Project X 7b3 vs Rip Alpha 60

[tjgus25]

with all other things equal what kind of differences will you see between these shafts? Launch angle? Spin? Feel?

Basically im trying to find out what the differences would be for my R11 driver

any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[jag398]

I've played both shafts and played them in an R11, so I can offer some feedback.

The RIP plays as a very stiff shaft. If you compare a Stiff Flex RIP vs almost any other shaft, it'll be stiffer than most. It'll feel a bit more boardy than a Project X (feel smoother than the RIP), but that doesn't both me at all as all I care about is the end result. You'll get a bit more spin and hence, a bit higher ball flight on the project X. I for one think this is a good thing, unlike most. Almost every post I read seems to mention that the ball balloons to much and that a person needs a stiffer shaft or one with a very high kick point and low torque. This can happen for many reasons. One common mistake a lot of people make (including myself) is that they aren't done going down on the ball with their driver. If you haven't flattened out your swing and the swing is either neutral or slightly (2*) on the upswing when hitting your driver, you will spin the hell out of it (a reason why people "balloon" the ball). Many people move to a new shaft before fixing their swing and a lot of times, people get way to much shaft and end up losing distance and accuracy. For instance, I was hitting on a launch monitor last week and just testing out different shots with my driver. After warming up, I was finding myself hitting around 14* with 2300 RPM's of spin on the ball consistently, which is ideal (at least in my opinion). I always have the ball even with my front foots heal and tried out a few with the ball more towards the middle of my stance... this turned a consistent 14* w/ 2300 RPM's into a consistent 11* w/ 4500 RPM ball spin. This is not ideal, but guess what... I used the same shaft and club to produce two completely different types of ball flights. With RPM's in the 4500 range, the ball will lift very quickly and balloon on you. The same goes with irons. So many people, including myself, don't always compress the ball get a lot of spin and hit the ball high while losing a lot of distance;however, when you are really compressing the ball (tour striker is a fantastic training aid for this) your ball flight will change dramatically. Another thing to add is that most would benefit from having a nice spinning mid level ball flight on an iron. Carry is everything with your irons and if your hitting such a low ball flight (c-tapers for example), you aren't getting everything you can out of your shaft. The C-tapers are an excellent example of a shaft that most people shouldn't be hitting. It has such a stiff tip that you really need a great swing (loading up your hands like crazy, aka lagging the club) with very good swing speed. I got a buddy who is a club engineer and is a tester for every major brand of clubs (while in production) and he himself said the C-taper is to much shaft for a lot of pros (which is why most of them don't hit the C-taper; otherwise they would because they are fantastic shafts). He thinks it's a fantastic shaft, but it only fits very few people. He for example has a driver SS of 125mph and hits dynamic gold X-100 shafts (and is also a scratch golfer) and wasn't able to get what he considered everything he could out of the C-tapers.

Anyway... way off on a tangent.

RIP: Slighly lower spin, slightly lower ball flight, slighly less feel, slightly stiffer than most other shafts in it's class
Pro X: Slightly more spin (it doesn't spin more than most shafts, but it spins a bit more than the RIP), etc, etc, etc.

They are both GREAT shafts. Go get fit and see the difference between the two... if you can't for some reason, just figure out what you want in a shaft because while they are both low spinning, low ball flight, and stable shafts; but they are different.