Fujikura Ventus Shafts - 2024 Forum Review

[GolfSpy_APH]

The Fujikura VENTUS driver shafts have taken the golfing world by storm, claiming to be more stable and consistent with tighter dispersion and increased ball speeds than its predecessor. The new Fujikura VENTUS shaft, powered by VELOCORE technology, has a lot to live up to.

About The Fujikura VENTUS

A premium driver shaft that has made its way into the bags of many tour professionals and amateurs alike, the Fujikura Ventus with VELOCORE has become a go-to golf shaft since its introduction in 2018. In 2024, Fujikura released a new VENTUS Blue version with VELOCORE+ technology and advanced materials to improve on what was already a very popular choice. A key change in the 2024 version is a simplified bend profile with a re-engineered multi-material bias core claiming to improve stability for more consistent strikes. Additionally, the new VELOCORE+ claims to enhance feel and the overall performance of this high-end driver shaft.

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@Preeway 

@Syks7 

@musicalmedicine 

@skraeling

[Preeway]

Who Am I:
Greetings. My name is Chris and I live in Elkhorn, a suburb west of Omaha, NE. I was born and raised in Oregon and eventually moved to the Midwest because, well, I wanted to stay married. My wife is originally from Omaha and all her family is here. After we met and got married in Seattle, WA it was clear that my days in the PNW were numbered. I’ve been a regular here on the forum since I joined over a year ago and enjoy sharing in everyone’s experiences both on and off the course.

I have three boys, triplets in fact, and all are into various sports. One is big into baseball, one into golf and the third has spina bifida and is into wheelchair sports. My son who likes to golf has benefitted greatly from all of my experiments with new equipment but he’s ready to stop accepting relatively new “hand me downs” and buy his own new equipment. He’s been looking at Takomo irons and I even had him read the reviews here on the forum for more information. Right now I think it’s between a set of Srixons and the Takomos. 

My path to golf equipment goes back 40 years from junior starter sets as a kid to the Ping Eye 2s I gamed in high school and for a couple decades as an adult. After graduating to my first full set of irons as a freshman in high school I began to dabble in building clubs with another friend. Getting fitted wasn’t really as big of a thing then but dabbling in building clubs taught me a lot about swing weight and a wide variety of shafts of both steel and graphite. At the time I wasn’t impressed with graphite shafts as they were often to “whippy” for my linking. But the graphite shafts of today are a whole different deal.

I finally got my first fitting when I decided to get new irons in 2022 and officially retire my Pings. The fitting process landed my with a set of Mizuno JPX 921 Tours. The process was so beneficial that I decided to do another fitting to get a different shaft for my driver. This led to getting a Fujikura Ventus Blue 6S for PXG Gen 4. Upon making the switch I immediately began noticing an improvement with greater distance and more fairways being hit. 

About my game: My handicap at the start of the 2023 season was around 6 and I ended the season at a 3. I attribute part of my game improvement on being fitted for new irons but also in part to an improved driving game. When I began using my new Ventus shaft last year I saw a marked difference in both distance and fairways hit. 

I was averaging 250-260 yards off the tee (my own rough estimate) and around 40% fairways hit (based on my GHIN stats) with my HZRDUS Black shaft. I crawled up to 52% fairways hit (based on GHIN stats) and 260+ off the tee (my own rough estimate) after I switched to the Ventus. When I got my new Cobra AeroJet LS this year I got another bump in distance to 275 yards and my fairways hit dropped down to 42% based on ShotScope data.

Area Of Testing Focus:

My main area of focus in testing will be in several areas using Shot Scope data and launch monitors, including range sessions with my Rapsodo MLM2. First, will be dispersion as measured by fairways hits. I will also try to use Shot Scope data to measure my distance from fairways on my misses and distance from center on my fairways hit. Second, I will measure my average distance with the Ventus and the VeloCore+. Third, but perhaps the trickiest to measure, will be to see how it performs on the course. Again, I’ll use my Shot Scope data from my rounds played this year with my Ventus and compare my performance with the VeloCore+. 

What I’m looking for: 

The overall improvement I got from moving to my current Ventus from the HZRDUS Black was very significant. While I don’t expect to see as much of a bump from my Ventus to the VeloCore+, I do want to see enough of a bump to justify the cost of the shaft for other potential buyers. As it relates to my areas of testing, I want to see my percentage of fairways hit reach or exceed 50%, my dispersion tighten up, and distance off the tee increase by 5+ yards, all being measured with Shot Scope data.

