Unofficial Review: Fujikura Motore X F3

[yungkory]

First and foremost, I have to give a HUGE shoutout to @dlow206 for hitting me up and asking if I was interested in this shaft, and obviously to @Fujikura Golf and the forum for providing it during the official forum test. I had applied for the original test after reading up on the new line earlier in the year, and followed along closely as people started posting their results, because I felt like this shaft could be a good fit for me. Much to my surprise last week, Derrick hit me up via PM and asked if I was still eyeing the shaft and interested in taking it off his hands. I paid for the shipping, and agreed to do an unofficial review as part of the deal, so here we are!

Let me just start this review with this picture. How freakin sick is it that Fujikura put these MGS logos on the shaft??!?!?!?!?!

For those who don't yet know me, my name is Kory and I am blessed to live in Honolulu, HI. I've been playing golf for the majority of my life, but took a long break after high school and during my 20s, barely played any golf at all. A few years back my buddies kept nagging me to come to the course with them, I finally gave in, and the rest is history. I immediately fell back in love with the game, and became completely obsessed with how far club tech/fitting had come. When I was a kid/junior there was no such thing as amateurs getting fit, junior clubs, launch monitors, ball fittings, etc. and being the stats nerd that I am, I scoured the good ol' internet for more resources. The first place I landed that felt like a quality source of information was Mygolfspy. I grew up in the skateboard/surf counter-culture (if that's what you want to call it) so I've always taken to people who do things differently, and who aren't afraid to ruffle some feathers in search of the truth.

My time on the forums has been nothing short of spectacular. I've gained a metric f*ckton of information from our members via either their personal expertise, or resources they've found online and shared. I've also been fortunate enough to be selected for some awesome equipment tests over the years, and this test isn't any less-appreciated than the official ones. From the tests, to the friendships I've gained (both online and offline), and being in a frickin' commercial (for a whole .05 seconds) with Tiger, it's safe to say that the MGS forums is one of my favorite places on the Internet. (If you blink, you'll miss me. I'm like 2-3 people before the GOAT finishes the swing)

When I joined I didn't have an official handicap but would've estimated it to be around a 12. My typical scores were low-mid 80s, before I started to really buckle down and try to finally break 80. Playing a heck of a lot of golf, and finally taking the plunge and getting fit (I've done paid fittings for all of the MGS tests I've been selected for) I managed to break 80 for the first time last summer, and my official HDCP is 7.7 currently, with a low round of 75 (+3).

Now that's out of the way, I'm going to use less words and try to keep this as short and to-the-point as possible. My objective for this review is to provide some feedback on the three shafts I've tested in the SIM Max this year:

1. Fujikura Ventus Blue 6S (non-velocore). Stock length 45.75" 64g, 3.8 Torque, Mid Launch, Mid-Low Spin
2. Fujikura Ventus Blue 6S (velocore). Length 45" 65g, 3.1 Torque, Mid Launch, Low Spin
3. Motore X F3 5S. Length 45" 59g, 4.6 Torque, Mid/High Launch, Mid Spin

Ventus 6S Non-Velocore Driver Setup (current)

Sim Max, 10.5* - Fujikura Ventus Blue 6S (made for)

SS: average about 105. Highest I've hit in a fitting on Trackman was 108, Bridgestone v-fit put me at 107 for the recorded swing I submitted

Arccos smart distance (I no longer have Arccos) during my Flash review was 274y. Typical on-course drive via cart GPS is 250-270 total

My miss is a block, sometimes block combined with a cut. The shaft feels a little stout for me, feels like I need to go at it with some more input that what feels natural in order to get the desired output. I guess that could be seen as it being "good" in terms of stability, but I prefer to swing what feels natural to me, which is apparently "smooth" in terms of tempo from what I've been told by my golf buddies. I rarely ever try to go after one and crush it.

 

Ventus 6S Velocore (previous)

I had issues launching this shaft. Bought it on a whim because I wanted to try it, and it just wasn't a good fit for me. Probably due to the stiffer materials used throughout the shaft, it felt like I needed to put in EVEN MORE to get the same results. When my swing was on, it was functional, though how often as an amateur, handicap golfer is your swing really on? I need something that performs great on the 18th hole after 4 hours of sweating through the Hawaiian heat, and for me, the Velocore was a bit too much for my noodle arms to throw around.

