Shaft Hack - The Otto Phlex Journey

[GolfSpy SAM]

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. 

[GolfSpy SAM]

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

[chisag]

12 minutes ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

So now with that easy fix, I've got it at C9.1, so up five swingweights just with the grip! 

 

... Keep in mind changing to a lighter grip basically just fools the swing weight scale. You aren't changing the head weight and the performance of the shaft should be unchanged as well. That said, feel can be different as you have changed the static weight and that can play a role in how you swing the club. Sounds like you are having fun so good luck with the new grip nd your continued experiments! 

[GolfSpy SAM]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... Keep in mind changing to a lighter grip basically just fools the swing weight scale. You aren't changing the head weight and the performance of the shaft should be unchanged as well. That said, feel can be different as you have changed the static weight and that can play a role in how you swing the club. Sounds like you are having fun so good luck with the new grip nd your continued experiments! 

100% it's just fun. Honestly, I was only slightly hesitant to change into the lighter grip because of the success of today's round.  I can't stress enough how EASY it felt off the tee, which is legit something I've never experienced. 

If the lighter grip (and I actually just ordered the Dri-Tac LT which is 10 grams lighter still than my "light" one) isn't an improvement, I'll just blow it off and blow on the one from today.  

I think you hit it on the head there with that last statement - it IS fun. I can't tell you what a dark place the tee box was becoming, knowing that there was a better-than-even chance that I'd peel one off to the right, no matter how strong my grip was, lol. 

 

[chisag]

39 minutes ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

100% it's just fun. Honestly, I was only slightly hesitant to change into the lighter grip because of the success of today's round.  I can't stress enough how EASY it felt off the tee, which is legit something I've never experienced. 

If the lighter grip (and I actually just ordered the Dri-Tac LT which is 10 grams lighter still than my "light" one) isn't an improvement, I'll just blow it off and blow on the one from today.  

I think you hit it on the head there with that last statement - it IS fun. I can't tell you what a dark place the tee box was becoming, knowing that there was a better-than-even chance that I'd peel one off to the right, no matter how strong my grip was, lol. 

 

... Back when metal woods first came out, after market shafts were just being introduced and there was no such thing as a hybrid, golf forums were filled with all kinds of interesting experiments. It was a ton of fun with some really outside the box thinking. I love that you, azstu and the rest in this thread are bringing back a little taste of those crazy fun times. And double glad to hear your tee box woes have been banished to a distant memory. 

[slay4klay]

12 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

100% it's just fun. Honestly, I was only slightly hesitant to change into the lighter grip because of the success of today's round.  I can't stress enough how EASY it felt off the tee, which is legit something I've never experienced. 

If the lighter grip (and I actually just ordered the Dri-Tac LT which is 10 grams lighter still than my "light" one) isn't an improvement, I'll just blow it off and blow on the one from today.  

I think you hit it on the head there with that last statement - it IS fun. I can't tell you what a dark place the tee box was becoming, knowing that there was a better-than-even chance that I'd peel one off to the right, no matter how strong my grip was, lol. 

 

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!

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

18 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

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. 

Don’t bring me back on this train of thought. lol. I don’t need more shafts to think about. 
 

edit: hindsight could help my game as I won’t feel the hit instinct with driver. Just swing. 

Edited June 29 by Vegan_Golfer_PNW

[HikingMike]

4 hours ago, slay4klay said:

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  

[GolfSpy SAM]

Swinging the driver with the lighter grip right now in the backyard into a net. Feels great - C9 weight, may keep it here, depending. Obviously can't see ball flight, but can definitely feel the weight difference. Not offensive in any way, mind you, but definitely different. Will be curious to see on the range how this differs from the C4 weight from yesterday. 

[JFish350]

So very late to this party. When I get back to being able to play, I will continue down this rabbit hole. In the meantime, It's time to set up the garage to have a work area. My wife is soooo going to love me. 

[azstu324]

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

 

[Shrek74]

53 minutes ago, azstu324 said:

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 might as well open a business account with GW at this point, thanks to you.

I like the smaller head, almost like a larger mini-driver. I have the BRNR and Ti340, so I need to give this guy a go with the ProSeries shaft (44.5" to start I think). I have the UL here, uncut, and might as well add the OG-PLB to my stable as well. Ugh, my poor bank account.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

I am very close to pulling the trigger and trying this. Anyone interested if it fails on me taking my shaft? Was hoping to play it at 44.5” but reading through the thread sounds like you want to be at least 45”. In theory someone could test it in the new mini over length  

Edited July 12 by Vegan_Golfer_PNW

[Shrek74]

34 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

I am very close to pulling the trigger and trying this. Anyone interested if it fails on me taking my shaft? Was hoping to play it at 44.5” but reading through the thread sounds like you want to be at least 45”. In theory someone could test it in the new mini over length  

I believer there have been others who went shorter. It's more of a suggestion to start around 45" and slowly cut down from there, especially if you have the means to blow grips on/off and can cut down the shaft.

[MuniGolfer]

3 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

I am very close to pulling the trigger and trying this. Anyone interested if it fails on me taking my shaft? Was hoping to play it at 44.5” but reading through the thread sounds like you want to be at least 45”. In theory someone could test it in the new mini over length  

I started mine at 46 and trimmed until I found what I liked best. Settled on 45. For reference, my non-OP playing length was 44.75.

[robd]

On 5/3/2024 at 6:03 AM, justl2003 said:

Ok, So I got the Accra140 M0 shaft and the 150 M1 shaft in the other day and installed two Ping adapters. I have been using a Graphite Design AD DI 6x on my G430 LST 9*. First day testing with the M0 was less than optimal. My transition tended to be too quick, and I kept getting a high right shank come into play. It seemed just incredibly way to flexy for my swing. HOWEVER, when I tried the 150 M1, thats where the magic happened. Straight bombs down the middle, and made 9/12 fairways where I used my driver. Its just an incredibly easy shaft to swing, and as long as i didnt try to aggressively hit it, it went straight and FLEW. Most of my drivers were getting 300 yards easily. On the first hole, I was playing with two other singles, and they gave me a kind "F you" after my first shot 335 down the middle.

