Best graphite iron shaft

[me05501]

I'm sort of mentally stuck right now. 

 

My bag is holding my Srixon 765's on Modus 120 S shafts, and I love the way they perform but my elbows and forearms ache pretty constantly. I try to stretch well before hitting, but if I practice or play a few days in a row I can definitely feel the wear and tear. 

 

Meanwhile my backup irons are my tried-and-true Srixon i-506's that came from their Tour department on NV Pro mlti 105's in stiff. Those shafts really fit me well and give me a similar trajectory to the Modus without as much lingering soreness. 

 

My solution lately has been to keep an iron or two from that set in my car and practice with those more than my newer set, but that seems like a silly thing to do. I could easily go back to the i-506's, but I really like my Z765's too. 

 

So of course I'm constantly tempted to reshaft my Z765's with graphite. I've considered taking the ones out of my old set but then those clubs become pretty worthless. I've thought of getting identical shafts for my new clubs since I know I like them, but for the same price I can try something different. 

 

Decisions...

[jeffrey r]

I took out one of my steel shafted sets for one round this past weekend.  And Elevate 105 shafts no less, which have vibration dampening built in.  And I am still paying the darn price--hands hurt, elbows hurt, shoulders hurt, etc.  I've always played that Apex '19 iron set well, but it's just not worth the ill effects.  Back to graphite--just deciding which set. 

 

And I now have a set of G425 irons with Steelfiber i110 S ordered and hoping to receive by 2025....  Seriously though, got fitted, and though I've always played SF 95/110 in regular flex, the stiff seemed to be working very well for me at my demo/fitting, so decided to go with it.  Hope they work out, as I want to just be settled down and locked in with one set.

[Stuart_G]

1 hour ago, me05501 said:

I've thought of getting identical shafts for my new clubs since I know I like them, but for the same price I can try something different. 

 

Where can you find a new set of the nv 105's?   I haven't seen any inventory of those in a long time.  Or even a used set of pulls very often for that matter.

 

But fwiw, I always keep my last set as a practice set to help minimize the wear and tear on the newer faces when hitting range balls.  it doesn't matter to me that the heads or shafts are slightly different.  They are close enough or they wouldn't have been much of a fit in the first place.

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Stuart_G

[SEP1006]

On 3/31/2021 at 12:53 PM, GSDriver said:

Accra i Series, Recoil Protos, MMT come to mind....Accra probably the best

 

I would definitely agree with Accra being the best. Played them in my PXG Gen 1, 2 and 3 irons, so basically 5 years. Accra Tour 100i in the Gen 1 and 2, 90i in the Gen 3 irons.

 

When I ordered the Gen 4 the Accras weren't available due to Covid.  So I ended up going with the MMT 80's in stiff, they actually weigh 86 grams so real close to the Accra's. Shaft worked out perfect, pretty much identical with the Accra 90i with the exception of a little bit higher ball flight.

[jeffrey r]

I've been doing some testing out on the course with Recoil 95 F3 and 95 F4 shafts.  Out on the course, I was finding them both playable, and in fact was finding the F3 very easy and pleasant to play.  Something felt missing a bit with the F3, though.  For reference, I was recently fitted for some Ping irons, and was swinging 7 iron around 84mph.

 

So, since it rained all weekend here in NJ, I go to PGASS, and demo the Mizuno 921 Hot Metals with the 95 F3, 95 F4, and Steelfiber 110 S (which I have previously been fitted for).  While I do really enjoy and value on-course testing, very often you need that objective data to show you what you are either seeing on the course (or not seeing).  Anyway, it was no contest, as the Recoil 95 F4 had about 7mph better ball speed, and 15 yards more carry and total distance, compared to the Recoil 95 F3.  Recoil 95 F4 and SF 110 were nearly identical numbers (SF slightly lower spin). 

 

Good to get that confirmation, and while I am waiting for my new Ping irons with SF 110 (probably a long while), JPX 919 Forged with Recoil 95 F4 are going back in my bag with confidence. 

[ShowMe]

On 6/1/2021 at 9:43 AM, jeffrey r said:

I've been doing some testing out on the course with Recoil 95 F3 and 95 F4 shafts.  Out on the course, I was finding them both playable, and in fact was finding the F3 very easy and pleasant to play.  Something felt missing a bit with the F3, though.  For reference, I was recently fitted for some Ping irons, and was swinging 7 iron around 84mph.

 

So, since it rained all weekend here in NJ, I go to PGASS, and demo the Mizuno 921 Hot Metals with the 95 F3, 95 F4, and Steelfiber 110 S (which I have previously been fitted for).  While I do really enjoy and value on-course testing, very often you need that objective data to show you what you are either seeing on the course (or not seeing).  Anyway, it was no contest, as the Recoil 95 F4 had about 7mph better ball speed, and 15 yards more carry and total distance, compared to the Recoil 95 F3.  Recoil 95 F4 and SF 110 were nearly identical numbers (SF slightly lower spin). 

