Follow the Money

Stock factory shafts on OEM clubs often have the same colors and graphics as aftermarket graphite shafts offered to clubfitters for custom clubmaking. The trend for most OEMs now is to move away from the house color scheme that looks good on television and use the same colors and graphics that are on the aftermarket shafts used by clubfitters. It's because knowledgeable golfers usually don’t want to play a “cloned” shaft.

But does it matter whether the “Application” shaft in your new “Ideal” irons with the heavily discounted price is the same model or a cloned version of the aftermarket premium-priced custom model? The answer is complicated. Sometimes the same shaft is used and the only thing that’s missing is a proper fitting and, perhaps, craftsmanship in OEM club assembly. However, stock shaft “clones” are often made in large batches with lower grade materials and perhaps with simplified production methods to keep costs low. An OEM buying 100,000 or more units will look at every dollar of production costs.

When the OEM stock shaft is a low-cost clone with high-end graphics, then someone is getting fooled. A good example of this was noticed at a recent OEM demo day. The sales rep made a point of telling anyone who picked up one particular set of factory clubs that its graphite shaft was being used on the PGA tour now. The same shaft? 

Well, having profiled and fully characterized the aftermarket version of that shaft, I noticed that part of the graphics was subtly different on the OEM shaft than on the aftermarket shaft. Hitting a few balls on the range confirmed a difference in feel. The cloned OEM shaft was noticeably softer with a feel of less control. Million-dollar professional players don’t remain on tour by playing shafts with those qualities. Regrettably there was no launch monitor at the demo day to reveal the performance details I like to see.

Having raised the question, it’s fair to say there are a few fitting situations where the stock off-the-rack shafts are a good value for the money. In those cases, I am quick to advise that the golfer keep those clubs unless there is a significant measurable difference in performance. However, most of the time the shafts are an alternate version with degraded performance. If you want new clubs to help improve your game, we think it's best to buy fewer clubs of higher quality than a full set of questionable clubs at the same price.

When I’ve asked shaft companies about the shaft issue, the bottom line answer was “follow the money”. If you can buy the whole club for the same price as the aftermarket shaft alone, then you are probably not getting the same “tour” aftermarket shaft in the off-the-rack set. Smart people run these companies, and they do it for a profit. 

OK, what’s the point of all this. First, we like getting full value for anything we buy -- we don’t want to play clones. Second, golf is a complex game and “alternate-version” (the most polite way we can say it) shafts seldom yield the performance improvement expected when new clubs are on the table. Most of us need all the help we can get. There’s more to say, but it all comes down to the same recommendation: stay away from clones if you want to give yourself the best chance at getting a better game with your new clubs