Equipment
Top 10 most iconic driver and fairway wood shafts of all time
If there is one thing we love as golf gear junkies, it’s driver (and fairway wood) shafts!
From the early years to today’s modern designs, materials, and profiles, there are some shafts that have maintained steady popularity—like a Ping Eye 2 lob wedge. There are a lot of graphite shafts that have stood the test of time, and they bring back memories of great driver combos gone by.
This is my top 10 list (in no particular order) of the most iconic driver shafts of all time.
Fujikura 757 Speeder
Launched more than two decades ago, you could arguably say it’s the shaft that started the shaft craze. Built from advanced materials in a profile that was designed to work for stabilizing larger driver heads of the time—you know when 300cc was HUGE. The Speeder 757 was an instant hit among PGA Tour players, most notably Fred Couples, who used the shaft for over a decade and was said to have at one point remove all the remaining stock from one of the equipment vans for his personal use.
Aldila NV
One of the very first “low-spin monsters,” the Aldila NV took the PGA Tour and retail by storm when it was introduced. The unique green paint made it easily recognizable, and thanks to the many weights it was offered in, it was just as popular in fairway woods as it was in drivers. Honorable mention goes to its cousin the NVS (orange version) that was softer in profile and easier to launch. At a time when most off the rack drivers had three shaft options (low, medium, and high flight-promoting shafts), the NV was the staple as the low-launch option in many OEM offerings.
Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board
Originally very hard to find, the Diamana Blue Board was a shaft that fit a large variety of golfers. Its name was derived from the blue oval that surrounded the “Diamana” on the all silver/ion painted shaft. Just like others on the list, the Blue Board came in a variety of weight options and was made particularly popular by Tiger Woods. Best known by most shaft junkies as being extremely smooth, it is one of the first sought after shafts in the aftermarket.
True Temper EI-70
It’s hard to picture a classic 900 series Titleist Driver without an EI-70 shaft in it. The EI-70 was lower torque—when that was a big talking point in shaft design—and it had a fairly stout profile, which in turn made it very stable. Unlike others on the list, it was much more subdued as far as its paint and graphics, but the green shaft was a mainstay for many years on tour and in the bags or recreational golfers.
Graphite Design Tour AD DI-6/7
It’s hard to figure out if it was the design and performance of the shaft or the performance of a certain golfer (a certain Mr. Woods) that to this day makes the Tour AD DI-7 so popular. Painted BRIGHT orange with a bend profile that offered a lot of stability and playability for a variety of player types, it can still be spotted on tour every week. You could call the DI-7 the grandchild of the YS6/7, which should also get an honorable mention for its well documented smooth feel.
UST ProForce
The aptly nicknamed “Lakers Shaft” because of its original gold and purple paint job, this was another shaft that was just as popular at the retail level as it was on the PGA Tour. As driver head sizes were going up (400cc ), players were looking for stability and this offered it. The most notable player to use it was Jim Furyk, who won the 2003 U.S. Open with one in the bag.
Grafalloy Blue
Henrik Stenson and the Grafalloy Blue in his 3-wood. Name a more iconic duo…(I’ll wait). An updated and stiffer version of the Prolite, the Blue stood out for a couple reasons—its color, and its extremely low torque. Most golfers wouldn’t consider the Blue a very smooth feeling shaft, because it took a lot of speed and a quick tempo to maximize its performance, but it did birth another shaft for average player: the Prolaunch Blue, which is still available to this day.
Matrix Ozik TP7HD
$1,100 bucks! That was the original asking price for the Martix Ozik TP7HD. Matrix thought of this design as a concept car of shafts and threw everything they had at it including exotic materials like Zylon, and the fact that it was wrapped on a 16-sided hexadecagon mandrel. Some golfers said it had a fluid-like feel (we golfers can sure be weirdly descriptive) but it still had a LOT of stability thanks to the materials. Although never as popular as many on the list, if you did spot one of these in the wild you knew its owner was VERY serious about golf gear.
True Temper Bi-Matrix
Bi (two) matrix (a surrounding medium or structure). The first and only truly notable shaft to be made from putting two very different and distinct pieces together. The bottom portion of the shaft utilizes a steel tip section that serves to add stability and additional weight. This shaft is quirky, which is something that could also be said about Bubba Watson, who has used this shaft for over a decade now in MANY different Ping drivers (although Tiger did give it a go for a short period).
Accra SE-80
This shaft might seem like the underdog of the bunch, but if you talk to any longtime club builder and get into “vintage” aftermarket shafts, undoubtedly the Accra SE-80 is going to come up at some point. Originally launched in 2006, the SE-80 combined a very low torque rating with an active tip section to help increase launch—yet feel extremely stable. Even though this shaft design is officially a teenager now, you can still find it in the bag of PGA Tour winner Ryan Palmer, who uses it in a TaylorMade R15 5-wood.