If there is anything my fellow spies would like to see from my test, please fire away. Thanks again to MGS for the opportunity to be trusted as a tester. I look forward to getting started soon!

Edited May 22 by Preeway
Introduction

[Syks7]

[Ventus Velocore+ ] – Official MGS Forum Review in progress by [Syks7/Jonathan Gilliam]

 

INTRO

About me

Here we go again!  I’m always honored to do a test for MGS and this one should be interesting.  I’m still a 41 year old architect in Southern California and as of this moment am riding an absurd wave of good play that has seen me drop from an 11.3 to an 8.3 as of today!  A lot of that improvement has been finding some consistency with my driver  -- PGX Gen5 0311 9º with a Tensei CK Pro Orange shaft).  The Velocore+ is really going to have to perform to unseat it.    

At home I have two dogs, a 4 year old little girl who sometimes is occasionally interested in golf (until I offer some instruction) and an awesome wife who works with me on a “fluid” golf budget while also doing her level best to ignore the endless parade of golf related boxes arriving at the door.  Those boxes fuel a lot of time spent tinkering with my equipment – maybe too much.....  All the tinkering has taught me a lot about how different shafts, weights, and hosel settings can really affect what you are trying to get out of a club and I have a very good time trying different things out and can often be found out in my training facility (garage) -- building, practicing, and learning.   

About my game

I’m in a surprisingly great spot with my game.  There was a lot of toil, frustration, and bouncing around the 10.5 line before breaking through and I now find a fair bit of consistency throughout the bag.  Putter, Wedges, & irons are all pretty reasonable and driver, once a weakness, has now become somewhat of a strong suit.  That said, my performance on the course is heavily tied to my performance off the tee and any jump in consistency will help improve the other three areas.  As my driver play has improved, I’ve gained a lot of insight into strokes gained and I’ve become a big believer in the statistic.  I’ve mostly stopped laying up on Par 5s and I pull driver on short par 4s anymore because of it – and barring a complete mishit it seems to bear a lot of fruit (birdies) if I get to have a wedge in hand for my approach into the green.  I’m really excited to see if Velocore+ can get me closer to the hole and keep me in the fairway more often.  There’s got to be something to so many pros playing a version of the Ventus!     

Testing Methodology

For testing I’ll be using the same head ( PXG Gen5 0311  9º) and putting together a direct comparison to my current shaft (Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange) using a combination of oncourse performance and simulator data using a GC4 (Unfortunately not mine).  On course I’m going to focus on the basics using a base of data I’ve already been collecting for my own purposes --  Fairways in Regulation, Right and left fairways misses that still have a look at the green, Right and left misses that are in jail, and total distance.  I’ll probably just shift to using the Velocore+ on course since I already have a good data base, but I’m planning to get out for some solo twilight rounds with my club wrench to do some hot swap head to head testing.  In the Sim I’ll obviously be able to collect more direct data and the first order of business is going to be getting the Velocore+ dialed by spending a couple hours playing with the weights and hosel settings.  After that I’ll do some direct data collection with both shafts along with my previous AV Tensei raw blue.  I’ll probably throw some of the shorter shafts into just to see what data I can get, but they’re all 3 woodish length so it may not be relevant data.

What I’m looking for:

I want to see if that 2-3mph jump in club head speed is real.  I also want to see if all the fuss about dispersion is real.  I know my current driver shaft really well, it’s consistent enough that I pretty much have a one way miss.  My dispersion cone goes about 10 yards left of center and 30 yards right (with the occasional way right) and I aim accordingly.  I’m hoping to see the velocore+ narrow that up a bit or at the very least put a lot more shots towards the center of that cone.   Really excited to see how it goes.   Thanks to MGS for trusting me with this one.

OG Blue during fitting

Edited May 31 by Syks7

[musicalmedicine]

Hello spies!

Thanks for stopping by my introduction post for the Fujikura Ventus Blue Velocore+ test.

     First, I would like to start off by thanking the MGS staff for selecting me for this test. The testing opportunities on this forum are a unique way of allowing everyday golfers to test gear and share their experience without having a marketing twist to it. I’m very excited to get things started and hopefully provide some of my fellow spies with some insights on my experience with the Ventus Blue.

About me:

     My name is Derek and I live in the North Phoenix/North Scottsdale area. As with most Arizonans, I am a Midwest transplant (Illinois). I grew up in the East Valley of the Phoenix Metro area and then spent nearly twelve years in Tucson, before finally making it back to Phoenix in 2021. When I left for college in 2009, I expected to be back in Phoenix within a few months of graduating, but Tucson has this weird Hotel California way of sucking people in. I love living in Arizona for many reasons, but one new reason is how readily living here fuels my recent obsession with golf.

