Unofficial and personal: Search for the holy grail Part III (Final Chapter) - My journey in finding the ‘perfect shaft’ for my Callaway Mavrik Driver

[pakman92]

My journey in finding the ‘perfect shaft’ for my Callaway Mavrik Driver (Feel free to skip)

I was fitted for a driver in August of 2020 at a local golf store that offered several different fitting experiences.   One of the options available to me was using their Callaway Performance Center.   The retailer was named one of America’s 100 Best Club fitters for 2021-2022 by Golf Digest.   Driver + Iron fitting took around 60 minutes and costed $150.  I was able to use $75 of that as a credit toward the recommended clubs.  I won’t go on about the fitting experience other than saying that it was mediocre.  I didn’t have the know-how at the time to know what a good fitting experience should entail.   At any rate, I was recommended a Callaway Mavrik Driver 10.5 turned up to 11.5 w/ Aldila Rogue 130 MSI 60 in stiff which was one of the stock shaft offerings.   

I’ve played rest of 2020 and 2021 season with that configuration.  However, in the back of my mind, I was always wondering if I have the best head/shaft combo available to me.   Since purchasing and trying new heads can be an expensive venture, I decided to experiment with various shafts that can be gotten at reasonable prices.  There are many reasons I am second guessing the shaft choice from the fitting.

• My swing has evolved in two significant ways during last two seasons.   My miss has changed from pulls and slices to pushes and hooks.   My ball speed has increased by from mid 130 mph to low 140mph thanks to Swing Speed Training.
• During my fitting, I tried only two different shafts and was quickly fitted into the Rogue MSI 130 60 Stiff.  The fitter only seemed interested in seeing me hit 140mhp in ball speed.   Although I did hit better during the fitting with that shaft, I didn’t feel like I hit enough drives.  I’m just NOT GOOD ENOUGH to hit 20 drives each and arrive at a statistically meaningful difference.
• It seemed like a fun, relatively cheap and productive endeavor to try different shafts.  With CallawayPreowned.com, you can buy “used” shafts with Callaway adapters quite cheaply.   You can expect to pay around $50-$80 for stock shafts and $220-$350 for premium shaft such as Graphite Design Tour AD.  You can expect to recoup most of that cost by selling it back on Ebay.   All the “Like New” shafts from CallawayPreowned.com has been indistinguishable from new shafts with labels still on them.

Like I mentioned before, at my skill level, hitting 20 balls with each shaft may or may not present reliable pattern in ball flight and dispersion.   It may, but I don’t have enough faith in my driver swing to feel comfortable that the perceived tendencies/patterns are not simply variance playing tricks.    In short, I’m not a robot, I’m not Matt from TXG. I also know that my swing is good enough that with 100+ shots, true patterns/tendencies would emerge.   I’ve hit each shaft at least 100 times before deciding to keep or ditch it.

Below is the list of the shafts I tried in this journey.

• Project X Evenflow Riptide 60 Regular
• Project X Evenflow Riptide 60 Stiff
• Project X HZRDUS Smoke im10-mid 50 Stiff
• Aldila Rogue White MSI 130 60 Stiff
• Aldila Rogue White MSI 130 70 Stiff
• True Temper Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 60 Stiff
• Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 6 Stiff (Keeper)
• Mitsubishi MMT 60 Stiff (Keeper)

I’m keeping the last two shafts, Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 6 & Mitsubishi MMT 60 which performed best for me.  They feel very different from each other, yet they perform quite similarly for me.  More on that later.

Cost of the Experiment

At the end, the entire experiment costed $194 including the sellers fees on Ebay, taxes and shipping.  However, I ended up with two shafts, one of them premium, instead of the Aldila Rogue (stock shaft) I was fitted with.  I’m considering this a good deal as I feel like I came out at least even and got to try a whole bunch of shafts.

Quality Issues and observations

All the shafts look essentially new when I acquired them, all of them were acquired from callawaypreowned.com during various sales.  Callaway provided 1 year warranty as well as proof of authenticity for them.  There were some general quality issues I should point out.

