By Leonard Finkel
The new Rifle shafts offer unlimited customization options. Proficient clubmakers are able fine tune the spin and launch of Rifle blanks to the exact DNA of any golfer’s game. These shafts perfectly blend tip responsiveness and stability for superior control.
Rifle’s frequency matched design ensures tighter specs and tolerances for consistent flex progression throughout the set. Refined to perfection during the past 20 years, frequency matching is a highly technical method of precisely measuring and defining the flex of the golf shaft through electronic calibration. Blanks are available in parallel and now tapered tip options delivering even more customization opportunities. Rifle is available exclusively through Performance Fitting Centers like Club Champion.
In working with PGA Tour players, engineers discovered shaft flex was extremely inconsistent within a flex designation (R, S, X). Five stiff shafts from a given set would often vary as much as ten frequency cycles within a category, causing the player to vary his or her swing to compensate. Flex is not only important, it is personal.
A frequency analyzer allows a skilled clubmaker to measure the natural frequency of your favorite club, providing a digital readout of its oscillation pattern. Considering head weight, length and balance, every club in your bag can be fit with precise, frequency matched shafts that flex identically throughout the set. Once you are properly fitted, all your clubs will flex the same, therefore feel the same, helping develop a consistent and reliable golf swing.
Leonard Finkel is the author of The Secrets to the Game of Golf & Life and former editor in chief of Golf Journeys Magazine. His work has been featured in almost 200 publications including Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Golf Illustrated, Golf Tips and Player Magazine. He has written more than a dozen cover stories for Golf Today Magazine. He has written extensively about golf and travel and has added poker to his writing repertoire. Finkel also works as a marketing and public relations consultant. His specialty niche is writing advertorial copy. Prior to his career in golf, Finkel owned a chain of retail stores and a consulting and import company based in Asia. He attended the University of Utah.