GOUGE: So here's thing No. 2 from our travels at the PGA Merchandise Show: Shafts are the kind of thing geeks get excited about and the rest of the world of average Joes couldn’t care less. Especially when they run about $300 a switch out, and most of us are too lazy to switch out our worn out golf cleats let alone embark on a search for a new shaft. That said, one thing that insiders have been rumbling about for the last few months is a new True Temper/Grafalloy project that got its debut in Orlando. The Epic shaft is what those in the auto business might term a concept shaft, but it’s more reality than concept. Nanotechnology will make any non-physicist’s ears bleed, but to put it in the most basic terms, it lets you lose super tiny amounts of something in the recipe for a shaft that give the shaft some of the strength and feel properties of the super-tiny stuff without having to add much or even any weight. For a better explanation, go here. The theory behind Epic is to marry the consistency and hoop strength of a stainless steel shaft with the shock absorbing qualities and lightweight design freedom of a graphite shaft. This is big time complex science stuff (the True Temper bunch had to build a new factory in Mexico just to produce this product), and what the Epic really is is something that’s neither steel nor graphite. It's called a nanometal or nanofuse material, and its potential is even more exciting than its current existence. (The Creation shaft from Accuflex is going down a slightly similar, but unique, road, too. To me, what’s most intriguing is that it shows an unwillingness to settle for the deficiencies in each material. We want to go light, we go graphite. We want the shaft to feel a little more solid and unified, maybe we go steel, but grudgingly. There are compromises, but there really is no true middle ground. It’s intriguing. But the real back story might simply be that shaft companies are doing whatever they can to develop a shaft that the best tour players will use, in particular Tiger Woods. You remember him? The guy who was playing a steel shaft until a few years ago. Now, he’s been fairly steady with his Diamana shaft. Which has been quite the rage. But truthfully that’s a little like changing your tires to Goodyear No-Tread racers because that’s what the NASCAR boys are using, isn’t it?
BOMB: Before you go off half-cocked, don't forget that green shaft, the Aldila NV, generated a fair share of trickle down economics. Meaning it worked. Tiger's tried the new Epic, but stayed with what he's got. A couple of players have put the new Epic in already, though, including Hunter Mahan this week. And two other guys I know who tried it are me and you. It was just dandy. And if it makes any sense, it didn't feel like graphite or steel.
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