Forget the Marketing Hype... This is Real Technology

Every day we’re flooded with a barrage of marketing schemes from different industries, professing how and why a company’s products are vastly superior to others in the marketplace. Yet, none of these dubious claims are based on new, groundbreaking technologies. In reality, 95%+ of these are nothing more than clever sales and marketing pitches. Moreover, many of these so-called new “hooks” aren’t even further. Instead, they’re based on technologies that have been used for a long time, have little impact on the product itself ... or are outright fabrications. Sadly, these tactics are used in the golf industry too. At Xcaliber Shafts, we choose not to play the marketing game. Instead, our approach is different because we base our claims on something straightforward - Real Technology.

What is Real Technology?

Our design approach stems from our non-compromising quest for continuous improvement. For over 25 years, our founder has been a pioneer of successful shaft designs. His work has resulted in over 300 Tour wins--the most in history. Now that passion for relentlessly researching and testing shafts with players of all abilities proves itself in the new Xcaliber shafts. Our goal is simply to allow golfers at every skill level to enjoy the game to its fullest by consistently hitting better shots. Making sure we deliver on that promise, the Xcaliber Technical Team is ALWAYS ready to assist with shaft selections, answer questions and help in any way we can to improve your game or business. To achieve this, we focus on five critical areas: Design, Testing, Process Control, Quality Assurance, and Materials.

Design

Our design philosophy is simple. Whereas most companies are still mainly concerned with bench-test results of a shaft’s primary specifications--stiffness, weight, and torque--we set our industry standards for design. We do this by using computer modeling and advanced bench tests to accurately show how these parameters are distributed along the length of a shaft. Since other shaft manufacturers continue to follow outdated protocols, one company’s S-flex can play like another’s R-flex. And it gets worse when discussing superlight shafts. With these models, practically all companies save weight by simply making their poles weaker by at least a flex--sometimes MUCH weaker. That is not the case with any Xcaliber shaft. Our modeling and shaft bench tests are consistent from model to model. We just changed the distribution of specifications to achieve different launch parameters.

Testing

Simply put, we are player-testaholics who seek input from players of all abilities. After beta sight-testing, unpainted and coded shafts are sent to five different test directors across the country. We take both their subjective and objective (launch monitor) results very seriously. This explains why some designs stay in the development stage for 2+ years before they earn the right to be called an Xcaliber shaft.

Process Control

Rolling

A strictly controlled rolling process allows us to create consistent shafts every time. Long ago, our designer developed a system for accurately orienting carbon fiber patterns around a 100% inspected mandrel to ensure straightness. Ever notice a shaft tip where one side of the wall is thicker than the other? This signals a lack of process control. Our protocol ensures shaft walls are the same thickness for 360 degrees around all Xcaliber shafts.

Sanding

The sanding process is precisely regulated using a monitor to control the speed of sanding and frequency of sanding belt changes. ALL Xcaliber shafts are inspected for zone frequencies during and after the sanding step. There is no compromise in this process control.

Quality Assurance and Control

Even though rigorous inspection procedures are in place, our Quality Assurance and Control inspectors perform extremely meticulous checks on all shafts. First, we find the most stable plane—the manufacturing equivalent of a FLOing, PUREing, or other shaft orientation test. But the stiffness measurement occurs in more than just that one plane. So we rotate all the shafts 90 degrees and inspect at that point as well. Any shafts that do not meet their stiffness specification from a cantilever butt frequency inspection are either re-worked, if possible, without changing the stiffness distribution or scrapped. But we don’t stop there. Unlike almost all other shaft companies, we also check the frequency at the lower section of all shafts at 11 in. (27 cm) and 16 in. (40 cm) from the tip.

Materials

Many companies are quick to mention their newest shaft materials and their superlative properties in their marketing messaging. They may even promote their new material as being thinner and stronger or having unique properties, or a different design approach, and so on. Truth be told, our founder started that craze back in the ‘90s. So don’t be duped by most of these claims. It all still comes down to using the right materials for the job and accurately distributing the materials every time to meet the design intention. In designing the Xcaliber shafts, we only use materials whose unique or improved properties actually make a difference in performance. Not because our marketing department thinks they can be used as a gimmick to sell more shafts. In fact, we continuously test each lot of materials to ensure they are consistent batch to batch.

A Final Word

With any product, designing for performance and consistency is the factor that separates the best from the rest. So we strive to ensure consistency in every aspect of each shaft we make. While many companies advertise the virtue of consistency, very few live up to their marketing claims. Using Real Technology, we do. If you have any questions or would like to go into greater depth in any of the areas above, simply email [email protected] You’ll be surprised what you’ll learn about the truth.