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Well, it's been 18 months since I first hit these beauties and finally a set is all mine! I played with some of Aldila's R&D and Sales staff back in May of 2011 and was teased with hitting a set of very early prototype RIP irons shafts in a set of TaylorMade MC's heads and have been drooling at the opportunity to get a set. Some of you may have saw a set popped up on eBay a few weeks back. And then just last week a set of Adam's MB2's popped up with a set. Well, Aldila hooked me up with a set of my own to try, 11 shafts, 2-SW brand new uncut.
I installed the day after I got them into my trusty David Tom's R7 TP's and took them out the next morning. First impressions on the range that day..."WOW, are these things straight!" The consistancy in the feel, balance, load, flex, etc, all felt great. Very solid shafts. I have a pretty nasty little draw that can overcook more often than I like but these RIP shafts are so good. Ballflight was higher than my Nippon NS Proto's but then again when you drop from 136g shafts to 122g shafts what do you expect? Slightly higher yet still just as long. I was getting good yardage but I knew they were a bit on the light side swingweight wise. (Turns out they were only C3, more on that later.) So I took them to the course.
We played Sterling Hills in Ventura, CA. Usually a great track, excellent layout. Well the day we played someone thought it would be a good idea to plug the fairways after it rained overnight and then mow them short to spread the mud around. Uh, what? Gross! My cleats were 5lb's heavier caked in mud. It was a disaster. Zero roll, lift clean and place. I had to hit a lot of long irons that day, I think six 5-iron shots and 2 4-irons on Par 4 approaches. Not to mention the long par 3's. I think I only hit 4 shots under a 7i all day. Considering the conditions, 44° tempature, the RIP shafts felt great in my hands. No cold morning stingers. The trajectory couldn't have been better, medium height very flat, no balloon at all, none of the shots I hit ballooned. Hit a few 2irons just for fun and man was it pretty.
Short irons, when I did get to hit them were dialed in and controlled. One knock-down PW flew up a little high on me and came up short but knowing now they were too light makes sense. I know the green conditions aren't the same everywhere but my shots were hitting, bouncing out of their ballmark and maybe backed up 6" or a foot. I like the spin where it is, I don't need the ball sucking back 10 feet on short irons shots. I want it to drop and stop.
After the round I ran to the Thousand Oaks Roger Dunn shop and stuck them on a swingweight scale. All of them were under C6, woah. The lighter shafts and the heavy (50g+) grip with 3 wraps of extra tape made for a counter effect. So I grapped some high density lead tape and went home. I think I'll switch to a lighter mid-size grip, only do 1 wrap of tape and put on about 4 x 1" strips of lead tape and I should be up around D0. I can live with that with how great these shafts feel. I thought about tungsten powder but I know if you add too much weight the shaft will play weaker to flex. I did make them standard length which is how I like to play them even though I'm tall, my long arms make up for the height.
I wrapped the 6i hosel with the lead tape and took it to Golfsmith. On their launch monitor I was averaging around 16.8° of launch, 5200 RPM's backspin, 300 RPM's side spin, and 185 yards carry with 10 yards roll, 43° angle of decent.
I'm gonna take them out tomorrow weather permitting to see how they fair with the added lead tape. Haven't got the lighter grips yet, I'm gonna wait and see how they perform on a course with more favorable conditions. I can't wait to get a few more rounds in. I might just brave the rain to play these babies again. If you are in the market for graphite iron shafts then wait for the RIP iron shafts next year, they will be worth it! I was told they are in final graphics approval and then will be available for purchase. They've been on tour since the Northern Trust @ Riviear last year.
If you live in the SoCal / Los Angeles area and want to give them a try, shoot me a PM and we can try to meet up sometime. I'd love to get some more WRX'ers opinions/reviews for Aldila.
These are the original prototype graphics. There is another set of Proto's out with just the normal "R.I.P." graphic lasered into the shaft. I venture to guess the retail models will have the R.I.P. graphic and a skull and crossbones like the other RIP shafts. None of the proto's I've seen have the skull & crossbones yet.
I installed the day after I got them into my trusty David Tom's R7 TP's and took them out the next morning. First impressions on the range that day..."WOW, are these things straight!" The consistancy in the feel, balance, load, flex, etc, all felt great. Very solid shafts. I have a pretty nasty little draw that can overcook more often than I like but these RIP shafts are so good. Ballflight was higher than my Nippon NS Proto's but then again when you drop from 136g shafts to 122g shafts what do you expect? Slightly higher yet still just as long. I was getting good yardage but I knew they were a bit on the light side swingweight wise. (Turns out they were only C3, more on that later.) So I took them to the course.
We played Sterling Hills in Ventura, CA. Usually a great track, excellent layout. Well the day we played someone thought it would be a good idea to plug the fairways after it rained overnight and then mow them short to spread the mud around. Uh, what? Gross! My cleats were 5lb's heavier caked in mud. It was a disaster. Zero roll, lift clean and place. I had to hit a lot of long irons that day, I think six 5-iron shots and 2 4-irons on Par 4 approaches. Not to mention the long par 3's. I think I only hit 4 shots under a 7i all day. Considering the conditions, 44° tempature, the RIP shafts felt great in my hands. No cold morning stingers. The trajectory couldn't have been better, medium height very flat, no balloon at all, none of the shots I hit ballooned. Hit a few 2irons just for fun and man was it pretty.
Short irons, when I did get to hit them were dialed in and controlled. One knock-down PW flew up a little high on me and came up short but knowing now they were too light makes sense. I know the green conditions aren't the same everywhere but my shots were hitting, bouncing out of their ballmark and maybe backed up 6" or a foot. I like the spin where it is, I don't need the ball sucking back 10 feet on short irons shots. I want it to drop and stop.
After the round I ran to the Thousand Oaks Roger Dunn shop and stuck them on a swingweight scale. All of them were under C6, woah. The lighter shafts and the heavy (50g+) grip with 3 wraps of extra tape made for a counter effect. So I grapped some high density lead tape and went home. I think I'll switch to a lighter mid-size grip, only do 1 wrap of tape and put on about 4 x 1" strips of lead tape and I should be up around D0. I can live with that with how great these shafts feel. I thought about tungsten powder but I know if you add too much weight the shaft will play weaker to flex. I did make them standard length which is how I like to play them even though I'm tall, my long arms make up for the height.
I wrapped the 6i hosel with the lead tape and took it to Golfsmith. On their launch monitor I was averaging around 16.8° of launch, 5200 RPM's backspin, 300 RPM's side spin, and 185 yards carry with 10 yards roll, 43° angle of decent.
I'm gonna take them out tomorrow weather permitting to see how they fair with the added lead tape. Haven't got the lighter grips yet, I'm gonna wait and see how they perform on a course with more favorable conditions. I can't wait to get a few more rounds in. I might just brave the rain to play these babies again. If you are in the market for graphite iron shafts then wait for the RIP iron shafts next year, they will be worth it! I was told they are in final graphics approval and then will be available for purchase. They've been on tour since the Northern Trust @ Riviear last year.
If you live in the SoCal / Los Angeles area and want to give them a try, shoot me a PM and we can try to meet up sometime. I'd love to get some more WRX'ers opinions/reviews for Aldila.
These are the original prototype graphics. There is another set of Proto's out with just the normal "R.I.P." graphic lasered into the shaft. I venture to guess the retail models will have the R.I.P. graphic and a skull and crossbones like the other RIP shafts. None of the proto's I've seen have the skull & crossbones yet.
Edited by markheardjr, 16 November 2012 - 04:21 PM.
