wmclarenf1

Good to hear Supo. THe problem with tip stiffer, high kick shafts is more often than not they feel boardy. Same problem I am facing with the Kusala Black. Hopefully the BB offers some respite. I hear the Fubuki K is a good solution for a non-boardy higher kicking tip stiff shaft as well. Have you hit the Fubuki K in the past in the same weigght as the BB? Which wil you say launches lower and is tip stiffer hence lower spinning? \

HI, Have you played a DI6S in the same head? If yes, how does this compare in terms of trajectory and spin please. Which you do find feels more one piece? Thanks.

Hi Tario, I see where you are coming at now wirt to my request for Crazy fitting. The RD's do seem soft. YOUr CPM number is based on a 5/6/7 inch clamp and grip on/off/ Hope to hear from you via PM again.

HI, I can tell you the EGG 1+ hybrid is great out of the rough and 180Y for the EGG is not an issue. Gotta hit it though but the EGG1+ is pretty much the best for distance and forgiveness for a hybrid for me.

The CPM comment on a shorter shaft increasing in CPM is true but that is a static figure. There are 3 main components of a shaft that to be concerned about... the Butt which can be a butt soft or not shaft more a feel thing and could benefit different swing profiles. The mid section which can have a high kick profile (bends closer to the butt and lower launch) or a lower kick profile (closer to the tip and higher launch) and finally, the tip section which can be soft to stiff which affect spin from high to low spin respectively and subsequently roll. So going back to your CPM comment, I suspect you are only ever measuring butt frequency or are you suggesting that the CPM figures for the various sections have increased as well? I am not the expert on frequency so others pls chime in. The flex or bend point of a shaft is predominantly in the mid section and hence tipping 1 inch or taking 1 inch off the butt will not significantly change the inherent bend point of the shaft in the mid section but only move it by 1 inch or whatever tipping or trimming was. There is no way tipping will change a low bend high launch shaft to a high bend low launch shaft. So now tipping... yes, it will make the tip stiffer and will hhelp to lower ball flight but only very slightly on the latter. It does have a lot of impact in spin I believe which could affect trajectory if spin was the root evil to begin with but th einherent propoerties of the shaft is really what it started out to be. It the objective is to lower launch and spin, best to look at the head to begin with. Again, some heads are inherently designed to be high launch high spin or whatever and if so, the shaft will tend to exagerate or down play those properties but the head will still essentially do close to what it was designed to do. So where I am coming from is if you have a high launch high spin head and you put in a stiifer for you, high kick tip stiff shaft, yes, trajectory and spin will come down a bit but you will not get it to be a low launching worm burner and that is not what the head was designed to be. You can effect it slightly but that's it. THe head in my 1 cent VAT included view is the key determinant of trajectory and spin. You have to find one first to fit your profile and then work on the shaft to fine tune that even more. Finally, the ball... that is the final fine tuning aspect and that is why there are balls deisgned for more distance (harder in general but dependent on swing speed and crush factor) and then spin (softer in general). There are of course exceptions to every rule but I believe the above are the general confines for fitting. Most important of course is a consistent swing... if you can play consistent to your swing, flaws included, you can benefot a lot with fitting.

Robb, do NOT do this. Tip trimming or butt trimming does NOT really affect FLEX at all. Tipping it helps a bit with lowering ball flight and spin but that's it. The general Flex will still remain. Tipping it within the boundaries of the shaft will not make your Regular flex play like a stiff. Over tipping it and you will have destroyed the shaft and how it was designed and intended to play. THe same from the butt. You can move the section where the shaft is supposed to bend up or down a bit but that's it! This will be a very expensive experiment for you Robb and I highly suggest you do NOT do this. This is also what ECA is saying which I fully agree. Given your swing speed and despite what I read of Crazys playing stiffer to flex, I'm afrid that a Regular flex is perhaps more me and I would have hazard at least a SR to S for you.

These look very nice and solid. Good luck with the sale.

