Wanted to share some thoughts about the UST Mamiya VTS line of shafts. I have been playing around with them, as well as having other top am’s around me try for the past several months.

I always like to give things some time before saying a lot about it, so that new/different/honeymoon period can pass, and a longer term performance judgement can be made.

Click here to see more photos and read the discussion in the forums

By now, I believe many out there know the concept of the VTS line of shafts, same profile, same weight, with the only variable being the torque rating.
Black lowest at 2.5*
Silver middle at 3.5*
Red highest at 4.5*
The concept, and what I find to be the reality, is that once a golfer finds the torque he/she likes the feel of best, they will hit it more consistent, pick up a little swing speed, and in turn a bit of ball speed via better, more confident swings…….because the SHAFT FEELS RIGHT.

One thing I decided not to do in this review was put up a bunch of launch monitor numbers, although I did ad some basic Trackman readings at end. I want to emphasize that the numbers will be different for each person, each swing style, based on how the shaft feels……which to me is awesome, the exact concept this line of variable torque shafts was trying to achieve. Please, get to a fitter where you can test all 3 torques, you may be shocked by which you hit the best. But for reference, plenty of time was spent on Trackman, ForeSight, as well as on course.

First, a few pics:

Click here to see more photos and read the discussion in the forums

COSMETICS:
Awesome! I am a fan of the graphics, noticeable, but not overdone. And the pearl white is phenomenal, love the pearl white, I like they went this route instead of just a flat white. The shades of red chosen are perfect, and pop well off the pearl white. When in the playing position, there are no distractions, and the graphics are clean and well laid out. The side of the shaft that features the “ProForce”, “VTS”, and the weight and flex circle is clean and well done as well.

FEEL:
Before diving into specific examples of feedback, let me start by saying, very smooth, very stable. I always have used the phrase “Diamana smooth” based on my past use of Blue Board, Kai’li, etc., these VTS shafts fit that category, they are a great feeling golf shaft, no sense of anything but smooth in them. Great feel!

Kind of a personal opinion category, so I will share mine. I will start with an example that came about when I first started telling a local better golfer about the shaft. When you hear the word “ProForce” certain things may come to mind. Stability, consistent performance, tight, low torque, etc. To this individual, he always thought ProForce line shafts, including the V2, were harsh, unresponsive, or not smooth enough for his liking. Knowing that he is a high spin/high launch guy, smoother transition, and prefers a smoother feeling, lighter weight X-flex shaft, I got him a VTS Red 6X to try in his driver. He was a bit hesitant, but gave it a go………LOVES IT. Not only did it do a fantastic job at flattening his flight and lowering his spin, it gave him the smooth feel he was after. The best part, for a guy that doesn’t like a “tight” or “unresponsive” feeling shaft, by going to the RED version, he got all the feel he wanted, and wasn’t locked into a low torque design. Continued playing it, and hasn’t come out of his driver yet, and he has been through a few this year before the VTS! I play a decent amount of golf with this person, and out of all the shafts I have seen him hit in the same club head, he hits his VTS Red 6X noticeably farther than anything I have personally seen the last few years.

Me personally, I have a Red, Silver, and Black 7X all installed the same, for a good head to head comparison. The feel differences are very noticeable to me, I can tell the Black is tighter and lower torque, I can tell the Red has a higher torque value than most driver shafts I have ever tried / played, which I am actually fond of, just makes it feel so smooth, and in reality helps with swing tempo at times. And the Silver is perfectly in the middle, very smooth with more feel than the Black.
Launch and spin for me varied a bit throughout the line, and what I personally found is that the feel the torque provides, had a majority of the impact on how I swung the club, and delivered the club face to the ball, as the sensation of feel had me swinging each torque slightly different…..without trying to do so. Funny thing is, spec wise, most, including myself would probably hand me the Black 7X first…..because of feel, I found myself trying to load the shaft a bit harder than normal, causing a slight over the top and slightly steep move, hence I launched the black the highest with the most spin…..on paper, it should be the lowest on each. I loved the feel of the Silver and Red, and can get away with playing either….smooth, responsive, and very stable. And although they feature higher torque, I hit them straighter. My ball speed was 2-4 MPH higher with Red and Silver than with the Black.

