The post This pro bomber uses a rare equipment combination for the LPGA appeared first on Golf.

The post This pro bomber uses a rare equipment combination for the LPGA appeared first on Golf.

If you search the golf forums online for all of 10 seconds, you’ll see some shaft arguments centered around the idea of playing something like a Fujikura Ventus Black or a Project X Titan.

These super-stout, low-launch, low-spin shafts are all the rage in the forums “because that’s what the pros play”. Usually, those names include guys like Rory McIlroy, Gary Woodland, Aldrich Potgieter and other high-speed players on the PGA Tour.

But we’ve got a new name to add to that list: Auston Kim of the LPGA Tour.

It’s pretty rare to see a shaft like Fujikura Ventus Black out on the LPGA Tour. In general, the LPGA doesn’t have as much aggression as the PGA Tour does, and even the players who are a bit more aggressive will typically opt for something that still provides them with a bit more help launching the ball. Something like a Fujikura Ventus Red profile or the popular Mitsubishi Diamana WB with its softer handle and mid-soft tip would be better driver shaft profiles for these types of swings.

But Kim isn’t anywhere near the “standard” female profile. She’s currently ranked fourth on the LPGA in driving distance, and she has a swing that more closely mimics something like Cam Young; very wide, very long, and adds a small pause at the top of the swing before unleashing in transition.

Auston goes for a Fujikura Ventus Black Velocore+ 5-S that’s tipped an inch. I asked PXG LPGA Tour Manager Scotty Kim how many times he tips a driver shaft an inch out on the LPGA.

He simply replied, “Not often.”

He also mentioned, “Auston could probably actually play something a little bit stiffer than this if she wanted, but tipping the stiff flex gives her a good blend of giving her the feel she wants with the performance she needs.” Auston simply added, “I’m good” with a laugh.

Auston combines her Ventus Velo+ Black with a PXG Lightning Tour, the lowest spinning head in the new Lightning lineup. The combination of a shaft keeping up with her aggression and the speed and spin profile of the Lightning Tour provides her with a very stable package that helps her hit the signature cut shot that she wants to see off the tee.

And she’s got all the speed she needs to earn that No. 4 rank in driving distance on the LPGA Tour. Auston sits in the low 160s for ball speed, similar to me, if that’s any indication of her greatness, and she plays with a little bit more spin, too. I’m a big advocate for playing with a little bit more spin, and with such a consistent cut shot, she’s utilizing the stability and speed of the Lightning Tour in every way she can.

A good reminder that just because something says what it might be on paper doesn’t mean that in practice it’s what that gear is going to do. As an industry, we frequently get caught up trying to bucket equipment into speed and spin buckets. In Auston’s case, it was about consistency and deviation from shot to shot. Something that Johnny Wunder and I both noticed during our own testing of the PXG Lightning Tour back in October.

PXG Lightning Tour Custom Driver

$649.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Other ‘stiff profile’ shafts on the LPGA

Another surprising option on the LPGA Tour getting a ton of use is the Diamana WB. Compared to the Ventus Black, it’s a bit of a softer profile, but it’s still created as the low-launch, low-spin part for the slightly stronger player. Something that’s been in the hands of guys on the PGA Tour like Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, and Justin Rose.

You might guess a profile like the Diamana BB would be a more popular part for the women’s game, but with athletes of all genders getting stronger and faster, the need for profiles to keep up with the more athletic fields is more apparent.

For those of you reading at home, this leads into a discussion about how important it is to find the right profile golf shaft for your game, and then match the weight and flex of that profile to your swing’s needs.

Making sure you’re in a profile that activates at the right time in your swing is critical. Weight and flex are then there to make sure that you’re squeezing every bit of performance out of it that you can.

In Auston Kim’s case, they decided to stick with a lighter-weight, stiff flex shaft that they tipped one inch. This tipping stabilized the tip a tad while also making the handle a bit softer, which is very helpful for a wider, more aggressive swing that stays very connected. Again, think Auston, Rory, Cam Young, or Xander.

They don’t yank down on the golf shaft in transition; they keep it wide and long with their wrists relatively stable, and they create separation until impact.

The post This pro bomber uses a rare equipment combination for the LPGA appeared first on Golf.

The post Fujikura’s new Ventus TR Blue shaft filled a hole in my bag | I Tried It appeared first on Golf.

The post Fujikura’s new Ventus TR Blue shaft filled a hole in my bag | I Tried It appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to I Tried It, a GOLF.com series about golf items — apparel, gear, accessories and more — that we’ve recently taken out for a spin. We’re here to give our honest, no-frills takes on the latest and greatest golf or golf-adjacent items. Keep scrolling to read about what we love about golf’s newest (or new to us) products.

The Fujikura Ventus family of golf shafts has dominated on Tour for the last couple of seasons, and earlier this year the company released an updated version to the Ventus TR Blue, adding Velocore+ technology. Fujikura also has changed the way it lays its Spread Tow fabric in the handle section, opting for a 90º layout rather than an angled layout. This increases torsional stability in the handle, while maintaining feel throughout the swing. (For more on the differences between the OG TR Blue and the new Velocore+ TR Blue, check out this piece by my colleague Jack Hirsh.)

