Limey review

[Rockford35]

Well, I got out to the sim last night to explore the nether regions of Pebble Beach. This gave me an opportunity to try out my new weapon, my Tour Edge Exotics shafted with a brand spanking new Graman UL680 Limey fairway wood shafts.

Here's some specs:

TEE 18*
Graman Limey UL680
94g
mid kick
1.8* torque
43" length
tipped 2", butt trim to length
raw cpm - 259 (precut)

Initial thoughts:

The Limey is an eye catcher. The two guys I regularily play with started laughing when I brought it out. I started flaunting it a bit, "You wish you had something so cool", ect. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. More on that.

Using the simulators range setup, I was just trying to get some raw numbers on the shaft. I figured a smooth swing to get this off on the right foot would be the way to go. Huge push. 210 carry, 3 yards of roll. Not my typical fairway shot.

The next 5 swings produced the same thing, a push. I kept thinking to myself, "Is this thing too soft?" (I'm of the school that soft shafts, for me, go right. Too stiff, go left. This is contrary to belief, but experience tells me otherwise.). It's time to dial this thing up.

First swing produces a HUGE duck hook. Not good. I'm riding the fence on this thing at this point. Way to inconsistent. But, after hitting a few more 110mph+ swings on it, I started to feel my way into the shaft. It is soft, but not NV soft. The torque (which you can feel in the shot) tightens the dispersion immensely, so you can really go after it and it comes back for more. I ended the session with the 5 wood hitting 6 balls about 235-242 carry, which is about right for me with a 5 wood.

The strange thing about this shaft, or maybe it's the headweight, is that you don't feel it's weight. It feels the same as when it had a 65g Fujikura stuck in it. I couldn't get over how smooth it felt. The contact between the head and ball could be felt perfectly in your hands. I could tell right away where I had hit it on the face, I didn't even need to look. I loved that aspect of the shaft.

Overall, this is a good shaft. I wouldn't say great, but it is very good. I takes some getting used to because it's soft, but the torque stiffens it up at impact, so you have to massage it a bit to get the right feel. I would hesitate to buy another one, as I prefer the feel of my Evolution to it. However, this is not to say that Graman makes a sub par shaft - far from it.

Looks - 10
Feel - 9
Dispersion - 8 (after some feel out period)
Boardy feel - 6
Distance - 8 (based off a 5 wood)

From this experience, you can be sure that this won't be my last Graman purchase. I would definitely like to try this shaft in an X+ flex, just to curb my curiosity.

R35

[LyleG]

The 680 seems to get mixed reviews from a lot of people. I may have to try one and compare it to the other limeys I have hit.

The 440, 540 and 640 are a differant story altogether. Hard to find a bad review on them, heck, its hard to find a mixed review even.

[MCDavis]

Any idea how the 580 compares? Thinking of putting one in an Adams A2.

Sorry to hear it went that way, Rock...hope you work out the kinks.

[Rockford35]

I have no comparison, only against other shafts like the Blue, Evo, ect.

I'm not saying the 680 is a bad shaft, far from it. It just initially took me by surprise as to it's niche. But once you have it dialed, it's pretty solid.

I'm gonna keep it in there for a while, see how it goes.

Lyle, you don't have a 780 sitting around that I could demo? I'd send you the 680 in return for you to give a go...

R35

[LyleG]

No dice. I have a 440 R flex, but I doubt you want that LOL.

[MCDavis]

The 440 is really light with the highest torque of the Limey's...what/who would it be good for?

I play R flex normally, by the way...

[Rockford35]

Light would be for the weaker golfer, the low torque would help with shot dispersion - to a point. Majority of shafts with lower torque numbers often have a dead feel and stiffer tips, which won't help someone with a slower swing.

The perfection of the Limey is the smoothness and the dispersion. Once I had that thing dialed in, I was +/-3 yards from dead center.

R35