Past limits: Carbon bending and the way forward for shaft manufacturing

My title is James, and I’m an tools junkie. Like lots of you, I’m additionally a [mediocre] golfer struggling to take my golf recreation to the following stage. However since I’m not so eager on hitting the vary or the gymnasium, I’m all the time trying to find the following large breakthrough to assist me keep away from extreme follow and golf classes.

TLDR: I’m again to report that I’ll have discovered the final word breakthrough involving how golf shafts are manufactured. It can sound mind-boggling and counter-intuitive, however the brand new know-how entails controlling a shaft’s variables of weight, flex (CPM), and torsional power (torque) all independently of each other. As if this alone doesn’t sound far-fetched sufficient, it additionally purports to regulate the subjective facet of how stiff the shaft feels with out affecting the opposite variables.

To one of the best of my data, I by no means knew any of those had been doable, however seeing (and feeling) is believing, although I’m nonetheless reeling from my current expertise. Furthermore, I dare predict that the sheer novelty of this discovery has the potential to redefine the golf shaft trade as we all know it.

Additionally, the article is lengthy. You’ve been warned.

In A Leagye Of Their Personal

Over time, I’ve reported on a number of golf improvements and applied sciences that made golfers sit up and take discover. Of these finds, let me briefly recap two merchandise that particularly stood out earlier than I unveil my most up-to-date discovery additional beneath.

Beginning at quantity three, I current the now-famous Autoflex shaft by Dumina. Launched in early 2020 in the course of the COVID epidemic, the small Korean firm claimed that their shafts didn’t use any flex designations and are to be chosen solely primarily based on a golfer’s swing velocity. In opposition to standard knowledge, the corporate claimed {that a} tremendous versatile, ultralight shaft can enhance distance and accuracy for golfers of all swing speeds. The AF shaft, with its mysterious Korea Hidden Know-how (KHT), sounded too good to be true, however most of the time, golfers who braved the steep worth and the recent pink shade agreed that the shaft appeared professional. Many additionally credit score it with creating a complete new class of soppy and hyper-flexible efficiency shafts.

Subsequent within the quantity two spot is the groundbreaking FreeFlex shaft from SJ Golf Lab, additionally out of Korea. When the FF shafts surfaced in early 2023, I first thought they had been a barely improved model of the Autoflex. At weights and flex even softer than the AF, the shafts additionally improved distance and accuracy at a cheaper price level than their counterparts.

Upon delving additional, FreeFlex Know-how (FFT) was much more wonderful than I might have ever imagined. In opposition to the norm, the inventor of FFT claimed that a shaft’s weight, flex (CPM), and torque are NOT relative to one another and that every variable might be managed individually. Based on SJ Lab, a light-weight, versatile shaft with a robust torque was doable, and vice-versa. The incredulous declare went largely unnoticed on the time, however the people at SJ Lab lately determined to show their know-how by introducing the final word unicorn of a shaft.

Aptly named ‘Hammer Throw’ the rubber-like shaft featured a standard shaft’s weight of 62g but measured solely 140 CPM to be extremely delicate and versatile. To prime it off, it additionally featured a robust 3.5 torque just like an S-flex shaft, all unlikely numbers which have by no means been mixed in a single shaft earlier than. The Hammer Throw proved to be a marvel shaft for slower swingers, serving to to extend membership head velocity, distance, and even accuracy.

Finally, SJ Lab redefined the idea of ‘shaft customization’ by proving {that a} shaft’s WT, CPM, and TQ might be managed independently to any diploma.

That includes SJ Golf’s FFT know-how, the Hammer Throw and FF38 additionally caught the eye of many WLD athletes with swing speeds over 150mph.

Thoughts-Bending Revelation

The AF and FF shafts are certainly fairly wonderful, however what I’m about to share with it’s possible you’ll be an excellent larger discovery than each of them mixed.

It was a Thursday afternoon in October after I arrived at SJ Golf Lab. I had simply completed a spherical of golf that morning and felt flush after having bested my buddies on a tricky monitor. I used to be to cowl the story of a brand new line of putter shafts (primarily based on the Chaos Concept in physics, no much less) and was trying ahead to seeing if it might assist my placing.

