If someone told you that most of today’s tour pros are playing with 30-year-old technology, you would probably have a tough time believing it. And yet it is a fact.
“True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts were launched in 1980; they haven’t changed in that time,” insists Dave McCarthy, director of European operations for True Temper. “In 2011, more than 60% of Tour pros are playing this specific product week-in, week-out on the world’s tours.”
The shaft continues to be True Temper’s biggest success story, with a seemingly unexhausted demand from pros and club players alike. Dynamic Gold shafts can roll off the production line at True Temper’s plant in Amory, Mississippi at the rate of 120,000 a day – to finish a production process that takes up to a month.
“A massive roll of steel is flattened out and rolled, then fuse welded,” McCarthy reports. “It then goes through a whole load of processes before the finished steel reaches the factory and is formed into the shaft.”
McCarthy believes he can sum up the enduring success of the Dynamic Gold shaft in a word: “Consistency. That production process is such that aspects like tolerances, weight control and balance points can be relied upon. I guess you can also look at the weight category and the slightly stiffer tip to achieve a certain feel and ball flight that tour professionals and better players clearly enjoy. But consistency is the bottom line. Dynamic Gold shafts are not frequency-matched because they do not need to be; when club-fitters test the frequencies, they find them pretty much spot-on to start with. It’s just a very safe bet.”
The Dynamic Gold shaft is a rare example of immutability in a company that has rarely stood still. Ever since the American Fork and Hoe Company began experimenting with steel shafts in 1923 – with one eye on impending Rules of Golf legality, which duly arrived in 1930 – innovation and change have never been far away. 1941 brought the first shaft to offer flex categories, the name change to True Temper was rubber stamped in 1949, while as early as 1964 the company was experimenting with fibreglass, aluminium and various composites. In 1967 True Temper introduced the iconic Iron Byron testing machine.
More recently, the changes have been in the form of acquisitions. In 1999, having struggled with its own graphite products, True Temper bought out leading graphite shaft maker Grafalloy; and then in 2006 it was the turn of Royal Precision, with its popular Rifle and upcoming Project X products. Today, the True Temper empire features the step-less steel of Project X and Rifle, the graphite of Grafalloy and Project X graphite, and the stepped steel of True Temper itself.
The resultant enormous inventory, which McCarthy estimates as being in the thousands when all flexes and proprietary versions are taken into account, is stored in a Birmingham warehouse. Orders are taken from virtually all of today’s leading manufacturers plus True Temper’s two principal distributors, Golfsmith and Diamond Golf, which deal directly with the trade.
X Files
While Dynamic Gold itself has been a constant, other versions of the shaft have sprung up. A thin-walled SuperLight model, dropping 20% of the weight but mimicking the original’s performance, aims to boost clubhead speed; the XP, with a slightly softer tip, raises the initial launch; and a couple of years ago a Tour Issue shaft, with tighter weight tolerances of plus or minus .5g (as opposed to 2g) was launched. These shafts sit alongside the Gold Series of lightweight, steel shafts with a graphite feel, and the responsive and launch-assisting Dynalite range.
But the most eye-catching True Temper product of the new generation is the wedge-specific DG Spinner, a shaft spawned directly from the recent groove rule change.
“Once the governing bodies decided to change the groove rule, we asked ourselves if there was something we could produce shaft-wise to promote spin in the wedge and approach shots,” McCarthy explains. “The DG Spinner has an engineered section, just below the grip; a tapering of the shaft, which gives the club a different loading profile. The ball will come off the face a little bit flatter, with more spin – up to an extra 700 rpm according to our testing.”
At the other end of the scale – and the bag – is the Project X graphite shaft. Since its introduction in late 2009 it has found favour on Tour, with McCarthy reporting that at this year’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, 70 players had one in their driver, fairway or hybrid.
“The shaft sets out to achieve the same playing characteristics in the graphite as the Project X steel,” adds McCarthy, “where the step-less design gives a stiffer-tipped, solid feeling through impact.”
Perhaps the key to the success of Project X graphite is its double-reinforced tip section, which foils droop and lag to produce a pure-launching, low-spinning impact. The tip is only part of the shaft’s Zonal Design Theory though, which also includes a strengthened, stabilised butt area and a constant-taper mid-section for even and consistent loading and unloading.
However, things are not quite so rosy with the step-less steel Rifle shaft, the True Temper family’s only frequency-matched offering. Its days appear numbered – at least in its current form.
“We are actually looking at discontinuing it, perhaps at the end of this year,” McCarthy advises. “Frequency matching is fine, but it’s possible to take bits off the tip or the butt to obtain the right frequency, and that can affect the balance point or weight control. Our intention is to take a look at the Rifle shaft and ultimately bring out an upgraded frequency-matched product.”
Launch angle
Meanwhile at Grafalloy, there is a new addition to the successful ProLaunch range, which already includes the stiffer-tipped Red, the lightweight, higher-flying Blue, and the mid-flight, technical Axis. The Advanced Material Performance (AMP) features something called Flex Trajectory Technology. “Essentially, as the flex gets stiffer the shaft produces a more penetrating flight,” says McCarthy. “A and R flex feature a softer tip for a higher launch; as we get into S and X flexes, the tip gets progressively stiffer to bring the flight down.” The shaft also features Grafalloy’s proprietary micromesh tip technology, designed to boost torsional stability and accuracy.
The AMP joins the vast and occasionally baffling array of True Temper products available, which could be said to hinder the golf shaft’s continued battle to be both valued and understood.
“Yes, a top quality player could probably change to three different areas and still get the performance he is looking for,” admits McCarthy. “But we want to cover all areas of the market – that’s why we bought Grafalloy and Royal Precision. We work closely with the OEMs and also want to ensure we produce a shaft for every category of head they want to produce.”
Moreover, McCarthy sees grounds for optimism in the current industry trend of custom fitting. “What with demo days, sophisticated fitting systems and launch monitor technology, everything is moving in the right direction,” he asserts.
“People are now better-informed about the role of the shaft and the options available. Launch monitors especially are helping, because the golfer can see instant figure changes through switching shafts in and out. It is easier to see if you haven’t got the right shaft, and that can generate more sales.
“Custom fitting goes hand-in-hand with my deepest belief on choosing a shaft; we can tell you all about the technology in the shaft, and we can even make recommendations; but at the end of the day, you just have to try it yourself, and witness how it performs and feels. That is where having plenty of choice comes into its own – and why the custom-fit options available to golfers today are so beneficial.”