 

Good to get that confirmation, and while I am waiting for my new Ping irons with SF 110 (probably a long while), JPX 919 Forged with Recoil 95 F4 are going back in my bag with confidence. 

Yeah, not wanting to wait until 2015, I happened across of set G425s with the Alta CB graphite stiff shafts at my local golf shop.  I bought them, thinking I would order some SF shafts (my graphite shaft of choice, generally speaking) if the Alta's didn't work.  But then when I hit the irons, I was hitting them really, really, well with the Alta's, so I thought I was all set.  No need to order the SFs.

 

Then, stupidly, I went to PGATSS last weekend and tried the SF95 S with the G425s, and of course the SF 95s performed better than the Alta's.  Now I'm debating whether I want to stick with the Alta's and continue to hit the G425s really, really well, or put in some SF95s and hit them really, really, really well.  Trying to decide if the additional "really" is worth $400.

 

Interestingly (well, to me anyway), I also tried the Hot Metal, Hot Metal Pros, and Hot Metal Forged with both the Recoil 95 F4 and the SF 95s, and the G425s outperformed all of them (with both the Alta's and the SFs).  I also tried the Apex 21 and Apex 21 DCBs with the MMT 95 Stiff, and the G425s outperformed them too.

[jeffrey r]

11 minutes ago, ShowMe said:

Yeah, not wanting to wait until 2015, I happened across of set G425s with the Alta CB graphite stiff shafts at my local golf shop.  I bought them, thinking I would order some SF shafts (my graphite shaft of choice, generally speaking) if the Alta's didn't work.  But then when I hit the irons, I was hitting them really, really, well with the Alta's, so I thought I was all set.  No need to order the SFs.

 

Then, stupidly, I went to PGATSS last weekend and tried the SF95 S with the G425s, and of course the SF 95s performed better than the Alta's.  Now I'm debating whether I want to stick with the Alta's and continue to hit the G425s really, really well, or put in some SF95s and hit them really, really, really well.  Trying to decide if the additional "really" is worth $400.

 

Interestingly (well, to me anyway), I also tried the Hot Metal, Hot Metal Pros, and Hot Metal Forged with both the Recoil 95 F4 and the SF 95s, and the G425s outperformed all of them (with both the Alta's and the SFs).  I also tried the Apex 21 and Apex 21 DCBs with the MMT 95 Stiff, and the G425s outperformed them too.

 

First of all, that is great that the Alta CB graphite stiff is legit, as especially in the current environment, being able to buy stock is helpful.  But also no surprise that the SF i95 beats out the Alta CB.  That's a tough one for the Alta to compete with the likes of SF, Recoils, etc. 

 

I have an order in for G425s with SF i110, but I fear I may be waiting until August or so, past the mid-way mark of our season here.  They were really good in my outdoor demo, with good numbers and good performance, so I can't wait to get them.  Until then, I am playing my 919 Forged with Recoil 95 F4, and at the moment, T300 with Kuro Kage 105 (which is another excellent, relatively unknown graphite shaft). 

[95124hacker]

At the US Women’s Open today, I basically camped out on the 180 yd downhill par 3 3rd hole. Saw a lot of Steelfibers but maybe even more KBS TGI’s. Those who said TGI’s are the best, what were your previous gamers & what makes TGI’s better?

[BackNineCollapse]

15 hours ago, 95124hacker said:

At the US Women’s Open today, I basically camped out on the 180 yd downhill par 3 3rd hole. Saw a lot of Steelfibers but maybe even more KBS TGI’s. Those who said TGI’s are the best, what were your previous gamers & what makes TGI’s better?

 

I have TGIs in one of my sets.  It's a very smooth feeling shaft.  They say it's the same profile as the steel Tour shaft, but it's really closer to the C-Taper light (which is by far KBS' best selling shaft).  The only issue with the TGI is like all KBS shafts, weight equals stiffness.  I'm very shaft insensitive, shafts don't really change my ball flight appreciably, so I go almost exclusively by feel.  As such, the fact that the TGI 110s I have are as stiff as a C-Taper 130gs (in the same ballpark as DG X7, PX 7.0) is fine for me, even though my normal 7 iron speed is 'only' 90mph (they recommend 95+mph 7 iron for the 110, per their recommendations I'd be between a 90 and 100).

 

KBS knows the market, which is why they released a lighter version (TGI Max).  They must not feel the market justifies a heavier version (say 15g heavier that the TGI Tours, so a S comes in at 105, S+ at 115 and X at 125g instead of 90/100/110 in the TGI Tour).

 

Most recently I've played Nippon shafts, again for the smooth feel.  I played the Modus 120 and 130, basically same results, overall I liked the feel of the 130 more.

 

My other current set has Elevate ETS shafts, which also feel great to me (and in our lab reduce vibrational energy to a very similar degree as 'heavier' graphite shafts.