RIduffer

Heading out to San Diego for some work and visit the family. Bonus, I get 3 rounds with the vacation bag that I leave at my brother's. Almost a brand new bag excluding the 3,5 and 7 woods which are the Miura Precious Editions with UST v2 in stiff. The rest of the bag consists of 51, 56, and 61 degree Scor Golf wedges with the UST 95g graphite wedge shaft; Miura baby blades with the Fuji Rombax 115i in a tipped stiff flex and lastly what I am most anxious to hit; the Miura 390 10.5* with the GD P9003x. Have never played the Scor wedges before but should be an interesting experiment. Have hit the Miura's a couple of times with the Rombax shafts, but am looking forward to some more in depth comparisons to the Tourstage 905/Crazy combo I have at home. The coup de gras is being able to compare the 390cc Miura to the 380 Yonex and the 11.5* RC since I will have had the P9003x in all three heads. Will be curious to see if the shaft causes ballooning like it does with the RC head or if it will retain the low penetrating flight I get with the Yonex 380. I really like the shaft in the Yonex, consistently 290+ yds low penetrating flight with lots of rollout. Will be bringing the copper Blade Golf irons home and will need to pull the N SP Blue shafts from them and shaft with something, the question is do I try the new Crazy steel or continue the heavy graphite iron shaft experiment? -RIDuffer

I tried a few of the UL shafts, although nothing as high end as the Crazy shafts... I just could not get the timing down to maximize the benefit. Tried 40g up to 60g and lost distance each step down in weight, even increasing flex didn't help enough. I was hitting them straight and seemed to be solid contact, but distance loss was significant...

My evolution has been: TT Tours Rifle SP Blue KBS Tour SP Blue NGS 950 Crazy CBI Evo 01 and Fuji 115i The SP Blue are at the top of the list right now, only because I do not have enough playing time with either if the graphite shafts... The Crazy and the Fuji has a higher ball flight a a large amount than the SP Blue, but the flight is still stable and true. Spin wise, I think all three have provided similar amounts but the challenge is that the grpahite shafts have been on conforming clubs while the SP were not. When I was going through my latest shaft selection I tested the Fuji, NGS Modus, Aerotech, C Taper, NGS 950, SP Blue, UST Pro Force and a couple of others. Fuji Aerotech SP Blue Modus NGS 950 UST C Taper In contradiction to the statement above about SP Blue being tops, I did rate Aerotech higher because part of my goal was to start using a lighter shaft and within those criteria it edged out the SP Blue.

I have not hit the Tourstage. By the time I found out about it, it was already sold out... Once November hits, golf kinda leaves my mind because the weather around me isn't conducive to enjoyable rounds or range sessions. All that would happen if I focused on golf in the winter would be an increase in the seasonal affective disorder depression... I will be putting the P9003x into the Miura in the not too distant future and will be able to give a better comparison between the two. But at this point, the Yonex is definitely a longer club, the sound out of the Miura is more enjoyable to me and the feel of the two heads is just different. More to come once I reshaft the Miura...

Agreed on the smaller headed driver. I much prefer sub 400 and have tried several, even brushing off the an old TM 300Ti. The two I am most fond of are the Miura 390cc and the Yonex 380. On the 380 though, the shaft is key. I ahve tried about 4 or five different shafts in it and have settled on the GD P9003x. Admittedly, I did not try any Crazy shafts but am very impressed by the GD/Yonex combo. Long mid launch low spin and I get a 5 yd fade or dead straight flight path with it.

Didn't play a round today, but went to the range and hit a number of balls with Yonex/P9003x. Oh my goodness, what an electric combination. Just smoking the ball. Has a great mid launch didn't seem to be ballooning at all. Was hitting the net about 240 yds out at around 30 ft high. Will be great fun to see it out on the course....

My turn... Brought my kids and the RC 14* recently shafted with the FW 80 to the range today... Snapped the Crazy shaft just above the ferrule... Had hit a couple of smoking shots off the tee then figured I would get a feel of the mat. Bad idea... First hit, beautiful flight mid launch straight as an arrow and about 30" on the net about 220 out. Second shot, thought I made great contact again but it was a 100 yard mini duck hook. Looked down to see the RC head dangling from from the end of the shaft. Oh sorry day...

That is CPM of the P9003x originally cut down for the RC D/S to play at 44". The two Crazy FW shafts were only butt trimmed to play to length. FW 80 to play at 43 in the Yonex 13*, now plays 43.5 in the RC 14* and the Sigma 50 FW was butt trimmed to play 44" in the 11.5* RC D/S. Not sure if I am strong or just stupid... If my wife found how how much this bag experiment cost I know divorced would fit in there somewhere also... I will be gaming this tomorrow morning along with the Miura BB with the Fujikura 115i S that were tipped for 1/2 a flex extra stiffness. Hit a small bucket comparing the 6 iron of the Miura/Fuji combo to the TourStage/Crazy 6 iron. Think the Fuji had a slightly higher ball flight but both are rock solid clubs...

