Help with shaft please

[Hack31]

Curious if anyone can tell me about this shaft as I've never seen one like it

 

[Red4282]

I could be totally wrong here but beware any shaft that has the brands name on it- in this case “taylor made” more times than not they are a cheaper version of the real thing.

[phatchrisrules]

> @Hack31 said:

> Curious if anyone can tell me about this shaft as I've never seen one like it

>

>

 

That is an Oban Kiyoshi 75X that has been painted to match the RBZ Stage II graphics. Taylormade did this starting with the R7 and continued it through the SLDR (possibly even R15) for their tour shafts. It was a way for the player to play whatever shaft worked best for them but still have the Taylormade graphics on it. It allowed TM to essentially trick spectators and television into thinking that the stock shafts were what the tour guys were using.

It is a real deal Oban just with a different paint scheme. Nothing special, rare, or exciting really. I think you could even get these at retail with the Stage II as I distinctly remember ordering a Matrix Black Tie for someone in an SLDR and it came with the yellow/black painted shaft which took me back for a second until I looked at the graphics more closely.

[Stuart_G]

> @Red4282 said:

> I could be totally wrong here but beware any shaft that has the brands name on it- in this case “taylor made” more times than not they are a cheaper version of the real thing.

 

True in some cases but TM commonly used to put out aftermarket shafts with TM specific graphics - particularly around the period of 2011 to 2014. The TP graphic is a good indicator that that might be the case here. Also, not 100% - but pretty sure TM never used Oban for any stock shafts. Those graphics and general coloring look reminiscent of the RBZ Stage 2 releases. And the stock (proprietary) shaft for those were Matrix or Fuji. So in this case it's very likely a real Oban Kiyoshi Black.

 

https://www.obanshafts.com/woods/kiyoshi-black/

[KC13]

Aftermarket shaft with TaylorMade graphics (RBZ Stage II I believe). These shafts were typically tour issued and not your standard stock shaft for the club. Looks like the real deal, enjoy!

 

- KC

[joey3108]

> @KC13 said:

> Aftermarket shaft with TaylorMade graphics (RBZ Stage II I believe). These shafts were typically tour issued and not your standard stock shaft for the club. Looks like the real deal, enjoy!

>

> - KC

 

Bingo!

 

 

[Hack31]

Thanks guy, I have a few oban shafts and had never seen one like this and was trying to figure it out. Much appreciated!

[Red4282]

> @Stuart_G said:

> > @Red4282 said:

> > I could be totally wrong here but beware any shaft that has the brands name on it- in this case “taylor made” more times than not they are a cheaper version of the real thing.

>

> True in some cases but TM commonly used to put out aftermarket shafts with TM specific graphics - particularly around the period of 2011 to 2014. The TP graphic is a good indicator that that might be the case here. Also, not 100% - but pretty sure TM never used Oban for any stock shafts. Those graphics and general coloring look reminiscent of the RBZ Stage 2 releases. And the stock (proprietary) shaft for those were Matrix or Fuji. So in this case it's very likely a real Oban Kiyoshi Black.

>

> https://www.obanshafts.com/woods/kiyoshi-black/

 

Interesting did not know that. I know 07-12 was really when made for shafts started showing up, hated they were trying to trick consumers.

 

[Stuart_G]

> @Red4282 said:

> Interesting did not know that. I know 07-12 was really when made for shafts started showing up, hated they were trying to trick consumers.

>

 

I think it was most widespread in the r11 and r11s releases. You can probably still find lots of aftermarket shafts w/ r11 graphics on ebay. I think the point was to get everyone to have a club (including shaft) that looked the same as the pros regardless of what shaft was actually selected. It made it harder to identify exactly which model shaft a pro was using - but then that was never really a good way for a consumer to pick a particular shaft anyways. One might argue using the pro's to sell a shaft is also tricking the customer just as much or even a worse way "play shaft X because big name player A is using it". At least the OEM proprietary shafts were designed for the average consumer, not the average pro. In fact, one might argue that many of those "tricked" by the made-for shafts were probably better off with them than they would have been with the real deal versions - but that (aftermarket vs "made-for") is really a topic that's been beat to death so doesn't really need to be revisited or brought back to life.