(Me off the coast of South Carolina, April 2024)

     To bank roll my increasingly troubling golf habits I work in the healthcare industry working on integration of artificial intelligence to automate financial and clinical workstreams. It is interesting work, especially since AI has just gotten to the point of being commercially viable so I get to be on the forefront of finding solutions to complex problems.

     I’m a bit of a busy body so when I’m not working, I am generally doing something related to my ever-expanding list of hobbies/interests. For about three years now I’ve been training in Brazilian jiu jitsu two to three times a week. I have to say that this has helped my golf game more than I would have expected. I generally hit the driving range every weekend, and in weeks where I haven’t trained in BJJ as much I feel much stiffer and out of sync. I also decided to get into 3D printing about a year ago. For the 3D printing nerds (I know you’re here) I built a Voron 2.4 R2 with a 300mm built surface. I started woodworking and am hoping to find some cool ways to integrate 3D printing and woodworking to make useful functional projects. And yes, I am aware that getting into woodworking and golf in a matter of six months is one of the most stereotypical combinations a middle-class male in their 30’s could pick. The picture below has my 3D printer alongside my guitar gear. You guessed it, guitar is where the “musical” in “musicalmedicine” comes from. I’ve been playing since I was 11; few things can clear my mind as well as picking up a guitar. Just sneaking into this picture are a few of my dog's toys. I'll warn all of you now, there is more than a 50% chance that my dog makes regular appearances in my posts.

(Guitar gear and 3D printer)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoops...that didn't take long

 

 

There he is again....seriously, I warned all of you.

 

Golf Game:

     Enough about the boring stuff, let’s talk golf. I started playing golf in my early teens. My dad and uncle would play sometimes and introduced me to it. I never got super into it, and for my first couple years of college I didn’t even have clubs with me. For the past 15 years I would go golf ever so often or head to the driving range, but I was by no means an avid golfer, but then came the bachelor party.

     In January of this year, I got to celebrate the marriage of one of my closest friends. One of the team-based events during the three-day bachelor party was an 18-hole scramble with each hole having special rules and potential bonus points. Prior to this round, I hadn’t played a full round of golf since 2020. I had such a blast that three weeks later I was getting fit for new clubs to replace the starter set I had been playing since high school.

(Jan 2024 Bachelor party golf event, I’m labeled with the red arrow…the short guy, you can’t miss me)

     Since receiving my new clubs in February, I’ve played eight full rounds and spend time at the driving range just about every weekend. As I said earlier, I’m a bit of a busy body and my friends like to joke that since I just finished a master’s degree this semester that I’m trying to find things to keep me busy. Not one to pass up an opportunity to take on a project, I recently put a hitting net in my backyard. In doing this, I 100% without question intentionally did not put structural bracing in the frame because I wanted one of those famous Phoenix microbursts to knock it down so I could put it up again.

 

(My Ping set with a little flair from L.A.B. Golf)

(Hitting net v1)

(Hitting net v1 pre-microburst)

(Hitting net v1 after microburst)

(Hitting net v2)

     On Saturday I took delivery of the Mevo+ limited edition. I’m excited to have this launch monitor accompany my sessions in the backyard and at the range so I can bring in-depth data to this test. I had been considering investing in one of these at some point, but being selected for this test pushed me to move a bit quicker on deciding what to get.

(Mevo+ Limited Edition)

     My current driver is a Ping G430 MAX 10.5° lofted down to 9° on a Ping Tour 2.0 Black 65X shaft. I am a somewhat long hitter with Arccos giving me a Smart Distance of 272 yards and a Smart Range from 255 to 294 yards with my driver. I have historically had a terrible slice that I have been working on in lessons over the past several months. Saturday was the first round that I have played where I didn’t have at least one drive that went out and then veered left forcing me to bushwhack to track down my ball. I’m still working on consistency, but I can say that my last two rounds have been the first rounds where I’ve had my driver mishit right instead of left, which is progress in my eyes.

(Arccos Driver summary)

(Ping Tour 2.0 Black 65X)

Testing Focus:

                During my testing I will compare my current shaft to the Ventus Blue Velocore+ using averages and standard deviations of quantifiable metrics such as: distance, ball speed, spin, spin axis, etc. as well as qualitative measures like look and feel. I’ve had several situations where the placement of my shot significantly hindered the distance I’m able to get with my driver. Because of this, one of the main factors that will determine if the Ventus Blue Velocore+ stays on course with me is how it impacts lateral dispersion.