I used to be making small discuss with Dr. Choi, the inventor & CEO of SJ Golf Lab, when a courier arrived at hand him a sealed envelope. Inside was a patent certificates for a brand new golf shaft manufacturing course of, which was to be featured in SJ Lab’s newest MetaFlex collection of shafts.

“Oh, that sounds fascinating” I stated politely. “Is it like FreeFlex know-how?”

What got here subsequent was a barrage of knowledge so contradictory and but so transformative in its revelation that I forgot all in regards to the putter shafts.

Getting into The Realm Of The Senses

Carbon Bending Know-how (CBT) is the newest brainchild of Dr. Choi, the inventor of FreeFlex shafts. As incredulous as his FFT could seem, his new CBT know-how takes it even additional by stating {that a} fourth variable, the shaft’s stage of firmness, can be managed independently of the opposite variables.

“CBT know-how entails bending or wrapping carbon in a sure option to management how stiff a shaft feels, independently of weight, flex, and torque.” – Dr. Seung-jin Choi, inventor of CBT Know-how 

Take a second to let that sink in. Not solely is he saying that the goal values of WT, CPM, and TQ might be managed in any method desired, however he also can management the subjective facet of how agency a
shaft feels.

If CBT know-how is legitimately doable, the implications of his discovery are immense and will properly change the way in which golf shafts are made. Evidently, such a spectacular assertion begs the query, “How can such an inconceivable concept be doable?”

As I struggled to grasp what I simply heard, Dr. Choi handed me a shaft and requested me to try to bend it. Grabbing it at each ends, the shaft felt gentle and delicate, and I used to be in a position to bend and flex it simply. I used to be then given one other shaft and requested to do the identical. The brand new shaft felt a lot firmer from the get-go, just like what I’d count on from a typical S-flex shaft. Once I stated that the second shaft felt a lot stronger than the primary, I used to be in for a impolite awakening.

“They’re the identical shafts” Dr. Choi stated. “The one distinction is that the second was handled with the CBT course of. Apart from that, each are virtually the identical in CPM and torque.”

“What do you imply these are the identical shafts? This one is unquestionably stiffer.” My eyebrow arched in puzzlement at such a blatant contradiction.

In any case, I used to be holding each shafts in my fingers, and nobody on this planet was going to persuade me that these two had the identical CPM and TQ measurements.

The skepticism in my voice should’ve been apparent as I used to be led to a measuring system. I want I might’ve seen the look on my face at that precise second when my eyes confirmed each shafts to have the identical CPM and torque.

Two same-looking shafts measured equally in CPM and torque, regardless of one feeling a lot stiffer.

Goosebumps broke out on my arms, and my mind felt numb. Surprised, I took turns grabbing every shaft by the ends and bent them time and again. There was completely little doubt that one was stiffer than the opposite. It wasn’t even shut. But, if the numbers don’t lie, how was I to reconcile the 2 empirical info at odds with one another earlier than my very eyes?

Seeing Is Believing… Or Is It?

After repeated measurements to make sure I wasn’t dyslexic, I regained sufficient sense to take a seat down with Dr. Choi to listen to extra in regards to the sorcery of carbon bending.

ME: How does CBT differ out of your earlier FFT know-how?

CHOI: CBT got here on account of golfers loving our FreeFlex shafts with the FFT know-how however wanting much more. The FFT permits us to regulate the load, flex, and torque independently. We used this discovery to design a brand new breed of shafts that assist all ranges of golfers improve membership head velocity and distance. However among the stronger, faster-speed golfers had been finally turned off from it, as they couldn’t get accustomed to the delicate really feel and flex. The worry of spraying the ball everywhere in the course was simply an excessive amount of.

To resolve this subject, I checked out many elements that led golfers to explain whether or not a shaft is delicate or stiff. Just like FFT, I quickly found {that a} shaft’s stiffness just isn’t relative to its CPM worth. By reinforcing a shaft by means of a particular course of I name carbon-bending, it may be made to really feel as stiff as I want with out altering the unique CPM or torque.

