Fujikura Ventus Black, Blue, or Red

Great review of the Fuji Ventus shaft line at Golfwrx here

The Ventus line has been very popular/successful on Tour with pros such as Dustin Johnson, Rory, Sergio, Fleetwood, Kuchar, and more switching to the Ventus Black.

The Black model is has the stiffest profile, followed by the Blue and Red, going for low launch/spin to slightly higher launch/spin.

The Ventus design has given fitters the ability to put good players in lighter weight shafts than they normally play (increasing distance) while maintaining control.

The Ventus is $350 installed on an OEM sleeve (no component sales).

I also had a chance to try the new Ventus hybrid shaft. My buddy John Mc reshafted his Callaway Epic Flash hybrids and let me borrow to try out at the course. It was a Ventus Blue R flex. They have a fairly stiff feel (which I find in many of the Fujikura shafts) but I hit the ball very straight, which my playing partners will tell you is unusual for me. First shot with the shaft was a screamer with the #4 hybrid set at 22 degrees that ended up pin high and on the edge of the green from about 185 yards out. I most likely chipped in for birdie but my memory is a little fuzzy after all this holiday celebrating.

I had other good shots with the club and found the launch with this combination was a little bit low, but it could have been operator error.

Price is $200 each for the Ventus black, blue, or red hybrid.

Shooting his age

Received a nice note from a long time customer that plays the Hiskei Wave shaft:

““Now that I am 92 years old and still shooting my age is there a better shaft available that I can use for that driver? I still work out everyday and play at least 4 times per week.”

I’m reshafting his Callaway 5 wood with a Wave shaft, let’s see if we can get him down in the 80’s.

Fourteen Golf RM4 Wedges

I’ve been a Fourteen Golf dealer for some time but sort of drifted away from the premium Japanese brand.

I lately noticed some beautiful new irons and wedges on social media and reached out to them to pick up their line of clubs again.

They just released a really interesting new wedge design called the RM4.

Here are some of the features:

An intricate and time consuming precision CNC milling process is applied to the surface of the thinnest part of the back face. The result is a reverse tapered blade that helps the head stay on target at impact.
Performance is raised to a new level thanks to a more stable wedge shot.

New Blade Wall Thickness Design: Featuring a new STEP BLADE design with a unique horizontal step between the left and right sides of the back face. By varying the thickness and shifting the center of gravity depending on each loft and purpose of the club, it becomes easier to execute the desired shot. The results are improved spin control, workability and better feel at impact.

The wedge has a thicker heel on higher lofts for improved control and feel. It’s thicker on toe section in lower lofts to resist mis-hits and improve workability on full shots. Includes a Nippon wedge specific shaft (or your choice of shafts if I custom build for you). The new Onuca stepped 60 gram, 2.2 torque graphite iron shaft would be a nice combination with this head with it’s high launch design. Higher lofts also available in standard sole (move volume in sole) or a H (Hill) sole for better players looking to maintain bounce angle while opening or closing face.

This remarkable new wedge comes in a light black finish or chrome finish. Send me a note for pricing. 

I can get their entire line of drivers, fairway woods, irons, wedges, and hybrids and build from scratch or use their shafts.

Onuca Stepped Graphite Iron Shafts

Had a great launch of the new 60 gram, 2.2 torque, stepped graphite iron/hybrid shafts from Onuca. They’re truly unique in that they combine the best qualities of steel and graphite iron shafts. They are far lighter than any steel shaft yet have steel torque specs. Nobody else makes stepped graphite shafts. This allows them to adjust launch for future shaft models. Any lightweight graphite is going to at least be 4.5-5+ torque (vs. 2.2 for the Onuca). The first model has a nice high launch yet a firm feel (due to the very low torque).

The price for one shaft is $70 and 2+ is $54 each. It has a .370 tip so it will fit most hybrids, makes a great hybrid shaft with it’s ultra lightweight, low torque, high launch design. Matt black finish with a red logo. In A, R, S flex. Send me a note to order.

Hiskei PDF Catalog

Hiskei has a full line of excellent component shafts, putters, irons, wedges and more that I don’t write about as often as the Wave shaft. The blue putter head is fantastic. Big Nick from New Mexico swears by the Hiskei lightweight ($36) hybrid shafts.

I’ve got the entire Hiskei catalog and spec sheet at my dropbox here.

AutoFlex Shaft

A few customers have inquired about the unique lightweight, super flexible made in Korea driver shaft from AutoFlex. There are a few youtube videos showing unbelievable distance increases with equally unreal dispersion. These guys do a great demonstration here on youtube.

The shafts are very lightweight (39 to low 40g at 45” raw length). They are also VERY flexible. Even the fastest swingers are playing the equivalent of a ladies flex, even more flexible for the rest of us. It’s like a noodle fishing rod when they flex the shaft then it somehow stiffens during the swing.

The bad news? They’re $790. I’ve set it up to sell the shafts in the US but I need an initial order of 10 shafts. I’ll include installation on an OEM shaft sleeve if you decide to order. Watch the youtube video, it’s worth your while just to see this guy dial his 115 mph+ swing down from 100 mph or so to about 90 mph and blast perfectly straight/long drives.

Mitsubishi Diamana TB series

The $790 shaft above was just to make the new $359 Diamana TB shaft seem like a bargain.

This is the 5th generation Diamana shaft, Mitsubishi’s most popular and I think best performing shaft series. The first model out is the TB Blue. (like the old Blueboard). It has the smooth feel and profile that the Diamana Blueboard is known for with the addition of boron for feel and control.

They’re also very consistent between weights/flexes. If you hit a 50 series it will feel very similar (butt diameter, balance point).

The Diamana TB is available in weights from their 40 series (high 40 gram) through 70.

Send me a note to order.