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Grafalloy ProLaunch Red on a R5 Dual D

Sandy

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
907
0
I'm not sure anyone on here has reviewed one of these shafts yet, and seeing as it's you lot that are responsible for my current spate of shaft ho'ing, I thought I ought to post my experience of fitting my driver with this new shaft from Grafalloy.

Basically my problem was this: I moved to the 10.5* R5 Dual D with regular stock shaft after having a nightmare with a Cobra SZ460 (with Aldila NV stiff shaft) that was horrendous - could exaggerate the slightest slice into absolute horrors and just made the most eardrum splitting sound that made me feel totally self-conscious when using it. I hit a few shots with a friends R5 and it felt great, straightened my shots out, and so I bought one ASAP and traded in the Cobra. It's been working well for me, but the trajectory for me was incredibly high and I was convinced it was robbing me of significant distance, especially with the end of the ball flight and the total lack or roll on landing. I also experienced the dreaded hooks whenever I really tried to swing hard that a few others on here have experience of.

After the total success of sticking in the ProLaunch Blue into my 4w I decided that a new shaft may be the thing to try, so trawled the posts on here to see what people recommended and went down to Golfsmith looking to fit a V2 or a Grafalloy Proto Comp NT, the latter being the preferred choice after the reviews it got on here. On arriving the repairman suggested the Grafalloy would be a great fit, but he surprised me by saying that they had sent all their inventory of those back to the factory, as that shaft is being phased out. He did however suggest that the new ProLaunch was a great shaft and would have a similar effect to the NT. Obviously I'd already discounted getting a ProLaunch Blue in there as the last thing I wanted was a high-launch shaft. So I duly took his advice and had the Red fitted (standard length, R Flex), and finally got the chance to take it down to the range last night.

First impressions? WOW!

It basically did everything I needed it to! From my first half-dozen hits the ball flew off the face with the boring trajectory I wanted from it, still getting quite a height, but flattening out the overall arc of the flight to bring the landing down to a much flatter angle. Sadly it was too dark to see how the ball reacted on landing - but the fact it was flying out of the range of the floodlights is certainly encouraging! I certainly noticed a few hops and skips from the ball on landing though, which is a world away from the ball just stopping dead on landing with the old shaft.

Even more encouraging was the dispersion and length I was getting. The hooks were gone, and bad swings only seemed to add a gentle fade to the shape (they'd have been out of the side of the range with the Cobra!). Even contact low on the face saw the ball motoring out, giving me hope that on windy days teeing the ball lower will allow me to hit real low shots with good distance. With the old shaft my drives generally just dropped a few yards short of the 200 boards at this range, which equated to shots of 200 - 225 on the real course. Last night all bar a handfull of shots sailed over the 200yd boards, and one I took using a scuffed 'real' ball from my bag went way over the 200 board and disappeared from the range of the lights!

The feel of the club was great too. Basically it felt indentical to the ProLaunch blue in terms of stiffness (the slightly firmer feel of the Regular flex is perfect for me) and overall feel, but the ball just seemed to hammer off the clubface when it made contact and keep flying forever.

In summary then, an absolutey great choice of shaft, especially for people who love the ProLaunch but don't want the high flight that shaft can give on their driver, but also haven't got the swingspeed to fit a Grafalloy Blue to get the lower trajectory. Great value too at about $55. I'd be interested to see what the better players on here would make of it, but for higher handicappers who, like me, don't have a problem getting the ball in the air off their drivers it seems an ideal choice.
 

warbirdlover

Ender of all threads
Supporting Member
Jul 9, 2005
19,151
5,601
central Wisconsin
Country
United States United States
Good choice! This is the Graf shaft they've said is doing so well on the PGA tour. I saw it is low launch so was afraid to try it but if it has the feel of the ProLaunch blue it's a winner already. I think Rockford35 is interested in this shaft also.
 
OP
Sandy

Sandy

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
907
0
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  • #3
I switched between my 4w with the PL Blue (which, now I've figured out how the shaft likes to be swung, I can absolutely crush) and the driver with the Red just to confirm that feel issue, and it was amazing how similar they both felt. As for the 'low trajectory' it has, I certainly found that the ball got plenty high enough for me, and it gave the ball what seemed like a perfect arc for someone with my swing speed and distance issues.

Certainly well worth a look if you already like the ProLaunch Blue but don't need help getting the ball airborne!

The PL Blue is definitely going into my new 7w next, and I may even look at reshafting my two hybrids with the HY version of it. You see what you people have turned me into?!?!?!? ;)
 

JEFF4i

She lives!
Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2006
13,545
95
Awesome review, honestly, I'm getting more and more impressed with Grafalloy
 
OP
Sandy

Sandy

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
907
0
  • Thread Starter
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  • #6
After a lot of research on the posts on this very forum I was pretty set on the Proto Comp NT, but was very surprised when the guy at Golfsmith said they had sent all their inventory of those shafts back the week before.

I wonder if they're going to go into 'families' of shaft brands for ease of marketing?
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
12,405
8
Excellent review. Shocking, really, about the Comp NT shaft. Could he have been BSing you about that? I can't imagine why the NT shaft would be "phasing out".
 
OP
Sandy

Sandy

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
907
0
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  • #9
Sandy,

what is your ave. swing speed after having warmed up?

I would put it at around 88 to 90 I would say, despite being 6ft tall and a pretty big guy - I'm more of a swinger than a hitter, thanks to years of playing cricket. I tried putting some much stronger swings on it and it dealt with them well, but my aim was all over the place and I was pulling the ball all over.

To put it in context, my most reliable club is a 28* Halo hybrid that I can reliably hit 165 - 170 pretty much every time, and I always use my 6 iron to get it 150yds out.


Went out with it again to the range over the weekend - this time in the daylight - and again the carry was well over the 200yd marker, but this time I could see it had significant roll once it landed (very pronounced skips and hops across the range floor) compared to the one hop and nothing else the old shaft's trajectory gave me. With that thing the ball came down so steeply at least on two occassions playing on soft and wet fairways I managed to totally plug the ball with the driver, neither time with any of the ball showing above the ground!
 
Oct 28, 2005
15
0
I fitted the pro launch blue in my R5 as an experiment. It was at the other end of the launch spectrum to the prolite 35 fitted in my Hogan driver. This experiment was a complete failure. I had no idea just how high the damn thing would launch the shaft. Although I have only moderate swing speed (approx 95 mph with the driver) I do have a strong release and found I hooked the ball with this shaft. I then fitted a prolite 35 into the TM and what a difference penetrating trajectory and very stable. The prolite is a fairly long established shaft and I suspect that the pro launch red is an updated version. If that is the case I believe it will be very successful. I am delighted with the performance of my R5 with this shaft instaslled.
 

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