I am buying a new Taylor Made R5 Dual Driver (Type D). I have the choice of getting it with a Grafalloy Blue ProLaunch 65 or an Aldila NV 65. Which do I go for???

Cheers for any help and advice

2 very different shafts. The NV will hit much lower. What ball flight are you after?

I realise that in theory the NV is low launch but every one I have hit and every one anyone I know has owned has a high trajectory.

My own feel for the original posters question is that in general the better ball striker and golfer you are the more I would lean towards the Graf Blue. If you are a mid handicapper then the NV definitely.

I play off 16 and tend to be able to get the ball high off the tee pretty easily. The reason i'm going for the draw model is that i tend to try and hit the ball hard off the tee with a pretty quick whippy swing and can often go right (with a slice!)

I dont think level of handicap is a good indication of which shaft you should use.

The Prolaunch is totally different to the Blue which Creosote refers to. If you already hit the ball high it may not be the best choice. It may help with the slice though as is a tip soft shaft

Try them!

Lance - You are correct and I stand corrected. I have Graf Blue's on the brain after wrestling with one for 3 weeks!

I`ve tried both these shafts albeit not in an R5.
The Prolaunch felt much better to me.
(The stiff feels about half a flex softer than the Grafalloy Blue stiff.)
The Aldila NV launches much lower and needs `hitting`to make it `go`.
But that`s just my opinion, you really need to see how they perform in YOUR hands.

the graf prolaunch is a high launch shaft and is for any player who wants a good launch where as the aldila nv is a low launch and is for control the aldila is slightly ahead for the better player but graf blue pl is aimed all around the handicaps makes sure you get the right flex and maybe test both the shafts our opinions my not aid you game but thats all the help i can give i struggled finding a shaft for my ignite looking at everything from graf blue to aldila pink. In the end i searched for a shaft lab and found out that a fairly old shaft ( grafolloy prolite) and its brilliant at half the price gives un believeable control

When i try to hit my drives hard off the tee i usually get alot of height and tend to slice it right, so on your advice do you think the aldila would be better for me as it would keep lower and more controlled therefore straighter? Unfortunately i cant try them out as i'm buying off the internet!

well go to a driving range and the may have demo clubs or ask around your club and see if anyone has a similar driver . the aldila is also very good when u got after it with little trouble ive got to admit. when i was trying for an sq tour and i felt i cud go after it with out losing it too much and tht driver spins alot and give me a loveerly lower rising shot. and i only changed my mind when i tried the new tiger shaft which us unbelieveable( grafolloy bi matrix) so it lost out to the newest and best technology the alidila also turns heads if that is what your after

I may be well off the mark here but do you think you hit it high cos the face is open giving more loft and your slice? If you hit the ball with the club square at impact you will probly have a much lower launch angle. So when you do sort out your swing you'll be hitting the ball much lower with an NV shaft? Does this make sense?

heres my advice - FOR GOODNESS SAKE TRY THE BUGGERS OUT FIRST

i will if i can get hold of them, but like i said i'm buying it off the internet, and my club doesn't even have an r5 at the mo, let alone one with these two shafts!

yer i get ya its hard to get hold of clubs like that as i say just try them even if its just the sshaft with a different club head u may get and idea if ur swing is pretty repeatable and as people have said before it matters on your swing and i have two drivers so i really cannot talk i have two nike drivers that i switch often ( and sq tour with grafolloy bi matrix and a nike ignite with grafolloy prolite) both give very different shots and im happy with both as i can hit high , low , draw and fade with both of thm i just keep the sq tour as back up then soon as im used to hitting it ill put it permantly in my bag

if ther is no way in hell you can test them then here is my advice. get the nv - much better feel as it is not boardy.

I currently have NV in a Ping G2 and previously ProLaunch in R7.
For me I need to load the NV a bit more than the ProLaunch but I agree with many of the comments here in that you really need to try them both.
At a Ping demo day I was side by side with a friend of mine - we both have the same clubhead speed (105), and were hitting the ball about the same distance, but he was much better with the Grafalloy, whereas the NV suited me better. What this suggests is that you really cannot use head-speed, average distance or handicap to decide which shaft is best for you - it is how you deliver the clubface to the ball that counts.