Nippon Shafts

RE: Nippon Shafts

Tony H — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 18:08:17 GMT

I had mine hard stepped just to make them a little bit stiffer and alter the flight (slightly lower) the chart below is from Nippon.www.titleist.com/.../foycx5gcnfz8czcg2v31

RE: Nippon Shafts

Joseph M — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 02:43:52 GMT

Thanks for all comments- If the AP1 I will be testing this spring goes well I will have Titleist build a full, but, if it doesn't go well I will go get a Titleist fitting. I am 71 so I ordered the club softstepped to help as I lose swing speed- the installed 950Gh shaft is 95 grams i.e. same as the AMT-Red R300. I do find some fitters push the graphite shafts as we get older, but, I have tested several against steel shafts and steel always wins. its unfortunate that there are no standards when it comes to shaft stiffness, but, a good fitter I guess makes it a non-issue.

I am being told the 8950 is mostly used by independent clubmakers and dealers and may not even be available to Titleist, but, Tony's experience with the 950GH HT is interesting and would be worth a look if the 950GH isn't for me.

RE: Nippon Shafts

Don O — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 14:22:25 GMT

This may not be helpful to you, I previously had the 716 AP1 with the 65 g Kuro Kage graphite in A-Flex. Similar to Tony H, what I found with the 718 AP1/AP3 when we tried a different direction was I did better with a heavier shaft. I got better launch and distance with the AMT-Red R300 (95g) than with the Tensi -Red (65 g) graphite in A or R flex. I'm 67 and not above average for speed for my age. Lesson for me, work with a good fitter and spend the time trying combinations you wouldn't want to consider - it's all about the result. Shaft flexes are not a standard so there is no empirical reason to expect that the 8950 A flex will work better than the R flex shafts Titleist lists. The only expectation is the A in the 8950 is softer than the R in the 8950 line. If the 8950 is still marketed.

RE: Nippon Shafts

Joseph M — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 19:26:28 GMT

Don, thanks. I have a 718 AP1 7 iron assembled by Titleist which I will be testing this spring and am hoping for comments from someone that has tested/used this as well as one or both of the other shafts in case this one doesn't work out for me and thus may be interested in the 8950GH due to the available senior flex. I appreciate your comments including your responses to other posts.

RE: Nippon Shafts

Tony H — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:43:59 GMT

I have tried the 950 GH and the 950 GH HT.
I am currently using the latter. With a slow swing speed the shaft does get the ball airborne but the only downside is the light weight of the shafts themselves as it makes the clubs very light.

RE: Nippon Shafts

Don O — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 15:00:36 GMT

You can check the online custom catalog for the available matrix. Nippon doesn't list the 8950 in the online catalog and a couple of after-market sites selling shafts had several lengths in A-flex listed as back-ordered. Since most of us buy Titleist equipment assembled, you might need to find a vendor like Cool Clubs that assemble Titleist heads with shafts outside the Titleist matrix for that information.