WATCH: How To Pull A Graphite Shaft
This video includes a step-by-step guide and some some tips on how to safely and properly remove an adapter from a graphite golf shaft, along with the tools required. Leave your requests for more “how-to” club building tutorials in the comments below, or Tweet them @RDSBarath.
Equipment
BK’s Breakdowns: Cameron Young’s winning WITB, 2025 Wyndham Championship

Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
Whats in the Bag
Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)

- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
Equipment
GolfWRX Members Choice presented by 2nd Swing: Best driver of 2025

We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
---|---|
Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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alanp
Nov 17, 2017 at 7:24 am
yes i too was hoping that this was going to be gear for the diy’er. this video is preaching to the choir, ie if you have those tools, you know how to pull a shaft. want to make the “series” interesting? teach us guys at home how to do this with common tools. anyway thanks for posting the vid
Shawn K
Nov 16, 2017 at 11:47 pm
Very easily done with a $400 shaft extractor. Lets see him do it with my $39 shaft extractor….not pretty but effective.
Ross
Nov 16, 2017 at 10:21 am
Just remember to get the consent form signed before you try and pull the shaft or you’l lbe forced to apologize in 20 years!
Darryl
Nov 16, 2017 at 8:02 am
OEM shafts don’t come off with so little heat in my experience.
I use the “instant” epoxy (5 min set time) and you get nice smooth and easy pulls like that. What’s your opinion on the “weaker” epoxy option over the 24hr stuff Ryan? I just find it easier for building as you don’t have to be super careful with shaft orientation as it sets quick and avoids the overnight creep I sometimes see with 24hr epoxy.
Skip
Nov 16, 2017 at 3:33 pm
It does with a tip/adapter since they’re usually made of aluminum. the heat is conducted very quickly and the epoxy breaks down very quickly.
CB
Nov 15, 2017 at 6:26 pm
I pull it with my teeth.
You knew that comment was coming
J1987F
Nov 15, 2017 at 4:45 am
Some of the ferrules on my irons have moved away from the hosel. Would you recommend this method, using a micro butane torch, to gently heat up the ferrules and move them back into the correct position?
Ryan B
Nov 15, 2017 at 10:34 am
for getting ferrules to move a torch will be too much. best bet is to just use a hair dryer
chinchbugs
Nov 14, 2017 at 4:00 pm
Any suggestions if you don’t have a shaft puller?
Ryan B
Nov 14, 2017 at 10:36 pm
You can pull steel shafts without a puller but if the goal is to re-use the graphite shafts then you really need a decent shaft puller. There are value models that do a pretty good job its just clamping and setup takes a bit longer.