Don't buy the surplus TM Ventus Red shafts

DonM

My buddy bought 3 of the black with red logo Ventus Red 50gram driver shafts that you can buy right now from many eBay liquidators in the $40+ range with free shipping. He bought them from a long time well known retailer, so I doubt they are counterfeits. They are trash. I certainly hope they are TM rejects, because I'd hate to think this is what people have in their Stealth or Stealth 2 drivers.

I did the FLO-finding on them. Hoo boy. You talk about wobblers. One of them varied by 15 CPM from hardest to softest orientation. I was able to find FLO planes but they were sketchy. These reminded me of the bad old days. And, logo down was not the right place on any of them. My buddy noticed that the openings in the tips were noticeably off center. Now that is bad. I can't remember the last time I saw that. He is returning them.

Junk junk junk. I'm shocked at this from Fuji.

Par4QC

DonM I'm shocked at this from Fuji.

Just because of any name on the shaft, why do you trust it to be from Fuji??? Esp. with what you've discovered?

I can get 'Don M.' painted shafts, if you desire. And can show they are made by Aldila. 🤣

DonM

Par4QC
In the past 10+ years, all of the shafts I've handled from the big name shaft companies have been quite good. Very little spines, very consistent CPMs all the way around. I can't say I've handled many Fuji's but I'm sure they are up there in quality for the most part. That's all I can tell you.

This really makes me think twice about the "cheap OEM shaft" argument. I was not an aftermarket snob. Not lately anyway.

Par4QC

DonM So many components are being counterfeited now. Any of them can/are made to resemble the original.
Only way to be sure that what you are buying is genuine, is to buy from brand distributors. Won't be any 'cheap' buys, but will be what you thought you were buying.

And never buy shafts/grips from Ebay!!!! Or even Amazon, unless the distributor is noted.

Hell is surely going be overloaded with souls that sold (fake) golf components!! 😄

CallMeAl

Hmmm. Took my G430 to the range today with one of the Fujikura Ventus Red I picked up from Dallas Golf.

Seemed to be quite stable with a Medium/High launch for me.

Maybe I got lucky...

DonM

CallMeAl These also were from Dallas Golf.
Forget I said anything! 🙂

Par4QC

DonM Dallas Golf may be the 1 place I've never purchased from. And just never look at their site.

'nuff said.

DonM

Par4QC They used to be gigantic.

Par4QC

DonM It's been so long ago, I really cannot recall the reason(s) why, but I had a severe issue with those people. Don't trust them any further than I could toss them. Would not surprise me they might handle 'questionable' goods, even if they are a listed TM seller/distributor. Not saying they do, just wouldn't be surprised about it.

CallMeAl

Played today with said shaft and had No Issues.

Now it may have something to do with the G430 being as forgiving as anything I've played. But the shaft felt fine and preformed Great!

No Problem For Me....YMMV

LBlack14

I've bought a bit from DG, in the past. Never had an issue, that I remember.

Sneakylong

Bought several shafts from Dallas Golf. Good place to deal with in my experience. Only had one issue and it was a Fujikura. I believe it was a Pro 2.0.

It snapped and broke over my shoulder in my follow through. Took a picture of it and they replaced it with another shaft from a different manufacturer that I requested.

propman

Dealt with DG once. Last year got a Fuji Vista Pro shaft. Only issue, it came with wrong sized grip. They replaced it promptly.

CameronCircleT

These are known made-for shafts that are absolutely nothing like the real Ventus. From what I recall, they're not made in the same factory even. Doesn't surprise me that they're terrible. Haven't been an aftermarket snob for a long time (since the oem shafts used to be terrible), but TM uses very inexpensive shafts stock now.