As I understand it, graphite shafts by nature aren't uniformly round. So the SST PURE service will align and spine the shaft to it's optimal and stable orientation. When this orientation is placed in either the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock position of your club it is meant to result in better control and solid centre hits.
Has anyone had their shafts SST PURED and noticed the difference? Is there an element that unless you are a Pro or low-handicap golfer, you'll probably not be consistent enough to notice the difference? Instead it's more likely to be a placebo effect helping you to justify the cost to yourself or more likely the other half?
Also what is the difference between the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock setups?
Ive used Pured shafts, and seen the demonstration as to why we should have them pured. Its just one of those golf things where its hard to argue against the evidence but doesnt it really do anything tangibly useful? No.
*In an independent study, SST PURE Shaft Alignment improved impact repeatability on the centre of the clubface up to an astounding 51%. Industry testing has shown that you lose six yards for every two-tenths of an inch you stray from the centre of the clubface. The figures above show the dramatic improvement in centre impact repeatability attained by three golfers of varying skill levels.
Certainly if you have a consistent swing such inconsistent shaft movement might well prevent hitting the sweetspot regularly. But even if you don't have a consistent swing, I'd of thought the added inconsistency isn't going to help. So might still see some benefit. Shame SST don't do demo days or get retailers to stock demo clubs. Let you compare between PURE'd and non-PURE'd clubs. See if your swing benefits from it or not before taking the expense.
Supposedly a lot of PGA tour Pros get their clubs PURE'd now. For example at Boston the other week; Lucas Glover, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Fred Funk, Tim Clark, Rory Sabbatini, Rocco Mediate, Brian Gay, Bo Van Pelt, Bob Estes, J.L. Lewis and JP Hayes.
As a scientist, I appreciate that there are theoretical benefits to this. But looking at the bigger picture, if it was really night and day, why would club manufacturers not do it? If it really gives a big difference, it could be the difference between this years TM being as good as the competition or blowing it away....
"As a scientist, I appreciate that there are theoretical benefits to this. But looking at the bigger picture, if it was really night and day, why would club manufacturers not do it? If it really gives a big difference, it could be the difference between this years TM being as good as the competition or blowing it away...."
One simple reason....
COST!!!
Imagine the impact on production costs if a major iron manufacturer had to spine align every single shaft??? Even if they got the shaft manufacturers to do it they would still bear some of the cost and that would be passed on to you... joe customer.
All the major club manufacturers are interested in doing with regards to the "mass market" is pushing product out as fast as possible with the biggest margin.
Look at Ping for example...how long has the G2 driver been available? Heres a clue taken from Pings website..." the G2 was the top selling driver in the US in 2005".
But since the G2, weve allready had the G5, Rhapsody,Rapture and now the G10 drivers.
Its not difficult to find similar examples in other manufacturers ranges... especially Callaway and Taylor Made. Mizuno and Titleist seem to be a little better in this respect but the distinction isnt great.
Sadly the manufacturers dont have our best interest at heart... they can make more money by telling us about some rare earth element that they use in the manufacturing process than by actually building a better quality product, manufactured to tighter tolerances and greater consistency.
Shaft puring will allways remain in the realm of the specialist club fitter/maker.
MJ, I have not looked at SST Pured shafts before so had a look at their website and your links and this certainly looks interesting.
I am currently playing TM RAC OSII's in graphite and I have been seriously thinkig of going to MX-25's in steel to try and gain better accuracy. I have demo'ed an MX-25 6I on the course and the only thing holding me back is the wife adn the purse strings!
I have just emailed frozen rope about this puring service and this is their reply;
Thank you for your interest in Frozen Rope and SST Pure, The cost for pureing is £30 per shaft and takes 2 - 3 working days to complete, this process includes taking your existing clubs apart, SST Pure Aligning the shafts, re-installation, 24 hour drying, re-gripping and finishing.
This price also includes a year's social membership at Camberley Heath Golf Club. Return delivery is £15.
So, do I a) send them the clubs and hope they improve my accuracy for £225, b) send them one club and lose £45 if they don't improve accuracy, or c) buy the MX-25 and lose £350 if they don't improve accuracy?
If you send them one club you run the risk that there is no noticeable change at all. The reason for this is that the NBP, or spine (lets just call it that for now!), or the FLO mark is aligned in a "PUREd" position now. So, if you are going to send them one club, send them one that is just "odd".