Gear

Fujikura releases updated Ventus TR Blue with VeloCore+ wood shaft

By: Jack Hirsh

If you’ve been keeping up with our Fully Fit series, you may have noticed that I got fit into the OG TR Blue during several driver fittings; Cobra, Callaway and TaylorMade all opted for the Velocore version of the TR Blue. Thing is, though I’ve have had lots of success with the TR Blue in my driver, opting to play it for the end of the season last year in a Qi35 head before switching things up this year with the same Velocore TR Blue in my Qi4D, I haven’t had much success with the TR Blue in my fairway woods or a mini driver. I’ve always had to search for a different solution. So I was excited to try the new TR Blue with Velocore+, because it was described to me as offering more feel paired with more stiffness in the handle. Boy, was that an understatement.

Fujikura turned the TR Blue Velocore+ into a speed-hungry powerhouse. The handle section is significantly stiffer to me than the OG version was. Because of that I find myself a bit faster with the new version, but it doesn’t really match my transition. So although I was consistently hitting the same spot on the face, the head wasn’t delivering exactly what I needed. While the OG TR Blue Velocore helped me produce a nice tight draw, I found the TR Blue with Velocore+ much harder to turn over. It’s got a lot more “anti-left” in it. It still sits as a nice offering between Velocore+ Blue and TR Black, but with an upgraded feel. For me, it’s not the best option for a driver, but you know what it might be great for? Building a new fairway wood.

Fujikura 2026 Ventus TR Blue Wood Shaft (Velocore+)

$350.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Because of the differences in how shafts deliver, I’ve always found that something that doesn’t work well for me in a driver seems to work well in a fairway wood. I try to stay steep with my fairway woods, as if I am hitting my irons. I also produce a bit more of a violent swing. While I prefer a softer handle in my driver, I usually opt for something with a stiffer handle in the rest of the bag. The only problem? I hate 3-woods. With a burning passion. I’m not good at hitting them, they don’t do what I need them do to and they own me mentally. Enter the TR Blue with Velocore+.

The numbers you see above are really good for me: 260 yards off the deck is perfect for what I need, and the best part was the new TR Blue Velo+ wants to be swung fast. The more I pulled on the handle in the top of the swing, the faster the club got and the more consistent it felt. It’s almost as if speed unlocks the profile. Getting more neutral in attack to the ball also seemed to help the profile perform better for me, and contact on the face was in the same spot every time. The dispersion on that chart above may seem wide, but I promise you, for me and my cruddy fairway-wood play, it’s close to a miracle. It got even better when I put the ball on a short tee.

Look at that dispersion! This was with a 16.5º fairway wood (a 4-wood), and these numbers off the tee were perfect. A straight to controlled draw that never took off left on me, a nice spin window at 3,000 RPMs and ball speed that’s a tick higher than I usually generate with a fairway wood of this loft off the tee. You’ll also notice there’s a ball in there that carried past the others in the group. That one went about 270 in the air and rolled out to 290. It was my last swing, and I gave it everything I had in transition — proving, again, that the profile likes speed. The faster you can go, the more the shaft will help, and the more stable the profile is through the swing.

All in all, there’s hope here. I’m on a long journey to find a fairway wood I can play consistently, and a major part of that search is going to be finding the right shaft to give me confidence in the swing I need to produce. So far, the new TR Blue has passed all the tests, and knowing that I can swing hard and stick with my more neutral to down attack angle on the fairways is a big confidence booster. Honestly, I’m a little bit bummed that the profile changed so much from the OG, but the game is growing, players are getting stronger and faster, and it was time to get the stronger players a more confidence-inspiring mid-launch profile. So, while the TR Blue with Velcore+ won’t make it into the driver for me, it’s the leader in the clubhouse for a fairway wood build.

The post Fujikura’s new Ventus TR Blue shaft filled a hole in my bag | I Tried It appeared first on Golf.

The post The story behind Aretera’s first-of-its-kind shaft design appeared first on Golf.

The post The story behind Aretera’s first-of-its-kind shaft design appeared first on Golf.

Unquestionably, the techies and engineers who design the game’s newest equipment are fully fit to do the job — and, with each new club, to deliver dazzle to your own game. But some gearheads like to go in a very different direction, because disruption isn’t merely about breaking things. It’s about being radically better.

The golf equipment industry is loaded with big brains and lofty diplomas. Ballistics PhDs from aerospace. Engine designers from automotive. Materials scientists from advanced manufacturing. They make up a vast army of eggheads, pouring their expertise into a game governed by conformance rules and rooted in tradition.

Innovation happens constantly, though not always as dramatically or regularly as advertisements suggest. Golfers crave the next breakthrough. Manufacturers promise it with every product cycle.

But genuinely disruptive ideas are rare. They don’t arrive on schedule and can’t be conjured by a marketing blitz. On the face of it, they seem to appear out of nowhere, like a hole in one, but they spring from tireless effort, a tolerance for risk and a willingness to question what others accept as settled.

Innovators like Aretera co-founder Alex Dee, whose story you can read below, didn’t just contribute to groundbreaking products — they challenged assumptions about how gear should be designed, built and sold.

