Equipment

BGT launches all-new Stability Tour putter shaft

Published

4 years ago

Nov 23, 2019

Breakthrough Golf Technology (BGT) hit a home run with the introduction of the original Stability Putter shaft. Now, to build on that success it is introducing the Stability Tour which offers the same massive boost in putter performance, with improved feel and looks.

Stability Shaft Technology Recap

The principle behind the BGT Stability Shaft is that by increasing the stiffness and reducing the torque of the putter shaft you reduce club head twisting and greatly increase putts made percentage, especially on mishits. Of course, using a higher MOI putter design helps with that, but there is still an inherent flaw—what happens when you’re using 2019 putter technology with 1950s steel shaft technology? Less than ideal results.

We featured the original BGT Stability on GolfWRX earlier this year when I had the chance to do a fitting with VP of R&D Blair Philip (BGT’s Stability putter shaft: Real numbers, real improvement). As someone with experience using the Quintic Putting fitting system and the information it produces, I was extremely impressed with the performance benefits the Stability Shaft offered me.

So where does the new Stability Tour improve vs the original Stability? By taking player feedback from the original and tweaking the design to offer the same technological advantage and putting it into a more player-preferred package.

The Tour Difference

As much as the original is loved by those who put it into play, the biggest deterrent that kept golfers from making the switch was the looks—and BGT took on the challenge to improve it!

BGT Tour Shaft

The original Stability had a consistent diameter of .600″ all the way from the shaft transition adapter to the butt end. .600″ is the standard butt diameter for must shafts on the market including irons and driver shafts, but having the .600″ run the entire length makes the shaft appear oversized compared to standard putter shafts and creates a very noticeable transition from the graphite portion to the steel at the bottom.

The new Stability Tour has a slow consistent outside diameter taper from .600″ at the butt to just over .520″ at the tip, .080″ might not seem like a big difference, until you understand just how sensitive the human eye is to detecting measurements and recognizing parallel lines. This small change makes a huge difference to how the shaft appears at address.

With this change in the specs of the outside diameter, a lot of other things had to change on the inside too. The construction of the Original shaft and its four parts can be seen below:

The new Stability Tour uses 30 percent more graphite to reinforce the shaft and no longer uses the aluminum insert to create the extra rigidity. When talking with Blair Philip about the construction of the Stability Tour, the new shaft is actually stiffer and stronger than the previous versions but offers better feel, and here’s how

Graphite wall thickness: By increasing the wall thickness of the Tour, it reduces the acoustic vibration potential and makes it sound and feel softer. Think if a crash symbol vs a solid block of steel—it’s an extreme example but the symbol is going to be a lot louder when hit with the same force because it’s thinner and has the potential of vibrate more. You add in the inherent vibration dampening properties of the material (graphite) itself, and you have a shaft that sounds softer, feels better, and keeps the ball online more often.

Balance point: The other element for feel is the balance point of the shaft. The new Stability offers a balance point much more inline with a traditional steel shaft vs. the original Stability. This means that for players used to a specific weight feel (swing weight) of their putter before re-shafting, this can eliminate one variable for the converting player.

Per BGT: “It will balance like a steel shaft which makes it easy to recreate a specific swing weight when re-shafting. Better golfers can replace their steel shaft without changing the balance of the putter, which allows the most discerning players to achieve precise specifications on their equipment.”

When all of these changes are combined together into the new Stability Tour putter shaft, you get the same benefits of the original in a smaller, sleeker, player-preferred package.

For more information check out BGT’s Website: BreakThroughGolfTech.com, and you can see what our members are saying in the GolfWRX Member testing thread here: BGT Stability Tour, GolfWRX Member Testing Thread

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Streelman WITB 2024 (April)

Published

17 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Kevin Streelman what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

5-wood: Ping G (17.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 X

Irons: Wilson Staff Model CB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

Wedges: Wilson Staff Model (48-08, 54-08), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-L @59)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (48), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54, 58)

Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType SSS TG6

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

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Equipment

Choose Your Driver: Which 2012 driver was your favorite?

