Counter Balanced Driver Shafts are Hot!

Counter Balanced Driver Shafts are Hot!

Tensei CK Pro Orange

Tensei CK Pro Orange

Counter balanced driver shafts are starting to be all the rage both on tour and in our clients hands.  Why?  Because most manufacturers of drivers are making their club heads much heavier these days and golfers do not want to feel like they are swinging a sledge hammer!  Tour pros like Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, and Rory McIlroy have opted for counter balanced shafts like the Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei CK Pro Orange in order to reduce total weight and increase club head speed (not that they need any help, mind you)! 

With shafts that are counter balanced, swing weights can be reduced 2 to 3 points creating a lighter head feel and potentially generating more clubhead speed.

Driver Head Weights Today

As recently as 2015, driver head weights were pretty much right around 200 grams.  Today, we are seeing headweights of 203 grams consistently but some as high as 209.  Every 2 grams adds a swing weight so instead of a D0 at 45 inches, you may see D3 to D4.  The average golfer with a smooth tempo will like a lighter swing weight.  So, up until counter balanced driver shafts came along, you only had a couple options.

Changing Driver Length

To make a club play lighter, you could cut the shaft down from the butt end.  Contrary to popular opinion, cutting the shaft from the butt DOES NOT make it play stiffer.  Because the swing weight gets lighter, the club may FEEL stiffer, but a CPM test will not show any difference, even cutting the shaft down as much as an inch.  Each 1/2 inch cut down results in a loss of roughly 3 swing weight points.  This means a 45 inch driver at D3 will play at D0 when cut to 44.5 inches.

Counter Balancing with Butt Weight

The other option to reduce the swing weight and corresponding head-heavy feel is to add weight to the butt end of the club.  This is a common practice in putters but not so much in drivers.  Balance Certified has been offering counter balance weights for years for all clubs.  If that is not an option, you can put on a heavier grip (change from Winn to Golf Pride) and take off a swing weight or more.  Another option is to put lead tape under the grip.

Multiple Shaft Options Are Available

While the Tensei CK Pro Orange is the most recent shaft to offer counterbalancing, there are several options from other manufacturers.  The CK Pro Orange is available in 65 and 75 gr (Low Trajectory, Low Spin).

ACCRA Golf

Tour Z RPG 300 and 400 Series  Available in 55, 65, 75, 85 gr in the RPG 300 series and 65 and 75 gr in the 400 series.

Fujikura

Pro 2.0 and Pro 2.0 Tour Spec    Available in 57, 67 and 75 gr. in Pro (Mid Trajectory and Mid Spin) and 67, 77 and 85 gr in Tour Spec (Low-Mid Trajectory and Low-Mid Spin).

OBAN 

Kiyoshi HB (High Balance Point)  Available in 55, 65 and 75 gr. Mid-High Trajectory and Mid-High Spin.

Devotion HB (High Balance Point)  Available in 55, 65 and 75 gr.  (Low-Mid Trajectory and Low-Mid Spin)

Project X

HZRDUS Yellow  Available in 63 and 76 gr. (Low Trajectory, Low Spin)

HZRDUS T1100  Available in 65 and 75 gr.  ( Low Trajectory, Low Spin)

Even Flow Black  Available in 65, 75 and 85 gr. (Low-Mid Trajectory, Low-Mid Spin).

Even Flow Blue  Available in 55, 65 and 75 gr.  (Mid Trajectory, Mid Spin)

Dan Sueltz