***

ALEX DEE’S OFFICE is everywhere and nowhere.

Some days, it’s the beach. Others, it’s his bedroom. On this sunny Southern California afternoon, Dee is talking shop over Vietnamese noodles in a Carlsbad food court — a far cry from the corporate confines he occupied for a quarter century at one of golf’s most influential shaft makers.

Dressed in jeans and an untucked shirt, Dee, 55, gives off the air of San Diego surfer meets Silicon Valley entrepreneur, with the focused intensity of an engineer and the laid-back ease of a guy who lives blocks from the ocean. For most of his professional life, Dee worked out of Fujikura’s Carlsbad satellite office, where he helped make the company a market leader in shaft design. His fingerprints were all over Ventus, the stiff-tipped shaft that dominated after first appearing on the PGA Tour in 2018.

Ventus was groundbreaking. But it also hinted at an industry-wide outlook that, over time, increasingly clashed with Dee’s own views.

“I always felt that when people in the industry talked about increased stability, it was associated with added stiffness,” he says. “The two were treated as synonymous.”

That’s not how Dee saw it. In his view, a shaft could be both supple and precise. Responsive and reliable. Playable at no cost to accuracy. As an engineer, he believed there was always more to learn, more ground to break. He’d also started sensing how success could calcify into orthodoxy, discouraging the very experimentation that produced it.

He wanted to keep pushing. He wasn’t certain he could do that where he was.

By then, he was also watching his kids navigate high school with a fearlessness that made him reconsider his own choices. Dee’s son and daughter were both embracing risks in their social and academic lives.

“In most families, it’s the parents who are role models for the kids,” Dee says. “In my case, it was the opposite. They were both taking big swings. They inspired me to want to take one too.”

In 2023, Dee left Fujikura. In theory, he was retired.

Aretera AO2 Blue Wood Shaft

AO2 stands in a class of its own with intelligent design, fined-tuned craftsmanship, and meticulous manufacturing. Active in the handle and firm mid to tip, the AO2 converts premiere engineering into shot repeatability.  We understand how challenging it can be to navigate a multitude of variables between swing dynamics and shaft profiles in play. That’s why we’ve strategically designed ONLY ONE attributing difference between Blue and Gray profiles — tip stiffness — to simplify the process and dial in spin and launch to match a player’s swing type.  

$420.00 from Fairway Jockey

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In practice, he was waiting for the right idea. It came from Michel de Fontaine, a longtime friend and former classmate from UC San Diego who’d gone on to a career in start-ups. In college, the two were just as likely to be bouncing volleyballs on the beach as burying their noses in books. They’d often joked about doing something together — a coffee shop, maybe a taco stand. This time, de Fontaine was serious. They should start a shaft company.

The pair brought in two other golf industry veterans: Chris Elson for sales, Bill Stiles to handle customer relations. All four pooled their savings and founded Aretera, a name drawn from the Greek arete, for the pursuit of sustained excellence.

“I like to describe our team as three guys with nearly 100 years of combined industry experience, and one sensible person,” Dee says.

One thing they all found sensible was not having a formal headquarters. No brick-and-mortar space. Just four friends working toward a common goal, free of bureaucracies and hierarchies.

Dee has always played golf but never a lot of it. Even with more latitude in his schedule now, he’s more often on his laptop than on the links, propelled by a straightforward but subversive thesis: Stability and stiffness aren’t the same. To prove it, he has turned to a proprietary carbon fabric and applied it with uncommon precision, oriented at a 45-degree angle to resist torque and placed in the shaft’s internal layers. The rest of the shaft stays free to flex and respond. Maximum effect. Minimal intrusion.

If that sounds like marketing speak, it’s not Dee’s lingo. He’s a numbers guy to the core, allergic to claims that can’t be measured.

When Aretera launched, it had no Tour presence, advertising budget or endorsement deals. Just four reputations and a first-of-its-kind design. That turned out to be enough. Clubmakers and fitters embraced Aretera. Within a year, the company had released the EC1, built for players with smooth tempos. A second line, the AO2, arrived this winter for more aggressive swings.

Aretera ΣC1 Blue Wood Shaft

At ARETERA, we pushed our limits to design a shaft line with a compliant mid-section while simultaneously addressing erratic performance and stability issues often associated with similar shaft profiles. We started with reimagining the typical layup of a golf shaft and employed an advanced layered technique in the ΣC1 product line to unify plies responsible for resisting twist and bending throughout the wall thickness. ΣC1 Series CONTROL CENTR™ Technology Key Features & Benefits Utilizes ultra premium exotic materials to the layup in critical areas and in strategic orientations promoting enhanced torsional stability with a seemingly effortless flowing transfer of power. Features a more compliant mid-section with firmer butt and tip sections providing for a very smooth, balanced feel promoting higher launching conditions. Enhances overall connectedness and torsional stability throughout the shaft without compromising feel or performance while minimizing excessive spin common to off center hits. Promotes more consistency in repeatable centerness of contact and a more fluid loading of the shaft not typically experienced in compliant mid-section designs.