     If there is anything specific that anyone has questions about, please feel free to DM or tag me in a comment in this string.

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!

-Derek

First Impressions and Unboxing (18 out of 20) (19-Jun-2024)

TLDR: My first impression before swinging the club made me more of a believer in there truly being something different about how these higher end shafts are made compared to stock shafts.

     I am the first to admit how impatient I am when it comes to packages, and I may or may not have intentionally worked from home on July 7th in anticipation of receiving the Ventus. Thankfully, my manager is also a golfer, so I didn’t have to fake being sick to justify not heading into the office that day. It arrived in a no-frills brown cardboard box with clear Fujikura branding on the outside.

 

     Opening the box revealed the shaft safely secured in packing paper. I was a little surprised to see it tucked so close to one side of the box instead of suspended in the middle even though there was more than enough room in the box to provide an air gap between the shaft and the walls of the box. The shaft was undamaged, but I would have liked to see a little better presentation and thought put into to packaging given that this is a premium product. Apple’s success in this department demonstrates the value this can have. (-2 points)

 

 

     It still amazes me how light driver shafts are without club heads on them every time I pick one up. Along with that initial familiar amazement, there was a unique quality to the feel of this shaft in the hand without my driver head attached. For the past week I’ve been trying to find the right way to describe this quality and the closest phrase I’ve been able to think of that seems to capture the feeling is “impossibly robust” …let me try to explain.

            Along with the expected lightness of this shaft, there is also a sensation in the hand while swinging it around without a driver head that the tip moves like a laser, with zero lag as follows the lead of the handle through the air. This feeling was so quickly apparent and difficult for me to wrap my head around that I did several side-by-side swings of the Ventus and my Ping Tour 2.0 Black. Both shafts are 6X variants, but I was surprised in this initial hands-on experience to feel as if the Ventus was both lighter and significantly more rigid than the Tour 2.0 Black.

            Aside from the unremarkable packaging, my first impressions were very positive. Even before attaching this shaft to my driver, I was able to quickly realize that what I’m calling impossible robustness, is likely what so many golfers have experienced and appreciated about this shaft’s predecessors for the past several years.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 02:54 PM by musicalmedicine

[skraeling]

Who Am I:

An above average dork, with a below average golf game.... I think.  I am a terrible writer.  I think mostly due to me not dealing with people day in and day out.  I occasionally forget how to human.  Spending 8hrs a day in a genetics lab... yeah.  It warps ya. 

I also work with some questionable people...

I digress.  I love golf.  Like absolutely love it.  Ive played for a long time but never seriously.  The usual once a year maybe a couple times a year typical player.  Then I got involved with a golf league and truely began to love the sport.  Bonus I get to play with my dad once a week.  I consider myself very fortunate.

Me kicking his ass in Hawaii.

I brew I dont know... semi professionally?  I do this at home, but occasionally help a friend who does do is professionally. so... semi pro it is haha.  I mean what else is a damn microbiologist supposed to do for a hobby right?

I also have a cat that prevents practice... a lot, so improving can be difficult some days.

I love filming storms when im not dodging them on the golf course.  Ah the missouri in the midwest... gateway to repeated hail,flooding,tornadoes... oh my.

 

Overall im a complete dork with a warped sense of humor.  Two goals this year were to shoot at or below par (so far not so good), and hit a 300yd drive (which ive gotten close and missed that by 13yds).

Area Of Testing Focus:

Dispersion.... Im hoping this can really tighten up my left miss.  If my tempo isnt great that day my current shaft really punishes me and starts hooking like im in the red light district.  Barf.  Distance isnt bad for me.

What I’m looking for: 

Something to keep me more in the middle (arnt we all?).

Hey... can ANYONE TELL WHERE MY MISS IS?!?!.... blah!  Is my shaft too whippy? maybe.  Can I make it work?... well sure.

I do think im ready to try something new though..  Ive been doing speed training and I can sometimes if im not in perfect form over match my current shaft.

How it started vs how its going:

 

Overall Im really looking forward to giving this shaft a try.  I do much prefer lighter weight shafts and my testing choice will hopefully represent a close analog in metrics vs my current one (as much as possible).  Can I get stability and BOMBS?... we shall see.  Ill be running arccos as per usual so the metrics will make themselves readily apparent.

