What's New: From the Lab

The Project X CATALYST CW 80 and 100 shafts are a great option for golfers wanting a graphite shaft rather than steel but do not want a higher launching shaft.  Designed with a firmer tip section that is similar in properties to steel shafts, these 80 and 100 gram shafts are much lower launching than some of the graphite shafts of similar weights in the market. Book your fitting to see if these shafts will work for your swing! In addition, because of the firmer tip design, these CATALYST CW shafts offer better turf interaction for better shot dispersion and consistent ball flight. And of course a feature of these heavier weight graphite composite shafts is the vibration dampening gives a better feel than steel on miss-hit shots. The CATALYST CW(constant weight) shafts come in two weights, the CATALYST 80 (85 grams) and the CATALYST 100 (100 grams).  The shafts are Constant Weight design so each shaft will weigh the same in a 3 iron length or a PW length.  These shafts are only available in taper tip (.355″) but lengths from 3 iron to Pitching Wedge. Book your fitting to see if these shafts will work for your swing!... Read More

KBS is really putting some effort into their graphite shafts with the new KBS MAX Graphite iron shafts.  What is cool about these shafts is that they come in 5 different weight classes and are designed for high to mid-high launch which is great for today’s iron head designs for slower swing speeds.  Book your fitting to see which shaft will work for your swing! The other nice thing about these shafts is that they are designed for custom club builders like us so that we can really adjust flex and launch angle according to the needs of our customers.  These shafts are available in 45, 55, 65, 75 and 85 gram models.  In our preliminary testing, these shafts show very good consistency and quality across all weight classes.  Shaft profiles are also similar in each weight so we are confident that the launch characteristics will be similar, for example, between a 65 and 75 gram version. Book your fitting to see which shaft will work for your swing! Dan Sueltz  

The new Project X HZRDUS Smoke Yellow is the latest addition to the new Smoke line.  The Smoke Yellow continues the same counter balanced design as the original Yellow which will help reduce swing weight by up to three points in today’s modern drivers.  Featuring different materials, the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow will have a stiffer mid section which will make this shaft feel very stable from transition to impact.  This shaft is really more mid launch but still has pretty low spin in our testing.  Great not only for driver but fairway woods! The butt stiffness of the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow is pretty stout which is why the shafts are designated TS and TX for Tour Stiff and Tour X.  These shafts will play a full flex stiffer in the butt section versus a traditional S or X flex. The thing we also like about these shafts is that they are also a little higher torque so the feel will be a lot smoother even though the shafts have a stiff butt section and midsection.  Available in 6.0TS, TX and 6.5TS, TX in 60 gr (66-67) and 6.0TS, TX and 6.5TS, TX in 70 gr (76-78). Book your fitting to... Read More

We have tested a wide variety of fairway woods introduced in 2018-2019 and the results are not totally surprising.  There are some new models that are making some statements, like PXG and Tour Edge. How We Test All of our club testing is done with shafts that have been determined to be the best fit for our testers.  That way, the results are truly independent of the stock shaft a particular manufacturer may use.  Our testers range from low to high handicappers and swing speeds from 80 to 110 with a driver. Big Improvements in Performance Well, the changes in the way the USGA measures the legality of drivers, fairway woods and hybrids have given some clubs a tremendous amount of added distance.  I did an article on this a few years ago and the major manufacturers have jumped on the change from COR to CT measurements.  I also had it confirmed by the senior product director at one of the major manufacturers.  The best new fairway woods will show increases of 1-4 mph in ball speed, reduced spin and higher launch angles.  The result is that now you can hit a higher lofted fairway wood, a 4 wood for example... Read More

ACCRA Golf Shafts Exclusively for Clubfitters Winner of the 2019 U.S. Open trusted ACCRA shafts in his driver and 3 wood.  Check out his bag here! If you have not heard of ACCRA golf shafts, it is about time you did!  These shafts have been in the industry for years and are offered exclusively through a network of the most talented clubfitters and club builders in the world.  At D’Lance Golf Performance Center, we offer every shaft available from ACCRA.  We have tested all of them in our shaft profiling system and know EXACTLY which shaft(s) will work for your swing.  Here are the cool things to know about ACCRA shafts: Shafts for Beginners and Pros A lot of shaft companies focus only on the PGA Tour players and develop shafts strictly for that audience.  They hope that this will have a “trickle down” effect so the average golfer will buy those shafts.  The problem is, most golfers could never swing the shaft that the tour pros use!   So, ACCRA has made several different lines of shafts with different shaft profiles and different price points.  This means that the average golfer can get “fitted” with shafts that match THEIR swing but... Read More