I loaded some vids on youtube yonks ago about this as it is easier to see the effects with a laser:
Bad (no FLO):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiGCnx4rMok
Good (FLO):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuU9VUjkewc
btw, can someone tell me who is singing the song ! I forget !
I have posted previously about SST puring, I had a driver fitted and had the new shaft pured, my dispersion with the driver im proved a huge amount, now hit 95 % of fairways and have gained some distance.
Bought a new set of irons and had them pured and been very happy with them, yes it costs but may be the little bit extra that helps you out
Seems steel shafts can also be spined and aligned. Found this video clip of a homemade spining tool that finds the neutral bend point. Which is where when the shaft is bent, it doesn't twist offline:
I popped in to Midas and got chatting,they had a driver in that a 1 handicapper couldn't get airbourne with a shaft he knows well.I watched the spining tool show the club as being 4 degrees shut at impact.
Also this video is quite interesting. Shows a Fujikura shaft that seems very consistent and wouldn't need alignment. Yet they test a Taylormade brand shaft that is inconsistent.
In the words of a clubfitter I know who has almost 50 years experience "can you hit a 3 iron to a pin tucked behind a bunker from 235 yards out - no - then forget it, it's total bullshit" Virtually no european tour pros have this done and they make their living at golf. Any clubfitter worth his saly will align the spine of the shaft anyway, and that is all sst puring is except at extotionate cost to pay the licence fee these guys have to purchase,
I agree its a rip off and I agree all good club fitters spine the shaft when they put shafts in,the cost is a rip off as an additional service.But I know 4 pros and all have had them spined,sorry but its an exaggeration to say virtually no european tour player have this done,thats just a guess.I bet you all the tour vans do it first,thats why they don't need to think about it.As for your guy re the 235 yard 3 iron,I agree with him,he is really referring to high club head speed and obviously those with lower handicaps will swing faster.Its not bullshit,its just divides those that think it is and those that say it isn't.
I find it a buit strange taht in the same sentence you ahve a guy with 50 years expereince saying its bs then you say all good club fitters do it anyway,I am a little confused by that.
The take-up on the PGA tour is huge, I have seen the amount of pros at the SST Tour Van door with my own eyes. Harrington for a very long time now has had his PUREd, Rose does too, I am sure others too. As for the SST PURE process, I have dismantled SST PUREd clubs to compare it against spining and FLOing and can duplicate it exactly. It truly is not rocket science, but like most of golf when the marketing machines swing into action everyone needs to sit on their wallet.
According to SST they have PURE'd clubs for over 200 Pros on tour in the US at least. Including some Europeans. Supposedly they have made over $87m this year so far. Some posted in another forum they are quoting 55% of the US tour now, but can't confirm that. They don't seem to mention the European tour, but could be because they are a US business or PURE'ing isn't as popular over here currently. But here is a list of Pros they mention in their September 2007 news item:
Aaron Baddeley, Stricker, Justin Rose, Tim Clark, Stewart Cink, Camilo Villegas, Rory Sabbatini, Jonathan Byrd, Brent Snedecker, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Bo Van Pelt, Charles Howell III, Scott Verplank, Woody Austin, Lucas Glover, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, K.J. Choi, Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Appleby. Also as mentioned in my previous post, both Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose had clubs PURE'd just the other week at Boston.
In 2006 supposedly the winner of the Senior British Open, 6 of the top 7 in driving accuracy on the PGA tour and 8 of the top 10 at the US Bank Championship played with PURE'd clubs. Not sure about 2007. Here is a list of 2005 tour players:
There was also the suggestion one shaft manufacturer is offering some kind of 'Shaft Stabilization' for their staffed players. So the retail shafts might not be tested by the manufacturer due to cost and time factors, but tour issued ones might. Although I guess they would want to keep that quiet, rather than admit their retail ones might need it too.
As for the independent study that showed improvements even for a 20 hcp, was conducted by Golf Science Consultants, Inc. The study was done by J. Howard Butler, who is president of GSC and former VP of shaft technology at True Temper. So assume it was done properly.
Some on other forums suggest that the main benefit of spining, is to make the shaft bend consistently throughout the set. Rather than having a 4-iron bend say 4-deg off, 6-iron 2-deg, etc. So it might not make any single club that much more consistent unless it is a poor shaft, but will make a single club react like every other club in the set. One member said they aren't a single-digit hcp, but got their clubs PURE'd and noticed a more consistent and better feel throughout the set. With a slight improvment in dispersion. Whether the cost of getting a whole set done is worth it for the average golfer is debatable.
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