Does SST PURE Work? See the Testing and Data

Yes. SST PURE has published independent robot testing performed by Golf Laboratories. With shaft orientation as the only variable, drivers with shafts in the SST PURE orientation finished 13.2 yards closer to the center line and carried 5.1 yards farther on average, and PUREd 6-irons finished 17.9 feet closer to the center line.

Last updated: October 1, 2026

SST PURE addresses a measurable equipment variable: shaft orientation. Below is how the testing was done, what it found, and what shaft alignment can and cannot change for your game.

How the testing was done

Golf Laboratories, Inc. ran the tests at its facility in San Diego, California. A swing robot hit shots with each shaft twice: once installed in its SST PURE orientation and once in a suboptimal orientation. The goal was to isolate shaft orientation as the only difference between the two sets of shots.

• The same club head was used throughout each test, supplied by the manufacturer.
• Every shaft had the same model of grip.
• Every shot used the same model of golf ball, each one new out of the box.
• Driver test: seven stiff-flex shaft models in one 10.5° driver head, with the robot swinging at 102 mph.
• Iron test: three shafts, a 65-gram regular-flex graphite shaft and 105-gram and 120-gram stiff-flex steel shafts, in 6-iron heads.

Driver results

Read the full driver test results

6-iron results

Read the full iron test results

Independent player testing: Plugged In Golf

Plugged In Golf, an independent equipment publisher, has also tested SST PURE with real golfers on Trackman. These are their reported results:

What the results mean for golfers

“Given the repeatability of the robot swing, and all other factors being equal, the difference in performance … is attributed to shaft orientation,” said SST President Brian Adair. In practical terms, SST PURE’s analysis of the results is that a PUREd driver can mean longer, straighter tee shots (13.2 yards offline can be the difference between the fairway and the rough), and PUREd irons can mean shots that finish closer to the hole and land softer.

These are results from controlled robot testing, not a guarantee of individual golfer results. No equipment process can guarantee that every golfer will gain a specific amount of distance or accuracy; the size of any benefit depends on the individual shaft, club and swing.

What SST PURE does and does not change

SST PURE is an analysis and alignment process. It identifies the orientation that minimizes off-line bending and twisting and builds the club that way. It does not:

• change the shaft’s manufactured flex or torque specification,
• add material or meaningful weight to the club, or
• change swingweight on its own. When an existing club is rebuilt, the builder should return it to its intended specs.

Because every shaft is different, the amount of rotation and the measured improvement vary from shaft to shaft. That is why SST PURE analyzes each shaft individually instead of assuming one ideal logo position.

Consistency and feel

Consistency is the central goal of SST PURE. The published robot tests reported tighter center-line results in the PURE orientation for both drivers and irons. Feel is more subjective: many golfers describe PUREd clubs as feeling softer or more consistent, but the objective purpose of the process is to install each shaft in its measured stable orientation.

Proven on Tour

For nearly 20 years, SST PURE has been available on-site at professional tour events, and hundreds of PGA TOUR players have had shafts SST PURE aligned. Many use it when testing equipment to remove shaft inconsistency as a variable. See the Pro Players list.

Start with the right question

The useful question is not whether PUREing can fix a bad swing. It cannot. The useful question is whether changing only shaft orientation changes measured performance when everything else is controlled. That is what the robot and player tests were designed to examine.

What the testing supports, and what it does not prove

The testing supports the conclusion that shaft orientation is a real performance variable under controlled conditions, and that it can be measured rather than left to chance.

It does not promise that every golfer will gain the same yardage or dispersion improvement. Golfers deliver the club differently, shafts vary individually, and the robot tests compared the PURE position against a deliberately suboptimal position. The 5.1-yard driver figure, for example, is an average from one controlled test, not a guaranteed result. Results also vary by shaft material: see steel vs. graphite.

Related questions

• What is SST PURE?
• SST PURE vs. spine alignment and FLO
• Is SST PURE worth it for amateur golfers?
• How much does SST PURE cost?
• SST PURE and adjustable drivers

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