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Why are after market shafts considered better than stock?


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4 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

My knowledge is first hand directly from PX while sitting in a conference room talking to their VP of design Don Brown. Don has also been on several golf forums to confirm the samething numerous times. 

Ive seen shafts made from start to finish including the spreadsheet they use to design the shaft with materials, the affect on EI profile, weight, flex, torque and so on. I’ve seen their entire facility. 

Ive been to UST Mamiya and met with their design person, their marketing VP and their process for making shafts which is basically the same as PX. 

Well then glad to compare notes and make sure the info I have or know is correct.

Bag: Sub 70 Cart Series bag

Driver: Ping G425 LST 9 deg (set to 7.5 deg/"big minus") Mitsubishi C6 Blue Stiff 55g Grip JumboMax Ultralite (=std grip Jumbo size)

3W: Ping G410 14.5 deg (Set to 13.5 deg) Mitsubishi C6 Blue Stiff 65g Grip JumboMax (=std grip Jumbo size)

Hybrid: 19 deg (Set to 18) deg Ping G410 hybrid Mitsubishi C6 Black Stiff 80g Grip JumboMax Ultralite (=std grip Jumbo size)

Irons: 5-GW Irons Cobra Forged Tec X KBS Tour Lite Regular -0.25" Grip JumboMax (=std grip Jumbo size)

Wedges: 50-07 S-grind, 54-08 D-grind and 58-12 deg D-grind Mizuno T22 Denim Copper Grip Golf Pride Z-Grip

Putter:  Cobra King 3D Printed Agera Armlock Putter 41"

Game Ball: Maxfli TourX CG 

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2 hours ago, RDel90 said:

Well I'm going not only by what materials we have contributed to the sporting goods industry but also discussions I have had with unbiased fitters and I do know the "small group of people in San Deigo." I just used PX as an example name, not saying they do or do not have differences in OEM vs Aftermarket. I'll agree this may not be 100% the case for all shafts, but this is what I have researched and also been told. Do I have a definitive list of bill of materials and specs for all shafts to 100% verify? No, and I bet you do not either.  I can 100% tell you that you (nor I) cannot tell the difference visually looking at standard modulus material vs a high modulus material, and in agreement with No Putts Given, I do know offshore mass manufacturing technologies (not just in composite sporting goods) have closed the gap in terms of achieving handcrafted/domestic quality and performance. Offshore labor costs are significantly cheaper which also helps. Why do you think most manufacture overseas?

I KNOW for a fact this is the case with hockey sticks. Pro models are considerably different carbon construction from their same retail counterpart. You can visually see the difference in the wall thickness if you cross section a graphite/carbon hockey stick. Our San Diego friends happen to be the same group that also designs those.

Quoting an article from Golf.com

"It’s important to note some manufacturers have shifted away from “made for” shafts and started putting premium aftermarket versions in their newest products. Others offer the shafts with an upcharge. The difficulty is knowing whether the shaft in your driver is a premium aftermarket version or one that has identical graphics but happens to be made with lower cost materials."

https://golf.com/gear/golf-accessories/stock-aftermarket-golf-shafts-fully-equipped/ 

The same article also says:

“I don’t think anybody’s out there directly lying to the consumer, because they’re not out there saying, ‘Hey, this is the exact same thing,'” said Oldenburg. “But there is a little bit of kind of pulling the wool over the eyes of not coming right out and saying it’s different.”

For example, the CK Orange / Pro Orange shaft models pretty much look the same. The Pro Orange is definitely more expensive than the regular CK Orange. The average consumer probably has no idea there are different "CK Orange" models. 

Follow my golf journey to break into the 80s

Tester for the Titleist TSi Driver

Spring 2020 MGS Tester for the Fujikura Motore X Shaft

Updated 07/15/2022
Driver:callaway-small: Rogue St Max LS - Autoflex
Fairway Woods:callaway-small: Rogue Max St 3HL and 7 Wood
Irons:mizuno-small: JPX 921 Hot Metal 5 to AW - Aerotech Steelfiber i95 Stiff parallel tip
Wedges:ping-small: Glide 4.0 54 and 58
Putter:  :ping-small: PLD Custom Kushin 4

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Put simply, to answer the question...because they’re more expensive! Sure you can go down the endless shaft rabbit hole and try to quantify “better”, but at the end of the day, “better” is completely subjective. You can have a $10 shaft that produces great numbers, and a $100 shaft with “better” materials/tolerances that doesn’t. Fitting is the key, and you don’t need high dollar shafts to get good performance.

