Is an aftermarket shaft worth it?

[chisag]

9 hours ago, Golfmanufaktur said:

 It comes down to some simple things. First of all, it's about getting length, weight and balance in the correct ballpark. Next this is somewho related to EI curve and torque - it's about feel and trust. If you get a combination, a player feels comfortable with, he will perform nicely with it. If you have a setup, a player doesn't like the feel of, they will struggle to produce consistent results.

Cheers,

Michael

 

... Great point Michael! I was playing the Atmos TS Blue in my F9 and loved the feel and the trajectory, distance was good and the only improvement would be lowering the spin. Easier said than done as you well know. I picked up an Atmos TS Black and hit some of my longest drives with it. But the bend profile and feel was stouter than I am comfortable using and the Black just didn't "feel" like it was loading or unloading and I found myself attempting to swing harder (not faster) trying to get that comfortable feel. I want to feel that release and kick thru impact. When shafts I like are properly timed I am having a great driving day and on my slightly off tempo days I am aware I am not swinging as well and make adjustment accordingly. With a shaft that does not feel like it is unloading correctly, even if the performance is there, I am making unnecessary adjustments to get the feel I am comfortable with. 

[boat22]

I think it depends. I have been trying to get more serious about my golf game and trying to play in competitions. I recently got a new driver with the new VA Nemesys shaft. It is a mid-high launch, low spin shaft, which is not easy to find in any stock shaft. Most low spin shafts are also low launch, so this made a big difference for me with driver, being someone who has a negative angle of attack with all of my clubs.

[BennyLar24]

I just had an experience that changed my thoughts on this. I just went through a fitting at Club Champion, and I went in fully expecting to upgrade my driver shaft (I was even looking forward to it). I had always figured that an aftermarket shaft would improve my driving. But after hitting a number of shaft and head combinations, we discovered that none of the shafts performed any better than my current "made-for" shaft. I play a 10.5º M5 with a Tensei CK Orange 60. The point being, getting fit for the right shaft is more important than just deciding you need to play such and such aftermarket shaft because everyone says it's the best shaft they've ever played. Good luck.

[chisag]

13 minutes ago, Ben Larsen said:

I just had an experience that changed my thoughts on this. I just went through a fitting at Club Champion, and I went in fully expecting to upgrade my driver shaft (I was even looking forward to it). I had always figured that an aftermarket shaft would improve my driving. But after hitting a number of shaft and head combinations, we discovered that none of the shafts performed any better than my current "made-for" shaft. I play a 10.5º M5 with a Tensei CK Orange 60. The point being, getting fit for the right shaft is more important than just deciding you need to play such and such aftermarket shaft because everyone says it's the best shaft they've ever played. Good luck.

 

... I am not aware of a CK Orange "made for" shaft, although Taylor Made might have one. But the CK Orange is my aftermarket shaft and beat out my Tour Rogue Black 110. I have a CK Pro Orange coming but honestly expect the non Pro version to work better for my swing, but I got a deal that was too good to pass up. That said, I agree there are "made for" shafts that can fit a player as well or better than a more expensive aftermarket shaft. 

[BennyLar24]

2 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I am not aware of a CK Orange "made for" shaft, although Taylor Made might have one. But the CK Orange is my aftermarket shaft and beat out my Tour Rogue Black 110. I have a CK Pro Orange coming but honestly expect the non Pro version to work better for my swing, but I got a deal that was too good to pass up. That said, I agree there are "made for" shafts that can fit a player as well or better than a more expensive aftermarket shaft. 

Yeah, the CK is in kind of an inbetween category I would say. I say made for because it was the shaft that came with my M5. But unlike most made-for shafts, MCA actually posts specs and information about the CK on their website, not just the CK pro. That alone leads me to believe it is still a very high quality shaft, and thus a much better shaft than most stock shafts.

[therod]

I have been debating on going to Club Champion. I don't even know if they are doing standard fittings right now. What I've always been curious about with their fittings is that I've always played a 44" driver and have no interest in playing a longer club. I've always put my sticks together. I'm currently gaming a Cobra F7+ and I have 4 different shafts for it. I don't know how much I would gain from a fitting, but I don't know how the fitting would go if I don't want to play a longer shaft. I also have a weight kit for it and am playing it heavier than standard. Temptation is always dangerous, but it's pretty tempting to just buy a newer Cobra and just use the shafts I already have. A newer head would require a new weight kit, but that's also easy to get.

