A while back I wrote an article about the length of drivers and other important points and issues that are relevant concerning the big stick in our bags. In the comment section there was a question about spinning a shaft. There was another about the newest technology called “PURE-ing” a shaft. I promised I would look into the PURE Shaft Principle when I got out on Tour and could get an interview with techs in the PureTech Van. Here is what I found out.
The company is called Strategic Shaft Technologies. It holds all the patents and rights to the process. I spoke with Tour reps, Bob Montgomery of True Temper Shafts and Arnie Cunningham ,who reps Harrison Graphite Shafts in the PURE Van. They gave me a concise and simple explanation of the concept.
For starters, they said, “Every shaft is not perfect. It has hard spots, soft spots and voids.” All of these make the shaft less stable. The concept is to find the most stable position of the shaft to “align the shaft in the best possible playing position, called the PLANE OF THE SHAFT.” Arnie demonstrated this by taking a 48 inch aluminum ruler and holding it like a golf club, with the face of the ruler perpendicular to the ground. He then waggled it, and the ruler just bowed and wobbled in a wave pattern (oscillate is the term they used) that had no stability and control. He then turned the ruler parallel to the ground where the numbers were pointing up, and waggled it back and forth. There was no wobble or wave. The ruler was firm and stable. This, he said, was the change that happens when a shaft is “PUREd,” identifying the most stable point in the shaft and is properly placed in the clubhead.
Once the “PURE Plane” is established by the patented machine, the technician places a piece of tape on the shaft, and places a line mark at 12:00 o’clock. The line on the tape is for the club fitter as it IDs the exact way the shaft must be put into the head, with the line at 12:00 o’clock. This means the “PURE Point” on the shaft is actually to the left at 9:00 o’clock for a righty golfer and at 3:00 o’clock for a lefty. The strong point of the shaft is pointing at the target so the shaft is more stable, reducing oscillation droop at impact. “PURE-ing” the shaft takes building a set of golf clubs to the highest degree of accuracy possible in today’s world of club assembly.
With every shaft “PUREd” and placed in the clubhead the same way, the result is that every shaft feels and responds as consistently close as is scientifically and possible. The ultimate benefit, beyond the feel of more consistency of the load in the backswing and the shaft kicking or releasing into impact. is that “PUREd” shafts tightens and reduces the shot pattern and dispersion rate for every club, and increases hitting the center or sweet spot. This means shots fly a lot straighter and maintain the correct distance.
You can have a set “PUREd” in an already built set of clubs. This is time consuming as every club has to be disassembled to “PURE” each shaft, then re-assembled. This adds to the already fairly high cost of “PURE-ing.” Another point is that any shaft, from steel to graphite, can be “PUREd.” The final obstacle is finding a certified PURE shaft club fitter and builder. You can find one by going to Strategic Shafts web site at www.sstpure.com
DJ had Titleist build him another set of ZM irons at the Heritage with “PUREd” shafts and is putting them in play this week at The Quail Hollow Championship. He still needs to get his woods “PUREd” and I am sure that will be done soon. Bob and Arnie did me a favor and “PUREd” a set of iron and wood shafts for me. I will have my club fitter re-shaft my set next week and give them a go. This inspired me to come up with my new “Surgism” for playing better golf with better shafts: Better PURE…To Be Sure!
The Surge!
P.S. To be sure about your golf swing, check out our PPGS offer!
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Been doing this for years. spine and flow all my shafts, I just think the puring process is too expensive for results that are just as good. A good club fitter can spine with a simple spine tool and flow for about 5-10 bucks..
When I build clubs I do it at no extra cost for my customers…
I have a set of swing sync irons that were built with my swing frequency using swix graphite shafts. No irons I have tried compare to these. I have been playing with the same set for 15 years.
Is it possible to build a new set using the old shafts with heads like WISHON and maintain the same swing frequency?
To anyone who has never had a set built using this method, you have no idea how much better the clubs perform versus any off the rack set. Using the exact same 5 iron heads with a series of different shafts with a range of frequencies
produces amazing variation. If you take the best club in your bag, even a putter, the frequency of that club will be closest to the optimal frequency that is discovered during the testing phase.
You can not build a club without the person testing the club!!!!!!!! Never buy “fitted” clubs based on measurements alone!!! NEVER!!!
I have a Harrison Shaft in my driver. Evenwithout being Pur’d it’s the greatest shaft I ever had. HF
Geoff any Tom wishom or MOI certified fitter can do it, you have to send them your current Swing Sync irons so he can measure the MOI first and second. and total weight. I have played the swingsync irons for years also.