Gave a short swing, heavy loader, very fast transition guy the 3 to try……pounded all 3 quite well, but, because of his swing style and sense of feel, he loved the Black, and because he felt like he could just load it as hard as he wanted, he increased ball speed over the Silver and Red, which he had the sensation he needed to “hold on to” through the swing, because of how smooth they were, this caused a slower swing speed, and slight blocks and fades because he wasn’t releasing through the ball. The Black won him over, and he is after one now, as he preferred it over his current gamer shaft.

Click here to see more photos and read the discussion in the forums

PERFORMANCE:
Once the right torque is identified to match the individuals feel preference, the shaft provides a mid/low trajectory, lower spin type ball flight. When swinging the wrong torque for you, the launch and spin results will vary greatly from what I have seen. Once again, the importance is matching the feel to the person. Once that right feel is found, everyone’s ball speed turned out to be very impressive when comparing to their various high end gamers. Again, demonstrates how much better they were swinging when they found the right torque/feel. Many that tried are waiting for them to become available so they can buy one and change.
With a proper fitting to identify the right flex, the right weight, the right torque, and then the proper installation (tipping, length, etc.) it is hard not to be able to fit a wide range of players and needs into this line.

All right, what can performance be without a little launch monitor data, here is a sample from 7-9 weeks ago.

Outdoor on Trackman using TaylorMade Penta TP balls. About 76 degrees outside in a slight into and right to left wind.

My current gamer shaft (average taken from collection of shots):
Ball Speed: 168.8 MPH
Launch: 10.7
Spin: 2,580 RPM

VTS Shafts for ME
Ball Speed:
RED=171.2
SILVER=170.2
BLACK=167.5

Launch:
RED=11.1
SILVER=12.7
BLACK=12.6

Spin:
RED=2,657
SILVER=2,448
BLACK=3,173

Remember, this is how they worked for my swing based off of what I was feeling. But it is clear, I was getting more ball speed and more distance potential with the VTS Red and Silver than my season long gamer……

But, I have to admit, VERY pumped and impressed, as I really dialed in the fitting on my gamer, the VTS shafts came along and beat it!

All-in-all, VERY impressed, and I suggest everyone gives a proper torque fitting a try if deciding to go with the VTS. I also suggest comparing the VTS to whatever else it is you are thinking about, as it is a great performer. I am a big fan of the entire concept of not being locked into one “feel” on a particular shaft, a great feature and added fitting benefit to help golfers out!

:good: Thumbs up from me on this line of shafts, and the entire “Variable Torque” design.

Click here to see more photos and read the discussion in the forums

UST Mamiya Proforce VTS- Proforce VTS shaft is the first shaft ever developed that emphasizes Torque in the fitting process. Historically, most players have been fit traditionally only using weight and flex. Although this has worked well in the past, Proforce VTS with 3-D fitting technology brings shaft fitting to an entirely different level.

Over the past 4 years, UST Mamiya engineers spent hundreds of hours designing shafts, and testing hundreds of golfers in order to find out what aspects of shafts are the most important to performance. The results led to the development of the Proforce VTS. UST Mamiya engineers developed a matrix of shafts of different weights (57-97 grams), and flexes (A, R, S, X) that are typically found in shaft product lines. But UST Mamiya went one step further by adding torque as the third dimension in the shaft matrix. Within a given weight and flex (e.g. 67 gram S-flex), there are 3 separate torque shafts that allow you to fine tune the shaft performance to each golfers unique Swing DNA.

UST Mamiya has found that through the unique 3-D fitting process, golfers can realize an increase in ball speed of 2 mph, with some golfers seeing up to 6 mph increase in ball speed.