• Cosmetics:  I don’t care for the graphics and the glossy black finish of the Mitsubishi MMT.  I don’t care for the busy graphics on the HZRDUS Evenflow Riptide shafts.  Others had matte finishes which I prefer. 
• Grip alignment: All the grips including the Tour Velvet Align which most of them had were lined up correctly with the head.
• Length Variations: Even though all the shafts were stated to have 45.5 inch playing length, 2 of them were slightly longer.   Graphite Design was 1/16 inch longer.  Mitsubishi MMT was ¼ inch longer even though it still had the Callaway sticker stating the playing length as 45.5
• Weight Variations:  This is where I observed huge variations.  I weighed 6 of the 8 shafts.  After accounting for the optifit2 hosel (8.5g) and the various grips (49 – 51.5g), I expected the relative differences between the weights of the shafts to track the relative differences of the stated weights.  (Note:  I expected them to be lighter than stated weights as they were all butt trimmed to length).  Two shafts were noticeably too heavy vs their stated weight.  They were Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 60 and Aldila Rogue White MSI 130 60.  Both weighed 5 grams over their stated weigh despite being butt trimmed to playing length.  I estimate they were 8-10 grams over their stated weights before being trimmed.  Aldila Rogue 60 weighed only 2 grams less than the Aldila Rogue 70 even though they should have been 5 grams apart.  Graphite Design and Mitsubishi MMT shafts seemed closest to their stated weights.
• Build issues:  Graphite Design Tour AD IZ and Aldila Rogue White 60 had the ferrules that came loose and kept sliding down.  It’s purely cosmetic but was rather annoying and had to be fixed.

Feel and Intangibles

• Feeling the head location:  Ability to feel the driver head is during a swing seems like an important quality in a golf shaft.  I also equate this quality to the ability to tell what the ball flight will look like immediately after the swing.  In general, I had better feel in this regard with heavier shafts.   HZRDUS Smoke im10 50 felt worst for me in this regard which also was the lightest.  While this feel was loosely correlated with performance, it was not always the case.   Graphite Design did not offer the best feel in this regard, yet, it performed well.   Adila White 130 70 felt quite in control but did not offer good results.   Basically, shots I thought would be poor ended up better with Graphite Design.  Conversely, shots I thought were struck very well veered offline with the Aldila.
• Activeness of the shaft:  I felt various degrees of ‘activeness’ with the shafts.  It’s such an intangible, but with certain shafts, I felt like the shaft was trying to help.  When this ‘help’ from the shaft coincides with the release, results are great.  When the timings don’t line up, bad results can happen.  In general, lighter shafts felt more active. I felt this particularly with the Graphite Design Tour AD IZ (3^rd lightest by spec, 2^nd lightest be measurement).  This feeling was very uneasy in the beginning.  As time went on, I could trust the help from the shaft.   On the other end of the spectrum, Mitsubishi MMT was one of the boardiest shaft I tried, and I did not feel like shaft was being active, but it also performed very well.  I’m not sure if I like this quality in a shaft yet which is why I’m keeping both of the shafts for now.

Data and Trends

There were some general trends that indicated what kind of shafts works better for my current driver swing.

• 60 gram class is the sweet spot for me.   The only 50 gram class shaft I tried was HZRDUS Smoke im10.  It didn’t feel whippy or too active, but I could not tell where the driver head was.  The only 70 gram class shaft I tried was Aldila Rogue White 130 S, ball speed and distance was less than the 60 gram class of the same Aldila Rogue shaft.  It did not offer any dispersion/accuracy benefits over the 60 gram version.
• Regular stiffness is probably not for me.  The only regular flex shaft I tried was HZRDUS Evenflow Riptide, it performed little worse in distance and accuracy against the stiff version of the same shaft.
• Initial impression is not end all for me.  It was not love at first site with neither of the two shafts I’m keeping.  Graphite Design felt way too active and Mitsubishi MMT felt way to boardy.  Over 100+ swing over several weeks with each of the 8 shafts, numbers began to prove out and I began to grow more comfortable with the two winners. 
• Dispersion and Distance went together for me:  Two winning shafts had best dispersion and best distance which was nice.  It would been difficult to choose which shaft(s) to keep if I had to choose between distance and dispersion.  

I’ve included the numbers exported from my SkyTrak sessions below support my conclusions above.  Of course, this is extremely personal and swing specific results and conclusions.   Thanks for reading.

I’ve included the numbers exported from my SkyTrak sessions below support my conclusions above.  Of course, this is extremely personal and swing specific results and conclusions.   Thanks for reading.

DATA FOR THE KEEPERS

DATA FOR THE REST

[Bobbers]

I've weighed literally hundreds of shafts.  Your experience is pretty typical in my experience.  I always consider the advertised weight as "nominal" at best.  If you want to drive yourself truly crazy?  Start measuring the cycles per minute on a flex measuring device.  You'll be muttering to yourself and drooling uncontrollably in next to no time.

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 hours ago, pakman92 said:

However, I ended up with two shafts, one of them premium, instead of the Aldila Rogue (stock shaft) I was fitted with

The rogue stock you were fitted for is actually a premium shaft. Aldila worked with Callaway to make is a no upcharge offering so that they could get it into more hands down golfers. They were the only club brand when it was released that offered it as no upcharge. It’s a $250 upcharge with titleist and not offered at all with TaylorMade 

 

9 hours ago, pakman92 said:

Regular stiffness is probably not for me. 

