Triangular Shafts – Next Big Thing or Just a Bust?

“The round shaft doesn’t make any sense physically” (German Engineer)

A couple of years ago a German engineer by the name of Andreas Stulz introduced a new idea at the 2006 PGA Show…they actually won a “Best of Show” award for their invention. Stulz believed this idea would be the next biggest thing in golf shaft technology. The idea was for a “Triangular Golf Shaft”. Stulz, an engineer by trade from Germany had moved from his country to the US and opened up his own custom golf club fitting studio here in the states. While fitting golfers he began to realize that during a custom fitting it could take up to a few hours to fit a golfer with the absolute best golf shaft. “It took us too long to match the club shaft with the swing characteristics of the golfer,” says Stulz.

So…he rounded up all his German engineering friends which were actually in the automobile industry and asked them to take a look at this strange thing called a “golf shaft” and see what they thought they could improve on it. As you know the Germans are known for their engineering…they make some of the best automobiles in the world. So Stulzs and his friends thought, hell let’s try and apply a little “German engineering” to the graphite golf shaft.

“They looked at (a golf shaft) and said, ‘The round shaft doesn’t make any sense physically. A triangle has much better bending characteristics.’ Then we started building prototypes.” said friends

After testing was completed, what they came up with was a Triangular golf shaft that ran 11 inches up from the tip of the shaft which reduced bending dramatically at impact. So the majority of the shaft is still round but a portion of the tip is triangular. They found that this particular prototype created the most stable shaft…which in testing improved both accuracy and distance. The testing actually showed a 4 yd improvement in shot dispersion ratio…which is quite good.

Stulz Golf

So Why Have I Never Seen It Before?

Well…the shaft is actually available in both GolfSmith and GolfWorks but I feel the cost was one reason you might not have heard of it before. The shaft originally ran for $300 smackeroos for the driver shaft…and $150 for an iron shaft! That would end up being one expensive set of irons. I think the idea might catch on…but it will most likely be by a different manufacturer. Golf is hard up for some new ideas right now…so you might just be seeing a triangular shaft in your driver in the next couple years. Hey it wasn’t too long ago we had bubbles in our shafts.

What Do You Think About The Shaft?

If it could help you would you buy the shaft? Do you think it could catch on? Leave your opinion in the comment box.

P.S.

The 2009 PGA Show in Orlando is coming up soon and every year I go it simply amazes me how many new inventions get launched there. If you are someone that has never had the opportunity to go to a PGA Show…I really do suggest going at least once in your life. But if you can’t go this year don’t worry because MGS will be covering it and we will be re-creating so all of you get a chance to see what goes on.

Related Articles:

– “How Graphite Shafts Are Made”
– “You Spy-We Try Awards by MyGolfSpy.com”