The M0 may work for some, but the additionally stiffness of the M1 150 definitely made a difference and tended to work significantly better for my swing. I can see the M0 being helpful for those with slower swing speeds / effortless swings. I also increased the adjustable Loft up to 10.5 (+1.5 setting), and that tended to work best for me as the lower loft tended to produce knuckleballs (my swing issues, not the shaft).

All in all, definitely keeping the M1 on my driver for now. This thing is awesome. I've yet to get these on a trackman to compare, but I'll be doing that soon.

Did you adjust the swing weight at all?  I found my LST felt super heavy with the stock weight and I wasn’t able to make consistent swings with it.

[MuniGolfer]

13 hours ago, robd said:

Did you adjust the swing weight at all?  I found my LST felt super heavy with the stock weight and I wasn’t able to make consistent swings with it.

I am using a g425 lst, and I adjusted mine to a little less than d2. The stock weight had it around d4, and I was losing everything right.

Edited July 24 by MuniGolfer

[robd]

My stock head off of CB Alta shaft with 22gm weight was E0 on the Accra GX 140 m1 at stock length.  Using the leaderboard SW calculator 

[azstu324]

3 hours ago, robd said:

My stock head off of CB Alta shaft with 22gm weight was E0 on the Accra GX 140 m1 at stock length.  Using the leaderboard SW calculator 

Damn son that's sledgehammer territory! 

You'd probably need to shed a good 14g to get it into playable condition. 

[robd]

18 minutes ago, azstu324 said:

Damn son that's sledgehammer territory! 

You'd probably need to shed a good 14g to get it into playable condition. 

Yeah like trying to swing Thor’s hammer!  It is weird that all these light shafts and you can get SW differences like that?! 

[azstu324]

19 minutes ago, robd said:

Yeah like trying to swing Thor’s hammer!  It is weird that all these light shafts and you can get SW differences like that?! 

If I recall, I think ping uses a lot of CB shafts due to their substantial head weight. Ping's been the bugaboo of this whole project. 

Edited July 25 by azstu324

[chisag]

13 hours ago, azstu324 said:

If I recall, I think ping uses a lot of CB shafts due to their substantial head weight. Ping's been the bugaboo of this whole project. 

 

... Amen to that. I picked up a G430 hybrid and tried an upgraded, heavier shaft but compared to the counter balanced Alta CB shaft, the balance was way off. Thankfully the stock shaft works really well with the hybrid but Ping makes trying different shafts pretty difficult. 

Edited July 25 by chisag

[robd]

Any thoughts on changing the heads performance taking that much weight off?

[azstu324]

7 minutes ago, robd said:

Any thoughts on changing the heads performance taking that much weight off?

I'm definitely not the person to handle that question as I've never owned a ping driver. I know quite a few others have made the switch with ping drivers and did it successfully. My only concern would be altering any MOI and CG engineering and having your efficiency take a hit. That's just theory though. I could be way off lol. 

[robd]

3 minutes ago, azstu324 said:

I'm definitely not the person to handle that question as I've never owned a ping driver. I know quite a few others have made the switch with ping drivers and did it successfully. My only concern would be altering any MOI and CG engineering and having your efficiency take a hit. That's just theory though. I could be way off lol. 

That’s why I was curious as the OP I responded to initially @justl2003 had the same head and moved it to similar shaft.  Though maybe the extra weight of the 150 made that much difference?

[robd]

So my other thought is getting a Ping Alta Quick 45 gm shaft which is a stock offering now ( I think?) with the 430LST.  I am wondering if this shaft isn’t counter balanced, how Ping keeps at D4 and not something much higher stock?  Anyone have any idea?

Edited July 27 by robd

[The Horse]

For those wanting to dive into this experiment, I bought a bunch of theses shafts.  I am going to stick with my existing gamer for now and am looking to offload the following shafts.  All have the AllFit tip so you can put them in any head with the right collar.

PM me if you are interested in the PLB or the Maltby UL.  I also have the Prolaunch GWS tipped for a 5 wood if you are interested.

Sorry for posting this here, but i thought it made the most sense.

[Ding-dong]

I have got my OP fully set up, and I have learned a lot along the way. 
I thought I might try the new Titleist GT and I hit it with the stock shafts. I need to back to back my head vs the GT but the shaft options are so far away to the OP . I think the GT is a good direction but I think the fitting would get amusing!
 

[IndyBonzo]

A friend and I have started playing more golf together.  He is mid 60s and has lost some flexibility and distance, but still hits the ball pretty well.  That is, on everything but driver.  He used an older Callaway BB with a generic-ish shaft.

So I let him hit my OP driver. Loved it and gained 20 yards instantly.  Then I insisted he play a round with the driver I stashed for when FABWIFE starts playing again.  (I hope very soon.)  It’s a G425 SFT with the MP5 shaft.  He offered to buy it after the second swing.  He also said post-round that his score was five strokes lower due to the added distance from the OP driver.  So, I sourced all the parts and plan to build him a copy today.  It was so very cool to see him so excited about the driver.  Like a little kid.   Awesome.

I think I am also going to experiment with the TC Pro on a shortened ACCRA FX Blue M1 shaft.  Planning to build that up today too.  I was directly inspired by @azstu324 on that one.  Thanks friend!

Will post pics a bit later.  I have to go clear a dead tree first!

Edited August 31 by IndyBonzo