From what I recall reading from some Japanese sites, it has the same butt and mid profile as the DI shafts which are mid launching but the tip on the BB is supposed to be stiffer than its DI kin so lower spinning.

Damn! If the GD BB was a SR flex, I'd be tempted to try it. Good luck with the sale.

I am sorry this didn;t work for you Robb and you did put in more than your fair share. Fortunate for me the Ryoma V Spec is working but not by the leaps and bounds posted here :-) but consistently enough to make me keep it and relegate my AF 101 to the spare equipment box.

Miyazaki Kusala Black 61R. One time pull and used for 2 rounds. PLayed to a 45 in my Ryoma V Spec. PLays stiffer to flex than the GD DI shafts for reference. Untipped. $200 Graphite Design Tour AD SF-6 SR. FW shaft and played to slightly below 43 in the TEE Exotics XCG-3. One time pull. $175 Struggling with photobucklet now. Will try again to load pics within 24 hours.

Hi Frank, I don;t think you can buy Ryoma or Kamui in SG can you? Is there an authorised dealer in SG?

Wow! The EGG didn;t take long at all.

COnsistency... you;re omn the rigth track and target imo. MOst anyone can hit a bomb by his/her standards but can that be repeated for most if not every hole is the key. The performance of a shaft for me has to have consistency factored in and when that is done, the avg distance typically drops but sure, hitting the occasional bomb is possible for most combos.

Just to reconfirm, yours is the new EGG I+ and not the older EGG irons?

Did you use a shim? That's what I had to do with the original TourAd UT shafts in the Cleveland Halo heads.

LOL. Best suggestion :-)

I just got the response from PRGR Japan but its in mm which they gave as 9.2mm so converting to inches (i think) it works out to 0.362. Guess I wil lbe going with a 0.37 and file down to fit.

Thanks in advance.

That is interesting to hear Robb. And yes, I think you have put in quite a bit into this club already. I say if you really want to keep the head, go back to a shaft you are familiar with and has worked for you. That way, you can really see if the head is better. I've just done that with the Ryoma V-Spec last night. Will have a couple of range sessions and a round this weekend to see if the V Spec lives up to the hype but from what I have seen so far with the Black, the head design gives better distance and forgiveness than the AF 101.

Hi Robb, I think it is not so much the weight but the kick point and kick pionts of heavier shafts generally are higher than light weight shafts which help with keeping the ball flight down a bit. With a more aggressive swing, the heavier weight, lower torque and added stoutness may help but weight in itself I do not think affect ball flight. I'm finding the Black to play stiifer to flex. Will try to run-it in at the range for a while more but if that does not work, I may need to switch out to the DI-5 I have in my Epon. I just can;t load the Black consistently enough throughout the round but on good hits, the launch is mid low and it rolls like mad and on courses in my part of the world with the heavy rain of late, that is very good. This is defnitely the shaft for those looking to lower launch and spin. the feel however is good for a stout shaft. And the Ryoma head feels and sounds very very solid. I let an aspiring amateur playing off a 6 hit the combo a couple of nights back to help run-in the shaft and every shot (no kidding, every shot) was a gentle draw and longer than his R11 Ozik setup which TM fit him out with. I reckon if I had a stiff Black in there, he could swing as per normal and get more out of it.

Happy New Year Robb. Per comment "Not heavy enough for a high launch head". I find this interesting and would like to know your builder's rationale behind this and if this is opinion or fact. I don;t agree with this and high launch heads I think were targeted for less than perfect golfers to begin with to help with carry and of course distance. I finally got my Kusala Black and its is low launching and spinning. Still getting used to it.

Best for 2012 to all!

Still the EGG Spoon for me but I have not tried the Ryoma (and no need to :-) The EGG Spoon is that good).

25 and 50 yards.. those numbers are huge but surprising and interesting... it may appear that your existing driver setup is really not right for you? You should offer to buy this exact demo club not even have gocchin build one.