$320.00 from Fairway Jockey

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A golf shaft may look like a simple tapered tube, but that simplicity is deceptive. Proper design, Dee says, requires equal parts technical skill and artistic craft. He often goes through a hundred iterations before the right design reveals itself.

“It’s hard to explain, but the most efficient layup presents itself when it just fits together like the perfect puzzle and looks beautiful,” he says. “It feels like uncovering what was meant to be.”

What the next breakthrough will be is hard to say, but Dee will know it when he sees it, wherever he happens to be that day.

The post The story behind Aretera’s first-of-its-kind shaft design appeared first on Golf.

The post This shaft has taken the PGA Tour Champions by storm. Can it work for you too? appeared first on Golf.

The post This shaft has taken the PGA Tour Champions by storm. Can it work for you too? appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to I Tried It, a GOLF.com series about golf items — apparel, gear, accessories, etc. — that we’ve recently taken out for a spin. We’re here to give our honest, no-frills takes on the latest and greatest golf or golf-adjacent items. So, scroll down to read about what we love about golf’s newest (or new to us) products.

Most golfers are aware that investing in a full, professional club-fitting can make a massive difference in their game, but shafts — and the idea of switching them in or out at will, with the same clubhead — seem to be on their own intimidating level. In my mind, it’s only the most die-hard gear-heads who are willing to endeavor to make a shaft switch on their own.

Needless to say, shaft tinkering isn’t something I’ve ever dabbled in for my own game. I consider myself a loyalist when it comes to my equipment. I kept the same Ping putter in my bag for two decades. After a fitting — and I’ve only had a few — I order my prescribed gear and don’t really think about the components of my clubs. To me, shafts are a package deal with the clubheads, and not something to consider as an individual product.

But last year, I started hearing chatter about Newton shafts. The name is a nod to Sir Isaac Newton, and the company’s commitment to utilizing the power of physics to revolutionize golf equipment design. Newton founder and chief technology officer Aki Yorihiro first entered the golf market with premium putters and shafts in 2018. In 2022, Newton opened a dedicated shaft manufacturing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri. When Newton’s shafts launched in November of 2023, they were an immediate hit, especially on the PGA Tour Champions, where more than two dozen players currently use them.

I was intrigued to try one, but I didn’t trust my game enough to do a proper comparison. So I called upon my husband, Paul, a club pro and plus-handicap, to try the shaft and report back.

Gear

How this simple training aid helped me dial in my low point | I Tried It

By: Maddi MacClurg

How do you know which flex is right for you? Newton makes it easy to decide by using a dot system, which is based on swing speed. You can also take a quick online survey to help determine the right dot level for you. There are two shafts to choose from: Motion and Fast Motion. Fast Motion shafts are 10 grams lighter than the Motion shafts. Each shaft comes with an adapter for your driver so you can install it yourself. You can choose your adapter from eight major club manufacturers.

Paul ended up going with the 4-Dot Fast Motion driver shaft with a Callaway adapter. One of his assistant pros also had a 5-Dot, so he had a chance to compare both flexes. Surprisingly, the 5-Dot ended up being a better fit for him.

“My spin rate was too high with the 4-Dot,” Paul said. “The 5-Dot made a big difference and brought my spin rate back down to where it should be, and getting the proper distance and dispersion I needed, whereas the 4-Dot dot was spinning too much, so I’d lose distance.”

Paul also said the shaft had a different feel than anything he’d used before.

“In general, for everyone that’s used it, the shaft has a more penetrating ball flight,” he said. “Swing speed and ball speed is up because it’s a lighter shaft. But it’s still very stable, so for most people, they hit the ball longer and straighter because, with the more penetrating ball flight and less spin, it also means less left and right spin, so dispersion is tighter.”

That’s exactly what founder Aki Yorihiro was aiming to do.

“Very simply put, you can hit it straighter, longer, with less effort,” Yorihiro said of Newton’s mass appeal. “If you don’t gain performance then we have failed you.”

If, like Paul, you find that a different flex might work better for you, Newton also has an easy exchange process.

“We want you to be really happy, because happiness is contagious,” Yorihiro said. “And other people will look at them and they say, ‘Oh, maybe I should try a new shaft.’ If you need to go stiffer or softer, you can do it.”

To see if a Fast Motion driver shaft can benefit your game, order yours now via the link below.

Newton Fast Motion driver shaft

Motion shafts allow energy created during your swing to be stored more efficiently, then released in a more controlled, stable manner.

$325 from Newton

The post This shaft has taken the PGA Tour Champions by storm. Can it work for you too? appeared first on Golf.

The post Does Project X’s new Titan shaft signal a new trend in shaft design? | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Does Project X’s new Titan shaft signal a new trend in shaft design? | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

Over the last several years, Fujikura’s Ventus line of shafts has cornered the driver shaft market by helping players find the center of the face.

But with more and more players opting for drivers with more forgiving and efficient driver faces, is finding a shaft that gives you more clubhead speed now more important?

That’s what Fully Equipped co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow discussed on this week’s episode of the show, as Jake shared his first impressions testing the shaft.

“It felt like to me you had to be super late before you started to move your wrists forward or started to do any movement basically towards impact, which for me is not good at all, but it’s really great for people that want to generate speed and guys that are super, super wide and laggy,” Morrow said. “When I was able to do that and time it up properly and produce that swing, it was fast. I mean, it was like a good 1.5, almost 2 mph on some swings, faster. Clubhead speed.”

