Oban Shafts

ajlacombe · February 28, 2018

I have recently run around in circles with testing Oban shafts. I got a Nike Covert 2 Tour driver that had an Oban Kiyoshi Gold shaft stiff flex and 65g. I liked it and then went out and picked up the Purple, Black, White and HB Kiyoshi shafts to test as well.

I had read the various Launch and Spin characteristics on the Oban site. There are other aspects of the shafts that seem to not be covered on their site. The White is a larger diameter shaft than the Purple and Black (not saying that affects anything, but obviously the construction is different).

Even though all of the weights of the shafts are close 65 models and weights from 65-70g, they feel very different.

White - I can not hit this shaft - just can not seem to load it properly - even though my swing has a quick tempo and transition to the downswing.

Black - "feels" light despite being heavy in actual weight. This shaft takes a good swing to load and does not break down in my normal low left hook, miss. The pairing of the head really matters with this one. In the right head this is a nice combo, but you have to come to the course with your good swing - good as in power.

Purple - this one has baffled me - I did not like it much in the FW, and in the driver it seems to be variable in my hands. It does not produce the snap miss, but I can end up hitting a hard draw. I like the shaft but I can not seem to find peace with this one.

The HB has the least amount of stick time for me. It seems similar to the Gold but with a different feel t- no doubt due to the higher balance point. It has a heavier feel that seems like you can load and then unload into the ball.

Gold - this one seems to be the easiest for me to hit. You still have to go after it, but it will load and give you some unloading into the ball. I would term this one as a more friendly shaft. As with all of these, the head is a key piece to using this shaft I have used this shaft in a few FWs and 6 driver heads - it has done well with all of them.

The newest shaft I added was an Oban Devotion. This one seems to be similar to the Black and Purple in the stiffness (feel) and it also is seemingly more friendly in the ability to load it. It feels light, but for me, this thing has been magic in several clubs I have tried it in. So far I have tried it in a Wishon 919 THI and a TM 2016 M2. I will try it in a 2017 M1 and then a few Nike driver heads and some FWs, but I am waiting on some purchases to arrive.

I have really enjoyed testing the Oban shafts and was wondering what experience others had to see if my findings lined up.

Thanks,

Andy

1Mordrid1 · February 28, 2018

I find the Oban White is fairly easy to load with my swing, and is probably the closest profile to my Tour Limited. The Purple kicks like a mule, and because of that it can cause some massive left shots. I am not a shaft fitter but I feel like the purple would benefit someone with a smoother tempo over someone with an aggressive downswing or transition. I have not tried the Oban Black because I think it is too much shaft for my 100 mph ss. The Gold was too high of a launch for me with too much spin.

Characteristics of the club head play a huge role in how the overall shaft/club head work together. As an example if I take my Oban Tour Limited out of my Rogue and put it in my neighbor's Epic it does not "feel" or act like the same shaft. When I tested the G400 Max with one of the stock offerings I got about 240 carry, but with the Tour Limited the spin dropped way to low(less than 1500) and the ball would fall out of the sky. My carry dropped to 225 and I had a hard draw. Sometimes if you stack too much spin lowering equipment it can have a detrimental effect.

SubaruWRX · February 28, 2018

The gold in the same flex as the others felt whippy to me. I don’t feel it plays true to it’s flex rating.

You might like the others more if you dropped down In stiffness with them if you liked the gold.

I might have liked the gold more had I gone up in stiffness.

tbowles411 · February 28, 2018

The gold in the same flex as the others felt whippy to me. I don't feel it plays true to it's flex rating.

You might like the others more if you dropped down In stiffness with them if you liked the gold.

I might have liked the gold more had I gone up in stiffness.

Can you have your shafts hand pulled and have the CPM rating measured? You just might have gotten one a few cycles off.

Boiler0007 · February 28, 2018

thanks for this write up. I've always been curious about Oban shafts

ajlacombe · February 28, 2018

Can you have your shafts hand pulled and have the CPM rating measured? You just might have gotten one a few cycles off.

That is a great idea, but I bought all of these shafts used so I have no idea if any of them were tipped an by how much. I can kind of tell by comparing the location of the graphics. It would have been way cheaper to go a place where I could have hit all the shafts, but it would have been less fun :)

Man going to an 03 flex would be an area that I could have done at a fitter, but since I had hit the Gold 04, I wanted to stay there and fix that variable to cut down on costs of this adventure :)

Willian70 · February 28, 2018

Tip a Purple if you can it’s a game changer. I tipped a 04 an inch and it’s fantastic.

Nate

Fubuman · February 28, 2018

The Gold has been a complete joy for me & my swing, almost everyone on WRX that has hit this shaft has said its to high spin & too soft etc.

I swing at 112-115 & play the Gold75x in a XR16- Pro, I have never hit the ball with as much confidence & conviction.

It is also longer than any other combo I’ve played & I’ve tried 6 or so shafts in this head too.

Reading what I’ve read about the shaft, I’ve been on the monitors twice to see what all the high spin is all about but 2000-2400 rpm is where it’s at with this shaft.

That combined with 14*ave launch & +2* AOA make this a crazy long driver for me.

The only shaft that comes close in the numbers department is the Matrix 7x3 but it does feel a bit firmer.

grew · April 4, 2018

The Gold has been a complete joy for me & my swing, almost everyone on WRX that has hit this shaft has said its to high spin & too soft etc.
I swing at 112-115 & play the Gold75x in a XR16- Pro, I have never hit the ball with as much confidence & conviction.
It is also longer than any other combo I've played & I've tried 6 or so shafts in this head too.
Reading what I've read about the shaft, I've been on the monitors twice to see what all the high spin is all about but 2000-2400 rpm is where it's at with this shaft.
That combined with 14*ave launch & +2* AOA make this a crazy long driver for me.
The only shaft that comes close in the numbers department is the Matrix 7x3 but it does feel a bit firmer.

thanks for this.. you've inspired me to give a gold 75x a shot.