Callaway launches I-MIX custom-fit technology
DIY interchangeable heads and shafts for square and traditional clubs
Posted: 15 January 2008
by Golfmagic correspondent
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The I-MIX family of head, shaft and wrench
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Callaway Golf introduces its revolutionary i-MIX Technology tomorrow at the PGA Merchandise Show's demo day at Orange County's circular range in Orlando Florida.
It's a major breakthrough in do-it-yourself club customising, capitalising, says Callaway on the USGA and Royal & Ancient’s rule change on club adjustability. The company says it gives golfers the ability to create the perfect driver for their game every time they play.
Golfers need no longer be stuck with a limited variety of stock shafts that tend to come with major branded drivers. I-MIX Technology allows them to purchase their their preferred FT-i (square) or traditional FT-5 heads and a shaft of their choice separately, directly in the shop.
The system will feature a wide variety of the most sought-after shafts in the market, including those from Aldila, Fujikura, and Mitsubishi Rayon. In Europe, with 1,400 shaft/head combinations, golfers have the flexibility to quickly customise their driver, using the threaded cap screw attached to the shaft.
The screw is machined from 6-4 titanium which not only saves weight, but ensures a durable, corrosion free system. The club and shaft screw together and are secured with the I-MIX wrench providing easy disassembly and reassembly when needed.
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Ft-i head or shaft option
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“It gives golfers the same access and ability as Tour pros to experiment and optimise their equipment,” says Jeff Colton, Senior Vice President of research and development for Callaway Golf. “No one’s swing is the same from day-to-day - neither are the weather or course conditions. I-MIX Technology gives everyone the ability to quickly and easily customize their equipment, every time they play.”
In addition to the clubhead and shaft options, Callaway’s Opti-Fit weighting system, lets golfers choose a draw or neutral centre of gravity (CG) position to help counteract the most common swing flaws for longer and straighter drives.
I-Mix Technology will be available at selected golf shops in Europe. FT-5 and FT-i club heads will cost £279 and £299 respectively, while prices for shafts range from £99 to £299.
Tell us on the forum about the heads you've added to preferred shafts or a favoured shaft you've had fitted to a preferred clubhead. Maybe you've done it yourself or was it as expensive as Callaway's potential £598 option? Let's hear your experiences.
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Discuss this story
Novel approach from Callaway to get us to pay even more for a club - how can they charge £250+ for a clubhead only, when the current fully-built option is the same price? Surely, they should drop the clubheads price well under £200 and then charge whatever the shaft costs. Also, how is this concept radically different from any other component club manufacturers? Lastly, the problem finding the perfect driver is not the lack of options - normally you can order whatever shaft you want in your club directly from the manufacturer, or get fitted by an aftermarket clubfitter. The problem is the lack of opportunity to test these options out - You don't know what your best option is, so you resort to taking a punt on the best option you can readily find. There is always a limited choice in the pro shops, lack of demo clubs, lack of demo-days etc. A lack of even advertising when these demo-days actually take place on their websites! I seriously doubt many golf retailers are going to stock that many options for us to test out - it will just be the standard 9.5 or 10.5 deg, reg or stiff, in a few of the more popular options (V2, NV etc.). In effect, pretty much what happens now. I'd be suprised if this new initiative makes any difference, as these retailers want to stock stuff that will actually sell in reasonable volumes, and not have a massive inventory.
Posted: 15/01/2008 18:30
OK for the mega store in Florida, but in the rain soaked, murky world of the British pro shop you just know they are only gonna stock a few of the choices. Yet another reason to avoid Callaway, if there weren't enoygh already.
Posted: 15/01/2008 18:32
I would not go the Manufacturer custom built option as the extra cost is so unjustified. My Taylormade drivers had after market fit of Graffaloy shafts. Cost £35 for the shaft from ebay and £6 for the pro to remove old shaft and fit new one. How a manufacturer can justify £200+ for a custom shaft is beyond me. Of course every time a shaft is removed there is a danger of it being ruined so trying different shafts can be potentially more expensive.
Posted: 15/01/2008 19:00
Keef T makes some good points and its true stores never stock enough options and its a waste of time not being able to hit the actual club you wish to try on a range - so much face loft and shaft alignment variation etc. You must see the ball flight. Trackmans are a poor substitute IMO and are not accurate in terms of total distance. In addition will this shaft attachment be available to fit to other shafts and will it stand a regular pounding down the range ? I can see alot of warranty claims arising from this as its not going to be as secure as cured epoxy.