Motore X F3 5S (new)

What I'm hoping to get out of this shaft is, obviously, a little bit of extra clubheadspeed without too much more effort. At 59g it is the lightest shaft I've personally ever gameed, and it's higher torque than anything I've ever had in the bag, but it doesn't feel any different after some shadow swings. The 60-gram zone that I typically hover in at my fittings would put me at nearly 70g actual weight in a stiff in the Motor line, and that just seems wrong to me. I would think that I'd more-likely be fit into this shaft by a fitter than the other weights. My hesitation, with the increased torque, is that I'll launch the ball to the moon, which would be very uncharacteristic for me as I have a pretty flat trajectory overall -- I call it a trag(edy)ectory because it's sad. Nothing that a little loft tweak couldn't fix, I'm excited to get this thing in play!

If you have any questions, or want to know anything about any of these 3 shafts I've mentioned, don't hesitate to ask! I no longer have the Velocore, but after gaming it for 3 months I got to know it quite well.

 

[GolfSpy BOS]

Looking forward to seeing your thoughts here!  After playing the Ventus 8S in my 5-wood all summer for #CCC4 I had to give it a try in my driver too.  I've only played one scramble with it and one simulator round so I've got a lot more to do, but I like the feel a lot so far.

Very interested to see how you think they compare in dispersion and any left or tight bias you see.

[dlow206]

Excited to see how it goes with the Motore X shaft.

[edingc]

I think you'll like this shaft a lot. It really stood out to me during my Cobra fitting, I liked it a lot more than the Ventus line. Felt smoother to me.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. It's on my list for next season's potential purchases.

[JohnSmalls]

I'm interested to see how the greater torque affects left/right dispersion, if at all.  Go play some golf already!

[yungkory]

On 10/27/2020 at 2:01 AM, edingc said:

I think you'll like this shaft a lot. It really stood out to me during my Cobra fitting, I liked it a lot more than the Ventus line. Felt smoother to me.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. It's on my list for next season's potential purchases.

Got 9 in after work today and had the shaft in play. It feels smoother than the Ventus in my very early assessment, but it still doesn't feel "whippy." It doesn't feel like I need to artificially change my transition to get the Motore to engage like I did with either of the Ventus blues I gamed previously. My swing thought with the Ventus shafts was to literally "start my downswing with my lower half before my top half finished." It honestly worked pretty well at times, but it didn't feel good or sustainable on my back, especially during the later holes.

My 2 bad misses were left, I don't know if that says anything about the shaft or if I just need more time with it? Hit 2/6 fairways but aside from the first hole neither of the misses were THAT bad. One just went too straight and needed to draw a little to follow the bend of the fairway, and the other was like 4' too far to the right. So I was like a combined 6' away from hitting 4/6 FiRs. I like the weight though, I was kinda nervous that it was 59g but it doesn't feel lighter than any of the shafts I've played (anywhere between 63g-68g) so I guess I'm not very sensitive to overall weight. I've noticed an issue with swingweight with only one combination of driver+shaft over the years, and it was when it was too low and I was losing a sense of where the clubhead was.

TL;DR - shaft feels less demanding than both Ventus Blues (velocore and non-velocore). It plays .75" shorter than previous non-velocore Ventus Blue but no noticeable loss in distance today, also no realized gains in playing a lighter shafter that is meant for "speed"

[yungkory]

So I didn't have time to update this thread after last Thursday because I was a little busy, and the forums seemed to be down whenever I would find a couple minutes to post.

I had probably the worst driving day in a while last Thursday. Something just felt off in my setup and I actually topped two balls, which is something that I don't think I've done in well over a year. I also missed twice to the left which I absolutely hate to see.

Forgot that this driver plays shorter than the made-for Ventus that was in my SIM Max previously, so I added 3g of headweight to help counteract that. Not blaming the weight/balance on my performance last week at all, just want to make sure it's as close to the same weight before the shaft change.

[yungkory]

Not sure if the heavier weight in my driver head did anything but I hit a solid 4/5 fairways today, and my missed fairway I managed to save par. The miss was a push draw that didn't draw. Overall today the driver was a weapon and contributed to a solid +1 (with a double bogey) for my weekly after-work 9 hole round. The winds were up in the 20mph range with some gusts a little higher, but there was no ballooning or anything that people might attribute to playing a "softer" shaft.

Playing 18 on Saturday at what I consider my "home" course so I'll really get to run this shaft thru the gauntlet.

[yungkory]

I think I've found my rhythm with this shaft. Nothing wildly offline again, decent distance when I didn't have a 20+ mph wind in my face, and a solid trajectory -- higher than the stock made for Ventus. Feels stable but also less demanding than even the made-for Ventus

[GolfSpy BOS]

Do you feel like its easier to draw? or any difference in side to side bias?

