Puring shafts

[skyrider]

New to the forum and wondering if anyone else has tried the technique of "Puring" done by the golf shops. Just bought a speeder 757 and puring was recommended to "align" the shaft optimally to the face of the club. Supposed to decrease oscillation and increase distance. Any thoughts?
Thanks

[Pullmeister]

Usually if i get a shaft from Golfsmith I'll get it pured. I figure for the extra 10 bucks or so its couldnt hurt. . Probably helps stabilize the shaft a bit which should equal more sweetspot hits and thus better distance. if nothing else its a small price to pay for the reassurance that your shaft will be about as good as its ever gonna get.

If you want want to feel/flex match your irons its invaluable.

Generally I think any improvement in a driver will be modest. Better shafts will have far less prominent spines and hotspots. Crappier shafts can have a more noticable spine (and/or multiple spines). You can pure a turd but it will still be a turd.
I

[offthegrid]

Originally Posted by Pullmeister

Usually if i get a shaft from Golfsmith I'll get it pured. I figure for the extra 10 bucks or so its couldnt hurt. . Probably helps stabilize the shaft a bit which should equal more sweetspot hits and thus better distance. if nothing else its a small price to pay for the reassurance that your shaft will be about as good as its ever gonna get.

If you want want to feel/flex match your irons its invaluable.

Generally I think any improvement in a driver will be modest. Better shafts will have far less prominent spines and hotspots. Crappier shafts can have a more noticable spine (and/or multiple spines). You can pure a turd but it will still be a turd.
I

Priceless turd analogy

[warbirdlover]

PM LyleG for the answer....

[ualtim]

During the show, I was able to talk to a few of the shaft guys including the guy who designed and built the Hybrex shaft. They all said the same thing, every shaft made has a spine. The impact of spine alligning lessens as you get into some of the top end shafts due to the materials and precesses involved, but they still have a spine. When I asked the Graphite Design rep and the designer of the Hybrex if I would need to get their $400 shafts spine aligned, they both replied that it would not hurt anything and may even help a bit, but the difference between aligned and not aligned would not be as great as on a lower end shaft.

[skyrider]

Thanks everyone. I am making an effort to improve my game and I am getting varied opinions. As you say, the price to have it done is negligable if your paying upwards of $200 for a new shaft.

[LyleG]

Originally Posted by Pullmeister

Generally I think any improvement in a driver will be modest. Better shafts will have far less prominent spines and hotspots. Crappier shafts can have a more noticable spine (and/or multiple spines). You can pure a turd but it will still be a turd.
I

Puring is a process developed by SST and is similar to spining and floing a shaft. Spining and floing imo are a must for graphite shafts to ensure optimal performance.
All graphite shafts will have at least 2 spines (some have more). When you pure a shaft you find these spines along with the shafts neutral bend point.
Saying that cheap shafts will have bigger spines than expensive shafts is not always the case. A lot of times you can have two shafts from the same company, one with 2 huge spines and one with very small hard to even locate spines. Each and every shaft is different and should be tested as such.
When a shaft is first placed in a spine finder and placed under load it will immediately spring to its neutral bend point. This is the plane the shaft bends the most freely on. The shafts 2 spines will be 90* on either side of this point. One side being usually much stiffer than the other. Once you have these two locations marked you can then flo the shaft to find the spot it flats lines the best in relation to these markings. Mosts shafts will FLO with the hardest of the 2 spines facing up or very close to it and the NBP facing the target. The shaft then gets installed with the strongest of the spines facing up (the 12 o'clock position) and the NBP facing the target. This position minimizes toe droop and gives the most consistant axis for the shaft to swing on.

Steel shafts will have only one spine (its not really even a spine but that irrelevent), and again should be installed spine up to ensure a consistant feel accross the set.