I look forward to providing you with a joe average impact of this shaft on my game.

Cheers.

 

UNBOXING: I got a shaft in a box yo.

Well now that I only feel slightly less like death warmed over.  Finally get unboxing up.  It showed up and this thing had clearly seen some s*** on the way to my house:

But it was in good shape so the box did its job.  This forum I swear... no matter what I want to do it wants to show this upside down... SO BE IT!

Its just fractionally shorter than mine which is what I was expecting so kudos to Fujikura for absolutely crushing the prep on this thing.

 

Well.... apparently this is a TOUR adapter that some of my fellow reviewers did some epic Dick Tracy s*** on to figure out and its mostly the same.  Besides... im so crap will .5* make a difference?  Somehow I had been playing with what I thought was a 9* setting... HAHAHAHA no.  I had my og setup set to 8.5*... whatever itll be fine.

Initial impressions are.... well im still trying to figure this out.  Overall I cant wait to get out again with this when im not clearly sick and back to 100%.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14 by skraeling

[GolfSpy_APH]

Congrats all on your selection! This is a big test and will have a lot of people watching. No pressure!

[Northern Monkey]

Congrats guys

[Gazhass]

Well done, enjoy.

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations everyone!

[Knight017]

Congratulations to the selected spy's. Iooking forward to trying it at my upcoming driver fitting. 

[Cfhandyman]

Congratulations to a very nice group of well chosen testers. Needless to say, there will be a great deal of interest in how the new Ventus shafts perform. Are you guys up for the challenge?  I know you are. Have fun. 

[Hoyoymac]

Congratulations everyone.

[Josh Parker]

Congrats Testers!

Having played the old blue version, I am interested to see how the new one performs and if there are any differences.

[Jean D]

Congratulations to all of you! Welcome to the testing community!!

[David Njoroge]

Congratulations guys

 

[JAYER38]

Congrats to the testers! Cant wait to see how this goes and opinions of it

[Bad Golfer]

Congratulations Testers! I'll be checking out your results to see how your long game improves with a high end shaft.

[Willie T]

13 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

The Fujikura VENTUS driver shafts have taken the golfing world by storm, claiming to be more stable and consistent with tighter dispersion and increased ball speeds than its predecessor. The new Fujikura VENTUS shaft, powered by VELOCORE technology, has a lot to live up to.

About The Fujikura VENTUS

A premium driver shaft that has made its way into the bags of many tour professionals and amateurs alike, the Fujikura Ventus with VELOCORE has become a go-to golf shaft since its introduction in 2018. In 2024, Fujikura released a new VENTUS Blue version with VELOCORE+ technology and advanced materials to improve on what was already a very popular choice. A key change in the 2024 version is a simplified bend profile with a re-engineered multi-material bias core claiming to improve stability for more consistent strikes. Additionally, the new VELOCORE+ claims to enhance feel and the overall performance of this high-end driver shaft.

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@Preeway 

@Syks7 

@musicalmedicine 

@skraeling

Congrats to the testing crew chosen - do is proud as you “swing for the fences” (ooops, wrong sport ).  Looking forward to hearing how the new shafts compare out.

Edited May 14 by Willie T

[crisj]

Congratulations testers.  Should be a good one

[Preeway]

Super excited to be chosen as one of the testers for this shaft. I currently play an OG Ventus Blue and will be comparing old tech and new tech head-to-head as part of this test. Going to be fun putting this thing through some rigorous testing which all of you would expect. Intro will be up later this week, if not sooner. 

[bens197]

Congrats!

Looking forward to your experience with this one

[TJ Hall]

Congratulations testers!  Looking forward to reading your thoughts and experience with these shafts.

[scotter032]

Congrats to the chosen ones!! I currently game TR BLUE in all my woods and has changed the long game for me completely. Hopefully it does the same for you... 

[ZJeb67]

This sounds like a great opportunity!
Really interested in seeing the testing 

[skraeling]

Looking forward to hopefully providing some good content on this one.  Know the bar will be much higher so Ill enjoy the challenge of delivering.

[russtopherb]

Solid group right here, congrats all!

[Parshooter36]

Congrats to the the testers, I look forward to following this one.

[ChitownM2]

Congrats testers!  Looking forward to hearing how these perform for everyone.

[rkj427]

Congratulations to this group of testers. Looking forward to the comments and reviews,

Especially @Preeway to compare the + model to the original model.

[IndyBonzo]

Congratulations testers!  Very eager to read these reviews.  Good luck all!