All the different "made for" shafts?

PT1911 · June 27, 2006

What's the difference?

What is the difference, if any, of the OEM companies aftermarket shafts "made especially" for them? Like Aldila, Fujikura, Diamana, ect. making shafts for OEM clubs, are they the same shafts the aftermarket company makes but just with different printing on it? Or are the shafts they supply to OEM's on the higher side of the tolerance zone that might have been "rejected"?

frozen_rope · June 27, 2006

Titielist has shaft manufacturers , like True Temper and Fujikura, design and make shafts for a specific head.

For example, when Titleist first introduced the 975D they had TT make a special shaft bend point which worked perfectly with the length of the neck of a 975D head. This made for a well balanced and playable club.

In contrast, the shafts which manufacturers send to club repair shops are not designed for a speciic head.

This is why reshaft jobs often produce a club that is out of balance and less playable than an OEM assembled club.

PT1911 · June 27, 2006

I guess to be a little more specific, lets take the Aldila NV series shafts, they are made for Cobra, Ben Hogan, Tour Edge, ect. now are those shafts that have the company name/logo printed on them the "exact same" shaft as a regular NV ordered from Aldila? Or like the Sonartec 3-wood I have, it has a Fujikura Tour Platform shaft with Sonartec printed all over it......is it the "exact same" shaft as a Fujikura Tour Platform ordered out of Golfsmith?

Gxgolfer · June 27, 2006

Like the previous post stated, in general the made bys are designed for a specific head. T-Speeder has a longer parallel section for the Titleist heads. Tolerances and quality should be the same. The shafts aren't fitted to players, only to heads. After market shafts are fitted by clubmakers for players and heads for the best combo. The OEMs are "optomized" for the avg player metrics.

frozen_rope · June 27, 2006

No, they are not the same.

The large OEM's like Titleist/Cobra have the shaft manufactuer make the shafts specs (i.e. weight, flex, bend point, tip size etc...) specifically for a particular clubhead design.

The reason they use the same model shaft name (i.e. Aldila NV or Fujikura Speeder) is because the shaft maker is spending money advertising that shaft model name, and the OEM's want to benefit from that brand-model name exposure.

In summary, Titleist/Cobra is aware that the public views Alidila NV has a "hot shaft", so they will then have Aldila make a special version of the NV just for a particular Titleist/Cobra clubhead. The customer ends up benefitting because the club he gets from the OEM is well balanced.

Gxgolfer · June 27, 2006

I agree with what you are saying except this part.

In contrast, the shafts which manufacturers send to club repair shops are not designed for a speciic head.
This is why reshaft jobs often produce a club that is out of balance and less playable than an OEM assembled club.

I would think most clubmakers are reputable and can correctly fit a player to a shaft/head combo.

SwingMan · June 27, 2006

I've tried an aftermarket NV and NVs designed for Adams - in Adams hybrids and the Tour Proto Retail Fairway - my experience is that the Adams NV (75 in the fw and 85 in the hybrid) have a softer tip that makes the shaft feel smoother (because the tip isn't fighting to keep the flight down like the normal NV) and gives the ball a higher launch.

So - no, the Adams NV is not a true NV, but it fits my swing better.