A $75k BMW is better than a $25k Chevy, but the BMW doesn’t get you to work any better than the Chevy!




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On 3/25/2021 at 1:38 PM, RickyBobby_PR said:

My knowledge is first hand directly from PX while sitting in a conference room talking to their VP of design Don Brown. Don has also been on several golf forums to confirm the samething numerous times. 

Ive seen shafts made from start to finish including the spreadsheet they use to design the shaft with materials, the affect on EI profile, weight, flex, torque and so on. I’ve seen their entire facility. 

Ive been to UST Mamiya and met with their design person, their marketing VP and their process for making shafts which is basically the same as PX. 

Just curious what do you do for a living RickyBobby that you have had the opportunity to walk through these facilities? I'm assuming you aren't the driver for the Wonder Bread car 🙂

While PX and UST may not use same graphics but different specs for OEM vs aftermarket, would you say based on what you know and articles/research such as the Golf.com one and others out on the web, that it is conceivable (and maybe becoming less common) other manufacturers may still do this?

Bag: Sub 70 Cart Series bag

Driver: Ping G425 LST 9 deg (set to 7.5 deg/"big minus") Mitsubishi C6 Blue Stiff 55g Grip JumboMax Ultralite (=std grip Jumbo size)

3W: Ping G410 14.5 deg (Set to 13.5 deg) Mitsubishi C6 Blue Stiff 65g Grip JumboMax (=std grip Jumbo size)

Hybrid: 19 deg (Set to 18) deg Ping G410 hybrid Mitsubishi C6 Black Stiff 80g Grip JumboMax Ultralite (=std grip Jumbo size)

Irons: 5-GW Irons Cobra Forged Tec X KBS Tour Lite Regular -0.25" Grip JumboMax (=std grip Jumbo size)

Wedges: 50-07 S-grind, 54-08 D-grind and 58-12 deg D-grind Mizuno T22 Denim Copper Grip Golf Pride Z-Grip

Putter:  Cobra King 3D Printed Agera Armlock Putter 41"

Game Ball: Maxfli TourX CG 

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1 hour ago, RDel90 said:

Just curious what do you do for a living RickyBobby that you have had the opportunity to walk through these facilities? I'm assuming you aren't the driver for the Wonder Bread car 🙂

While PX and UST may not use same graphics but different specs for OEM vs aftermarket, would you say based on what you know and articles/research such as the Golf.com one and others out on the web, that it is conceivable (and maybe becoming less common) other manufacturers may still do this?

I am a network engineer. From a past forum life I had was selected for trips to both those brands as well as some other opportunities to spend time with Bridgestone and Cobra and have also spent time talking to or helping several sales reps for club manufacturers in my area.

Outside of what Fujikura has done with the Ventus shafts with TM and Tour Edge I don’t believe any of the brands really are doing similar graphics for their made for shafts or their standard production shafts. With the Ventus not sure what the deal with tour edge is but with TM I heard they paid for the name Ventus and that’s why they have a non velocore version of the shaft.

Fujikura has different graphics for the atmos and atmos tour spec. Mitsubishi does the same with the AV and AV raw as well as the ck and non ck version.

Ghe diamana series may be one of the few that I can recall might be confusing.

Driver: PXG 0811 X+ Proto w/UST Helium 5F4

Wood: TaylorMade M5 5W w/Accra TZ5 +1/2”, TaylorMade Sim 3W w/Aldila rogue white

Hybrid: PXG Gen2 22* w/AD hybrid

Irons: PXG Gen3 0311T w/Nippon modus 120

Wedges: TaylorMade MG2 50*, Tiger grind 56/60

Putter: Scotty Caemeron Super Rat1

Ball: Titleist Prov1

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