Drivers

Best drivers in 2026 for your game: Ultimate buyer's guide | Fully Fit

By: GOLF Editors

Morrow was surprised the shaft felt so tight in the handle, saying it was stiffer at the top than even the new Ventus TR Blue with VeloCore+. Part of that may have been how he prepped the shaft by tipping it one inch and butt cutting to 45″.

“I think that bump in the EI curve moves up significantly once you cut the shaft,” Morrow said. “So I don’t know that the handle itself is actually super tight, or if the midsection transition is just way further up than you would think it is. And by the time you grip it and you put your hands on it, where that stiffness actually falls is so close to the hands that I think that’s what’s happening.”

Wunder said he’d heard similar feedback from Tour reps and that for the right player, they were getting swing speed gains out of the new shaft.

With driver heads being so good now, Wunder pointed out that it could be shafts like the new Titan that end up being where the next frontier of speeds come from.

“The only way to really crack speed to separate them is with a shaft that you swing faster,” he said.

For more from Morrow and co-host Johnny Wunder, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best golf shaft for your game in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Does Project X’s new Titan shaft signal a new trend in shaft design? | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Fujikura releases updated Ventus TR Blue with VeloCore+ wood shaft appeared first on Golf.

The post Fujikura releases updated Ventus TR Blue with VeloCore+ wood shaft appeared first on Golf.

Fujikura’s Ventus shafts are coming off a banner year in 2025 where Ventus driver shafts won all four major championships, the Players and all but two of the PGA Tour’s Signature events.

However, the company is further enhancing the Ventus lineup by introducing VeloCore+ to the Ventus TR line, launching the new Ventus TR Blue VeloCore+ wood shaft.

“The original TR Blue was such a trusted profile, so we wanted to keep what golfers already loved and see how far we could take it with VeloCore+,” Fujikura Product Manager TJ Spidle said in a release.

The Ventus TR line of profiles was added in 2022, taking the original Ventus profiles and adding lightweight Spread Tow fabric to the mid-section and handle to add stability. VeloCore+, the reengineered version of the Ventus’ proprietary multi-material bias core construction, was launched in the 2024 Ventus lineup. Now the two technologies are being combined.

Fujikura didn’t want to reinvent the wheel in terms of the profile of the TR Blue, but they utilized their Enzo 3D motion capture testing technology to re-engineer the shaft to add more stability, feel and control.

It still features an Ultra-stiff tip followed by stiff mid and handle sections, but the Spread Tow fabric in the handle section of the shaft was re-oriented by 45 degrees. That change came about because of the extra torsional stability provided by VeloCore+, which Spidle said allows aggressive loaders “more confidence to go after it” in transition.

“As soon as testing began, the improvements were clear. We saw more stability, better centredness of contact and more than 80% of players saw increased clubhead speed,” Spiddle said. “Players also reported more clubface awareness and a more stable overall feel, which lined up perfectly with the performance data.

“We have seen strong results with VeloCore+ on Tour, and we expect the new Ventus TR Blue to continue that. As always, a proper fitting is important, but for golfers who want added stability and a smoother feel without losing the balance of the original TR Blue, this is a very compelling option.”

My take: A big leap in smoothness and stability

When I first tried the new TR Blue to compare it to my old one in my gamer driver from 2025, the results were night and day.

I was struggling coming into the test with my driver and that was evident by the fact that I couldn’t even sniff the center of the face. Then we swapped in the new TR Blue and immediately I timed up with it perfectly and started drilling the center of the clubface.

Does that mean this shaft is going to be a magic bullet for everyone? No, but I’m telling you because normally, the OG TR Blue is a shaft that I have success with and a lot of clubs and on a day when I couldn’t hit it, the new TR Blue raised my floor immensely.

Because I’ve mostly hit either the OG Ventus Black, TR Red and TR Blue profiles, I really hadn’t had a lot of experience with the new VeloCore+ profiles yet. But with the new TR Blue, the increased smoothness of loading and unloading the shaft was evident. Compared to the old TR Blue, it felt much more linear as the energy goes up and down the shaft to impact.

The new graphics and navy blue matte color look fantastic. I was surprised Fujikura didn’t use the new brighter blue color of the Ventus Blue with VeloCore+, but I’d say this new scheme is better.

Overall, like the addition of the 2024 VeloCore+ lineup, the new TR Blue is another tool in the fitting drawer for Fujikura that will complement all of the existing profiles. As with previous Ventus shaft releases, it seems likely new TR Black and TR Red profiles will get added later in 2026, and I can’t wait to do more testing with all of them.

Price, Specs and Availability

Fujikura 2026 Ventus TR Blue Wood Shaft (Velocore+)

$350.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Fujikura’s new Ventus TR Blue wood shafts with VeloCore+ are available for pre-orders starting Jan. 7 and will arrive at retail locations on Jan. 9. That will actually allow you to try the new shafts out before the Tour launch on Jan. 19 at the American Express..

Each shaft will cost $350.