Not sure how you can say this when flex has no industry standard and is only relevant to shafts in the same line and weigh class. A regular flex on the im10 50 will be different from regular flex in im10 60. Regular stiff in ad iz 6 will be different from stiff in ad iz 7 as they wold be comparing across different brands or shaft lines from the same company. A stiff in ad di 6 is different than ad iz 6.

 

A couple things standout today me. You hit a low ball at under 80 feet and combined with a sub 40s land angle. More height would probably help with carry distance 

[pakman92]

2 hours ago, Bobbers said:

I've weighed literally hundreds of shafts.  Your experience is pretty typical in my experience.  I always consider the advertised weight as "nominal" at best.  If you want to drive yourself truly crazy?  Start measuring the cycles per minute on a flex measuring device.  You'll be muttering to yourself and drooling uncontrollably in next to no time.

I guess that means if you meet a shaft you like, there's no guarantee that another shaft of same brand/spec will perform the same.  At least for the stock shafts.  I assume tolerances are better for high end shafts.  I hope.

It would also mean that swing weights probably vary a lot from driver to driver even for same brand/spec heads...

[cksurfdude]

2 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Not sure how you can say this when flex has no industry standard and is only relevant to shafts in the same line and weigh class.

Yeah .. a good example is Project X shafts, which I learned about firsthand in a driver fitting a few years ago .. the fitter (competent; nice guy; well-meaning) with the goal of trying to control my dispersion put me into a PX shaft with a 5.5 flex and 70g ...

...and so along the lines of "everyone's different!" I ended up not getting along with either of those specs at all - for me 70g, even 60g, in a driver shaft feels too heavy and the PX 5.5 is more like a "Firm" vs anyone else's "regular" .. which I seem to do better with...

[RickyBobby_PR]

53 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Yeah .. a good example is Project X shafts, which I learned about firsthand in a driver fitting a few years ago .. the fitter (competent; nice guy; well-meaning) with the goal of trying to control my dispersion put me into a PX shaft with a 5.5 flex and 70g ...

...and so along the lines of "everyone's different!" I ended up not getting along with either of those specs at all - for me 70g, even 60g, in a driver shaft feels too heavy and the PX 5.5 is more like a "Firm" vs anyone else's "regular" .. which I seem to do better with...

Exactly. In my experience and watching and reading others the evenflow line is going to feel and perform different for golfers. Usually those who prefer the hzrdus line don’t like the feel of the evenflow and vice versa. Because of EI profile the stiffness in each is going to be different even in same weight and flex.

 

[Bobbers]

1 hour ago, pakman92 said:

I guess that means if you meet a shaft you like, there's no guarantee that another shaft of same brand/spec will perform the same.  At least for the stock shafts.  I assume tolerances are better for high end shafts.  I hope.

It would also mean that swing weights probably vary a lot from driver to driver even for same brand/spec heads...

When it comes to stock shafts you are, in the vast majority of instances, correct in that assumption.  Swing weights, on the other hand, tend to cluster more closely than you might think.  Given your comment about one shaft being x longer and another being y longer you've just hit on how I, speaking only for myself, can easily adjust a swing weight on a club I might be building.  Too, there are any number of heads that are hot melted or head weighted to bring them to a specified weight.  Give me a 200 gram head weight and I can build a driver of a specified swing weight in a straightforward manner.  I really don't want that to sound like bragging, it's not meant that way; but I've been at it for 35 years and over time you learn things if you take notes and pay attention.

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, pakman92 said:

I guess that means if you meet a shaft you like, there's no guarantee that another shaft of same brand/spec will perform the same.  At least for the stock shafts.  I assume tolerances are better for high end shafts.  I hope.

It would also mean that swing weights probably vary a lot from driver to driver even for same brand/spec heads...

The term stock shaft is somewhat misused these days imo and there are lots of misperceptions by golfers about shafts, the quality and so on. There are no upcharge and and upcharge shafts. The no upcharge shafts are all “stock” shafts. Of those club manufacturers will have a few shafts they will use as stock which is basically the ones that fit a large amount of golfers and what will be on the shelves or racks in pro shops and stores.

When you look at no upcharge shafts ones like the PX smoke line are all premium shafts, they are just made and sold to club manufacturers in large quantities which makes it easy for them to paired as a stock shaft or no upcharge shaft but they have premium material like other aftermarket shafts.

Then as I mentioned about the rogue white shaft. Sometimes a shaft manufacturer has a shaft they want to get exposure for so they reach out to a club manufacturer or two and offer them a deal to make it a no upcharge option. So now you have a “premium” shaft that’s stock. 
 

As for tolerances those that are not massed produce may have slightly better tolerances but remember they are all hand rolled by humans except for 1 manufacturer that I know who uses machines for the whole process. So there’s going to be tolerance differences in a shaft made by person a compared to person b who are working next to each other.

Swing weights don’t vary much between brands. The vast majority of drivers are typically going to fall into d1-d3 at standard length. TaylorMade stealth like is slightly higher at d5.