ME: (clean stare)

CHOI: Did that reply the query?

ME: Uhh… no? What do you imply the CPM doesn’t change? If the shaft grew to become stiffer, it means the CPM worth will need to have elevated, doesn’t it? How we understand stiffness is subjective, so we measure the CPM worth objectively with a machine. That manner, we will examine the CPM values of various shafts to see which one is stiffer with the upper quantity.

CHOI: Usually sure, however like I stated, how stiff the shaft feels doesn’t must correlate with the CPM. They’re independently controllable. As I simply confirmed you with the 2 shafts earlier, each measured on the identical CPM and torque. It was solely after I utilized the CBT technique to considered one of them that it grew to become stiffer than earlier than, as you’ve seen for your self.

ME: Yeah, I’m nonetheless undecided how that’s, feeling agency in my fingers however the machine studying it as delicate. Is that this just like the cat in Schrodinger’s field, the place the cat is each alive and lifeless on the identical time? This shaft can also be each delicate and agency concurrently?

CHOI: Not fairly. However how about this? What if the CPM measurement we at present use to gauge and examine stiffness between shafts just isn’t the one technique? What if there have been different ways in which we haven’t thought of to regulate the sensation of firmness?

ME: So that you’re saying you found a brand new option to objectively measure how we really feel or understand stiffness?

CHOI: I feel it’s higher to say that I spotted {that a} shaft’s CPM and stiffness might be unbiased of one another, whereas earlier than, we thought they had been straight relative. It led to search for different methods to make the shaft firmer, which is what I did. Within the course of, it additionally made me assume, what else are we lacking? Possibly we’ve been limiting ourselves in believing there’s nothing new left to find.

Shaft Manufacturing 101

Based on Dr. Choi, the tactic of producing carbon shafts has remained largely unchanged since 1979, when Taylormade first launched the primary graphite shaft that provided many benefits over standard metal shafts. Since then, numerous new supplies and applied sciences have made the shafts lighter and stronger, however the primary shaft-making course of stays the identical.

The making of a contemporary golf shaft consists of wrapping layers of prepreg (handled carbon fiber) sheets round a metal shaft (mandrel). As extra layers are utilized, the shaft turns into progressively thicker and heavier (WT), which makes the flex (CPM) stiffer and will increase the torsional (TQ)
power.

The traits of a shaft rely upon the quantity of fabric and the way every layer is oriented on the mandrel. How that is carried out varies amongst OEMs.

The present technique and its proportional relationship between WT, CPM, and TQ is broadly accepted. Nonetheless, it additionally presents an enormous problem for shaft-makers, whose principal objective is to make shafts that enhance distance with extra accuracy. It is because producing extra membership velocity for extra distance necessitates a lightweight and versatile shaft; whereas bettering shot accuracy requires the shaft to be agency in each flex and torsional power.

To stability the trade-off as greatest they might, OEMs have regularly researched new supplies and higher-quality carbon, together with their very own, usually secret, methods of weaving and arranging the carbon prepreg. An excellent instance as an instance shaft enchancment on this method is the lighter 50-gram vary of X-flex shafts, which had been a rarity only some years in the past.

No less than for now, 5X shafts appear to be the head of standard shafts that may be made with the present course of.

Shaft Manufacturing 2.0

In physics, Pressure equals Mass multiplied by Acceleration (F=MA). The identical might be utilized to golf at affect, however since a golf membership is designed to be in movement, its dynamic power is calculated as Impulse=MAT, the place T is the time the ball stays involved with the membership face.

Dr. Choi defined that rising any of the three elements would switch extra power to the ball (I).

In different phrases, by making the membership head heavier (M), sooner (A), and getting the ball to stay involved with the clubface longer (T), the gap will improve because of this.

Now that we will get sooner membership head velocity (FF shafts), how can the shaft be made to really feel stiff whereas retaining an extended distance? The answer was surprisingly easy, as most discoveries are typically at first.

“Think about sporting a pair of skin-tight nylon stockings,” Dr. Choi stated. “It’s tight, however you may nonetheless transfer and bend your knees simply.” Reality be informed, I’d by no means worn stockings earlier than, however I nodded to see the place it could lead.

