My Callaway FT-3 Tour 8.5 NV65 Stiff review, and has anyone reshafted one yet?

[CKGuY914]

I finally got the FT-3 via FedEx today. 8.5 Tour with NV 65 Stiff. Went out to hit some balls and walked 18 at a local course.

So far I am liking the club, alot easier to hit than my 7.5 975D, feels like I didn't need to put in as much effort into hitting the ball. :tup:

When I catch it fairly good it would go about 15-20 yards further than the 975D and slight mis-hits would go about same distance as 975D. On hole 13 I hit a 328 yards drive (408 yards hole and I had 80 yards left), the next hole 14 I hit it 326 yard (396 yards and I had 70 yards), and it didn't even feel like I caught it completely pured. Rest of the holes I was all over the place so I didn't keep track of distance. (w00t)

I like the sound of the club, I don't really understand what's the big deal that people make of it. Different and unique, something different from the typical PING! or KANG! for a change. :whistle:

What I don't like about the club is the shaft, Aldila NV 65 Stiff. The shaft was too weak for me , I was all over the place today left and right, I felt alot of movement with the clubhead during the downswing compared to the 975D with Grafalloy Prolite. It also launched alot higher compared to the 975D, although it didn't balloon and it seemed to spin alot less (I noticed more roll after landing versus the 975D), I still feel it launches too high for me.

Now this brings me to my questions about reshafting the club. I am currently looking to reshaft it with a stiffer and lower launch shaft, I am thinking a Grafalloy Blue? I have it on my PT13 and I like how it feels, or perhaps someone can recommend me something else relatively inexpensive. (I am just a poor college student :bigcry

To my understanding bore thru club heads make the shaft play stiffer. Now the FT-3 isn't a bore through but from some of the pictures of the club that I saw on Callawaygolf.com it seems like the shaft still goes through pretty deep into the club head, will that also make the shaft play stiffer? Anyone have any experience reshafting a FT-3?

Also I've noticed that Graffaloy shafts are stiffer relative to other brand's shafts in a same flex, is the Blue Stiff stiffer than a NV Stiff?

 

[Rockford35]

I play the Blue in my GBBII and I love it. It plays much stiffer in the Callaway heads because of the bore thru. (I think we had a conversation about this months ago.)

I like the feel of the stiffer shaft. It allows me to swing normally with great results, but if I dig deep and wanna hammer one out there, I still can without overworking the shaft.

I can't speak for the FT-3, but any Callway head I've tried with a Blue shaft has been great. GBBII, BB454 and the Fusion. All had aftermarket Grafalloys, so they were true "stiff" shafts rather than marked "stiff" from Callaway, actually probably playing closer to X-stiff rather than stiff.

I'm also a fan of the NV shaft. It has given me great results in any club i've given a ride with. Between the two I would say the trajectory is similar, but the Blue has a stiffer tip giving it a different feel. Different, but not sub par. Some guys say the Blue has a dead feel, which might be true in some heads, but not in Callaways. At least, not in my opinion.

I'm not sure how much this helps, but if you went with either the NV stiff or the Graf Blue stiff, you'd have a winner.

R35

 

[Silver]

Blue should launch lower than the NV...or at least it did in my experience with my Launcher 460. That's one of those clubs where the Blue felt "dead"...at least to me. I much prefer the NV and am driving better than ever. But...given your situation, you might really dig a Blue...I found I just didn't swing quite hard enough to make it worth it. My friend that swings about 10 - 15 more than I do smoked my Blue Stiff and loved the feel.

I swing about 100mph most of the time, for the record (sometimes down to 90, sometimes up to 108 or so).

 

[obagain]

The shaft of choice seems to be the accra t-60. The nv needs to be spined in this club to work well.

 

[nsherman2006]

i know OB is a very well respected member, but i had the same results you did with the NV, and i found the accra t-60 to be a very por fit for me. THe t-60 M$/Ping G@ 8.5 combo that i have doesnt give me anything but weak fades, even on days when i'm drawing the ball

 

[Mizuno MPed]

I got 2 new drivers this year. I got the mactech 9.5 and 2days ago i got the r7 TP. I like them both but yeah all stock drivers shafts need to be spined and pured. When i did that to my mactech, the difference was significant. I will get my TP spined soon too. As for ur fusion driver just get the regular NV shaft. U have i believe the NVS shaft (orange right?)

 

[obagain]

The accra does not match up with the ping as well. We normally find the fujikura tour platform works best in them but the best way is to find a launch monitor and see exactly what will work best for you.

 

[CKGuY914]

Today I went to Golfsmith with my two drivers to make some comparisons on their Vector launch monitor and I had their clubmaker measure the frequency of the shaft, swing weight, and static weight. I was very suprised by the results.

