.  I got this in R flex. This thing absolutely delivers on every angle. It still has a little bit of whip to it but it is so ridiculously stable and smooth and I would argue maybe even more consistent than the PLB. Not to take anything away from the PLB but I would say that I even prefer the maltby shaft just a little bit more.. and it's even cheaper! If you've been using any version of the PLB or even other OP variations, and want to either work on  increasing your swing speed or just try something a little bit more firm, try this shaft!
 

I read up on the pureing but decided it was something I could live without. Would be curious to test one that is and one that isn't pured though just for fun.

I wasn't even thinking about that so I am not sure if it had the line or not. I know on the shaft's page it says pureing is an additional $25 so maybe they don't include it with every shaft?

I wasn't even thinking about that so I am not sure if it had the line or not. I know on the shaft's page it says pureing is an additional $25 so maybe they don't include it with every shaft?

Got the Maltby Pro Series UL driver shaft yesterday, and threw on the All-Fit adapter so I can put both the PXG Gen 5 XF and the newly acquired Cally Ai Smoke Max head-to-head. Really excited to give these two a swing on the new shaft. 
Thinking I might try to sneak out tomorrow morning early to hit a bucket before I have to work. Gotta take advantage of the early sunrise while I can 😄

I read up on the pureing but decided it was something I could live without. Would be curious to test one that is and one that isn't pured though just for fun.

My Maltby MPF UL A-flex shaft finally arrived. Side note, it was my first time adding the adapter myself which was a fun little DIY project. Hoping I prepped everything correctly and I won't see my driver head flying off any time soon. I had been using the Grafalloy PLB but after reading more from you guys about the Maltby I knew I had to at least try it. I'd say the results were pretty good. Got to play my first round with it two days ago and I ended up hitting 5/10 fairways (and no lost tee shots OB) with three of those drives going 290+ (two of these being downhill, downwind). That is a really good driving day for me. I'm a 19 hcp and driving has always been the absolute weakest part of my game. Suffer from an over the top swing that leads to the dreaded two-way miss but on this day I had a nice tight fade going. A typical drive for me before trying the Otto Phlex shafts were 230-250 yards I'd say. I can't really pinpoint what exactly feels different between the two shafts but I was seeing slight improvements over my stock shaft when I was trying out the PLB. It's also only one round so I'm looking forward practicing and playing with it a bit more! BTW, I'm using a G430 Max 10.5 degree head, turned down to 9 degrees. Also added some lead tape to the front of the head. This helped me get to my preferred D2/3 swingweight and I also think it helps keep the flight of the ball down even though I know adding weight to the front of the head, and especially a Ping head, might take away from some of its forgiveness but so far it hasn't been too much of a sacrifice. 

My Maltby MPF UL A-flex shaft finally arrived. Side note, it was my first time adding the adapter myself which was a fun little DIY project. Hoping I prepped everything correctly and I won't see my driver head flying off any time soon. I had been using the Grafalloy PLB but after reading more from you guys about the Maltby I knew I had to at least try it. I'd say the results were pretty good. Got to play my first round with it two days ago and I ended up hitting 5/10 fairways (and no lost tee shots OB) with three of those drives going 290+ (two of these being downhill, downwind). That is a really good driving day for me. I'm a 19 hcp and driving has always been the absolute weakest part of my game. Suffer from an over the top swing that leads to the dreaded two-way miss but on this day I had a nice tight fade going. A typical drive for me before trying the Otto Phlex shafts were 230-250 yards I'd say. I can't really pinpoint what exactly feels different between the two shafts but I was seeing slight improvements over my stock shaft when I was trying out the PLB. It's also only one round so I'm looking forward practicing and playing with it a bit more! BTW, I'm using a G430 Max 10.5 degree head, turned down to 9 degrees. Also added some lead tape to the front of the head. This helped me get to my preferred D2/3 swingweight and I also think it helps keep the flight of the ball down even though I know adding weight to the front of the head, and especially a Ping head, might take away from some of its forgiveness but so far it hasn't been too much of a sacrifice. 

I read up on the pureing but decided it was something I could live without. Would be curious to test one that is and one that isn't pured though just for fun.

My Maltby MPF UL A-flex shaft finally arrived. Side note, it was my first time adding the adapter myself which was a fun little DIY project. Hoping I prepped everything correctly and I won't see my driver head flying off any time soon. I had been using the Grafalloy PLB but after reading more from you guys about the Maltby I knew I had to at least try it. I'd say the results were pretty good. Got to play my first round with it two days ago and I ended up hitting 5/10 fairways (and no lost tee shots OB) with three of those drives going 290+ (two of these being downhill, downwind). That is a really good driving day for me. I'm a 19 hcp and driving has always been the absolute weakest part of my game. Suffer from an over the top swing that leads to the dreaded two-way miss but on this day I had a nice tight fade going. A typical drive for me before trying the Otto Phlex shafts were 230-250 yards I'd say. I can't really pinpoint what exactly feels different between the two shafts but I was seeing slight improvements over my stock shaft when I was trying out the PLB. It's also only one round so I'm looking forward practicing and playing with it a bit more! BTW, I'm using a G430 Max 10.5 degree head, turned down to 9 degrees. Also added some lead tape to the front of the head. This helped me get to my preferred D2/3 swingweight and I also think it helps keep the flight of the ball down even though I know adding weight to the front of the head, and especially a Ping head, might take away from some of its forgiveness but so far it hasn't been too much of a sacrifice.