Had the FW 50 Sigma Noir put into the 11.5* will be gaming tomorrow. Should an interesting comparison with the P9003x... Edit... Hit it today and had to get used to the shaft profile. Initially wasn't finishing the swing very well and ended up power fading a few. Got that under control and had a few beauties long and straight. Then got under one, a 200 yd wedge shot. Definitely a great swinger, just need to hit a couple of dozen more balls with it to get it dialed in. The ones that i hit great, were a little higer than the P9003x but no balloon in the bunch, even in to the wind. Will update once I get a couple of more rounds in with it. Tomorrow however, will be the Yonex 380 with P9003x that I pulled from the RC for the 50 Sigma...

Got it built, now just have to hit the range with it... So what was playing as a 44" RC 11.5* D/S shaft turned into a 45" Yonex 380 cc driver. With the grip and club head on and adding 18 to the measured CPM it is 290 with the P9003x. Should be a fun test... Just for comaprison, the FW 50 Sigma cpm'd at 286 raw and the FW 80 Black was 290 with grip and 18 added...

Does anyone know what the comparable GD shaft is to the F75 that comes stock in the RC TRC D/S and FWs? Trying to decide if I should tip trim to turn the S into an X or just try to unload it...

Heading to the builder with a newly arrived FW Sigma 50 Noir for the RC and will pull the P9003x and try in the 380cc at 44". Played the Yonex today with the AD EV 6x at 45" and just didn't perform... Hopefully better luck with the P9003x...

I agree about the Miura Precious. I just moved that out to CA so I don't have to travel with a bag of clubs when I go se my family. But what a great driver, actually the whole line up of woods were great...

I think that is more a function of the head than the shaft. If you can get out with steel you can get out with graphite... The question with graphite is are you getting tight shot dispersion, is the shaft unloading at the right time, etc...

Love the feel of the CBI-02 Crazy Iron shafts. For me it represents less than a ~10% reduction in weight over the KBS Tour and NGS Super Peening Blue I was playing, and a similar increase over the 950 GH WF that came stock in the irons I put them into... Also went up a flex to X when I made the move so far, so good. Not much distance increase maybe a few yards, but dispersion and accuracy has improved. Also got some backspin back into my game, not bad considering the new set is conforming...

I'll have one in a week or so...

Suppose I am an anomaly, but I moved to graphite, not because of weight, but because my elbows have been acting up after rounds. The vibration damping that the graphite offers has virtually eliminated the elbow pain I had been feeling since the beginning of the season. I agree the there is nothing the steel can do that graphite can't. Only I would not restrict the statement to utility and woods, I would include irons and wedges too. I did not even consider steel shafts in the utility clubs I got. Played the upgraded graphite for a couple of rounds and then replaced it with GD AD EV shafts and am quite happy.

Is there a 380cc or smaller head still on the market that is longer than this?

I know I have thought about it, but chopped down the AD EV 7x and put those into the ONOFF Pro Spec and am still enjoying them. Almost afraid to as I am glad I finally found a use for them... No more Crazys right now...

Jury is still out for me... I got side tracked thus far with the RC D/S vs Yonex 13* vs RC 14* and have not made it back to the driver yet. Will be trying a P9003x in it soon and am hoping the combo will be great. The times I have hit it with various USDM shafts it was a performer, but I have not hit very many JDM drivers either.

So after all that, what are you doing with the P9003x?

108g uncut. X Stiff CBI-02. I have to say I am very happy with the switch so far. Admittedly, it is taking some time to adjust the swing but better than steel, at least the ones I have played...

Should be a beautiful thing. Welcome to the dark side of graphite iron shafts... Good luck, RIDuffer

I added a Balance Certified weight #4 to the butt of the club, that actually seemed to help the launch angle quite a bit for me. Also added to the confidence I have in the club/shaft combo. The clubhead just seemed to find the slot better with the incremental offsetting weight. I am still looking forward to the 50 Sigma Noir test, but found some added juice to the GD/RC combo... Hopefully not confusing the matters too much. I am still in the process of rebuilding the bag so am tinkering with everything I can and will hopefuly settle in on something near the beginning of next season...

Spoon, It is just the ballooning. My home course can get breezy and generally not a cross wind so am looking to prevent the balloon balls. Not sure how much the weight will go up, but would expect less than 15%. Plus I am really digging the Crazy CBI-02 in the irons and the FW80 in the Yonex is spankin. Figured I needed to give the RC the same shake. I will be putting the FW80 in the RC 14* as another test should be able to see what is shaft and what is head then. I haven't given up on the GD, it is a great shaft... Have a feeling it might end up in the 380 9* driver, the lower launch should help prevent the balloons. There is definitely a difference in the Crazy vs the GD I have alluded to somewhere before. The GD, you feel the head and have confidence; the Crazy you just know. Supo had another analogy that is making sense. The UST V2s perform but with crappy feel, the Crazy performs better and has great feel too. Digging the Crazy shaft investment so much I think I might change my handle to Supo69 would have gone 68 but 69 is just a better number... -RIDuffer