 

a little info on “premium shafts” vs “non premium” from Tom Wishon

Shaft Myth #6 – The more expensive a shaft, the better its quality and the better it performs

There are few things in the golf industry that have become as much of a sore spot with me as this matter of shafts that cost $100, $200, $300 and even more. Shoot, I remember when we all thought a $40 shaft was expensive! What’s even worse are the uninformed golfers who see these $100 – $300 shafts and automatically form the opinion that if it costs that much, it has to be a really good shaft. 

You want to know what the definition of a “good shaft” is? A good shaft is any shaft that has been very accurately matched for its weight, overall stiffness, bend profile, weight distribution and torque to a golfer’s clubhead speed, transition force, downswing tempo, wrist-**** release, strength and sense of feel. That’s the definition of a “good shaft” and it has absolutely nothing to do with brand, model or price. 

There are 5 different specifications that determine the performance differences between shafts. 1) mass (weight); 2) overall stiffness (flex); 3) bend profile (distribution of the stiffness over the length of the shaft); 4) weight distribution (balance point); 5) torsional stiffness (torque). Two of these, the weight and the torque, are definitely related to the cost of the shaft. The lighter the weight and the lower the torque of a shaft, the more expensive the shaft will be to make. In other words, if you want to make a very stiff 45 gram shaft with less than 3? of torque, that shaft is going to cost a lot more money to make than a 65 gram softer flex shaft with 5? of torque. . . but not $100 to $300 by any means. 

The other three shaft design elements, a shaft’s overall stiffness, bend profile and balance point, are not even close to being as price sensitive as the weight and torque. Standard modulus (low cost) graphite raw materials can be used to make any flex, bend profile or balance point from soft L to very stiff X. 

Yes, many of the high dollar shafts are actually made with more expensive raw composite materials. But they don’t need to be made with such expensive materials to achieve their weight, flex, bend profile, balance point and torque. In my career I have measured the specifications of literally thousands of different shafts, and from my experience, I have yet to see a $100 to $300 shaft that could not be duplicated for weight, flex, bend profile, balance point and torque and sold at a normal profit in the industry for an aftermarket price of $25 to $50.

[chisag]

17 hours ago, pakman92 said:

Regular stiffness is probably not for me. 

Dispersion and Distance went together for me:  Two winning shafts had best dispersion and best distance which was nice.  It would been difficult to choose which shaft(s) to keep if I had to choose between distance and dispersion. 

 

... As I have said many time it isn't how fast you swing but how you swing fast. I have a smooth transition and a moderate to slow tempo with a late release and swing just a hair faster than your numbers. I like a shaft with some kick and hate a boardy shaft as I feel it doesn't give me any help and I tend to over swing them. I generally prefer r-flex over s-flex shafts in my driver and sometimes depending on the shaft profile I find myself caught in-between the 2 flexes. Which brings me to your AD-IZ6 s-flex keeper. I was able to hit the AD-IZ6 S/R (stiff/regular) in my last fitting for the Rogue ST and was instantly smitten by the performance. I was in love with the first swing as it produced a little more distance than the s-flex and a little more control than the AD-IZ5 r-flex but most importantly it just felt right. So for me at least I was able to straddle your Distance and Dispersion quandary. 

... I have a Stealth fitting tomorrow (3/7) and if my back holds up I hope they have the AD-IZ6 S/R to compare with my last fitting. I am pretty sure whatever driver I order will be with the IZ6 S/R and if I decide to keep my Sim2 Max I will just buy the shaft. I enjoyed reading your shaft journey and I wish you the best of luck finding out which one will end up being the best fit for your swing. 

[RollingGreens]

Outside of the riptide your numbers were all fairly close together. It really sticks out to me that launch angle didn't improve much for  any shaft you used. You could probably sneak out some more distance by increasing the launch angle and trying to eliminate some of the sidespin. Maybe you leave the face open/closed combined with out to in or in to out to compensate. Glad that you were able to go through your own process to find a shaft that works. Not many people will do as much detailed investigating

[bens197]

5 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

Yeah .. a good example is Project X shafts, which I learned about firsthand in a driver fitting a few years ago .. the fitter (competent; nice guy; well-meaning) with the goal of trying to control my dispersion put me into a PX shaft with a 5.5 flex and 70g ...

...and so along the lines of "everyone's different!" I ended up not getting along with either of those specs at all - for me 70g, even 60g, in a driver shaft feels too heavy and the PX 5.5 is more like a "Firm" vs anyone else's "regular" .. which I seem to do better with...

Just here to support this post.

I have a HZRDUS Yellow 6.0 that competes with my EvenFlow Black 6.5 and Tensei 1K white 60-X.  

The same way Honda Ridgeline calls itself a pickup truck, anyone can say they're an X flex