Editor’s Note: Let us know any shafts you think should be included in the comment section, WRXers!
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Whats in the Bag
Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB: 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X
Irons: TaylorMade Proto (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X 7.0 (4-9)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB) Buy here, Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-K @59) Buy here.
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X3 Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour
Ball: 2024 TaylorMade TP5x Buy here.
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s WITB in the forums.
View this post on Instagram
The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
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Whats in the Bag
Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)
- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.
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Equipment
Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Geoffrey Holland
Sep 16, 2019 at 6:38 am
You’re obviously way too young to understand that steel used to be used in driver shafts. Not picking the true temper dynamic gold as an iconic shaft is pretty stupid.
John Dugan
Sep 9, 2019 at 3:51 pm
No Whiteboard on this list?
Markus Eschmann
Sep 1, 2019 at 12:45 am
Not going to be a popular comment, but the Old Callaway RCH 96 was amazing for a stock shaft back in the day.
And I wish I could get my old Harrison Pro 2.5 Titanium back, it’d be amazing in a modern driver head.
Markus Eschmann
Sep 1, 2019 at 12:33 am
Probably not going to be a popular opinion, but the stock Callaway RCH 96 was an incredible stock shaft for it’s time.
And I wish I could get my old Harrison Pro 2.5 Ti back.
tenn_sc
Aug 23, 2019 at 12:06 pm
The True Temper Memphis 10 Shaft
Larry Bodle
Aug 22, 2019 at 9:47 am
The UST ProForce 65 was launched in 1998. Jose Maria Olazabal won the 1999 Masters with it.
At that time, the ProForce’s daring color and “Tip Stiff” design was unique and reset the standard for future driver shaft designs.
CHRIS HARP
Aug 22, 2019 at 7:43 am
Purple Ice
JimmyRay
Aug 21, 2019 at 5:42 pm
EI70 Tour-S was money…I had that in all my persimmon drivers and fairways. Wait…did I just date myself?
bajaokie
Aug 21, 2019 at 5:15 pm
Graphite Design YS-6, YS-6+ should replace the Bi-Matrix.
Tom54
Aug 21, 2019 at 5:12 pm
I remember the early versions of the first Taylormade Burner had the tour gold shaft. Little did we know back then but you sure needed long head covers because those sure showed the bag rub big time.
Dan
Aug 22, 2019 at 9:02 am
IF the gold was faded you looked like a “player”
Dan Jones
Aug 21, 2019 at 4:24 pm
How could we not add the Speeder Tour Spec 6.2,7.2,8.2. Low spin and monsters off the tee. Came out in 2009, JT just won with one in his FW last week.
Rey
Aug 21, 2019 at 4:23 pm
I have the Graphite Design Tour AD DI and have played it since it came out. It had nothing to do with Tiger Woods. I started with a 975D EI70 , moved on to the 975J-VS with YS-6 and played that shaft in 983K , 905T and 905R . That shaft made me a Titleist player for life , it fit their heads perfectly. Also had a GD PM702 in 905R it’s unbelievable. 910, 915,917 all with the Tour AD only because the YS series was that good. Also, the 983K with that shaft is the best driver I have ever owned.
A.G. Crockett
Aug 21, 2019 at 3:37 pm
The Prolite is arguably the most successful graphite shaft yet produced, because it was put into almost every Great Big Bertha immediately if you were serious about playing good golf. In those day, for a period of several years, a Saturday morning foursome of serious golfers might likely have ALL had a Ruger titanium GBB with the Prolite shaft; the story at the time was that Tour players got models of the Prolite painted to mimic the Callaway stock shaft. I doubt there has ever been one shaft with such complete market dominance, even if it was only for a few years.
bajaokie
Aug 21, 2019 at 5:17 pm
True. Tip firmness and stability that was a classic.
Steve L
Aug 21, 2019 at 3:22 pm
AJ Tech! I must’ve installed 11 one summer. Tapering out GBB titanium heads with a diamond coated bit.
BO BO
Aug 21, 2019 at 2:17 pm
Remember the “Lakers” shaft everyone was putting their Titleist driver in the late 90’s? I can’t remember the brand.
bajaokie
Aug 21, 2019 at 5:22 pm
UST ProForce
Swirley
Aug 21, 2019 at 1:50 pm
The Hammer X shaft should be on this list. It’s shaped like a sword so it slices thru the air. POW!!!!!!!!!!!!’n
Nack Jicklaus
Aug 21, 2019 at 9:46 pm
Hammer infomercials were the best!!!! Boom! Pow!!!!
FoxForceFive
Aug 21, 2019 at 12:59 pm
I think it was Calc who first used the Bi-Matrix…
Gunter Eisenberg
Aug 21, 2019 at 9:20 am
It’s 975 series, not 900 series with regards to the EI-70 shaft.
