Equipment
Nippon springs forward with a new Modus iron shaft
If a company can manufacture automotive springs, it can probably make a pretty decent golf shaft.
That’s exactly the case for Nippon Shafts, whose parent company NHK Springs is a large automotive springs manufacturing company.
Mark Pekarek, North American distributor for Nippon, gives NHK credit for the construction methods and materials that give Nippon shafts their smooth feel and make them efficient at transferring energy.
Nippon’s latest iron shaft, the N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 130, is stiff in the butt and mid sections, but it has a softer tip section.
“What that creates is a little bit of a higher, easy launch but then a lower, Tour-type spin to get the ball to go through the air in a more penetrating fashion,” Pekarek said.
This is the opposite construction of the company’s N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 shaft that debuted in 2012, which is about 10 grams lighter than the Tour 130. Usually, lighter weight shafts are designed to hit the ball higher than their heavier weight counterparts, but the Tour 120 has a stiff tip with softer mid and butt sections — a construction that actually results in a lower flight.
Like all of the company’s shafts, the Tour 130 is created from a specially picked base metal. It then undergoes an NHK-learned heat treatment process that the company says helps with distance control.
The Tour 130 is currently used by Sergio Garcia. It comes in three flexes: the R (121 grams), S (124 grams) and X (129 grams) and sells for about $37 each.
The Tour 120 comes in four flexes: R (111 grams), S (114), X (120) and TX (126) and sells for the same price.
Check out the video interview about the Tour 130 with GolfWRX’s Zak Kozuchowski and Pekarek to learn more about the shaft.
[youtube id=”ldc3smHTxAM” width=”620″ height=”360″]
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Whats in the Bag
Daniel Berger WITB 2024 (April)
- Daniel Berger what’s in the bag accurate as of the Farmers Insurance Open. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
6-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2011 (4-PW)
Shafts: Project X Denali Blue 105 TX (3), Project X 6.5 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50-12F), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-14F), Callaway Jaws Raw (60-08C)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56, 60)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Mini DB
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy PistolLock 1.0
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Check out more in-hand photos of Daniel Berger’s clubs in the forums.
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Equipment
Heavy Artillery: A look at drivers in play at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
What are the driver and shaft combinations of the best golfers in the world? For gearheads, it’s an endlessly interesting question — even if we can only ever aspire to play LS heads and 7 TX shafts.
At this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, GolfWRX got in-hand looks at the driver setups of a wealth of players.
Check out some of the most interesting combos below, then head to the GolfWRX forums for the rest, as well as the rest of our galleries from New Orleans.
Rory McIlroy
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alex Fitzpatrick
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Daniel Berger
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees @9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Rasmus Hojgaard
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alejandro Tosti
Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees @10.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 75 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride MCC Plus4
James Nicholas
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (8 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Kevin Streelman
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Sang-moon Bae
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (9+ @8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Russ Cochran
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD TP 6 X
Grip: Golf pride MCC Align
MJ Daffue
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (10.5 degrees @9.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX 65 TX
Grip: Golf Pride ZGrip Cord Align
Check our more photos from the Zurich Classic here.
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Whats in the Bag
Rasmus Højgaard WITB 2024 (April)
- Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Prototype (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Utility: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw White 85 TX
Irons: Callaway Apex Pro (3), Callaway X Forged (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 130
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S, 56-10S, 60-06C)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X
Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled Eight T DB
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Hojgaard in the forums.
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Patrick Beach
Aug 14, 2014 at 11:17 pm
This is the same description as the ProV1x and the taylormade SLDR …so somehow comlnies believe high launch low spin is possible…the SLDR results in a knuckle ball…aka hardest driver on the market to hit..these irons do not knuckle…so amazing!
TheLegend
Sep 24, 2013 at 12:33 pm
is this the shaft henik stenson is playing in his irons?
Zak Kozuchowski
Sep 24, 2013 at 1:27 pm
Stenson is playing the slightly lighter, lower-flying Tour 120X shaft.
Here’s Stenson’s full WITB: http://www.golfwrx.com/96594/henrik-stenson-witb/
Rich
Mar 6, 2013 at 1:18 pm
I have the 130 in my 4 and 5 iron. The ball flight is higher than my old Nippon tour preening blue shafts. The ball does not appear to float in the wind and I am looking forward to playing these this spring.
marionmg
Feb 23, 2013 at 9:53 pm
I hit it back to back with my modus 120 in same head and this shaft launches higher and spins a little more. It does feel stiffer than the 120 though – which kind of defies physics in some ways considering the results.
Tony Lopez
Feb 22, 2013 at 1:07 pm
This shaft is being described as a physics changer, I agree with Todd.
Todd
Feb 18, 2013 at 5:57 pm
When a shaft allows a higher launch, it does so by increasing the loft on the clubhead just before impact. This MUST be accompanied by a higher spin rate, when all else is the same. Sorry, but a shaft can’t give you BOTH a higher launch AND a lower spin rate.