Titleist 975D, 7.5 loft, 45 inches
Grafalloy Prolite R, 245 CPM, D-4, 337g
ball speed .. swing speed .. spin .. launch angle.. side spin
... 176.7 .......... 123.3 ..... 3674 ....... 13.5 ......... 500S
... 170.7 .......... 118.8 ..... 3605 ....... 12.5 ......... 998S
... 173.3 .......... 118.9 ..... 2242 ....... 11.8 ......... 304H
... 174.0 .......... 120.7 ..... 3249 ....... 12.9 ......... 457S
... 169.7 .......... 117.0 ..... 2926 ....... 10.3 ......... 139S
... 168.6 .......... 116.6 ..... 3158 ....... 12.6 ......... 590S
... 172.9 .......... 118.4 ..... 1994 ....... 11.9 ......... 278H

Callaway FT-3 Tour, 8.5 loft, 45 inches
Aldila NV65 S, 252 CPM, D-4, 325g
ball speed .. swing speed .. spin .. launch angle.. side spin
... 177.3 .......... 121.7 ..... 2020 ....... 11.3 ......... center
... 165.4 .......... 114.8 ..... 3466 ....... 12.1 ......... 112H
... 172.6 .......... 118.9 ..... 2719 ....... 13.3 ......... 228H
... 164.4 .......... 114.0 ..... 3481 ....... 12.2 ......... 251H
... 164.0 .......... 115.2 ..... 4309 ....... 13.3 ......... 195H
... 159.2 .......... 109.7 ..... 3101 ....... 13.0 ......... center
... 161.1 .......... 110.2 ..... 2521 ....... 13.6 ......... 136H

I was getting fatiqued towards the end, hence the decrease in club head speed.

I originally thought the FT-3 play much weaker than the 975D because I can feel alot of clubhead movements during downswing but to my suprise the NV in the FT-3 actually measures to be slightly stiffer than the Prolite in 975D.

When the clubmaker was measuring the static weight he noted that the Prolite in 975D has a significant higher kick point than the NV in FT-3 due to the bore through of the 975D head. So I guess that is why I feel that the 975D plays stiffer.

Now I am really not sure what shaft to put into the FT-3 anymore.

 

[obagain]

With that club head speed you need to bring the ball spin way down. You don't want more than 2500 rpm or you will be really wild.

The reason you are hitting the heel on the ft-3 is because the shaft is not spined. With the prolite you are hitting it on both sides but with the nv you are either center or heel. The launch angle looks really good on both shafts. If you set it to a neutral set up it will make a world of difference. That is what I would try first before reshafting. We only charge $10 to do this so it should be under $25 at golfsmith, much cheaper than a $100 shaft that might not work.

 

[CKGuY914]

With that club head speed you need to bring the ball spin way down. You don't want more than 2500 rpm or you will be really wild.

The reason you are hitting the heel on the ft-3 is because the shaft is not spined. With the prolite you are hitting it on both sides but with the nv you are either center or heel. The launch angle looks really good on both shafts. If you set it to a neutral set up it will make a world of difference. That is what I would try first before reshafting. We only charge $10 to do this so it should be under $25 at golfsmith, much cheaper than a $100 shaft that might not work.

What do you mean by spined? Set it to a neutral setup?

Try as in trying out a club with a particular shaft that I look to get?

$10 to try out a club?

 

[obagain]

A spined shaft is where we put the club on a frequency machine and watch it bounce up and down, most of the time it will start moving sideways. The sideway flex will cause the shaft to flex away from you or towards you. We pull the head and then turn it until the shaft bounces straight up and down then we reglue the head in that position.
We charge $10 to do this and is much cheaper than changing shafts 2 or 3 times trying to find the right one.
I think you have the right shaft already, it just needs to be tweaked.

 

[CKGuY914]

A spined shaft is where we put the club on a frequency machine and watch it bounce up and down, most of the time it will start moving sideways. The sideway flex will cause the shaft to flex away from you or towards you. We pull the head and then turn it until the shaft bounces straight up and down then we reglue the head in that position.
We charge $10 to do this and is much cheaper than changing shafts 2 or 3 times trying to find the right one.
I think you have the right shaft already, it just needs to be tweaked.

The thing is the FT-3 head is very delicate, to pull and save the shaft is very difficult.

Just got back from the range and I am actually not hitting it too bad, the head still feels too responsive during the down swing (probably because of the NV shaft) and the shots were little lefts and rights. I am thinking about putting a Grafalloy Blue S in it for a stiffer board feel and less torque for more consistency. I'll make sure to ask the guy to spine it before putting it in.

Looks like I am gonna have to spine my 3 wood and 2 iron hybrid as well.

Thank you very much for the info.

 

[CKGuY914]

I got 2 new drivers this year. I got the mactech 9.5 and 2days ago i got the r7 TP. I like them both but yeah all stock drivers shafts need to be spined and pured. When i did that to my mactech, the difference was significant. I will get my TP spined soon too. As for ur fusion driver just get the regular NV shaft. U have i believe the NVS shaft (orange right?)

I have the green NV in it.

 

[obagain]

If you are going with a grafalloy shaft, get the new nano shaft. It has the same feel but is much more consistant. They are only $15 more than the old blue.

 

[CKGuY914]

If you are going with a grafalloy shaft, get the new nano shaft. It has the same feel but is much more consistant. They are only $15 more than the old blue.

I read that it's in between the Blue and the ProLaunch, I don't really want to hit the ball higher.

Perhaps a good fairway wood shaft for me but I am hitting my PT13 in regular Blue S very well right now.