I found an example of two shafts with similar butt and tip stiffness and in my new bend modeling software applied increasing tip loads to the shafts to help me envision how these two extremes compare to each other. The Aldila RIP Hybrid shaft profile, what one shaft company tour rep explained as convex vs concave when discussing two popular models, is seeing a lot of play recently. In this illustration you can see increasing and decreasing load applied to the EI numbers and watch how the shaft bends in response to loading and unloading. That is how the designer tailored the stiffness of the shaft to create a bend profile. You can see unusual peaks and valleys is many designs.
In future reviews you will see deflection profiles The EI profiles I have been using may cause some confusion and consternation when looking at the charts. What we see in the Alpha is a ‘balanced’ shaft. This makes it easier to see the amount of counterbalance build into a shaft. A positive number indicates the balance is above the midpoint, a negative number below the midpoint. It is now expressed in terms of the midpoint of the shaft. If you are familiar with the table from other reviews you will notice that the format of the balance column has changed. It has really low tip torque numbers and excellent radial consistency. I secured a few more review samples from Aldila and took a hard look at the model. When working on my Hybrid fitting system I saw this pattern in the RIP Alpha Hybrid. Both have a long stable butt and mid with a rapid loss of stiffness toward the tip in the high tip section of the shaft. What brought the RIP to my attention was the release of the KBS Tour V and the Nippon Modus3 Tour 130 designs. Most premium shafts over the last few years have adapted to some variation of this layup design. Their illustrations show bias plies at both the inner and outer wraps of the shaft. It has never been clear to me exactly what was done.
It has been used in all subsequent shafts. It was the pioneering release of Reverse Interlaminar Placement in Aldila shafts. This is not a new shaft from Aldila, it was released several years ago. Aldila RIP Alpha Hybrid By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
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