“Should you had been to placed on yet one more, your legs will really feel stiff, and with one more, it’ll now be very tough to even bend your knees,” he was increase in direction of an enormous reveal. “However regardless of how stiff your legs now really feel with the layers of stockings, you may nonetheless rotate them.” Come once more?

“While you attempt to sit down, the legs will stick straight out like they’re in a solid, proper? However you’d nonetheless be capable to twist or rotate your leg [left and right] as a result of the stockings will not be exerting power in that path.”

Dazed on the anticlimactic flip, I attempted to recall the final time I had a solid however he plowed on. “The unique traits of your legs don’t change due to the stockings. They’re nonetheless your legs, that are flexible and versatile.”

I’ll have missed a complete lot there, however loosely translated, CBT know-how is like including tight pairs of stockings to make a shaft really feel firmer, however gained’t change what the unique shaft was when it comes to
torque or CPM.

Helical Carbon Armour

Carbon bending entails a brand new step within the shaft manufacturing course of, the place a skinny strip of carbon is helically wrapped tightly across the shaft to extend stiffness. This new sheath of armor will agency up the texture of the shaft however is not going to have an effect on the CPM or torque. As well as, Dr. Choi’s in-depth analysis additional confirmed that the width of the strip band and the spacing between the helical spirals all performed a component in altering the traits of the shaft in minute methods.

Every shaft has been handled with CBT and utilizing totally different carbon weave, band width, supplies and alignment to show a singular traits that may be tailor-made to a golfer’s swing

The really mind-blowing prospect of CBT, nevertheless, is its skill to create an infinite variety of distinctive shafts with particular efficiency traits. For instance, the variety of new shaft prospects can attain tens and even lots of of hundreds, relying on numerous elements, together with however not restricted to the width and thickness of the band, the spacing and orientation of the helical spiral, the weave sample of the band cloth, and every of the totally different supplies that each one of those elements might be utilized to.

“Are you able to think about a PGA tour professional with the ability to dial in a golf shaft to squeeze 99.9% of the efficiency potential from their favourite shaft, with out giving up something they like in WT, CPM, TQ, and now FEEL?” – SJ Golf Lab 2023 –

If It Seems to be And Barks Like A Canine?

A number of days later, I returned to SJ Lab to check the brand new MetaFlex CBT shafts. The lineup consisted of three driver shafts of 5H, 6H, 6.5M, and iron ix90 shafts (H for top kick, M for mid-kick). Once more, the MF collection is designed for faster-speed golfers who swing not less than 100mph to properly over 120mph. I purposely requested to not see the shaft specs beforehand, as I needed to stay impartial in figuring out how the brand new shafts felt and carried out.

Waggling the 5H shaft first, it felt comparable in weight and flex to a typical R-shaft. I often common a easy swing of about 95 mph with my FF38, however the 5H shaft instinctively made me attempt to swing more durable to compensate for the firmer really feel. The nice drives launched excessive and carried as far, with spin between 1900~2000 rpm. As I warmed up, I used to be hitting it fairly properly, regardless of swinging a bit more durable than common.

I had grown accustomed to swinging easily and in tempo with FF shafts, so it felt good to swing exhausting once more and never fear in regards to the head catching up. The general distance was comparable with my very own driver at 240~250 yards, so I guessed the 5H specs to be about 220 CPM and near 4.0 torque. On the downswing, the shaft jogged my memory of the various 5S shafts I had been utilizing earlier than being turned onto softer shafts. I imagined I might play it properly, however battle to maintain it straight on the again 9 after I progressively get drained.

Subsequent, the 6H shaft felt like a standard 5S on the waggle, however a lot stiffer like a 5X shaft on the precise downswing. I guessed it to be about 230~240 CPM and three.5 in torque, as I used to be solely in a position to flip the membership head over about one-third of the time. I acquired a pair out to 240 yards however the remainder of the pictures various from a fade bordering on a slice interspersed with low pulls. I felt the shaft demanded extra velocity for it to point out its potential, and my slower velocity wasn’t making it sing because it ought to.

