Are You Ready for a Super Light Driver?

Listening to Teed Off this morning on XM / Sirius / PGA Tour Radio, Brian Katrek had one of the Tour Van guys from Cleveland/Srixon Golf talking about the latest and greatest in driver technology. It seems that the next step in extending driving distance is the superlight graphite shaft.

Cleveland had started putting very light shafts in their drivers a couple of years ago, but most of them were in the 60 to 65 gram range gram range. Most off-the-rack (OTR) drivers are using shafts in the 55-65 gram range these days, depending on flex.

Lately, Cleveland has been developing and testing - are you ready for this? - a 39 gram shaft. THIRTY-NINE GRAMS! 

That's incredible. In the past, shaft companies have been able to build shafts in the 45-60 gram range, but the only players who could use them were women and very old golfers. They were just too whippy for anybody with even an average swing speed.

Cleveland player Roland Thatcher has been using the new shaft and has gained 10 yards and is hitting 10% more fairways in regulation. The Tour Van Guy (TVG) said that the pros testing the shaft have been using a stiff flex - not an X-flex.

Jesse Ortiz of Bobby Jones Golf (yep, and the Orlimar Tri-Metal) has a new driver hitting the shelves at the end of October that will have a 45 gram shaft.

So start saving your pennies...and dimes...and dollars. The next generation is getting here fast.