Hello,
I’m curious about the potential drawbacks of using a Ventus Blue driver shaft in a Persimmon driver. I currently have a Ventus Blue shaft in a modern driver and love it. I’ve been playing a persimmon quite a bit lately, and I’m wondering if I could achieve the best of both worlds by using a Ventus Blue shaft in a Persimmon driver?
Not sure you can get the best of both worlds because you sacrifice A LOT in ball speed with a persimmon driver. I know, because I come from that era and played a lot with persimmon, and loved it. However, there is just too much difference in forgiveness and performance you sacrifice vs todays modern drivers. Now, that being said, you can absolutely improve the performance of the persimmon from a shaft standpoint with a graphite simply because the overall weight will be much lighter that what we use to play, which can help improve clubhead speed to a degree. We played steel shafts in persimmon drivers that had an overall weight of 13.5 oz. Todays modern drivers, with basically the same head weights we played in persimmon of 200g, are 10.5 oz or less. That is a lot in overall weight and the reason todays drivers can be made 45+ inches long and not be too heavy. Can’t do that with steel shafts weighing 130 grams and a 200 gram head. My guess is your not planning on playing the persimmon to todays modern lengths, which if fine but another reason you most likely will not see the same kind of distance, even with a graphite shaft, in a persimmon driver. If you use the lightweight graphite in the persimmon head at the old 43-43.5 inch playing lengths we used to play, the swing weight will be very light. You add weight back to the head to make up for it, and you add another element that could affect the performance in a negative way.
I think it’s cool you play a persimmon and think what you want to try is worth it. Just wanted to point out some of the tradeoffs.
Britt Lindsey
Thank you for the response. Nothing beats the feel of a persimmon. I totally understand I’m losing on distance. I hit it slightly farther than my modern 3-wood. I play a shorter course and don’t feel I lose much when I game it. I’m in my mid-thirties and recently started playing persimmons, and I’m not familiar with the nuances of wood club building. I’ll stick with the steel shaft; I feel it’s not worth the time or money I’d spend chasing this project. I appreciate your answer, thank you for clearing this up for me.