Forum Member Review: Graphite Design Tour AD Shafts

2024 has seen quite a few driver shaft tests on the MyGolfSpy Forum and the Graphite Design Tour AD may have been one of the most anticipated testing opportunities of them all. Eight MGS Forum spies were selected to test, review and keep one of the many shafts available in the Graphite Design lineup and they didn’t disappoint. Our members tested a wide array of Tour AD models and came away with some impressive results.

Key Highlights

·      Appearance: Our testers universally praised Graphite Design’s sleek but understated and subtle paint schemes

·      Performance: Testers saw notable gains in distance and accuracy over their gamer shafts

·      On-Course Data: No surprise here: with better driving, testers saw better scoring with Graphite Design driver shafts in the bag.

·      Likes: The overall feel and stability of every Graphite Design Tour AD model drew rave reviews

·      Dislikes: Some testers reported a poor fit when left to their own devices in selecting a shaft. (There’s a lesson there.)

About Graphite Design

Established in 1989 in Japan and 1997 in the United States, Graphite Design has been at the forefront of golf shaft innovation for over three decades. Their founder, Megumi Yamada, worked to revolutionize the industry with his cutting-edge lamination technology. The technology works to ensure their shafts are lightweight and incredibly strong. Coupled with state-of-the-art design and the finest materials, this advanced technology makes Graphite Design shafts a premier choice for both professional and amateur golfers. Graphite Design’s “Tour AD” moniker stands for “Accuracy and Distance,” and their shafts have been delivering on that promise for decades. 

Did our eight testers reap these claimed accuracy and distance benefits?  Read on.

Appearance

The paint scheme on a golf shaft is admittedly a rather benign thing to evaluate. The shaft is going to kick the same in hot pink, jet black or racing stripes, after all. Still, golfers are a particular bunch and highly subjective language like “fits my eye” or “confidence-inspiring” gets tossed around a bunch in our circles. All told, our testers were very positive about Graphite Design shaft aesthetics. 

“The orange tour AD DI shaft might be the most striking and beautiful shaft I have seen personally. The orange really pops in the sunlight and even in the sim seems to shine. The hints of green on the tour AD logo really stand out to me as well.” – kam89

“The gold, black, and subtle red hits look fantastic and would go well with many different drivers in my opinion. The black of the shaft has just a slight sparkle that looks great without being distracting from address.” – Nick_D

And of the Tour AD VF currently being gamed by one Tiger Woods, GolfSpy_BNG wrote, “This is an easy slam dunk.  Bright red moving to black at the bottom half.  Few combos hit as strong as Red & Black.  Maybe that is just the Tiger effect on me but outside of Black & Gold, Red/black tops everything else for me.”

Performance

So, Graphite Design shafts look good but so what if they don’t perform right? Well, perform as advertised they do. Graphite Design offers an online chart depicting expected ball flights for the Tour AD lineup and our testers consistently reported getting the shot patterns they’d signed up for.

“The first thing I noticed is that Izzy did seem to be a bit fade biased for my swing, as claimed by Graphite Design.  With my swing and a smooth tempo, Graphite Design Tour AD IZ gives me a go-to fade off the tee.  It also helps guard me from turning a draw into a hook when I try to turn the ball over.” – pete1276

On-Course Data

Once Graphite Design shafts got on the course, the positive feedback continued. 

Tester GolfSpy AFG observed “…a 13 yard increase in distance and a 13% increase in fairways in regulation” across 3 rounds he charted in comparison to his gamer’s stock shaft. Other testers were equally impressed with their Tour AD and its impact on their games.

“My last three rounds on the course have seen my Strokes Gained Driving average tick up each time – my last three rounds saw my SG-D increase over my ten round average +1.2, +0.1, +2.  I’ve learned to adjust my target a bit more toward than center, again something I’m very happy to do.   I’ve smoked a few – but for me the benefit has been accuracy…” – WaffleHouse Tour

“When I am controlled and in my groove this shaft does almost everything I want it to. I have gone from shooting high 90s to high 80s and I will say the driver has been the biggest part of that. I used to be scared of it and hit 3w off deck to be safe. Now I am generally just a wedge in on par 4s.” – kam89

Likes

An extremely smooth, stable and confidence-inspiring feel was a common theme among our testers.

“Killer color combo, amazing feel, and a right to left ball flight tick 3 big boxes for me… Never feels loose or out of control, spin stays in a nice window.” – GolfSpy_BNG

“If you’re like me and you value keeping the ball on the fairway or near to it, than the ADVR will not disappoint. One of the things that makes the ADVR so good in terms of dispersion is how smooth it feels.” – DukeStKing

And tester pete1276 shared that his Tour AD IZ “… gives me a better chance of keeping the ball in play more often and finding more fairways…”

Dislikes

Despite the overwhelmingly positive feedback, there were some criticisms. While many testers saw gains in accuracy, appreciable gains in distance were less common. Tester WaffleHouse Tour echoed a finding shared by several testers: “The Good is the accuracy, the Bad is the lack of distance gained due to not enough increase in launch.”

Additional feedback

Throughout the lineup, our testers got very solid positive performance out of their Graphite Design Tour AD shaft. However, a few elected against promoting their Tour AD to the gamer spot in their bag. Feel is a very subjective thing and some testers just preferred the feel of their old driver shaft. Another tester cautioned that many golfers attempting to order a driver shaft “off the rack” without a fitting might be in over their head.

“The Graphite Design Tour AD UB 6 S is a sleek high-quality shaft that will likely outperform many of the stock off-the-rack offerings in stores today. However, know your swing and know your own limits when it comes to your technical mastery of the shaft world. In my case, limited as I am in my own knowledge of shaft specs, I  dove in without getting a proper fitting and I got it wrong.”

Conclusion

The Graphite Design Tour AD family of driver shafts has a well-earned reputation of performance among professional golfers. Eight testers from the MyGolfSpy Forum validated this reputation and found that Graphite Design can provide appreciable gains in driver performance for amateur golfers as well. Be sure to get into a fitting bay and give Graphite Design a long look if you’re looking to optimize your driving.