Published

18 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

The year was 2012. Gangnam Style ruled supreme, its infectious beats and ludicrous horse-riding dance moves hypnotizing us with their stupidity. Everyone was talking about the Mayan calendar, convinced that the end of days was near. Superheroes soared on the silver screen, with the Avengers assembling in epic fashion. Katniss Everdeen survived The Hunger Games. And the memes! The memes abounded. Grumpy Cat triumphed. We kept calm and carried on.

In much the same way that automotive enthusiasts love classic cars, we at GolfWRX love taking a backward glance at some of the iconic designs of years past. Heck, we love taking iconic designs to the tee box in the present!

In that spirit, GolfWRX has been running a series inspired by arguably the greatest fighting game franchise of all time: Mortal Kombat. It’s not “choose your fighter” but rather “choose your driver.”

Check out some of the standout combatants of 2012 below.

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Nike VRS

Often harshly critiqued during its years releasing golf equipment (right, Phil Mickelson?), Nike’s tenure in the club-and-ball business gets a gloss of nostalgic varnish, with many of its iron and putter designs continuing to attract admirers. Among the company’s driver offerings, the 2012 VRS — or VR_S, if you will — drew high marks for its shaping and toned-down appearance. The multi-thickness, NexCOR face was no joke either.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Callaway RAZR Fit

Callaway’s first foray into moveable weight technology (married with its OptiFit hosel) did not disappoint. With a carbon fiber crown, aerodynamic attention to detail, and variable and hyperbolic face technologies, this club foreshadowed the tech-loaded, “story in every surface” Callaway drivers of the present, AI-informed design age.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Cleveland Classic 310

Truly a design that came out of left field. Cleveland said, “Give me a persimmon driver, but make it titanium…in 460cc.” Our 2012 reviewer, JokerUsn wrote, “I don’t need to elaborate on all the aesthetics of this club. You’ve seen tons of pics. You’ve all probably seen a bunch in the store and held them up close and gotten drool on them. From a playing perspective, the color is not distracting. It’s dark enough to stay unobtrusive in bright sunlight…Even my playing partners, who aren’t into clubs at all…commented on it saying it looks cool.” Long live!

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Titleist 910

While there’s no disputing Titleist’s “Titleist Speed” era of drivers perform better than its 2010s offerings, sentimentality abounds, and there was something classically Titleist about these clubs, right down to the alignment aid, and the look is somewhere between 983 times and the present TS age. Representing a resurgence after a disappointing stretch of offerings (907, 909), The 910D2 was a fairly broadly appealing driver with its classic look at address and classic Titleist face shape.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

TaylorMade RocketBallz

The white crown. The name. You either loved ‘em or you hated ‘em. TaylorMade’s 2012 offering from its RocketBallz Period boasted speed-enhancing aerodynamics and an Inverted Cone Technology in the club’s titanium face. Technology aside, it’s impossible to overstate what a departure from the norm a white-headed driver was in the world of golf equipment.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Ping i20

Long a quietly assertive player in the driver space, Ping’s i20 was more broadly appealing than the G20, despite being a lower-launch, lower-spin club. Ping drivers didn’t always have looks that golfer’s considered traditional or classic, but the i20 driver bucked that trend. Combining the classic look with Ping’s engineering created a driver that better players really gravitated toward. The i20 offered players lower launch and lower spin for more penetrating ball flight while the rear 20g tungsten weights kept the head stable. Sound and feel were great also, being one of the more muted driver sounds Ping had created up to that time.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

GolfWRXers, let us know in the comments who “your fighter” is and why!

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/29/24): Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft

Published

22 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

Gianni Magliocco

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Krank Formula fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft.

From the seller: (@well01): “Krank formula fire 10.5 degree with AUtoflex SF505. $560 shipped.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules