Jeff, I am glad you really liked hitting the Glider X 4 iron. Also, I have to give you credit for getting to the bottom of this puring thing by asking me some very good questions. As you found out, the TX-90 shafts and almost all top grade golf shafts are built to tight manufacturing specifications.
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Welcome to my website. One of my goals is to provide varying levels of golf club technical knowledge so you can make better and more informed decisions regarding your equipment. This site is not about shooting from the hip and expounding non factual opinions which so often occur today in golf writings and golf telecasts. I will be providing equipment information based on my over 40 years in the golf business researching, designing, building, fitting, testing and selling golf clubs.
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Article Discussion
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2:45PM - Oct 4, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#26
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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6:30PM - Aug 13, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#25
Report ThisJeff
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Ralph, just thought I’d let you know that I finally received the Glider 4-iron with the pured TX-90 shaft. It’s safe to say that I won’t be getting the puring when I buy the complete set. The nice thing is that they provide a performance analysis printout with the shaft. Well, the before and after performance analysis graphs were virtually identical. Either I got lucky, or the shafts are pretty good ‘stock’. I figure $10 for ‘piece of mind’ is worth it, plus it saved me over $70 on the rest of the set. Oh, by the way, the performance of that club is just awesome. I had several shots where yelled out “damn!” after making contact, only to look up and see the ball flying toward the target. I can’t wait for the rest of the set.
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11:20AM - Aug 7, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#24
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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Anthony, the TX-90 shaft will not cause you to hit the ball too high. I am a high ball hitter and I play the TX-90 in the Glider X irons which have extremely low centers of gravity. This shaft has never caused me to hit it too high. The backspin differences from changing shafts is usually not significant enough to worry about. One of the attributes of the TX-90 shaft that I have not mentioned yet is the fact that while it is a softer tip shaft, it also has a reduced torque. This is sort of the best of all worlds for a golfer who really needs a softer tip but wants to maintain the best accuracy. I have fit a number of players into TX-90’s and have not had anyone who did not like this shaft. True, it is not for everyone such as very hard hitters with late release points, but I can almost guarantee the TX-90 will work for you.
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9:44AM - Aug 7, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
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Report ThisAnthony
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I have the TX-90 shaft in one club in my bag. Its my favorite club. Its a 19 degree loft hybrid. The ball flies high and I feel the shaft smooths out my tempo and makes me hit down and through, probably because of the low bend point. I love this shaft so much I thought of having a set of irons built with them, but I am afraid my short irons will fly too high. I read people have lost distance with there irons due to a too high of ball flight with the TX-90. The shaft feels powerful to me, does it produce higher clubhead speed as well as higher trajectory? Also. does it produce more backspin? I am 45, and I carry a 7 iron 150 yards with plenty of height. I think the TX-90 would be a great shaft for seniors, but how is this shaft with younger stronger players ?
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6:22PM - Aug 6, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
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Report ThisJeff
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Ralph, thanks once again for your insight. I did get the club with the pured shaft, but since it’s only one club, it’s not a big deal. So unless I notice something dramatic (not likely since I’m a 30 han***ap), I probably won’t get them pured if/when I order the full set. I’m at a point in my game where it’s feeling like things are really starting to come together. Hopefully going from the ****** Acuity junk set I have now, to a quality set of irons will take my game to the next level. Thanks again.
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5:39PM - Aug 6, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#21
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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Jeff, the top grade shafts designed and made today are very consistent in there manufacturing methods and specifications so spining is of no value. Yes, the very cheap $5.00 graphite and steel shafts put into 2nd grade golf clubs are terrible and would benefit greatly from aligning their spines. However, who would pay the money to align these spines on cheap shafts when many of the other specifications (shafts and heads) are also mostly inconsistent and poorly designed. Jeff, I think from your conversation that you really want spined shafts, so I would go ahead and do it and hope you get the mental uplift from it. You’re still wasting your money in my opinion (and research). P.S. I have every different machine and device here in the golf club design studio to spine golf shafts. I have done the testing and cannot quantify any positive results regarding improved performance (includes tour players). I really don’t know what else to tell you, except that no one at the GolfWorks plays with spined shafts in their clubs.
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8:18PM - Aug 5, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#20
Report ThisJeff
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The more I read the more complex the clubmaking process sounds. So are you saying that it doesn’t matter which way the shaft is installed in the club? The orientation of the shaft doesn’t affect playability at all?
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10:41AM - Aug 5, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#19
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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Jeff, so-called “puring” and “spine alighnment” for shafts is basically the same thing and again, it is usually a waste of money because the benefits, if any, are very difficult to quantify. The reason you have heard so many viewpoints is that no one person can exactly and accurately define what it does for the golfer. Also, if you just spent 20.00 a shaft to get it done, you are certainly not going to tell your golfing friends that it did not improve your game. Besides the TX-90, I also recommend the Dynalite shaft for irons and I surprised myself by not adding it in as another recommendation in my response to you yesterday.
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6:13PM - Aug 3, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
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Report ThisJeff
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Thanks for the info Ralph. I ordered the club with a True Temper Dynalite Gold shaft. It’s only 14grams more than the tx90, so I think it should be ok. As far as puring is concerned, I’ve heard so many different viewpoints, it’s actually quite confusing. What about spline alignment? Is it worthwhile to have that done?
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4:50PM - Aug 3, 2007RE: Welcome to RalphMaltby.com
#17
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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Jeff, since I know this club so well (I actually play this iron), I would strongly consider the True Temper TX-90 Ultra Light Weight Steel Shaft. During all the testing that was done with this club before it actually came to market, our test group felt the TX-90 worked for a lot of different golfer types. I asked Ed Sneed (5 worldwide tour wins) who is a close friend and one of our test panel to try this Glider X and TX-90 shaft and head combination. Ed actually decided to play them for a week to give them a good workout. He had already done a lot of testing on this club for us to prove out the head design concept, so he was quite familiar with the Glider X playability. Ed was surprised that he actually really liked the TX-90 shaft because it worked for him when he tried a variety of different shots. Jeff, I would stick with steel shafts in the Gliders and I would recommmend light weight or very light weight shafts if you do not want to use the TX-90. Finally, with modern day top grade shafts (steel and graphite), forget puring, it is a huge waste of money with no benefits.