What makes a $400 shaft any better than a $50-$60 dollar shaft? Are the tolerances in the specifications that much better? If I were to have a less expensive shaft “pured” wouldn’t that in essence make it as good as the more expensive shaft?
I’ll admit I have a couple of the $899 Matrix shafts that came out around 10 years ago. I’ve used them in several heads over the years, and done lots of launch monitor testing. Yes, it does perform better. For me, that was about 2 yards better on average. And it feels great too. Probably my favorite ever shaft, #2 being a Fujikura SIX.
I’ve also found plenty of sub $50 shafts that get close enough to the $899 Matrix in performance and feel.
First, I can tell you from many years of experience in analyzing shafts that price does not always dictate performance. Most of the time it does not. In some models, tolerances can be tighter in the more expensive shafts, but that is not a given. The expensively priced shafts are not priced that way because they use super expensive materials or processes. In fact, if you used the most expensive materials and manufacturing process, and sorted to the tightest of tolerances, the true cost of these “high end” products would still be under $100. Marketing, creating the perception of an exotic, more premium product, is what drives the higher retail pricing. I’ll say again, while it is true that some higher priced shafts may have tighter tolerances out of the box, it still does not justify some of the pricing you see and definitely does not guarantee better performance. Having any shaft Pured, in my opinion, can help performance if you want to eliminate the inconsistencies that are inherent in most shafts today. No shaft is perfectly straight and perfectly round and SST Pureing will locate a principle plane of oscillation and identify the best position to install so that the shaft will perform consistently (as if it were perfectly straight and round). If fit properly to you, and if the shaft is Pured and installed properly, most any shaft, no matter the price, can provide exceptional performance.
Britt Lindsey