Lastly, the MetaFlex 6.5M informed me immediately that it was out of my league. The waggle jogged my memory of a Ventus or a Tensei shaft, and the precise swing was even stiffer and nearer to a 6X shaft. As anticipated, my pictures had been principally pushed lifeless proper, as I couldn’t successfully load the shaft with velocity.

Once I tried to power the pinnacle to show over, I’d overcompensate to flip the wrist and pull it low left. The few that managed to land on the golf green barely traveled 210 yards with a noticeable lower in ball velocity. I can often muster sufficient muscle to make a typical stiff shaft work over 9 holes not less than, however the 6.5M felt like an iron rod.

Total, MF shafts’ waggles felt just like standard aftermarket shafts and felt even firmer in the course of the precise swing.

I used to be now able to see the precise spec measurements of the three shafts.

I might by no means have imagined such numbers equivalent to the firmness I skilled with MetaFlex shafts.

“There’s no manner these numbers are the precise specs,” I protested. “These are softer than my FF38, so how…?” Listening to my voice hit a excessive pitch, I shortly closed my mouth. I already knew to count on one thing totally different, however this? Making an attempt to reconcile the stiffness with such low numbers was simply as tough because it was the primary time I encountered this phenomenon.

For lack of a greater comparability, think about selecting up a cute kitten to listen to it purr, solely to be shocked at listening to it bark like an enormous offended pitbull with its tail stepped on. Does this imply I can now not use phrases like “seeing is believing,” What is going to occur to “if it appears to be like like a canine and barks like a canine?”

Extra importantly, what does this imply for the way forward for golf shafts?

Implications For The Future

Deep down, I imagine each golfer needs to extend their driver distance. It doesn’t matter in the event you common 150 yards or 300 yards. As golfers, the necessity to hit it additional is in our DNA.

Since discovering that longer, simpler distance (and accuracy in addition) is feasible with the appearance of AF shafts, I’ve by no means seemed again. When FreeFlex shafts debuted earlier this yr, I switched all my shafts all through the bag and couldn’t be happier. I’ve acquired dozens of comparable emails from golfers who examine my experiences and took the plunge, principally to their nice shock.

As wonderful because the shafts are, some scoffed on the absence of such shafts on skilled excursions. In the event that they’e so good, why aren’t they used extra? In any case, a distance achieve of 10 yards on drives can imply as a lot as 5~10 % nearer to the pin on method pictures for shorter putts, which may translate to hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in winnings. Actually, dozens of professionals from all main excursions have tried them, some overtly and a few in secret.

As a leisure golfer, I can reside with an occasional OB if it means persistently out-driving my buddies. However an elite tour professional for whom a single stroke could also be price hundreds of thousands? Not an opportunity. Even one of the best can change into a psychological wreck if the shaft flexed greater than Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. Particularly on the again 9 of a significant on Sunday afternoon.

However for the sake of argument, let’s suppose there exists a shaft that really presents longer distance and accuracy of the delicate FF shaft with the reassuring really feel and playability of a stiff shaft. Higher but, what in case your favourite shaft might be readjusted to suit your whole wants for optimum efficiency output and really feel preferences? I’d wager my final ProV1s that elite skilled golfers will cease at nothing to have them examined and optimized to learn every of their very own swing metrics and efficiency. It’s of their DNA.

Dr. Choi additionally talked about that he’s nearing completion on his state-of-the-art swing and shaft diagnostic system, which may prescribe exactly the kind of shaft (weight, flex, torque, really feel, kick, kitchen sink?) wanted for a participant. And he builds it to that specification. Customization to the fullest.
As the corporate’s title implies, that’s the final objective of SJ Golf Lab and Dr. Choi, who hopes his shafts will come as a “Particular Pleasure” for every golfer.

All in all, CBT actually felt to me like the following evolutionary step in golf shaft know-how. Extra on their know-how might be seen at www.freeflexshaft.com

So, what do you assume? Can we belief the accuracy of the statements made by SJ Golf Lab? I’d love to listen to from different golfers and educated shaftoids within the trade, and what it could imply going ahead.