Tour Concept
Greetings, The Tour Concept program is all about providing golfers with shafts that have been proven on Tour, not just the Johnny come lately new introduction, rather the newest products that have not only survived the rigors of the “tour” but have emerged as the player favorites.
Tour Concept Shafts are available from 2 sources, either from the True Temper and Grafalloy Tour vans to Tour players at PGA or USGA events, or thru a very select few dealers who have either assisted True Temper and Grafalloy in their R&D efforts such as is the case with us, and or Custom club fitters and builders who are acknowledged as elite hand crafters of precision golfing weapons, also the case with us.
Whether you purchase Tour Concept products from us or another Authorized Tour Concept dealer, you should expect an exceptional level of service, the pricing should be comparable, and the difference we offer is a level of service that is well beyond your expectations.
What we do to increase the value for you on these very elite shafts which are available as installed products only is take the extra time and care to 1st spine align, and affix a laser to each shaft and rotate it until we find the plane of alignment that will provide the optimum kick and repeatability prior to installation. We call this process Spine and Flo.
Flo is an acronym for Flat Line of Oscillation.
We also can cross use taper tip shafts in parallel iron heads, or use parallel tipped shafts in tapered iron heads. In the case of metal wood heads we can use .335 tip shafts in .335 or .350 heads with the use of proper shims that will enhance the performance.
We also have the ability to build your set or a single club in between flexes by controlling the tipping, and soft or hard stepping the shafts and we offer a performance guaranty if we do your fit.
The Tour Concept line is made up of shafts for woods, irons, and hybrids.
Woods
Pro Launch Red Tour Design
I’m going to start right in with the Pro Launch Red Tour Design which is what’s in my Vector 460 Tour Spec driver.
As I write this in October 2008 this is the best shaft I have ever hit!
Ok, so what? Am I a Pro? No, but I can hit the ball, my low round is a 79, I do own a golf company and we carry most every shaft you could name and I have hit most of them.
The point is that whatever shaft you are considering, regardless of price, do not rule this one out.
These are available in R, S, and X and tend to play about ½ a flex stiffer than most other shafts with the same marked flex. They also have an extremely stiff tip section which provides a penetrating trajectory. These are definitely low launch low spin shafts.
So consider the R as a hard R, if you need a soft R, closer to a seniors then these are not for you. Ditto on the S, and the X.
The Pro Launch Tour Design features Smart-Ply™ for over all shaft integrity and its anti ovalizing properties as well as the Micro Mesh Tip™ that gave the Nano Comp NT such amazing feel and distance.
It should be noted that we submitted the new Vector 460 Tour Spec (our head) to Rankmark.com for their July 2008 driver test where golfers of all abilities had a chance to hit drivers from all the major club companies from Taylor Made® on down.
Naturally we were hoping to do well, and so we hit every shaft we thought was worth hitting to try to find just the right match between shaft and head.
Every shaft we hit was nice because they were all really good shafts as budget was a non issue, the only concern was performance and the 1 shaft that stood head and shoulders above all the others was the Ultra Elite Tour Design version of the Grafalloy Red, followed closely by the standard Red.
Among less tip stiff shafts the Ultra Elite Tour Design Blue was also a real winner and that is what I recommend to players who want a bit more height on the initial launch angle. But please don’t confuse this with the standard Pro Launch Blue which is a high launch flexi tip shaft, the Tour Design Blue has a stiffer tip than most, just not as stiff as it’s Red counterpart.
That is why they show as the 1st options on our web site for our new Vector 460 Tour Spec head. Vector is our Brand and when our name is on the line it is not about profit margins, it’s all about performance.
Among our list of shaft offerings on this club there are no bad choices, we have selected from the best each company has to offer, but we have had amazing results with the Tour Design version of the Red and the Blue and think that you will agree.
To further shore up this opinion, we sent a confidential price sheet to our wholesale dealers and here is a sentence from that correspondence,
After testing dozens of shafts we strongly recommend installing either the Grafalloy Red or preferably the Grafalloy Red Tour Design with Smart-ply™ and Micro-Mesh™ tip technology.
Pro Launch Blue Tour Design
This is easily one of the best shafts ever made, by any company, at any price!
I have never hit a High Launch shaft that felt as Right There-Right Now as this shaft, there is zero lag, it is almost like a (well I want to say a Speeder 757 only with way more feel and a much higher launch angle) but this is the Grafalloy page so I can’t do that.
Please don’t confuse this with the standard run of the mill Pro Launch Blue that come as standard equipment in many fine clubs such as Ping, not that the standard Pro Launch Blue isn’t a fine shaft, it is, but this is the Ultra Elite Tour Issue version of the product and comes with many more features, not the least of which is Grafalloy’s Patented Smart-Ply Technology, and the Micro Mesh tip section.
Smart-Ply is Grafalloy’s exclusive technology which involves a special way to lay up the graphite plies to increase hoop stiffness. Increasing Hoop Strength has been proven to improve a shafts performance for both distance and accuracy.
The following is what Grafalloy has to say about it.