[yungkory]

2 hours ago, B.Boston said:

Do you feel like its easier to draw? or any difference in side to side bias?

I don't really try to shape the ball much off the tee, 270 average and straight makes me pretty happy. Natural ball flight is a draw because of my club path, and changing shafts hasn't done anything to that. If anything, I would say I'm hitting it with less curvature now but it's not significant enough for me to claim that this shaft will straighten the bananabois of the golfing world. I'm noticing that the ball goes higher though, which is good because sometimes I struggle to deliver loft. The only obvious difference to me is the feel which I mentioned. Still feels like I don't have to be as aggressive to get the shaft to perform vs. the velocore/non-velo Ventus shafts.

 

Going to try and get out to the range over here that has the built in launch monitors to get some comparative data for this review and the Zipcores.

[yungkory]

Another great driving round yesterday.

3/5 fairways. One real miss on #9 that I just cooked and over-drew. The other miss was a foot from the fairway on the right hand side. I blasted it down the middle but I think it caught an unfortunate bounce off of a little hill and ended up in the right rough. Still almost reached the green in 2, I semi-laid up since I was in the rough, and made a stress-free par.

I don't think it's any longer or shorter than either of the Ventus shafts I've gamed in my Sim Max but I don't have Across or ShotScope any more so I'm basically just going off of distances that I have into greens at the two courses I play most often. My ball flight is noticeably higher though, which is welcomed because as I've mentioned in the past I have trajectory "issues." Probably a non-issue to most but I just like the drama of a high ball flight.

Going to try and get out to that range I mentioned this weekend maybe, so I can see what this top tracer range stuff is all about. I'll take the stock made-for Ventus with me to see if there are any measurable differences.

[Thin2win]

@yungkory 2 months later, how is this feeling for you? I'm seeing the Mizuno STz comes with this as a shaft option, so I am intrigued. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

19 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

@yungkory 2 months later, how is this feeling for you? I'm seeing the Mizuno STz comes with this as a shaft option, so I am intrigued. 

So do the cobras

[yungkory]

2 hours ago, Thin2win said:

@yungkory 2 months later, how is this feeling for you? I'm seeing the Mizuno STz comes with this as a shaft option, so I am intrigued. 

I went back to the made-for Ventus (which I'm going to call MFV now). As I got more comfortable with the F3, and started to go after a few, I noticed that I've lost distance on the rare occasion that I hit the middle. My best with the F3, simply put, is just not as good as my best with the MFV. Very un-scientific way to measure, and getting launch monitor time is out of the realm of possibilities with C19 restrictions still, but I just don't want to give up the distance. It's a good shaft, just doesn't work for me/my swing/my delivery.

I've been meaning to send it back to @dlow206 but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Thin2win]

46 minutes ago, yungkory said:

I went back to the made-for Ventus (which I'm going to call MFV now). As I got more comfortable with the F3, and started to go after a few, I noticed that I've lost distance on the rare occasion that I hit the middle. My best with the F3, simply put, is just not as good as my best with the MFV. Very un-scientific way to measure, and getting launch monitor time is out of the realm of possibilities with C19 restrictions still, but I just don't want to give up the distance. It's a good shaft, just doesn't work for me/my swing/my delivery.

I've been meaning to send it back to @dlow206 but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Don't worry about @dlow206 he already bought 3 other shafts since he sent you this one. Just how he rolls. 

Thanks for the quick response. 

[yungkory]

1 minute ago, Thin2win said:

Don't worry about @dlow206 he already bought 3 other shafts since he sent you this one. Just how he rolls. 

Thanks for the quick response. 

Maybe he'll let you try it, LOL!

[dlow206]

12 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

Don't worry about @dlow206 he already bought 3 other shafts since he sent you this one. Just how he rolls. 

Thanks for the quick response. 

I may or may not have acquired a new shaft...

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

28 minutes ago, yungkory said:

Maybe he'll let you try it, LOL!

Maybe @dlow206 can let me try it, although i need a callaway tip and want a 44.5 to 45" playing length

[dlow206]

58 minutes ago, rbsiedsc said:

Maybe @dlow206 can let me try it, although i need a callaway tip and want a 44.5 to 45" playing length

Plays 45 with the TM adapter

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Just now, dlow206 said:

Plays 45 with the TM adapter

Drat, now you'll make me get a SIM! I presume it is S flex?

[dlow206]

3 minutes ago, rbsiedsc said:

Drat, now you'll make me get a SIM! I presume it is S flex?

S flex yes. changing the adapter is pretty easy to a callaway

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

1 minute ago, dlow206 said:

S flex yes. changing the adapter is pretty easy to a callaway