Weights and flexes vary from 61-gram R flex to 98-gram X flex, with 6-TX and 7-TX profiles offered as well.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Fujikura releases updated Ventus TR Blue with VeloCore+ wood shaft appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this golf shaft is generating so much PGA Tour buzz appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this golf shaft is generating so much PGA Tour buzz appeared first on Golf.

UST Mamiya has released its much anticipated LIN-Q PowerCore lineup of golf shafts, including three different launch/flex profiles. The hype around the product is intense, matching what the industry felt with the 2019 launch of the Fujikura Ventus. The PowerCore has already won multiple times on Tour, and is entering more Tour bags every day. (And mine, too!)

Question is, what makes the UST PowerCore so good?

Success on Tour

Not since Ventus can I remember a shaft that has created so much Tour buzz. You may not see it on the big screen yet, but there are many PowerCores in Tour players’ bags.

Ben Griffin has led the way as an official ambassador of the brand, and his LIN-Q PC White took him to the winner’s circle three times in 2025: at the Charles Schwab, the Zurich Classic and the WWT Championship. He was also a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage. I’ve talked to Griffin about the switch, and, in short, he just feels confident in the shaft. I’ve seen him work with UST’s Tour rep Scott “Scooter” Wilkerson, and the relationship they have built is a rare thing.

It’s easy to see the progress and success Ben has attributed to his driver switch, and a large part of that was the adoption of the first prototype of the LIN-Q PowerCore White — which, by the way, was a pole of a shaft. I know Ben’s a strong guy, but I, for one, am thankful that they’ve backed it off just a little bit for the final retail model. Oh, and he’s playing a 7TX in his driver, which is 10 grams heavier than average. Wild, man.

As you can see in the tweet above, our own Jack Hirsh noticed that Sahith Theegala switched into the LIN-Q PowerCore White recently with his new Ping G440K. He joins a long list of players who are currently gaming one of the LIN-Q PC profiles, and an even longer list of players who have been testing the shafts. I reached out to Sahith through Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oakes, and here’s what he had to say about the switch into LIN-Q PowerCore White:

“Shaft is so solid . . . feels consistent and kicks a little differently than what I was playing previously. Not as stiff in the middle of the shaft and lets me hit a release cut with a little less effort while still maintaining anti-left tendencies.”

Theegala joins Ben Griffin (D, 3W, 7W), Rickie Fowler (D, 3W, 5W), Corey Connors (3W, 7W), Cam Davis (D,3W), Kevin Yu (DR), Hayden Buckley (DR, MD, 7W, 9W), Zach Bauchou (3W, 5W), Jeremy Paul (5W), Kevin Kisner (DR) and Sean O’Hare (DR, 3W) as players choosing to rock at least one UST LIN-Q PowerCore profile in their bag. And I know of several other players who are testing.

The new PowerCore lineup features three different profiles, and all are available now. No waiting on your preferred profile. By the time you’re reading this, they should be available for custom fittings and testing at local authorized UST Mamiya dealers.

PowerCore Technology

With the introduction of the PowerCore lineup comes the introduction of PowerCore technology, which is actually a combination of a couple of different design cues. The first is UST Mamiya’s new Q-Ply material that they’ve laid on the shaft in 90º angles. This helps to strategically strengthen specific parts of the shaft, depending on the profile.

This is combined with the new Nano Resin Matrix, which allows UST Mamiya to utilize less resin in between sheets of graphite when making the shaft itself. Less resin, or glue, in between layers means more feel in the shaft, as well as the ability for engineers to be more specific about where material is laid, how thick the section is and how long the section is. While each profile has a discrete design profile, they all work off of a constant taper design, which again helps to promote more feel.

This design also helps to create a level of cohesion between shaft profiles, which is something the UST team was focused on achieving. Each shaft is meant for a different swing type, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily for different types of players. For example, you may swing your driver and your fairway wood differently, meaning that you may prefer one profile in your driver and another in your fairway wood. Without a consistent feel between profiles, you’d probably feel uncomfortable with the switch and in a fitting bay you may move to other options.

With the LIN-Q PowerCore lineup, you can test each of the profiles. You’ll see a difference in the performance of each one, but it’s easy to swap between shafts and potentially find a group that works for your entire top end. I actually ended up finishing the season with a White in my driver, a Blue in my 4-wood and a Red in my 5-wood.

LIN-Q PC White: The Powerhouse

The White is the beast of the family, but not at the sacrifice of feel. It’s essentially a traditional “whiteboard” profile on steroids — for the modern, more aggressive golfer. The structure of the shaft is tight, but comparatively the handle is a little softer, the middle is in that mid-stiff category and the tip is the tightest section. By keeping the mid-section a little bit softer than some other competition, they add in more feel to an otherwise stout golf shaft. This allows players to feel like their more aware of where the club is during the swing.

As Theegala note, UST is pushing players to think more in terms of release profile rather than launch and spin, so while this may be marked as a low launch/low spin shaft, what the profile is really built for is the stronger player with a later release. Stronger players looking for a more generally more penetrating ball flight will get along nicely with the White.

UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore White Wood Shaft

$365.00 from Fairway Jockey

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LIN-Q PC Blue: Counter-Balanced for Speed and Launch

The LIN-Q PC Blue is designed as a mid-launch/mid-spin profile great for players with a “mid-timed” release through impact. The Blue also has some counter-balanced properties, which make the shaft a bit faster than the rest of the lineup and a bit tighter in the handle section. It’s got a softer tip section than the White to help promote a little bit more dynamic loft through the swing, but the mid-section is beefed up a little bit to keep the shaft in control and still be able to work the ball up and down in flight windows.

Players who are more even-tempoed in their swings, or have a tendency to hold onto the transition a bit longer will like the feel that the Blue provides, and even more so the speed they’re going to see. I’ve loved having the Blue in my 4-wood and a mini driver as well. It seems to be the perfect shaft for my game as I get a little bit more neutral in attack angle, while still being more than workable when I want to flight the ball in a lower window either off the tee or the deck.

UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore Blue Wood Shaft

$365.00 from Fairway Jockey

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LIN-Q PC Red: Soft but stable

The LIN-Q PC Red is the most interesting in the bunch to me. It’s got a handle section that resembles the White, but a mid-section that’s closer to the Blue. The tip is a bit more stable than the Blue’s, so the higher launch potential comes from the mid-section.

To me, the Red is the option that most shines when talking about release profiles rather than launch profiles. Players who may get a little early with their hands or have a tendency to rush the head in front of the hands will love the lag increase in the Red. Slower or smoother golfers will appreciate how easy the shaft is to load, which helps to keep the head behind the hands and deliver a more neutral face.

Early-release stronger players who are late in transition will also find the Red easy to square up. The Red gets faster the longer you hold the transition. It’s also been great for me in my 5-wood, and I’ve noticed that the profile responds well to tipping. There’s noticeable differences in a tipped Red vs. a non-tipped Red so it allows players to mess with their dynamic loft profile if the shaft isn’t 100% doing the trick for them.

UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore Red Wood Shaft

$365.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Is the UST LIN-Q PowerCore series right for you?

It certainly might be, and, as I wrote above, the hype for this shaft lineup is legit. The best way to find any new piece of equipment is to go get fit, but hopefully you now feel a bit more armed to go in and explain to a fitter where you would like to start. Or if you’re like me and you’re just a true degenerate, you’ll go out and buy the profile you think best suits you and just give it a go.

If you are looking to get a fitting, you can book an appointment at your local True Spec. And as a reminder, all THREE profiles are released together! So you can go find the right one for you today.

The post Why this golf shaft is generating so much PGA Tour buzz appeared first on Golf.

The post What makes Aretera’s latest shaft a ‘level up?’ | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post What makes Aretera’s latest shaft a ‘level up?’ | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

Upstart shaft company Aretera started to make a name for itself with its first two shaft offerings, the EC1 and Alpha 1.

But its newest product, the AO2, is potentially the line that could help the company really break through on the PGA Tour.

On GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Johnny Wunder brought company co-founders Alex Dee and Chris Elson to discuss the new AO2 and why they expect it to be a shaft that will be “very well adopted on the PGA Tour.”

“It is an overall profile type, more active in the handle versus, you know, firmer in the in the mid- and tip-section, that is pretty popular on tour, historically,” Elson said. “We’re incorporating power grid material, as well as our coreless design, that is a carryover from EC1, to enhance tourism stability on it as well. So it’s kind of hopefully an even more innovative, performative-based product than a lot of those other shafts that are out there with a similar profile.”

Aretera AO2 Blue Wood Shaft

AO2 stands in a class of its own with intelligent design, fined-tuned craftsmanship, and meticulous manufacturing. Active in the handle and firm mid to tip, the AO2 converts premiere engineering into shot repeatability.  We understand how challenging it can be to navigate a multitude of variables between swing dynamics and shaft profiles in play. That’s why we’ve strategically designed ONLY ONE attributing difference between Blue and Gray profiles — tip stiffness — to simplify the process and dial in spin and launch to match a player’s swing type.  

$420.00 from Fairway Jockey

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While this is a shaft that could do very well for a typical PGA Tour player, one of the things that made the EC1 popular is that it could fit golfers of all skill levels.

Elson expects golfers of all types of speeds to find a fit with AO2 as well.

“It’s not only a shaft profile that performs well for people that cruise at 122. That’s why we’re making it also in a 45-gram version, because we look at that profile type and we tend to look at the pairing up of shaft profiles with swing types,” he said. “And we tend to see folks that have that kind of late release, kind of aggressive at the bottom of their swing, hold the angle type of player being somebody that does typically really well with this type of profile. That swing type doesn’t necessarily need to be somebody who, again, is cruising at 122. You could have somebody that’s a little older, maybe a little more, a little shorter swing, quicker transition, still holds the angle.

Aretera AO2 Gray Wood Shaft

AO2 stands in a class of its own with intelligent design, fined-tuned craftsmanship, and meticulous manufacturing. Active in the handle and firm mid to tip, the AO2 converts premiere engineering into shot repeatability.  We understand how challenging it can be to navigate a multitude of variables between swing dynamics and shaft profiles in play. That’s why we’ve strategically designed ONLY ONE attributing difference between Blue and Gray profiles — tip stiffness — to simplify the process and dial in spin and launch to match a player’s swing type.  