Silly Millennial…will you people ever learn??
ARob
Sep 3, 2019 at 12:48 pm
it was a stock shaft in the 983’s, and available in the 905’s as well, that’s why he said 900 series which encompasses any Titleist driver that was in the 900’s (975 included).
Phil W
Aug 21, 2019 at 8:30 am
This will be controversial but I am going to suggest an OEM shaft – the PING Tour shafts. They have been around a few years and seem to meet the needs of many WRXers based on what I read on this site. I cannot think of another OEM shaft that is as successful…..the challenge is set!!
Darryl Souness
Aug 21, 2019 at 8:15 am
Do I get laughed at for saying the Aldila DVS 50X? Big fan of the NV, but I tried one of these in a Adams Insight Pro DFX2400 Boxer and it was amazing, I picked up a few off ebay for not a lot of money and they were great in almost anything.
Currently using a Diamana Ahina 60S with the flowerband and mirror coat effects in my 2016 M2 and the whole club is so much better than any other 2016 M2 I’ve tried, so I can only imagine its the shaft.
Phil Schnepp
Aug 21, 2019 at 7:25 am
Through the years I played all these shafts. EI-70 brings back memories when I was in my early 40’s. I use to hit greens from distances I can only dream of today being in the early 60’s. My personal all time favorite from the past.
Max
Aug 21, 2019 at 1:47 am
All time? Have to include the Taylormade Bubble, Dynamic Gold and that red Pro Lite.
Jason
Aug 21, 2019 at 1:03 am
I think the title of the article should have made reference to a specific time or era and then the list is more logical. Most of them belong together within +/- 5 years but the proforce should be replaced by the V2 and the DI should be replaced by the YS and I would change the Matrix to the lime one whatever that was.
Iconic driver shafts would include some on this list but certainly not the bimatrix. It fits one left-hand golfer. Hard to argue against any of the speeders though and the Pro-95. I liked the ZCOM era graphics the best for the pro95.
I remember when I first started playing golf I always wanted my shafts to actually say Titleist, or Taylormade, callaway etc on them. I thought that meant they were “better”. LOL. The NV paved the way for me.
Janice Rossi
Aug 20, 2019 at 10:17 pm
I’m surprised Brunswick Precision didn’t make this list.
CHRIS HARP
Aug 22, 2019 at 7:42 am
Me too
DP
Aug 20, 2019 at 10:04 pm
I have a Matrix TP 7HD w TM R1 graphics and a tour serial number. Came from Robert Allenby
Dan
Aug 20, 2019 at 9:55 pm
I would add Titanium’s and Pro Lite before Accra and Matrix
joey collard
Aug 20, 2019 at 8:37 pm
Rombax P95 is a staple in the fairway line
jgpl001
Aug 22, 2019 at 4:14 pm
Agreed, this was a cracking shaft and should not be forgotten
Partnered with a 910F in 13.5 deg was unbeatable, long and straight if you were strong enough for the combo and would kill any Epic fairway or M6 fairway today
Richie Hunt
Aug 20, 2019 at 6:45 pm
AJ Tech
Aldila HM-40
Harrison (one of their early models, can’t remember the name)
Dave Bryce
Aug 20, 2019 at 7:31 pm
Agreed I had the shaft in my driver and installed it in some of my customers clubs!
Dan
Aug 20, 2019 at 9:50 pm
Striper
Garrett H
Aug 20, 2019 at 5:56 pm
I run a golf shop in canada. we have 2 of the Matrix Ozik TP7HD selling for $150…
Eric
Aug 21, 2019 at 4:56 pm
You serious? We’re are you located exactly? Flex?
Fraser
Aug 26, 2019 at 9:20 am
Are you anywhere in BC?
Hunter
Aug 20, 2019 at 5:34 pm
Gotta add the UST V2 shaft. Those things were money for a stock shaft on the Titleist drivers.
Peter
Aug 20, 2019 at 5:21 pm
How could you not include the TaylorMade Bubble shaft?? 🙂
yerp
Aug 20, 2019 at 4:47 pm
WHERE DA ROMBAX THO , FAM
Brian
Aug 20, 2019 at 4:27 pm
I was a big Penley Shaft fan.. Platinum, Stealth 80 and the ETA. All amazing low torque shafts with incredible feel.
JP
Aug 20, 2019 at 10:57 pm
Loved the ETA 75 Tour
Kyle Cowherd
Aug 21, 2019 at 3:26 pm
I had the platinum in a 970 3 wood. Still might be my favorite shaft ever.
