For a shaft company, having a lot of models for golfers to choose from is a great thing. But what shaft companies don’t want to happen, especially with Tour players, is for golfers to become so confused by all the different models that they decide to play another company’s shaft..

“Every year, tour players have to memorize the shaft offerings from 1o different shaft companies,” said Chris Nolan, executive vice president of global operations for Matrix Shafts. “We got to the point where we had some many different iterations of different shafts that people in our building were getting confused.”

That’s why Matrix has simplified its shaft offering for 2013 with three shafts that fit into three distinct categories.

New for this year are Matrix’s X3 “White Tie” shaft, which replaces the company’s popular XCON shafts, and the company’s Q3 “Red Tie” shaft, which replaces the HD Series shafts.

Last year, Matrix released its M3 “Black Tie” shaft, which replaced the company’s M2 series. It’s the lowest-launching, lowest-spinning shaft in the Matrix Flight System — the company’s portfolio of shaft characteristics.

The White Tie is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Black Tie, offering golfers a high-launch with mid-to-high spin. Splitting the difference is the company’s Red Tie shaft, which offers a mid launch and mid spin.

All three shafts carry an MSRP of $375. Check out the video and additional specs below:

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Note: For the shafts below, the leading number denotes the weight range, i.e., 6 means the shaft is in the 60-grams range. The following two letters and numbers, i.e. M3, denote the shaft model. For hybrid shafts, the letter h will lead and the weight range will follow the model number, i.e., hM3 105.

Black Tie Specs

• Models: 5M3, 6M3, 7M3, 8M3, hM3 85, hM3 95, hM3 105
• Flexes: Available in regular, firm, stiff, strong, x-stiff and xx-stiff flexes in most models

Red Tie Specs:

• Models: 4Q3, 5Q3, 6Q3, 7Q3, 8Q3 (no hybrid models)
• Flexes: Lady through XX-Stiff in most models

White Tie Specs:

• Models: 4X3, 5X3, 6X3, 7X3, 8X3, hX3 (80 to 85 grams depending on flex)
• Flexes: Lady through XX-Stiff in most models