Finally had an opportunity to test the OBAN Kiyoshi White this weekend. When we did the static testing, this shaft was everything OBAN said it was…soft butt section with a stiff mid section and tip. When we build clubs to a particular frequency, or butt stiffness, shafts that have this design tend to feel pretty stiff, or as we say, they play “stiff to their flex”. I play a 6.0 at 45″ in my driver and this shaft definitely felt stiffer than 6.0! While OBAN says this is a mid-launch shaft with low spin, for me this shaft built to my specs launched low and also with very low spin. I ran out of time so did not get to test a slightly softer version of the White 65. Feel was VERY solid. I always test shafts built to my butt stiffness, length and swing weight and always do shaft testing with the same head (in this case a RAZR Extreme 9.5) and ball (TaylorMade Lethal). The only variations in distance and dispersion are then caused by the effective loft and spin of the head and “feel” that may slightly alter the way I swing the club. Remember that the Kiyoshi shafts all play stiff. I used a 3, or R flex to get to my 6.0 (stiff) rating with no tipping. My perfect fit is the OBAN 75 (purple) but, in the right head, the White could be a very good option.
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