Welcome to Tried It, GOLF.com’s series about golf gear – apparel, gear, equipment, etc. – which we just took out to throw away. We are here to offer our reliable, non-golf or near-golf items. So, scroll down to read about our favorite new (or new to us) golf products.
Most golfers know that investing in a perfect, professional club fit can make a huge difference in their game, but shafts – and the idea of changing them in and out at will, with the same clubhead – seem to be at their most intimidating. In my mind, only serious gearheads are willing to attempt a shaft switch on their own.
Needless to say, shaft tinkering is not something I have ever put myself into in my own sport. I consider myself an honest person when it comes to my equipment. I kept the same Ping putter in my bag for two decades. After measuring – and I’ve only had a few – I order my gear set and don’t really think about the parts for my clubs. To me, shafts are a package deal with clubheads, and not something that should be considered as an individual product.
But last year, I started hearing a discussion about Newton shafts. The name is a nod to Sir Isaac Newton, and the company’s commitment to using the power of physics to revolutionize golf equipment design. Newton founder and chief technology officer Aki Yorihiro first entered the golf market with premium putters and shafts in 2018. In 2022, Newton opened a shaft production facility in St. Joseph, Missouri. When Newton’s shafts were introduced in November of 2023, they became a hit, especially on the PGA Tour Champions, where more than a dozen players currently use them.
I was interested in trying one, but I didn’t trust my game enough to make a proper comparison. So I called my husband, Paul, a plus-handicap club technician, to try out the machine and report back.
How this simple training aid helped me drive at my lowest | I tried
By:
Maddie MacClurg
How do you know which flex is right for you? Newton made it easy to determine by using a dot system, based on swing speed. You can also take a quick online survey to help find the dot level that’s right for you. There are two shafts to choose from: Motion and Quick Motion. Fast Motion shafts are 10 grams lighter than Motion shafts. Each shaft comes with an adapter for your driver so you can install it yourself. You can choose your adapter from eight major manufacturers.
Paul ended up going with a 4-Dot Fast Motion shaft with a Callaway adapter. One of his assistant technicians also had a 5-Dot, so he had the opportunity to compare the two dynamics. Surprisingly, 5-Dot ended up being a better fit for him.
“My spin rate was pretty high with the 4-Dot,” Paul said. “The 5-Dot made a huge difference and got my spin rate back to where it should be, and getting the right distance and dispersion that I needed, whereas the 4-Dot was spinning a lot, so I would lose distance.”
Paul also said that the shaft had a different feel than anything he had used before.
“Typically, for everyone who uses it, the shaft has a lot of ball in it,” he said. “The speed of the swing and the speed of the ball is high because it is a light shaft. But it is still very stable, so for many people, they hit the ball long and straight because, with the flight of the ball that comes in more and less spin, it means less rotation left and right, so the dispersion is stronger.”
That’s exactly what founder Aki Yorohiro set out to do.
“Quite simply, you can hit it straight, for a long time, with little effort,” Yorohiro said of Newton’s big appeal. “If you don’t get it working, then we’ve failed.”
If, like Paul, you find that a different variable might work better for you, Newton also has a simple exchange process.
“We want you to be really happy, because happiness is contagious,” said Yorohiro. “And some people will look at them and say, ‘Oh, maybe I should try a new hole.’ If you need to be tough or soft, you can do it.”
To see if a Fast Motion driver shaft can benefit your game, order yours now through the link below.
Newton Fast Motion driver shaft
Oscillating shafts allow the energy created during your swing to be efficiently stored, then released in a controlled, stable manner.
