Diamana Blue Board vs. Oban Mach 4

[froggy10]

Posted this in the Shaft Review section as well, but notice very little traffic there so reposting here as well for those interested.

After some 6-7 years of using the same driver and shaft combo (was automatic with it so why screw up a good thing), I finally took the plunge and had myself fitted for a new driver setup. My driver was looking pretty beat up and I just figured it was time.

Previously and up until now I was playing with an Infiniti PFD 360 in a 10.5 degree head (actual loft is one degree more at 11.5) and it is shafted to a classic Fujikura Vista PRO 60 (stiff). SST PUREd and 20g counterweighted. It's been a good driver for me. So it's been kind of difficult pulling the trigger.

Anyway, during the fitting I was able to confirm my swing has not changed that much. Slow to medium tempo back and a somewhat quick transition from the top and consistent acceleration through the ball. The FlightScope software is rather nice in showing all of this off. My release is rather weak though. I just don't trust rolling my arms and wrists. So I lose a lot there. Numbers show an average swing speed of 103 (was at 105 a few years back for the last fitting using Vector I think). Smash factor was 1.43.

What the numbers were showing was that the launch angle was way too high and the spin was in the 3000-4000 range. Distance was averaging in the 220-230 neighborhood. Draw to slight pull. Which sounded about right. In regular play, my drives seem to come in around 250 after any roll and/or wind contribution.

Clearly the 11.5 loft ... although a safe thing ... was not doing me that many favors.

I had been keeping my eye out for a new head and after much reviewing I focused on finding a brand spanking new Bridgestone J33 head in a 10.5 degree. In going from a 360 head to a 460, it's going to take some getting used to. I found one off eBay some time back brand new with a shaft under $100. Sold!

The loft of the head is coming out to be exactly 10.5. Face looks square (as does the Infiniti).

Now to the fitting...

We tried the following shafts in all kinds of variants: Oban (Revenge, Devotion, Mach 4), Fubuki, Diamana (Blue and White), OZIK (XCon, FM, Altus, etc.), and maybe a couple more.

My session lasted some 4 hours!!! We went through something like 30 shafts and 10 balls on each shaft. Each time a shaft was used, we applied impact tape and recorded the drives and then reviewed the results. I was pretty fried by the time we were done.

The head used for the testing was a Nakashima Htec in 10.5 loft and swapped in an out the shafts. I absolutely did not care for this head or it's sound, but it was a good way to evaluate the shafts and results.

The bottom line was I didn't do great with any particular shaft in lowering the spin and launch angle ... except for three. The trick was adjusting the driver head to the correct swingweight. We had to add 1 extra swingweight into the head to get things to settle for me. So a D2 is best for me. That took some time to figure out (e.g. went up and down on the swingweight), but once we got there it was clear the Diamana Blue Board in 63g and 73g plus the Oban Mach 4 were working for me.

Both Diamana shafts worked well for me. Dispersion was surprisingly good, but I leaked a couple left which I never do with my current driver. We agreed that since we evaluated the Diamana late into the fitting session that I was getting pretty tired. Nevertheless, I was pegging the impact tape in the middle EVERY single time with the 73g shaft. Even I was surprised. After 10 drives, the impact tape just had one black dot in the middle. Pretty cool. The FlightScope showed a draw/pull like my previous driver, but with some 20-30 yards in extra distance. Launch had gone down as did the spin to the 2500 range. I did well with the 63g as well, but not quite as great. In the end though it was the 73g shaft version as opposed to the 63 that provided the best numbers out of the two. We even confirmed this when swapping in an out swingweights to the head. Each time with the 73g I was peppering a back dot onto the impact tape. The difference being the dot would move around a little each time we adjusted for swingweight. The 73g shaft does feel nice and I agree from what I'm hearing and reading that it's a smoother feeling shaft. What I liked the most about this shaft was that I felt the loading of the shaft and the delivery of the clubhead through impact. I felt in control. The shaft has a good kick, but not as whippy as my previous Fujikura Vista PRO 60.

The Oban Mach 4 was tested towards the end of the session as well, and it too did well. But not as well as with the Diamana Blue board. Feeling wise, it did not feel as smooth for me but I liked it. I would say it was a little firmer feeling. The counterweight also helped I think. The loading of the shaft could be felt but the delivery of the head to the ball did not have as much kick as the Diamana Blue Board I would say. But the ball came off the face like a rocket. My problem was the inconsistency in the impact tape when compared to the Diamana Blue Board in 73g. FlightScope showed some of the longest drives. Dispersion was good but not as tight as the Diamana. Launch angle and spin were in the Diamana Blue Board range, but nothing that made us go "this is the one".

So we settled on the Diamana Blue Board in 73g. It will be flexed to match my swing and the swingweight will be in D2. We'll work on the counterweighting to see if indeed I can continue to use the 20g weight I had in the old driver.

Stay tuned and I'll report back when I get the driver.