Smart-Ply™ Technology
Smart-Ply™ technology preserves 100% of the carbon fiber properties by incorporating only unidirectional, low FAW, high-modulus fiber.
These unidirectional fibers are then strategically placed in multiple axes along the full length of the shaft resulting in unequalled design consistency and material integrity / performance.
Grafalloy’s proprietary System 9 design model computes over 40,000 calculations per shaft ensuring unparalleled accuracy in material placement and lay-up.
Smart-Ply™ technology positions the unidirectional carbon fiber in Grafalloy Axis, Tour Design Red, and Tour Design Blue along 6 separate axes…over twice as many shaft axes when compared to other designs.
+/- 45 Degree Fibers
+/- 45 degree fibers provide incredible stability torsionaly to stabilize the club head for maximum consistency at impact.
+/- 30 Degree Fibers
+/- 30 degree fibers provide for greater torque reduction while preserving valuable feel.
Zero Degree Fibers
Zero degree fibers provide consistent flexural integrity along the length of the shaft for unmatched feel and energy transfer.
90 Degree Fibers
90 degree fibers maximize geometric integrity during downswing reducing shaft ovalization. Maximum geometric integrity dramatically improves shot dispersion while allowing more energy to be transferred through the shaft to the ball at impact.
AXIS
The Axis comes in 75 and 95 gram version so we would recommend it for higher swing speed players in their driver and fairway woods as well as slower swingers as a fairway wood shaft. A really nice fairway wood shaft.
Here is what Grafalloy has to say about it.
The most sophisticated high-performance graphite shaft ever developed, Axis features an intricate design that is the most heavily researched and tested in the history of golf. Axis features Smart-Ply™ technology that utilizes high modulus fiber oriented along multiple axes to improve shaft hoop stiffness and flex consistency. The result is the strongest, longest shaft Grafalloy has ever created.
EPIC
The Epic doesn’t claim to be the longest shaft in the world, or the straightest.
It is however the longest shaft that is straight and it is the straightest shaft that is long.
When you combine these attributes the result is a ball that is closer to the pin for your next shot!
That my friend is the Epic secret and the key to a lower score.
It is also a fantastic shaft for any long club you intend to sore with such as a fairway wood or a hybrid.
Here is what Grafalloy has to say about the Epic.
A new material. An entirely new level of performance. Epic is the first shaft to incorporate nanotechnology into a design so advanced it has literally broken the mold. In a time when most shafts are primarily improvements on existing designs, Epic featuring Nanofuse technology is a revolution in materials, design and performance. Our engineers set out to utilize the full design opportunities provided by nanotechnology to create a shaft material combining the consistency and accuracy of a steel shaft with the distance and feel advantages of graphite. The result is Epic!
Nanofuse material dwarfs the strength of traditional shaft materials. Its strength properties even exceed “exotic” materials like titanium found in most driver heads on the market today. This incredible strength enables the design of a super lightweight shaft that delivers explosive distance.
TOUR
There are 2 Tour’s, the original all black which is an overwhelming favorite on Tour which is where it gets it’s name, and a milder version geared more to the serious recreational golfer.
When you see a Daryl survey report of shaft counts at PGA events and you see so many Grafalloys, many of these are this all black Tour shaft. The reason is that it is basically a Pro Lite (the shaft with the most wins in the history of golf!) with more feel due to the Micro Mesh Tip.
This shaft will provide a low launch and low spin.
The milder version referred to above comes in a mid launch version and a high launch version and has that cool chameleon paint that changes color from purple to green to black depending on what angle your looking at it from. Smartly they have designed it so that at address looking at the ball the shaft becomes all black to the golfer holding it.
PROTOTYPE 1027
This shaft comes in 3 flex’s X, X, and X. Just kidding, it only comes in 1 flex and it’s X.
The Prototype 1027 was designed for stronger players who over power a standard X and for whom a standard X is just not enough shaft.
This shaft has a very high bend or kick point for the lowest possible spin rate, combined with an extremely stiff tip section for the lowest possible launch angle.
Consider this as the type of shaft a long drive champion might use when he’s playing golf instead of competing in a long drive event.
This shaft is not just for long drive champions though, it also works well for high swing speed players that create too much spin and are loosing distance due to ballooning the ball, high swing speed players that are seeking more roll and a flatter ball flight.
HYBRIDS
C NOTE
These are definitely Tour quality hybrid shafts, designed for more aggressive players; they are for players who believe they can stick it from 200 out and often do.
These shafts provide a superb transition from the distance of wood shafts and the scoring accuracy of iron shafts.
Available in R, S, and X in the 85 gram version and S, and X in the 105 gram version.
They are available in both .370 parallel tip, and .355 taper tip.
Grafalloy has this to say about them.
The C-Note series hybrid shafts incorporate proprietary Tri-Material Torque Control (TTC) consisting of three (3) unique high modulus fibers creating a torsional profile providing unmatched accuracy and premium feel. These low torque designs produce a penetrating ball flight with incredible control.
IRONS
TOUR CONCEPT
Tour Concept irons come in 3 flex’s, R300, S300, and X100 and each come in your choice of 3 finishes, chrome, satin, or painted.
