Aldila recently released their ATX Tour Green and Tour Blue wood shafts to the marketplace after extensive tour testing in 2013. The Tour Blue is the higher launching of the two shafts. We recently tested two different shaft setups in the 65 and 75 gram categories. Overall, our testers rated the Tour Blue 4.5 out of 5 based on the following:
Appearance: Very nice looking shaft with clean graphics and crisp colors. The matte finish should not show quite as much bag rash.
Flexes Available: R,S,X and TX in both the 65 and 75 gram.
MSRP: $349.00 USD
Availability: Directly from Aldila, or from a variety of fitters and some retail golf stores.
Weight Consistency: 4.5 out of 5
Butt Stiffness (CPM): Consistent increase in CPM from R through X. TX tests the same as X so only difference is torque. Consistency is 4.5 out of 5.
Tip Stiffness: Mid-Soft
Mid Stiffness: Mid-Soft
Balance Point: Will yield an average swing weight.
Torque: Good transition of higher torque in R flex to lowest torque in TX flex. Mid-high torque rating on average:
SQI (Shaft Quality Index): 93.6 out of 100 (Above Average)
Trajectory: Launch angle is mid-high. Tested against other mid-high launch shafts, the Tour Blue was .5 degrees higher launch.
Spin: Mid spin. The spin rate on the Tour Blue was a little lower than we expected.
Feel: Solid feel for the lower swing speed testers. Feels like a two-piece shaft with a hinge kick at the bottom. Higher swing speed and faster transition testers said the shaft felt loose during the downswing.
General: Three out of four raters felt there was a little looseness in the feel of the Tour Blue. Raters had driver swing speeds from 79 mph to 110 mph and had shafts that were matched to their swings. Personally, I would like to see an 85 gram shaft as that weight would work better in fairway woods for higher swing speed players.
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