Posted: 15/01/2008 21:01
I had my driver custom fitted in this way by using the same head and then changing it with any one of about 30 shafts. That way only the shaft changed and not the head as each head from most manufactures can vary about 4 deg between heads with the same loft. So it really is a lottery even if you test one that you like the one that you have ordered WILL be different. With mine The head was as close as possible to the loft that you picked. The manufacturer actually has the exact loft marked on the outside of the box. http://www.appliedgolftechnology.co.uk/services/index.html http://www.nakashimagolf.com/
Posted: 15/01/2008 21:49
Having read the article more closely - the manufacturers intend to provide interchangable heads/shafts that you can fit yourself with some tool that will no doubt cost extra. 'So you can tailor your ballflight to match the conditions' - presumably to be a high bendpoint iron-poker shaft for a windy day, and a moon-ball inducing piece of cooked spaghetti for calm days?? Honestly, who is going to do this? Most people have trouble keeping the ball on the course, let alone controlling their trajectory. They just want to make solid contact with the ball and keep it on the fairway. Its just like Taylormades Movable weights all over again - I currently have a Superquad driver and a TM rescue club, both with adjustable weights - I set the weights up when I bought them (neutral), and haven't even thought about changing them. Not only do they have bugger-all impact (relative to the influence of your own movements) on the end result, apart from changing the swingweight, the extra weights are ludicrously expensive for no reason whatsoever. Now its one thing buying a few screws to play around with your driver, but are they really expecting you to buy 2 or 3 shafts to interchange, at ~£100 each? This surely misses the whole point? The biggest hurdle for golfers is consistency - how is endlessly dicking about with your clubs going to do anything to help that.
Posted: 15/01/2008 23:27
I realise its not usually kosher to quote from elsewhere but as the following doesn't promote any product or service and has relevance to the discussion, I feel it would be ok. Tom Wishon, one of the most respected in the industry has said this regarding interchangeable shafts:- This matter of interchangeable shafts to heads is very much like an iceberg - what you see and get is only 10% of the whole task of finding the right driver that allows each golfer to play to the best of their given abilities.
For example, if you can plug a 55g, 65g, 75g and say an 85g shaft into the same head, unless there is some way to add weight to the head, you're going to end up with a completely different swingweight for each different weight shaft. Will whatever headweight used allow each golfer to find the best swingweight for their strength + transition move and tempo? Unlikely so golfers may end up hitting one of the shaft/head combos poorly and think it was the shaft instead of it being the wrong swingweight because there was no way to adjust the swingweight.
A HUGE, HUGE success point in driver fitting is length. All of the plug in shafts are going to be made so the end length is the same for each shaft model - and will be each OEM's "standard driver length", which today is between 45-46". For the past three years, the average driver length on the PGA Tour has been 44.5". If there is any group of golfers who should/could control a longer length, it would be PGA Tour players. Yet, on average, they play with a shorter driver length than what the OEMS are trying to sell as standard, one length fits all, to all average and regular golfers? Nope - believe me, thousands of custom clubmakers know that 90% of all golfers play much better with a 43.5 - 44.5" driver than the "standard" 45-46" that the OEMs push.
How about the face angle of the driver head? Any options for an open, square, closed face angle among the heads able to be plugged into the various shafts? Doubt it, because to do this swells the number of heads required to be a part of the plug in systems. Yet 70% of all golfers slice the ball to some degree.
How about lofts on the driver heads higher than 11-12*? While many of you won;t have to worry about this one because your swing speeds are higher than average, many of the golfers with 85mph or slower swing speeds are going to need more loft to maximize their driving distance that what will be included in the plug and play systems.
Seriously - the concept of a shaft to head connector system is sound, but ONLY if you have enough shaft + length + headweight + loft + face angle variations within the parts to be plugged together. Shaft to head connector devices have been available to custom clubmakers for nearly 10 yrs now. Most clubmakers do not use them all that much because they have learned they need to have too many different shaft pieces of different model/flex/length and too many heads of different loft/face angle/weight for such a system to really be viable as a means of driver fitting.
So do be careful if you head to the course/store to try out these systems to know that what you'll be experimenting with is NOT covering some of the most critical driver fitting factors of length, loft, face angle, swingweight.
Buyer beware on this "new" development from the OEMs.
TOM
Posted: 16/01/2008 08:36
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