These are available as a .355 taper tip product 1 iron thru wedge (41”-37”)
Tour Concept irons are a constant weight product with each shaft weighing 126 grams regardless of length or flex.
Do I like these shafts, o baby can you say hole in one on #9 at the #2 course at Pinehurst J
What makes these shafts so unique and gives them their ultra high performance is the way they go about maintaining the weight and increasing the stiffness as each shaft gets shorter from 1 iron through wedge.
Each shaft in the set has its own tooling and as they get shorter the wall thickness of the steel is increased. For each ½” reduction in length there is an increase in wall thickness of approximately 2/1000 of an inch.
They are also designed as a flighted product which means the longer clubs will be easyto get a high soaring ball flight, and the shorter clubs will have a more penetrating trajectory for more control.
True Temper has this to say about them.
CONSTANT WEIGHT = ULTIMATE CONSISTANCY
Tour concept features a constant weight, discrete length design meaning each shaft in the set is designed for a particular iron resulting in shafts that weigh exactly the same throughout the set for unmatched shot consistency.
PROPRIETARY GLARE REDUCING COATING
In Addition to Tour Concept's phenomenal performance attributes, the shaft also features a cutting-edge, glare reducing coating for optimized shot focus and concentration.
M80
The M80 shafts are certainly light, in the 80 gram range, thus the name, but the difference here is they are a constant weight set meaning each shaft weighs the same regardless of length. This is important because if you start out with say an 86 gram steel shaft that is 40 inches long, by the time you cut it to fit a 9 iron it will be near 34 ½” long and its weight will have been reduced to near 74 grams and that 9 iron is going to be harder to control.
They come in 3 flex’s 0, 1, and 2 with 0 being the softest and 2 being the stiffest.
While these are not Rifle™ numbers they do roughly equate to them.
Available in .355 taper tip, or .370 parallel tip.
True Temper has this to say about them.
The lightest constant weight shaft constructed from True Temper's proprietary super-strength S3 alloy. M80 features a unique combination of materials and design for a super-light, incredibly responsive golf shaft. This revolutionary shaft is the perfect choice for current graphite iron shaft users seeking ultra-lightweight designs with improved shot consistency. This shaft developed for the top Japanese OEMs is exclusively available through our network of Tour Concept Dealers.
DYNAMIC GOLD TOUR
These are a secret shaft and there are only a handful of people that even know of their existence.
They are really stiff, can you say rebar, these are X-700, that’s 7X folks.
This is the shaft that guys like John Daly hit, if your man enough we have them.
BLACK GOLD
We are glad to see this model brought under the umbrella of the Tour Concept program, after all the shafts are certainly worthy of it.
What makes them special is their constant taper rate from grip to tip as well as the unheard of manufacturing tolerances.
Other shafts may have an active tip for high launch, or a firmer tip section for a low launch, but Black Gold shafts have a uniform bend profile through out the entirety of the shaft length (from grip to tip) that allows for a uniform loading of the shaft which can then be released through impact as the player sees fit to deliver the club.
This more uniform bend profile allows the player workability not found in other shafts.
These come in matched bagged sets that are frequency tuned, and they are available in .355 taper or .370 parallel tip, and can also be ordered individually.
Here’s what True Temper has to say about them.
Black Gold introduces Frequency Tuned™ technology. Incorporating True Temper's proprietary "Gold" manufacturing process, each critical shaft parameter is held to unparalleled standards resulting in the first shaft ever to combine pinpoint frequency specification with exacting weight tolerances and balance for unmatched repeatability and consistency.
Frequency Control - each Black Gold shaft is frequency tuned to within +/- 1 CPM.
Weight Control - each Black Gold shaft is manufactured to within +/- 1.5 grams.
Balance Point Control - each Black Gold shaft features balance point control to +/- .125".
Grip To TipTM Technology
Utilizing True Temper's manufacturing expertise, the shaft's taper rate is held at a remarkably constant reduction producing Black Gold's proprietary Grip To Tip™ flex profile. This unique design characteristic allows the shaft to efficiently store the force created in the downswing for maximum energy transfer at impact.
Premium Gold Nickel Coating
An exclusive feature making Black Gold truly unique is the proprietary "gold nickel" plating process that gives the shaft its distinct appearance. This proprietary plating process produces a distinctive gold shading effect over time for the ultimate expression of individuality and personality.
People often ask, how does Black Gold differ from Dynamic Gold?
Black Gold and Dynamic Gold are vastly different products.
Firstly, when comparing the discrete length versions of both shafts Dynamic Gold features a constant weight design while Black Gold is a descending weight design. This means that the Black Gold shafts get lighter and progressively softer throughout the set when compared to the Dynamic Gold.
The second point of differentiation is that Black Gold features a stepless shaft profile
compared to the stepped design of Dynamic Gold.
Thirdly, Black Gold features a slightly higher ball flight than Dynamic Gold. Dynamic Gold is characterized as “low” while Black Gold is characterized by “low-to-mid” although this will vary with individual swing profiles.
Both shafts feature True Temper’s “gold” manufacturing strategy to deliver the tightest controlled specification of any shafts in the game today.
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