TG2: Fujikura’s Tour Rep and VP talk shaft-fitting on Tour, ENSO and new Pro 2.0 shafts

Published

8 years ago

Feb 2, 2018

Fuji’s tour fitter Marshall Thompson dishes on working with Tour players. Alex Dee discusses how the Enso lab helps Fujikura build prototypes to fit golfers’ swings, and the new Pro 2.0 shafts.

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10 Comments

Bob

Feb 4, 2018 at 12:50 am

The two Fuji people virtually admit there are infinite shaft-swing solutions and only tour pros receive the benefit of custom built shafts based on fitting and feel. The rest of us can only choose from the standard stock shafts that the tour pros don’t use because they are too light weight.

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gord

Feb 2, 2018 at 6:51 pm

This is a blockbuster interview on shafts and fitting and well worth the 55 minute listening time. The questions are great and the answers are revealing and very informative. One of the best podcasts on shaft construction and fitting shafts to the new adjustable head drivers.

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- OB
  
  Feb 3, 2018 at 2:18 am
  
  Q. Why are shafts so expensive? (Golf WRX Staff)
  A. Hand made in Japan. Hand painted graphics. Expensive materials. (Fuji)
  Steel shafts are still the gold standard for driver shaft performance and the promise of higher swing speed with a light weight graphite shaft is bogus.
  Swing speed is generated by the body from the ground up to the shoulders and then the arms, hands and club whip around. Shaft weight is minimal, even a negligible factor for the arm-hand-club assembly.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - The dude
    
    Feb 3, 2018 at 9:50 am
    
    Wrong…
    
    Reply Report comment
    - OB
      
      Feb 3, 2018 at 12:37 pm
      
      So how were Nicklaus, Palmer, others getting 300 yard drives with persimmon drivers with steel shafts? Ultra light weight graphite shafts are a scam perpetrated on the gullible golfing market. The tour pros play these soggy floppy shafts that require extensive searching and fitting and special manufacturing to bring the jumbo driver heads under control. The pros get paid to play these inconsistent light weight shafts that are sold to golfers with the promise of “higher swing speeds”. It’s all a scam and gullible golfers buy into it in the hope they can buy a solution to their swing problems.
      
      Reply Report comment
OB

Feb 2, 2018 at 6:14 pm

There are too many variables in any oven-cured shaft because of the higher epoxy plastic component when compared to an autoclave cured Seven Dreamer $1200 mostly graphite fiber shafts. The Fuji shaft fitter admits they must specialize the shaft construction to accommodate the tour pros so what we see on the shelf is not what is given to the pros.
http://www.golfwrx.com/489200/a-qa-with-seven-dreamers-about-its-1200-shafts/
Fujikura oven-cured shafts still have floppy soggy shaft tip action and the only way to offer control to the tour pros is to heavy up the shafts in the 100+gram range.
On the Fujikura website they list their heaviest shaft is the Tour Spec shaft at 87 grams. I suspect they custom fit tour pros with even heavier special shafts and Thompson essentially admits it. The difference between the Pro 2.0 standard and pro is an additional 10 grams weight which is about 15% more weight for the high swing speed shafts.
Seven Dreamers have obsoleted the oven cured floppy soggy graphite shafts. $1200 autoclave cured shafts to match the gold standard steel shaft tip dynamics!!!

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- gord
  
  Feb 2, 2018 at 6:55 pm
  
  You mean I can get superior shaft performance with a $20 steel shaft in my driver by sacrificing a bit of swing speed and distance? Well!!!
  
  Reply Report comment
- Ed
  
  Feb 3, 2018 at 2:49 am
  
  Shhh you’re wasting valuble time posting here when you should be out investigating this OB or is Ed or maybe gord?
  
  Reply Report comment
  - OB
    
    Feb 3, 2018 at 12:41 pm
    
    So truth is a “waste of valuable time”?
    Don’t you wonder why the graphite shaft manufacturers are continually, endlessly “improving” their shaft for the last 20 years and still haven’t found a solution?
    Don’t you wonder why clubhead designs are changing yearly?
    Can’t they ever get it right?
    
    Reply Report comment
- Ron Burgundy
  
  Feb 5, 2018 at 2:03 pm
  
  you get the most ignorant commentor of the year award so far. keep it up!
  
  Reply Report comment

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