$420.00 from Fairway Jockey

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“We’re gonna promote it as a tour-focused product because that’s what it is, but it absolutely can work very well for folks with slower swing speeds if they have the right swing type.”

For more from Wunder, Dee and Elson, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post What makes Aretera’s latest shaft a ‘level up?’ | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post What a golf shaft’s ‘profile’ means and why it matters appeared first on Golf.

The post What a golf shaft’s ‘profile’ means and why it matters appeared first on Golf.

The golf shaft is probably one of the most important components of a golf club, yet there are still players today who try to downplay its role in a club’s performance and tendencies.

I’m not saying it’s more important than the club head itself, but you must understand the role of each and how the club head and shaft work together. Just like a high-performance car, you have the speed and power in the engine (the club head), but you’ll go nowhere without the proper transmission (shaft) to manage it.

When looking at the shaft, it’s typically broken down into three separate areas: the tip, mid and butt sections. Understanding the role of each and how that translates to the player is probably one of the most important jobs of your club fitter, like us here at True Spec Golf.

What are shaft flex profiles?

The reason this can be tough for players to try and figure out on their own is that we all respond to these flex profiles differently. Three players with the same shaft could get three completely different results.

The good thing is that manufacturers openly display this information for the consumer and some have even simplified it for the everyday golfer to understand. Each section of the shaft will get labeled with a term representing the feel, like Soft, Stiff or Firm, and this gives the player an understanding of how that section of the shaft should feel during the swing. It also lets fitters understand how it should react.

Examples of different shaft profiles

Diamana WB: Butt = Firm / Mid = Firm+ / Tip = Med+

Diamana BB: Butt = Med+ / Mid = Med+ / Tip = Med

Diamana RB: Butt = Med / Mid = Med / Tip = Soft

Some manufacturers have simplified it even more and give the shaft a launch and spin designation like “Low Launch/Low Spin,” or “Mid Launch/Mid-High Launch.” These can be useful in just trying to understand what the shaft profiles are intending to do, but trying to match performance with these parameters alone can be discouraging and expensive. Like I mentioned, three different players could yield three different launch characteristics from the same shaft.

There are also more in-depth methods like an E.I. Profile Chart, which will show the actual progression of the shaft from butt to tip end. That is extremely useful for fitters to better understand how the shaft will match up with your swing dynamics. It’s also a useful tool for comparing various shafts side by side.

Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana BB Wood Shaft

The Diamana BB (Blue Board) is the second profile in the latest generation of Diamana shafts. It features the traditional branding that made Diamana popular, including a return to the original 53/63/73/83 weight class designations. This shaft incorporates advanced engineering and material innovation, making it a top choice on tour. Key Features: Maximum Energy Transfer: Utilizes super high-modulus 80-Ton Dialead Pitch Fiber in the butt section. Greater Stability: Employs high modulus 46-ton fiber in the shaft’s angle plies to lower torque. Enhanced Feel and Durability: Mitsubishi’s proprietary Xlink Tech system increases the overall strength and durability of the shaft while enhancing carbon fiber volume for a superior feel.

$360.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Now, what do these different sections mean and what role do they play?

Here’s a simple breakdown of each and where you may “feel” it in the swing and their intended results.

BUTT-SECTION: This section is often used to manipulate the initial feel of the shaft, specifically in the transition at the top of the swing and through impact. Players who create a ton of force and speed may gravitate toward a stiffer butt section that feels more stable and offers more control. Whereas players with a smoother tempo may like something that’s softer to help them create more speed and a smoother feel through impact.

MID-SECTION: The mid-section can help manipulate the overall feel of the shaft throughout the swing and works to promote or reduce launch. Some of your faster players may want to minimize that “loading” sensation and have a more stable one-piece feel. Where players with a smoother tempo or slower speed may want to feel the shaft “load” more in the downswing and help promote more speed. It also works as the starting point for how that shaft is going to want to launch and spin as you can manipulate how the shaft “kicks” and in return how much loft is being delivered at impact.

TIP-SECTION: The final part of the shaft is also the most active part and plays a major role in overall launch and spin but also the tendency of the club head through impact. A “softer” tip can help promote more launch, but it can also make the head feel like it’s moving through impact a bit easier. A stiffer tip would feel more stable through impact, but it also works to reduce launch. This is why you see this portion of the shaft generally reinforced with different materials to perform as consistently as possible. This is where your aftermarket shafts stand tall, as they can give players a better feel but use exotic materials to stabilize the tip.

Even with understanding these and the roles they play, it’s still highly recommended that you visit a fitter to help determine what’s best for you. I’ve learned over the years that the labels given to each shaft tell us more of how it’s going to feel in the swing, but not always how it will perform with each golfer, as we all deliver the club differently.

Save yourself some time, money and headaches and visit your local True Spec today.

True Spec Golf Club Fitting

With 70,000+ clubhead and shaft combos, True Spec Golf will custom fit and build you a precise set of clubs.

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Want to find the best shaft for your game in 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post What a golf shaft’s ‘profile’ means and why it matters appeared first on Golf.