ShanksALot
Aug 20, 2019 at 4:13 pm
The SE80 was in a few pros bags, but leaving out the ProLite 3.5 is travesty. The shaft should have been the stock in the OG Great Big Bertha or Biggest Big Bertha based on how many of that combo I saw.
And leaving out the YS is a shame. It was the shaft that put Graphite Design on the map.
SE80… SMDH
Dave Bryce
Aug 20, 2019 at 7:33 pm
The 3 5 and 4.5 graffaloy’s were excellent shafts! Many players on the Senior Tour in the 90s used the 4.5.
Brian
Aug 20, 2019 at 4:03 pm
ALL TIME And no TTs300 or x100???
But I get where your going- What about the sexy AJTec?
Ted
Aug 20, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Where is the YS series? That was the only shaft other than the 757 back in the day. Could not buy a titleist driver without it.
Eric
Aug 20, 2019 at 2:04 pm
I also would add the prolite 3.5. certainly a lot more iconic than the accra or others on this list. Who wrote this anyway?
MG
Aug 20, 2019 at 2:07 pm
Exactly!
Ted
Aug 20, 2019 at 2:00 pm
I would have certainly added the YS-6 and YS series, as more golfers used those shafts than the EI series and was a staple on tour and in all Titleist drivers.
Scott Gilbert
Aug 20, 2019 at 1:57 pm
Fuji Pro95 as mentioned above
Vista Pro 70/80/90
Fuji 869
UST V2 86g
Tried them all in a merry go round of fairway woods, V steels, various titleists (906f2 my favourite), 200 and 300 series Tm’s
And lastly Prolaunch Red FW was / is also a great option
Haywood
Aug 20, 2019 at 1:56 pm
Still rock the blue boards in my driver and fairway. And addi in my hybrid
Milo
Aug 20, 2019 at 1:12 pm
I would love to get my hands on a grafalloy blue
Dan
Aug 20, 2019 at 9:53 pm
I have one in a Titleist 983E and it’s still as long as anything made today
Stephen
Aug 20, 2019 at 10:08 pm
I picked one up in a pawn shop attached to an Adams prototype 3 wood for $1. Unfortunately it’s X.
Fergie
Aug 20, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Played the EI70 and EI70 II a lot in the early 2000’s.
Kind of surprised UST Mamiya ProForce V2 is not here . . .
Ray
Sep 9, 2019 at 2:39 pm
Proforce V2 best ever
Cant find the tour version(heavier weights) any more
v2 tour 104 best fairway shaft. Wish they would bring it back
Aubrey Swinson
Aug 20, 2019 at 12:35 pm
Played literally all of those shafts…surprise! I’m a gear junkie! I particularly loved the EI-70 (3 wood magic!), Fuji Vista Pro 110 (had it in a Ping TiSi driver) and GD YS Series/PurpleICE (TM R540 TP). My only argument with anything on this list is shafts that were missing or at least deserved a mention. The Aldila HM-40, the graphite shaft that started it all back in the late 80’s, TaylorMade FlexTwist graphite shafts of the early/mid 90’s and AJTech graphite of the very late 90’s and early 2000’s….with an honorable mention to the TaylorMade Flextwist Titanium and Sandvik Ti shafts of the mid 90’s. You weren’t swing the club hard unless you had a Ti shaft, they were fragile as hell to cut but they were stiffer than stiff to try to play.
I love lists like this, lots of nostalgia…and a healthy reminder of how much I have swapped shafts around like a kucklehead.
Tim Armington
Aug 20, 2019 at 2:37 pm
Aldila in-40 was my dad shaft of all time! Had it in a TM head and hit it miles farther than anything else!
Dan
Aug 20, 2019 at 10:14 pm
I too had every shaft you mentioned. I loved the Ti shaft. Had it in my TM burner 10.5 and 3wood. Loved the EI 70. Had it in my TM spoon ( original graphics ). Never liked the HM-40, AJ Techs or Purple Ice. Thanks for the nostalgia.
Jamie
Aug 20, 2019 at 11:33 am
Sandvik Titanium, ProForce V2 and ProLite 3.5 instead of Proforce and Blue, Aldila HM 40, Aldila Rogue Silver (someday).
Ty Webb
Aug 20, 2019 at 11:20 am
I agree ProLiite 3.5 has to be on the list way more so than the Blue.
MATTHEW CRADDOCK
Aug 20, 2019 at 11:05 am
Grafalloy Prolite 3.5 doesn’t make the list……I agree with most except the Matrix and Bi-matrix
Dave Bryce
Aug 20, 2019 at 7:36 pm
I agree the bimatrix was not a great shaft!
Duke
Aug 20, 2019 at 11:03 am
I’ve played with all of those shafts. Yup WRXER. Lol
My personal all time favorite and surprisingly not mentioned is the Fuji Pro 95. Imo the best fwy wood shaft ever.