Golf Products Using Nano Materials to
Improve Performance Will Be Exhibited at NSTI Nanotech 2007 Innovation
Showcase.
Press Release: May 11th, 2007. Source NSTI.
Please click the Play
button below to watch "The Story of Grafalloy's Epic Golf Shaft."
The Nano Science
and Technology Institute (NSTI) today
announced a special Nanotechnology in Golf
Exhibit at the 10th annual NSTI Nanotech
2007 conference. The Golf Exhibit will be
held at the Nanotechnology Innovation
Showcase and Reception to be held in
California at the Santa Clara Convention
Center May 23, 2007.
"The Golf Exhibit at the Nanotechnology
Innovation Showcase will feature golf clubs
and golf balls with performance enhancing
qualities made available through the
application of nanotechnology and
specifically, nanomaterials,"
"While some shaft manufacturers have
incorporated carbon nanotubes into composite
shaft design, that use is only scratching
the surface of the true potential of
nanotechnology," states Graeme Horwood, Vice
President of Engineering / R & D for
Grafalloy. "Epic represents the first
sporting goods product that's been truly
enabled by recent advances in utilizing
complete nanotechnology. With Nanofuse, we
are introducing an entirely new material
into golf shaft design that offers the
advantages of both steel and graphite
without any of the inherent limitations
associated with each."
Please click the Play
button below to watch "Graffaloys Epic Golf Shaft" featured on
BusinessWeek.
Grafalloy's ProLaunch
Blue captures Celtic Manor Wales Open
June 7, 2007. MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Celtic
Manor Wales Open Champion trusted the launch monitor-tuned performance
of ProLaunch Blue in his driver to overcome three early bogeys in the
final round and finish in a flurry that was punctuated with a final-hole
birdie capping off a spectacular 65. The win not only moved him to
fourth on the European Tour Order of Merit, but also solidified his
entry into the Open Championship at Carnoustie by virtue of his upward
move on the Official World Ranking.
Developed to optimize launch conditions in today's oversized driver
designs, ProLaunch Blue incorporates Grafalloy's proprietary Micro-Mesh™
tip technology to strike the perfect balance of stability and spin
control while preserving critical feel for valuable feedback. The shaft
can be found through all major aftermarket distributors and top OEM's.
For more information on the ProLaunch series of shafts including the new
ProLaunch Red visit www.grafalloy.com
.
The leading manufacturer of golf shafts in the world, True Temper is
consistently the number one shaft brand on all professional tours
globally. True Temper markets a complete line of shafts under the True
Temper®, Grafalloy® and Rifle® shaft brands, and sells these brands in
over 30 countries throughout the world. True Temper Sports is proudly
represented by over 850 individuals in ten facilities located in the
United States, Europe, Japan, China and Australia.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Aerotech Golf proudly
announces that Dimension Z Golf - golf’s premium producer of
professionally fit, precision-manufactured golf clubs - has incorporated
ultra-high-quality Aerotech Golf shafts as part of its standard product
offerings.
Because of the unparalleled uniformity and consistency of Aerotech Golf
shafts, Dimension Z Golf clubs now exclusively feature proprietary
shafts based on Aerotech’s SteelFiber technology in its irons and
Aerotech PowerCoil shaft technology in its woods, explains Don Ingermann,
founder and CEO of Dimension Z Golf.
"Of all the shaft brands and models we’ve tested over the years,
Aerotech shafts are the best at providing uniformity. That’s the key
reason we use Aerotech." says Ingermann, who is also a former CEO for
the golf equipment giant Ben Hogan.
Ingermann explains that while many golf club manufacturers may use
‘commercial grade’ products as their ‘standard’ offering, Dimension Z
Golf only uses the highest quality components. "We’re all about
precision," he says, "and every component must be analyzed so that the
entire set comes out perfectly for the golfer."
"We’re very excited that Aerotech shafts are helping Dimension Z Golf to
set new industry standards," says Chris Hilleary, president of Aerotech
Golf. "Dimension Z Golf has definitely raised the bar in crafting some
of the industry’s most precision-engineered and precisely fit golf
clubs, and we’re proud that our SteelFiber and PowerCoil designs are
enabling golfers to achieve greater success in the game with Dimension Z
clubs."
