Golf’s Newest Equipment Buzz in 2008: Interchangeable Shafts

After just getting back from the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show the biggest buzz came from some very big news from the golf equipment industry about interchangeable shafts. Last summer the USGA announced a rules change that allowed golf clubs to be adjustable in areas other than weight, so the story from the PGA show was interchangeable shafts.

In short, a number of manufacturers are coming to the marketplace (or will shortly) with shafts that you can pop in and out of your driver in less than 30 seconds, using a small tool, about as easy as changing blades in a shaver. These drivers will have exactly the same feel and performance of a traditional glued-and-assembled model. Even in tournament play, players will be able to pop in a different shaft before hitting the course, though changes will not be allowed mid-round. TaylorMade even expects some of its PGA Tour players to use adjustable-shaft models in tournaments this year.

"I think it's going to be the start of a significant trend," said Tom Stites, Nike's clubmaking specialist. "Is it going to be as radical and revolutionary as anything we've seen in the last 20 years? I don't know yet. It's exciting and it has potential."

The excitement will be coming from all directions. TaylorMade, Callaway, Nike, Ping, Nickent and Titleist, among others, are either bringing out adjustable clubs soon or are expected to come out with them later this year. Most are already using some form of this technology for club-fitting, although only three have currently unveiled a retail version coming out this spring; Callaway, Taylormade, and Nickent.

Give the USGA credit for being ahead of the curve. The rule change allowed companies to perfect and break out this new technology this year. Dick Rugge, the USGA's technical expert, sees it as a sort of giveback to both the manufacturers and the average golfer.

"We have a responsibility to keep looking at rules, and we've been doing that with clubhead sizes, moment of inertia, coefficient of restitution, and we've been closing some doors on the manufacturers," Rugge said. "We have a responsibility to open doors as well. We got to thinking about it, and a Tour player goes into an equipment van at a tournament and gets his shaft changed in five minutes and costs him nothing. For the rest of us mere mortals, we don't have a place to do that, and if we did, it would cost a fortune. The pros effectively have adjustable clubs."

Titleist's Brett Porath said: "It's a way for the USGA to provide an opportunity for the average person to try all these clubs like the pros do."

The golf shaft is the engine of the golf club and some will say that it’s the most important piece of a golf club. Over the past decade graphite shafts have improved in leaps and bounds and seem to have gained as much interest as the head of a golf club. Golfers will now be able to easily try out a number of exotic (and frequently high-priced) shafts until they find the right fit. If a hotter new shaft comes out next month, it will be easy to test drive.

Players will also be able to change shafts to fit playing conditions. Playing in a tournament after a bout of heavy rain? Switch your shaft to a model that provides more loft and higher ball flight. Facing windy conditions on an ocean or links course? Take 30 seconds to switch to a shaft that provides a lower trajectory. Golfers looking for more control on certain days or tree-lined courses might opt for a shorter shaft for more accuracy. Or keep the same shaft and swap out the driver head for more loft or less loft. The possibilities are virtually endless.

The TaylorMade "Tour Van in a Box" package includes a newly developed r7 CGB Max Limited clubhead with three Moveable Weight Ports in a choice of three lofts, three shafts with distinctly different launch properties, two shaft securing bolts, nine moveable weights, a torque wrench and headcover.

All the graphite shafts are 45 inches. They include: a 75g Fujikura Rombax with medium-firm tip, low spin and medium launch angle; 65g Mitsubishi Diamana White Board with firm tip, softer butt section, reduced spin and lower launch angle; 55g Matrix Ozik XCon with medium-soft tip for added kick through impact, low spin and high launch angle.

Overall, 1,071 possible launch conditions may be achieved with 33 yards of left-to-right adjustability. Shipping in April, suggested retail price for the TaylorMade set is $999.

"It's shaft du jour," said TaylorMade's Sean Toulon. "Within minutes, players can change shafts depending on time of year, state of their swing, weather or course conditions, or any reason," said Toulon.