True Temper has added two new light weight steel shafts to their iron shaft product offerings.  Both of these new shafts offer their proprietary Vibration Suppression System (VSS) for golfers looking for relief from tendonitis or arthritis and do not want to switch to graphite shafts.  Here is our take on these new shafts: ELEVATE 95 with VSS Designed to launch higher and spin more than a traditional light weight steel shaft, these shafts are a good match for some of today’s modern low-spinning iron heads.  Great option here to help drop and stop on the green.  These shafts come in R and S flex in parallel tip (.370″) that allow us as club builders to dial in very specific stiffness numbers.  As with most iron shafts under 100 grams, do not expect these shafts to feel as stiff as say a Dynamic Gold S300.  We expect them to build to about a full flex softer than their stated flex.  Again, all of this depends upon length and swing weight.  Perfect for players with smooth tempos looking for an alternative to graphite. Dynamic Gold 95 with VSS Based upon some of the designs True Temper has done for the Japan... Read More

There are some new Miura wedges for 2019 that you should take a look at.  Specifically, the popular K-Grind wedge has been re-introduced as KGrind 2.0 and it looks sweet!  Of course all Miura clubs including these wedges are hand crafted to the highest quality.  New innovations include a more modern sole design with heel and toe relief as well as new options in lofts (52 to 60 degree) and higher bounces.  And, the face grooves are now milled for better spin on mid to full shots. By design, the flutes in the sole of the wedge serve to keep the face square to the target through all types of turf and bunker conditions. And, there is a new HB Wedge coming in about 45 days that you will want to check out! Sign up today for an iron or wedge fitting! Dan Sueltz

Book Your Driver Fitting Here! It has been a long time coming but Mizuno ST190 drivers are going to make a dent in the very competitive driver market.  Over the last say 4 years, Mizuno has made a big push to expand their market share beyond just irons, wedges and hybrids.  To be very honest, the technology may have been there, but golfers just were not into looking at a blue crown.  And, with very little presence on tour, it was still a tough sell. Well, all that has changed here with the new ST190 and ST190G drivers. Incorporating a very forgiving and fast SP700Ti face, light Cortech technology and a composite crown, these drivers LOOK like they will deliver the speed and accuracy.  And in our preliminary testing, ball speeds are up from last year’s models, smash factors in the 1.48-1.50 range and a bit more consistency than other models we tested.  Again, just a few preliminary tests but so far so good. The ST190 (on the right in the photo) is the most forgiving head designed for slightly higher launch and spin than the ST190G.  But, the ST190G weights can be moved to adjust for height and spin... Read More

Wow!  What a great addition the JPX-919 Hot Metal Pro makes to the JPX-919 lineup!  This is not the first time Mizuno has done a “Pro” version of one of its lines and probably will not be the last. If you are transitioning from some cavity back or even muscle back irons and want a little more bang for your buck, the JPX-919 Hot Metal Pro should be on your radar!  Not all that much smaller than the standard model, the Pro model offers a slightly thinner top line and less offset, with all of the technology of the original JPX-919 Hot Metal. While we have done a LOT of combo sets with the JPX-919 Forged, the new JPX-919 Pro will offer the same look in a combo set.  What’s not to love about this great new addition to the Mizuno JPX-919 line? Book your Iron Fitting Here! Dan Sueltz

There are a lot of new driver shafts hitting the market in 2019.  This looks to be an exciting array of shafts with a lot of different characteristics.  The list below is in alphabetical order so there is no bias in our list.  We test all of these shafts in our lab and with our testing crew so we know how these shafts will perform.  Let me try to break this down into the type of new driver shaft that may work for you. Book Your Driver Fitting Now!   Strong, Aggressive Swing Looking for Stability There are a lot of great new shafts to look for in this category:  High swing speed, medium to fast tempo and transition, and mid to late release.  And the nice thing is they come in heavier weights to handle the shaft loading.  Here are our top picks: ACCRA Tour Z RPG, TZ 5 and TZ 6 Aerotech TI Fiber Tour 70 Aldila Rogue Tour Silver 130 Fujikura VENTUS and Speeder TR Graphite Design Tour AD IZ  LA Golf TPHDE and Black Tie Mitsubishi CK Pro White and Kuro Kage XD OBAN Airburst 65 Paderson Ballistic Tour  Project X EvenFlow White T1100 and HZRDSU... Read More