18 Dec ST PURE® ROBOT TESTING DRIVER RESULTS

Recent independent testing has shown that SST PURE shaft alignment produces significant gains in distance, accuracy and ball speed, it was announced on Wednesday. 

The testing was performed by Golf Laboratories, Inc., at their testing facility in San Diego, Calif. A swing robot was used to test the effects of SST PURE Shaft Alignment on drivers. The goal was to isolate shaft orientation as the only difference between two sets of tests shots with the same driver. Seven different shaft models, all stiff flex, were used for testing. The driver head had 10.5∞ of loft and the same head was used throughout the testing. The head was provided by the OEM. The same model of golf ball was used for each shot during the testing, with each ball being new “out of the box”. The same model of grip was installed on each shaft. The robot was set to swing at 102 mph. 

The gains in performance with the shaft in the SST PURE position were significant:

• In terms of distance, shots hit by drivers with shafts in the optimal SST PURE “neutral axis” orientation carried an average of 5.1 yards further, and up to 12.1 yards further than shots hit by drivers with shafts that were in a suboptimal orientation. 
• Shots hit by drivers with shafts in the optimal SST PURE “neutral axis” orientation traveled an average of 7.6 yards further in total distance, and up to 24.5 yards further in total distance than shots hit by drivers with shafts that were in a suboptimal orientation.

• In terms of accuracy, shots hit by drivers with shafts in the optimal SST PURE “neutral axis” orientation landed an average of 2.9 yards away from the center line. Shots hit by drivers with shafts that were in a suboptimal orientation landed an average of 16.1 yards away from the center line. Shots hit by drivers that had been SST PUREd landed, on average, 13.2 yards closer to the center line.

• In terms of ball speed, shots hit by drivers with shafts in the optimal SST PURE “neutral axis” orientation had an average ball speed of 141.6 mph. While shots hit by drivers with shafts that were in a non-optimal orientation had an average ball speed of 139.9 mph, a difference of 1.7 mph.

“Given the repeatability of the robot swing, and all other factors being equal, the difference in performance between PUREd drivers and drivers not set in PUREd position is attributed to shaft orientation,” SST President Brian Adair said. “When a driver has its shaft aligned using SST PURE technology it outperforms the same driver head, shaft, and grip combination.” 

For the golfer, these results mean that using a PUREd driver shaft will lead to hitting shots farther off the tee, both in carry distance and total distance, thereby allowing for shorter clubs to be hit on approach shots. Tee shots will also be more accurate – 13.2 yards offline can be the difference in playing from the fairway versus the rough or a hazard. Furthermore, with the ball in the fairway, a 13.2 yard difference in accuracy can mean landing in a part of the fairway that allows for a more favorable angle of approach to the green. In short, using a driver shaft that has been SST PUREd will allow the golfer to hit tee shots farther and straighter.

The test protocol was as follows:

• The shaft was analyzed and aligned using SST’s PURE SPECS automated system to find its most stable, or PURE, orientation.
• For each driver shaft, the OEM’s tip adapter was installed with the neutral orientation 90 degrees from the PURE plane. The adjustable weights on the driver head were also left in the neutral position. 
• A grip was installed on the shaft.
• The finished club was put in the Golf Laboratories, Inc., swing robot and hit 10 times in the PURE orientation. 
• Each shot was measured using a Trackman Golf launch monitor.
• The clubhead was then removed and re-installed into a position deemed by SST staff to be a non-optimal orientation. The grip was not removed when the shaft orientation was changed.
• For the drivers, the tip adapters were removed and re-aligned. The adapters were re-used in most cases or replaced when damaged during removal.
• The club was reassembled in the non-optimal shaft position and hit another 10 times by the robot.
• The 10 shots in each shaft orientation were averaged.
• The process was repeated for each shaft.

SST PURE is a patented process of shaft alignment designed to analyze a golf shaft to find its most stable orientation. Using proprietary computer software and sensitive data-acquisition sensors, the SST PURE Shaft Alignment System quickly locates the “neutral” plane in each shaft. By assembling the club with the shaft in this SST PUREd position, off-line twisting and bending during the golf swing and at impact are greatly minimized. The SST PURE system also generates a printout for each shaft, showing its structural and performance analysis.

The SST PURE process works on any shaft regardless of its material; steel, graphite, even boron or thermoplastic sports equipment benefits from the SST PURE process. All shafts contain irregularities in straightness, roundness and stiffness that are inherent to the manufacturing process. These structural inconsistencies can negatively or positively affect a shaft’s performance depending on how the shaft is aligned.

SST PURE is currently licensed by golf club fitters in 21 states in the U.S. and in 14 other countries including Australia, Bahamas, Canada, England, Germany, Holland, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Korea, and Switzerland.

About SST PURE

SST PURE is a highly sophisticated, patented process through which a golf shaft can be analyzed and its most stable position identified. The top expert club fitters on the PGA Tour and around the world use SST PURE® Shaft Alignment to analyze and align their custom clubs and more and more are becoming licensed. On every major professional tour, the best golfers in the world rely on the groundbreaking SST PURE Shaft Alignment to make sure their golf clubs perform consistently. Players who have SST PUREd their shafts for consistency, accuracy, and distance have won over $2 billion on the PGA Tour.

For more information about the PUREing process, visit https://sstpure.com.