Aerotech’s SteelFiber shafts feature a high-modulus graphite core and
more than 59 miles of steel fiber covering the surface of each shaft,
providing golfers with the power of graphite and the stability of steel.
While the shaft’s graphite core provides vibration dampening, increased
clubhead speed and maximum distance, the steel fibers produce a optimum
weighting for a solid feel at impact and add stability and control for
accuracy. Aerotech’s PowerCoil features a surface layer of graphite
which runs 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis and maintains the shafts
round profile at impact and eliminating unwanted clubhead oscillation
during the swing. The benefits of this unique design include more
consistent contact with the ball for greater accuracy and improved
energy transfer for increased distance.
Headquartered in Bellingham, Wash., Aerotech Golf specializes in
uniquely engineered, performance-enhancing golf shafts - including the
award-winning SteelFiber, PowerCoil and Players Spec brands - and has
supplied shafts to such renowned golf club manufacturers as Cleveland
Golf, Adams Golf, Fenwick, Srixon, Lynx, Zevo and Pure Spin among many
others.
Aerotech Golf Shafts:
Hoop Strength For Better Golf Shots
As players of all abilities have learned that golf shafts are one of the
integral pieces to the golf-club-performance puzzle, more companies have
entered the market with high-end shafts. Consumers have accepted the
high price points and buy shafts based largely on what they see being
used by the top players on the professional tours. Many average-playing
consumers can't see or often understand the differences among shafts,
and to most of them a shaft is just a pretty-colored stick of graphite
that they buy depending on if they see their favorite player using it.
While there have been significant advancements recently in material and
process technologies, the basic rules of composite golf shaft design
still and will always apply. There are only a few basic ways an engineer
can measurably alter the flexural characteristics of a composite golf
shaft. These design parameters include:
Geometry
Fiber type
Amount of
fiber and
Fiber
orientation.
Geometry or shape contributes to the
shaft's stiffness. A larger diameter shaft is stiffer than a smaller
diameter shaft both in bending and twisting. By varying the diameter at
different locations along the length of the shaft it's stiffness can be
manipulated.
The type of fiber is also critical to achieving the desired
flexural properties. High modulus graphite is stiffer than mid or
standard modulus. Therefore, a shaft produced with higher modulus
material will be stiffer.
As the amount of fiber in a shaft increases, the shaft becomes
heavier and stiffer. Stiffer flexes within a shaft model tend to be
slightly heavier than the softer flexes because the shaft designer is
simply applying more fiber to reach the stiffer flexes.
Perhaps the least intuitive to the non-engineer is fiber orientation.
A shaft's flexural properties can be manipulated by varying the angle of
the fiber along the shaft's length. Fiber running directly down the
shaft gives the shaft its bending stiffness. Fibers at 45-degree angles
to the shaft's centerline give the shaft its torsional or twisting
stiffness. Fibers at 90 degrees or around the shaft offer hoop strength.
All golf shafts are designed using multiple layers of fiber run at
various angles to achieve the desired flexural properties.
Aerotech's engineers have determined that hoop-oriented fibers are a
very critical part of a shaft's design and performance characteristics.
Hoop strength holds the shaft round when it is deflected, and keeps it
from deforming during the swing and at impact. Hoop fiber was originally
used to improve the durability of a shaft by preventing it from
deforming, but Aerotech's engineers have discovered that this fiber
orientation also influences the playability of the shaft. If a shaft
does not have adequate hoop strength it will become unstable during the
swing, creating unwanted oscillation of the clubhead. The makes it very
difficult to make consistent contact with the ball
Aerotech's SteelFiber ™ shaft offers the performance benefits of both
Steel and Graphite in one shaft. It has over 59 miles of steel fiber
oriented in the hoop direction around a graphite core. The SteelFiber
shaft holds its shape better than conventional graphite and steel
shafts, making it a more stable and consistent shaft. The shaft's
graphite core dampens vibration and increases clubhead speed, while the
steel fiber surface layer provides stability and control. This fiber
orientation is now an integral feature of Aerotech's SteelFiber and
Players Spec shaft designs, offering graphite power and steel stability.
Jack Nicklaus has used the SteelFiber shaft in his hybrids, and Retief
Goosen used a driver shaft – neither was paid to do so. That's a pretty
strong endorsement.