[offthegrid]

Originally Posted by LyleG

Puring is a process developed by SST and is similar to spining and floing a shaft. Spining and floing imo are a must for graphite shafts to ensure optimal performance.
All graphite shafts will have at least 2 spines (some have more). When you pure a shaft you find these spines along with the shafts neutral bend point.
Saying that cheap shafts will have bigger spines than expensive shafts is not always the case. A lot of times you can have two shafts from the same company, one with 2 huge spines and one with very small hard to even locate spines. Each and every shaft is different and should be tested as such.
When a shaft is first placed in a spine finder and placed under load it will immediately spring to its neutral bend point. This is the plane the shaft bends the most freely on. The shafts 2 spines will be 90* on either side of this point. One side being usually much stiffer than the other. Once you have these two locations marked you can then flo the shaft to find the spot it flats lines the best in relation to these markings. Mosts shafts will FLO with the hardest of the 2 spines facing up or very close to it and the NBP facing the target. The shaft then gets installed with the strongest of the spines facing up (the 12 o'clock position) and the NBP facing the target. This position minimizes toe droop and gives the most consistant axis for the shaft to swing on.

Steel shafts will have only one spine (its not really even a spine but that irrelevent), and again should be installed spine up to ensure a consistant feel accross the set.

Did you make your own spine finder or did you buy one. I have been looking at the one at JB's. It looks like a very well construted unit and would run about $50.00 including shipping. The cost of 5 shaft purings by Golfsmith.

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by offthegrid

Did you make your own spine finder or did you buy one. I have been looking at the one at JB's. It looks like a very well construted unit and would run about $50.00 including shipping. The cost of 5 shaft purings by Golfsmith.

I have one of JB's spine finders. It is definitely worth the $50. I have made up the cost several times over spining my own shafts and charging $5 a shaft for those who I make clubs for. I spined the first club for no charge for a couple of guys and now they want all of their clubs spined.

The JB spinefinder is really solid and comes with a good set of instructions. After I spun a few shafts, it has become a real easy process and I can do a set of shafts fairly quickly. I have had zero problems with the tool and would highly recommend it.

[skyrider]

Thought I would call around to get other opinions, Edwin Watts has said it is not worth the money and has the data to prove it.
Hmmm?

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by skyrider

Thought I would call around to get other opinions, Edwin Watts has said it is not worth the money and has the data to prove it.
Hmmm?

I agree with Edwinn Watts. I had a shaft pured and felt/saw no improvement or decrease in the flight or patterns of my dispersion.

I think it's a gimmick.

I will say, however, that this is a KEY element to be done to steel shafts. It makes an enourmous difference in steel, but I have my doubts with mid range graphite.

R35

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by skyrider

Thought I would call around to get other opinions, Edwin Watts has said it is not worth the money and has the data to prove it.
Hmmm?

All depends on what you consider "worth the money". I have done at least 25 shafts for my own personal use and 6 shafts for some of my friends at $5 a pop (-2 as the first 2 I did for free.) So I spent $50, have earned $20, and saved $250 bucks if I had Golfsmith do it (assuming you buy the raw shaft from Golfsmith and have it PURED, the clubs I pulled shafts out of and spined would have cost even more than $10 a shaft to PURE.) That puts me at $30 out of pocket expense and $250 saved. Even at my hobbiest level of club building, its worth it. If you want to look at it another way, it has cost a grand total of $1.61 per shaft to have them spined not including any income, or $0.96 per shaft including income in about a years worth of use.

Even if it does not increase club performance one bit, there is a value added benefit to feel which I find one of the greatest aspects to the spine alignment.

It up to you to decide whether you want it or not, but Edwin Watts is trying to sell you clubs that have not or will not be aligned unless you send them off to a spine aligner at additional cost. Just as SST PURE has stats that prove the benefit of spining every club because it is in their best interest, the truth lies somewhere in between.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by ualtim

Even if it does not increase club performance one bit, there is a value added benefit to feel which I find one of the greatest aspects to the spine alignment.

It up to you to decide whether you want it or not, but Edwin Watts is trying to sell you clubs that have not or will not be aligned unless you send them off to a spine aligner at additional cost. Just as SST PURE has stats that prove the benefit of spining every club because it is in their best interest, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Well put.

R35

[SunnyDaze]

Could this spining/truing/puring have anything to do with why sometimes in a set of clubs that you buy there seems to be one club (or 2) that just don't seem to play as well for you as the others?

In my last iron set I just didn't get the same satisfaction or feel out of hitting my 8-iron as with other clubs in the same set (steel shafts, store bought Hogans with the "4" flex stepped shafts). In my other sets the 8-iron plays fine for me.

[skyrider]

Wow lots of good info. Thanks. I am wondering, with an Xflex, could you still see a difference in shot shape or distance. We shall see, I will get the clubs back next week and find out.
Thanks again, talk to you all soon