"It's a little difficult to tell which one is going to be the hot shaft. Golfers see Steve Stricker or Sergio Garcia playing something, and they want to play it, too. This idea of monkeying around with shafts is pretty cool. When you're driving it not so great, it's typically the driver's fault, not yours. Well, if you're using a 75-gram shaft and you've got a 55-gram shaft at home that you can put in the club in 20 seconds, why not give it a shot?"

Golfers will have to face a lot of choices, which is a good thing. Nickent will offer the 4DX Evolver driver package with two shafts from UST. Nickent has modified its 4DX driver head to accommodate interchangeable shaft technology. A special 454 cc head, with a screw-in port, is used with a variety of available shafts. The basic boxed package comprises the Evolver clubhead in a choice of four lofts, UST V2 and UST V2 High Launch shafts and a wrench priced at $479. And if that’s not enough, consumers can special order from an array of 250 different shafts (counting flex varieties) listed on the company’s Web Site. For golfers who want to order the head with one shaft, the price would be $399.

Callaway will offer interchangeable shafts, too, with its I-Mix system. "The trick in the engineering was to get the fitting clubs to perform just like glued or assembled golf clubs," Callaway's Jeff Colton said. "It was no small feat to do that."

Callaway's I-MIX system, which comes from its Opti-Fit clubfitting technology, features a special tip assembly that goes into a keyed hosel in the clubhead, which is secured with a screw. "Shafts may become like putters are now," Colton said. "It's not unimaginable to think about seeing a stack of shafts in the garage, just like a stack of old putters like you might have there now."

Callaway calls it "do-it-yourself club customization". The I-MIX technology now allows for completely interchangeable shafts and heads. Customers will now be able to buy FT-i and FT-5 heads and over 70 brand name graphite shafts separately and then construct their own golf clubs. The customer then uses the special I-MIX wrench to put the two together. The company hopes that golfers will use the technology to construct different golf clubs for different playing conditions. Stock shafts will measure 45 inches with a standard grip. Suggested retail prices for the FT-5 and FT-i clubheads are $435 and $500, respectively. Shaft prices range $185 to $435 each.

It seems likely that adjustable clubs will find a following, but how big a following is unclear. There are pros and cons. The pros? Average golfers will have more customization options than ever — a veritable buffet of technology. Now instead of searching Ebay for “Tour Issue” golf clubs that sell for thousands, the average golfer can now play just about any shaft they want and change it to another shaft in less than a minute. A luxury that has never been available to anyone other than tour players. Golfers can also just buy a new shaft instead of an entire new driver. The biggest advantage seems to be that more golfers will get custom fit easier and correctly from the get go, to be sure that they have the best head and shaft combination(s) for their individual swing. This is also where the launch monitor comes in…

The cons? The technology doesn't come cheap — exotic graphite shafts can cost several hundred dollars, some have even retailed in the 4 digit figure range. The shafts will be interchangeable, but each company's interlocking system is likely to be proprietary, so a shaft included in a TaylorMade package won't fit into a Callaway head, and vice versa. Ping, for one, doesn’t see adjustability’s value beyond initial fitting and isn’t convinced that golfers want the responsibility of assembling their clubs or deciding upon which shaft will work best for them.

Cleveland officials also say they learned the hard way that more shaft options aren’t necessarily better. When they first launched the Hi-Bore driver, they offered five shafts, thinking retailers would love the extreme customization. But they complained, saying the abundance of choices was confusing consumers. So Cleveland scaled back. “Right now, we don’t think (adjustability) is the way to go,” Rae says. “We’re taking a common sense approach of ‘look before you leap.’ ”

While the idea of having a custom fitting van in your garage would seem to entice everyone from Mr. Scratch Golfer to 19th Hold Duffer, it remains to be seen what impact this will have on the ever-changing golf industry. Only time will tell.

Let the shafting begin.