Equipment
Roberto Diaz using Mitsubishi Rayon OT graphite iron shafts in Mexico
At the WGC-Mexico event this week, we’ll see something never seen before: Mitsubishi Rayon graphite iron shafts in play at a Tour event.
Roberto Diaz, a native Mexican who’s currently ranked No. 5 on the Web.com Tour money list, is using the company’s OT iron shafts at the Club de Golf Chapultepec. He was fit for the shafts at True Spec Golf in Miami, an international club fitter with U.S. locations in Florida, New York and Ohio. True Spec Golf also built his irons.
The shafts originated in Japan from the Mitsubishi Rayon “idea lab,” also known as FRANKI (the Japanese word for incubator is “Fooranki”), and they are produced with a process that’s similar to how steel cables are made.
Each OT shaft is created from graphite fibers that are arranged in super-strong bundles and impregnated with resin to create the company’s special “Tow Prepreg.” The bundles are then woven together like a braid. According to MRC, the manufacturing process makes the shafts more resistant to twisting and ovaling.
Diaz is using a 105-gram model of the parallel-tip shafts in X-Flex. He’s also using an MRC Kuro Kage XT 60 (TX-Flex) shaft in his driver.
Related
- Learn more about the irons shafts on MRC’s website.
- See what GolfWRX members are saying about the shafts in our forums.
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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.
(Photo courtesy of TaylorMade)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s WITB in the forums.
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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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- 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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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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KCCO
Mar 13, 2017 at 10:22 pm
Seems as if OEMS are getting (hard to call graphite) as it seems there are so many other materials in the actual materials being used to get these shafts to a point of finally satisfying what a player wants from an iron shaft. I had weight issues with a few in past, meaning didn’t follow weight as standard steel shaft irons did going from long iron throughout shafts weighted differently didn’t correlate. That being said there are a few manufactures who have nailed it, at least IMO. I play Fuji MCI-100 limited blacks stiff tipped to stiff plus-ish. I played x100’s previous for longest period of time after trying most iron OEM’s offerings. i.e. KBS C-Taper, Tours, assorted DG’s (still love x100, in black onyx are even better) , Nippon; actually really nice etc. I believe some will be very satisfied the difference a few years has made. I’m not crazy swing speed player either. (105-108) 43.5 driver. I was assured by a great player/player these would be last iron shafts, at least for a while…he was right. Later releases and development may surprise you, give a try.
Adam
Mar 4, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Why is a guy from the Web.com tour playing in a WGC event?
James
Mar 2, 2017 at 11:34 pm
WHAT IRONS IS HE PLAYING THOUGH?!?!
Dylan
Mar 2, 2017 at 8:24 pm
Great. I’ll take a 105-X, 46in with a .335 tip please. Because ‘merica.