Fujikura Venus Blue wood shaft (2024)

The new Ventus Blue shaft has the same profile as the 2018 version it replaces.

Gear: Fujikura Venus Blue wood shaft (2024)
Price: $350
Available: February 29

In 2018, Fujikura released the first Ventus shafts, and like many things in the golf world, it took some time to gain momentum and acceptance, but from the start, the Ventus shafts had an intriguing story to tell.

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Drivers are often designed to enhance stability and forgiveness, but the Ventus shafts were made to make every driver more stable and forgiving thanks to the addition of a unique material called VeloCore, a multi-material bias core construction technique that Fujikura developed. By making the Ventus shafts more stable during your transition from the backswing to the downswing and at impact, many golfers found that Ventus shafts helped them make solid contact more often, and as that happened, they gained confidence and swung more freely, leading to more club head speed, increased ball speed and extra distance.

Since its debut in Ventus wood shafts, VeloCore has branched into graphite iron shafts with the 2023 release of the Axiom, helping players get the same benefits from the fairway that Ventus provides off the tee.

Fujikura Ventus Blue VeloCore+
VeloCore+ adds more stability to the Ventus Blue. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Now, six years later, Fujikura is releasing the next generation of Ventus shafts, starting with the Blue, which features VeloCore+. While the original VeloCore was made using two materials, a third material has been added to the design to enhance stability further. While Fujikura is mum on the extra recipe for VeloCore+, like the original, it runs the length of the 2024 Ventus Blue to help create a smoother-feeling, more-stable shaft that Fujikura claims will help golfers tighten dispersion off the tee and add ball speed.

The new Ventus Blue shaft has the same profile as the 2018 version it replaces, offering a mid-launch and low-spin option for a wide range of players. However, it is not replacing the Ventus Blue TR shaft that was released in 2022.

The original Ventus shafts were offered in Blue, Black (low-launch, low-spin) and Red (mid-high launch, mid-spin) profiles. Still, so far, Fujikura has only announced the release of the updated Blue model, which will be available in weights ranging from 58 grams (Ventus 5) up to 94 grams (Ventus 9) in flexes from R2 (Lite, Senior), R, S and X.

Fujikura Axiom brings driver technology to graphite iron shafts

Fujikura has brought technology from its popular Ventus woods shafts to its new graphite iron shafts.

Graphite shafts are still associated almost exclusively with drivers, fairway woods and hybrids by most recreational golfers, but graphite shafts for irons have been available for decades. The lingering stigma clinging to graphite iron shafts remains that for only slow-swinging golfers who need something light, but with the release of the Axiom graphite iron shaft, Fujikura is bringing one of its most-popular wood technologies to the iron category and making it available across a broad spectrum of weights and bend profiles.

Stars like Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth currently use Fujikura’s Ventus wood shafts in their drivers, and VeloCore is a critical technology in those shafts. VeloCore includes different types of carbon material that are layered in specific directions to increase the stability of the shaft as it transitions from your backswing to your downswing and through impact.

With the Axiom graphite iron shafts ($105-$125 each), Fujikura is bringing VeloCore to iron shafts for the first time and touting that the technology that boosts the moment of inertia (MOI) to make driver heads more stable on off-center hits can do the same thing with a golfer’s irons. According to Fujikura, Axiom graphite iron shafts help your irons twist less on off-center hits, so your accuracy improves, your dispersion pattern tightens and mis-hits are not punished as severely.

The Fujikura Axiom graphite iron shafts are available in three weights: 75 grams, 105 grams and 125 grams in flexes ranging from R to X. The Axiom shafts have a 0.370 parallel tip construction and are made in three different lengths (2-4, 5-8 and 8-PW), so club builders can minimize tipping and keep more of the VeloCore material in each shaft when trimming them to their finished length. Axiom shafts can, however, be trimmed to fit .355 taper tip hosels.

Mitsubishi Chemical Kai’Li graphite shafts

Pronounced Ki-Lee, the name is Japanese and translates to “The power of the ocean.”

Gear: Mitsubishi Chemical Kai’Li graphite shaft
Price: $300

Mitsubishi Chemical has several popular golf shaft families in its stable, including the Diamana, which debuted in 2005, Fubuki (2010), Kuro Kage (2013) and Tensei, which was released in 2015. Now the company has announced the launching of its first new family of shafts in six years, Kai’Li.

Pronounced Ki-Lee, the name is Japanese and translates to “The power of the ocean.”

The first shaft in the Kai’Li family is Kai’Li White, a shaft designed for faster-swinging golfers who want more stability, low torque, a lower launch angle and less spin off the tee.

To achieve that, Mitsubishi reinforced the tip section with its proprietary MR70 carbon material. According to the company, it is 20 percent stronger than conventional graphites used in golf shafts. Mitsubishi engineers were also able to reduce the amount of resin used in the shaft, and therefore increase the amount of carbon to enhance feel.

Mitsubishi Chemical Kai'Li
Adding MR70 to the tip of the Kai’Li lowers torque and enhances feel. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

For accomplished, faster-swinging players, Mitsubishi claims an increase in feel should lead to greater consistency because golfers will know whether they made center-face contact or not. That will allow them to make minor adjustments to their swing to get optimal performance.

The Kai’Li White will be available in 60, 70 and 80-gram versions in regular, stiff, extra-stiff and tour extra-stiff flexes.

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