*Graphite Design Lovers Anonymous* Tour AD UB vs IZ vs XC and NOW vs TP! ...and HD....and VR

[third-times-a-charm]

On 6/14/2024 at 9:15 PM, mizuno player said:

IMO. UB has less kick than Di.  It also spins less for me as well as launches lower as phizzy stated. For me I was.ablw to go to a 10° head swing hard and fast and just launch it. It's been a great shaft for me. 

Same here. Love the UB. I think I've mentioned this before in here but I initially hated the UB but didnt give it the proper go/swung bad those days. I was finally able to swing it well and it just came alive - and now I have the UB in every wood in my bag. I do have them tipped an extra .5" in fairways, though.

[mizuno player]

10 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

Same here. Love the UB. I think I've mentioned this before in here but I initially hated the UB but didnt give it the proper go/swung bad those days. I was finally able to swing it well and it just came alive - and now I have the UB in every wood in my bag. I do have them tipped an extra .5" in fairways, though.

Just got a tsr 3 wood and put the UB in it. I haven't hit it off the tee much yet. But off the turf it's really good.  I'm going to test the GT with the UB in week. 

[jeffrey r]

On 6/25/2024 at 9:20 AM, 10&8 said:

So I did a fun little “experiment” this spring. I’ve been playing the TP in 6x for almost 7 years now. Read about all the hype regarding the VF so I decided to order one and put it in my TSR4. It obviously wasn’t the right profile for me, as I was getting high right spinners with it. I think it’s too tip stiff for my swing. My pro then had me try out the AI Smoke TD with the Denali Black 6.5. Straight flat bombs with every shot. Decided to buy it….and as we all know, once it got delivered I couldn’t hit it to save my life. Spent the last 2 months trying to keep it on the golf course. Last round I grabbed my TSR4 with the trusted TP. Hit 14/14 fairways. Safe to say it’s going back in the bag. I honestly think the TP is one of the most underrated shafts of all time. 

 

I have been loving the HD in the G430 Max 10K. I remembered I had a BB 6S around, so I threw that in recently for the heck of it. Couldn’t hit it worth a lick—just so stiff.

 

The GD stiffer shafts like the BB, XC, VF, etc. are really quite stiff, and require a specific type of swinger. For the rest of us, I think the TP, HD, IZ and UB are more in the wheelhouse. YMMV.

[phizzy30]

10 hours ago, jeffrey r said:

 

I have been loving the HD in the G430 Max 10K. I remembered I had a BB 6S around, so I threw that in recently for the heck of it. Couldn’t hit it worth a lick—just so stiff.

 

The GD stiffer shafts like the BB, XC, VF, etc. are really quite stiff, and require a specific type of swinger. For the rest of us, I think the TP, HD, IZ and UB are more in the wheelhouse. YMMV.

You're correct  The XC and VF are whiteboard profiles that come to life with an aggressive transition.  The others you mentioned are more blue boardish where a smoother transition works.  VF works great for me while the XC is good.  However, the more "blue board" profiles you mentioned were prone to the lefts for me.  

[jeffrey r]

1 hour ago, phizzy30 said:

You're correct  The XC and VF are whiteboard profiles that come to life with an aggressive transition.  The others you mentioned are more blue boardish where a smoother transition works.  VF works great for me while the XC is good.  However, the more "blue board" profiles you mentioned were prone to the lefts for me.  

 

Yep--the strange thing is, I play Smoke Black 6.0 in my fairways and hybrids, and have tried to switch and upgrade or whatever, but always come back to the Smoke Black. Point being, I can play some pretty stiff and low spin shafts, but they just don't work well for me in the driver. 

 

To your point about the lefts (rights for me as a lefty), I have not found the IZ or HD to be particularly biased in one direction, while I have not hit the TP, and had a two-way miss with the UB in a short trial. The VR on the other hand gave me agita with the rights (and on multiple occasions, I ended up on a different fairway to the right off the tee, rather than my intended fairway).

 

In any case, I seem to have found my goldilocks for the time being with the HD-6S paired with the 10K 9* at the small +. Been a game-changer for me.  

[Judge Smails]

I had an DI --> VR --> TP shout out today!  All shafts are 7s in a TSR2 head.

 

Backstory:

 

I played the DI 7x for 10 years in a variety of Titleist "3" heads.  I then strayed a bit trying the TP and HD, but landed on a Tensei 1k White.  

 

Fast forward to today, I am recovering from a severed quad tendon and am 14 months out.  I am rebuilding my whole bag in Stiff flex instead of X.

 

Today, my shoot out put the TP in the top spot which was a big surprise!  I have always played the TP in my 3 wood but was kind of shocked I liked it more in the driver.  I felt it would be the stoutest and not what I need while still recovering.  Turns out I hit it both higher and straighter than the DI, about the same height as the VR but much straighter, and it felt the best of the bunch!

 

More to follow as I continue my test.

[Honman]

Finally got to try VF5 today. Really liked what I was seeing. Was surprised when I saw I was using an R1 flex but it was nice and stable and reminded me of an old school whiteboard in a good way.