After trying MOi matched irons the gaps were more consistant, I also dont think the cost is worth it almost the cost labor wise to equal making a new set. By the way the Swingsync irons are not spined or floed or pured what ever verbage you would like to use, took my old ones apart and found out that when I tried too spine them it changed the frequency, so I left them stock.
I would be interested to here what Don thinks??
Harrison shaft means nothing. Your frequency and the weight of the club, shaft flex, etc. are all variables. If the “Harrison shaft” works then it is probably close to your ideal frequency by chance. I do not know the range or potential error rate but you or the club maker were like blind squirels who found a nut. IT happens and good luck. What about your other clubs?
Unless your swing speed is very fast, you probably should be hitting a regular flex and you probably have stiff. Right?
I think that for most players the driver is easier to fit to a satisfactory level than it is for a 4-7 iron.
I am not in the business. I do not sell or make clubs. I am only interested in doing the right thing.
Pedro, where did you get your swing syncs? I got mine from Mike Atkinson in Pinehurst NC.
Got a set used by luck they fit me, with better club design and shafts now a days I opted for a new set of irons about 3 years ago. I purchased a set of brand new forged X1 Walter hagen irons, I think Don will be talking about some forged irons soon I dont want to steel his thunder..But he will tell you why the smaller forged irons are truly better regardless of skill level.
But I took out the stock shafts S300 True Tempers, A bit stiff and heavy for me installed S200 a bit lighter and a tad higher ball flight, everythting is spined fleod and the head were Blue printed wich means that the irons have “0″ +or- tolerance I did all my own work but lost interest in club building and prefer to play more. But if anything get fitted its worth the time money and you only do it once if done correctly. Pedro
Thanks for the article…makes the money I spent for a spinefinder and doing my own club building well worth the time and money.
Don and company,
I’ve received your hard cover Foundations book. I have a comment. On page 52, figure 28, in an attempt to help with alignment, you are suggesting lining up the logo with an intermediate target. That’s fine off the tee, and when putting, but you can’t be resetting your golf ball while its in play between the tee and the green, unless you throw the rule out about touching the ball and its lie during that time, unless conditions warranted “clean and place”, I’m not busting your boots, just making a point, but the truth is setting yourself up that way when putting always seemed to me to be be the logical way to help line up your putts, and off the tee as well. I know I do it when putting, and I probably do it when teeing off as well, just never thought about doing the same thing, “conscientiously” at the tee shot. I would say there is no LEGAL way to use this trick when playing a shot between the tee and the green.
To Dan Serpico,
Au contraire my fine fellow! Never on page 52 or on any other page does the Surge advocate manipulating the ball as it lies on the fairway. The “figure 28″ you reference sees the golfer at the tee box where it is perfectly okay to place the ball and line up its logo.
Check on page 54 where Don advocates picking a spot in front of a fairway ball to line it up for a shot.
If you spend $200 to $300 for a shaft, as most expensive driver shafts cost these days, why would you need to “pure” it? If a shaft that expensive is defective in its construction and needs special shafting assistance, like puring, the shaft is not very good in the first place. This process is a scam of the golfmaking industry and should not be necessary with quality golf shafts.
Regarding the puring of shafts. If you take two identical clubs one without being spined and flowed and one that has, I guarantee you will notice the difference. The reason for this and is scientifically proven is if you don’t have the spine aligned properly the shaft will bow either forcing the clubhead down toward the ground or even up away from the ground. Meaning, the path of the clubhead through the impact zone will be compromised just enough not to allow you to catch the golf ball on the sweet spot. There is also another factor that needs to be mentioned. If the spine of the club is not aligned properly there will be deflection of the clubface, meaning the clubface will come through the impact zone either open or closed once again not allowing you to catch the golf ball squarely. Shanks, toe shots, slices and pull hooks are all symptoms of a shaft not being pured or also called spined. Now keep in mind I am not saying that this will cure everything because golfers all need to apply themselves to hone this craft. The goal of hitting a golf pure every time will require us to practice proper fundamentals to develop a smooth repeating swing. thus, we are trying to be as precise as a robot. We are human and will never be perfect but as Don says also, we strive to get as close to that as possible. Why not make sure your equipment is as close to perfect as possible also. It’s simple, give yourself the opportunity to play your best and that is what it is all about. You may disagree but open your mind and prepare to be pleasently surprised.
A golf club shaft is like a flyrod blank in it’s construction in that they both have a spine, or stiff side. This is the point on the blank where the fabric was attached to the mandrel during the manufacturing process. Therefore, All shafts have a spine.
No shaft or blank is ever perfect. The spine can actually wrap itself around the shaft just a little bit. If it wraps around too much, then the shaft will twist too much when placed under a load, such as when it is swung.