[GolfSpy BOS]

I thought this was worth the share since a test was finally done on the OG Velocore Ventus Vs the Taylormade non-velocore Ventus. I think they make some good points in here.

[dlow206]

19 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

I thought this was worth the share since a test was finally done on the OG Velocore Ventus Vs the Taylormade non-velocore Ventus. I think they make some good points in here.

 

I didn't watch the full video, but Matt was hitting hooks with with the non-Velocore shaft. His dispersion was much better with the Velocore.

[RickyBobby_PR]

21 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

I didn't watch the full video, but Matt was hitting hooks with with the non-Velocore shaft. His dispersion was much better with the Velocore.

Numbers wise everything is close enough to be a wash but the standard deviation is slightly better with the velocore version which is what the shaft is designed to do.

for those interested in the difference between the two versions around the 3 min mark Ian talks about them and it’s not just the using non 70t material. The taper design is different and he even mentions that they really aren’t the same shaft. 

[GolfSpy BOS]

Numbers wise everything is close enough to be a wash but the standard deviation is slightly better with the velocore version which is what the shaft is designed to do.
for those interested in the difference between the two versions around the 3 min mark Ian talks about them and it’s not just the using non 70t material. The taper design is different and he even mentions that they really aren’t the same shaft. 

Yeah I really liked that part of it. To this point I hadn’t seen anything close to that kind of detail about the two shafts design.
I also liked that they gave it a fair shake and even Matt said it wasn’t a ‘bad shaft’ but they both clearly don’t like that its called a Ventus.
The change in strike location consistency was actually kind of amazing allowing for the fact that Matt is an elite ball striker.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Yeah I really liked that part of it. To this point I hadn’t seen anything close to that kind of detail about the two shafts design.
I also liked that they gave it a fair shake and even Matt said it wasn’t a ‘bad shaft’ but they both clearly don’t like that its called a Ventus.
The change in strike location consistency was actually kind of amazing allowing for the fact that Matt is an elite ball striker.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah matt seems to do better with stiffer profile shafts especially those with stiffer tip like what’s in the velocore version.

The discussion around value was a nice piece to the video. Slower swing speeds may not see a difference that’s worth spending $250 for the upgrade or $350 aftermarket. Someone with higher speeds like Matt may feel the stability is worth it

[juspoole]

2 hours ago, B.Boston said:

I thought this was worth the share since a test was finally done on the OG Velocore Ventus Vs the Taylormade non-velocore Ventus. I think they make some good points in here.

Beat me to it.  I love what these guys are doing and the knowledge he shares.

Mass production or made for shafts could work very well for a large group of golfers even if the higher end shafts with better materials will likely be a bit better for dispersion and likely feel.

[Hotdocta]

To keep with what everyone else is saying,  play what works best for you,   When epic came out, Hzrdus t800 (made for callaway], beat out everything

[fixyurdivot]

I was told by my fitter at TrueSpec yesterday that the primary issue with mass produced OEM shafts is lack of quality which he described as "the shaft lottery".  He went onto describe more specifics about why the aftermarket, higher priced shafts perform better and that a considerable part of this is much higher build quality to design specs.  He gave an example of folks coming in saying "I hit the PING XX with OEM stock XZ shaft at the demo and it was pure magic.  But the one I bought at Dicks does not perform as well".  The shaft at the demo was likely close to design spec and the one grabbed from the bin for the Dicks build not so much. 

So in addition to better performance and match to a player, higher priced shafts will not be a "luck of the draw" like mass produced ones.  Add yet another to the "you get what you pay for" list.

[LeftyMatt89]

I agree with a lot of sentiments here to play what works and not always is an aftermarket better. I swing my 7 iron close to 100 and driver 118ish and I find aftermarket shafts give me peace of mind to go after a drive without fear of hooking. Velocore Ventus blue is extremely stable and smooth. 

[Hook DeLoft]

I think every discussion I’ve read about after market shafts concerned only wood shafts. I’ve never seen a post along the lines of “the Recoil 95 shafts that come stock in irons are a lower quality than the ones you can buy on line.”  Things that make you go “hmmm”. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, Hook DeLoft said:

I think every discussion I’ve read about after market shafts concerned only wood shafts. I’ve never seen a post along the lines of “the Recoil 95 shafts that come stock in irons are a lower quality than the ones you can buy on line.”  Things that make you go “hmmm”. 

That’s because the recoils that are stock are the same you can buy online. They are only $40/shaft on golfworks. There’s no aftermarket version. There’s just the prototype version which is a slightly different shaft than the non prototype.