As a matter of fact, all shafts twist to a certain degree. The only ways to control this twist is to use a higher modulus graphite in the manufacturing process, use more graphite, or increase the resin content. Each option is carefully considered by the designers, who keep their formulas closely guarded.
A manufacturer might produce hundreds or thousands of shafts, but many of them subsequently fail to pass the quality control process and are subsequently destroyed, sold as seconds or sold to other companies who put their own labels on them. (Almost always cheaper brands.)
Finding the spine on a blank is not really that tough. A simple spining machine can be built with a couple of bearings and a length of PVC pipe. The bearings are mounted in opposite ends of the pipe and the pipe is then clamped to the end of a workbench. A bench vise works for this.
To use the spinefinder, simply insert the handle end of the shaft into the tube. It must go all the way through both bearings. Then, flex the shaft by pushing down on the tip.. It will automatically twist in the tube. Find the balance point in this process, mark the high side of the shaft and you have identified the spine.
Even if you buy a shaft and the spine is already marked, do it again anyway. A lazy or distracted factory worker might just screw up the job. Do this on every shaft that you buy in the future, and your clubs will come out great!
Hit’em straight!
Bob
Regarding “puring”, “truing” or whatever you may call it, it is a band aid for a bad shaft. Period. Unfortunately for most, they do not have the resourses or the knowledge to find “good” shafts.
What I call “good” shafts are round shafts. Not just on the outside wall but the inside as well with no bumps, lumps or hard spots. I can garantee you that if anyone could see the differance between a good round shaft, inside and out, and the shafts most everyone is playing with, you would be dumb founded. A good round shaft has little or no oscillation no matter how it is installed in the club.
I can also say that spending 2 or $300, or more will not guarantee you a good shaft. I have seen shafts costing $20 from a certain manufacturer be consistantly better than much more expensive shafts from another.
I am a firm believer that every golfer regardless of ability should be “properly” fit for their clubs. The problem lies in finding the proper club maker with enough knowledge to fit you properly. They are out there for sure, you just may have to hop on a plane to get to them.
Fit clubs and understandable/uncomplicated lessons like you’ve been reading on this site are the best way to enjoy this wonderful game.
TimA,
All shafts, ALL, no matter how good the quality are not completely round and every last one of them have a seam, spine. The major difference is that the more expensive shafts do not have as pronounced a spine and not as many. It’s not uncommon for some shafts to have two hard sides. Even the best shafts can be improved by properly orienting them in the head in the floed position.
Reposting the below comment because this may be a more appropriate section. I would really like to know other viewpoints on metal versus graphite shafts for performance and distances one can hit the ball. Thanks.
Don,
I don’t know if it’s my age or clubs. Back in high school I was swinging a set of Sam Snead Blue Ridge woods (with metal shafts of course) that turned out to have a D9 swing weight which was unheard of then (I guess). Anyways, I used to be able to drive the ball 250-270 yds and I used a 100 compression ball back then too. I’m 52 now and have played with a set of Yonex Graphlex with the Yonex ADX driver with the boron shaft since about 1987. I’ve been lucky since if I can hit 220 yds on my drives. Last year I bought a set of Clevelands with stiff flex shafts and had my driver and fairway wood swingweights increased to D9 and D5 respectively thinking the reason for the loss of distance was due to lighter swingweights in turn producing slower clubhead speed. I ended doing a comparison on a course between my Yonex ADX driver and the new Cleveland driver and found I was hitting the ADX further by maybe 10-20 yds (for a total of 210-220 yds) off the tee. I’m wondering now if maybe it’s the graphite shaft versus a metal shaft that is accountable for the loss in distance or maybe it’s the golf ball since they don’t really go by compression these days like they did in the 70’s. I still feel like I’m hitting the ball as pure and hard as I did 30 yrs ago (perhaps harder now even). I would like to know your thoughts on my situation and whether I may be on to something here in regards to metal shafts over graphite. I’m almost tempted to buy a new driver with a metal shaft just to try my theory out but will be hating it if I shell out the bucks for such a driver and it doesn’t pan out as I theorize. Of course I would, on the other hand, be loving it if my theory ends up holding water and I’m able to start getting 250+ yds off the tee again. Thanks for any insight you can provide me.
Rick Quill
St. Cloud, MN
Dear Surge this may be a topic for both yourself and Mr. Griffin also I am not sure if you have discussed this previously.
I recollect some clubs were being sold where all the shafts were of equal length. This would result in all the lie angles being the same and also the distance from the ball at address would be constant irrespective of the club selected. Since one of the objectives of the PPGS is to minimise variables this concept would appear to be ideal to compliment the PPGS.
I welcome your thoughts on this subject.
Maurice.
P.S. I trust your recovery is still progressing satisfactorily.
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