If you have ever scrolled the websites of the major manufacturers and come across their custom options, you may be familiar with the term “aftermarket shaft”. So, what is an aftermarket shaft, and do you need one?

In basic terms, an aftermarket (or exotic as it is sometimes referred to) shaft is the highest quality, premium product a shaft company produces, created using its highest-grade materials and manufacturing processes. “Well, surely every manufacturer will produce the best product they are capable of every time?” you might ask. In reality, no, that is not the case. Many shaft manufacturers produce a cost-engineered version of their lines designed to be mass-produced for a specific club brand and end up in many cases being what we know as stock shafts. 

Stock shafts will often appear to be the same as their more expensive counterparts with the same graphics, fonts, and branding but may be missing certain features or technology. Take for example the Taylormade SIM driver. One of the stock offerings for this driver was the Fujikura Ventus Red shaft. Great, you might think, until you take a deeper look at the product. Whilst this stock product to all intents and purposes looks like the Ventus line you may have seen in the bags of tour professionals around the world such as Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, it is not. In this example, the stock Ventus shaft is missing the Velocore technology which is ultimately what has made the shaft so popular on tour. Velocore is a multi-material construction that reduces the ovalling of the shaft, producing more stability and as such consistency.

So why do shaft manufacturers build these watered down versions of their products? It all boils down to simple economics and marketing. Aftermarket shafts are expensive, with many of the best driver shafts retailing for over $350 the numbers would simply not add up in terms of profitability to make them a viable standard option. Therefore club manufacturers will ask a shaft manufacturer to produce a more cost-effective version of a popular tour shaft. This will be achieved by using lower-grade materials and less expensive manufacturing processes. For example, many aftermarket shafts are hand-rolled in small batches, versus stock offerings that are created in bulk by an assembly line system. 

The benefits of this work both ways. The club manufacturer is perceived to be using extremely high-quality, tour-validated shafts and the shaft manufacturer receives great marketing, getting their company name out into the market in thousands and thousands of products.

As for the question of whether you need an aftermarket shaft or not? This is a topic that stirs much debate across the industry with many believing that the perceived performance benefits of an aftermarket shaft do not outweigh the often hefty price tag. On the other side of the coin, some people will vehemently argue that if you are looking for optimal performance, then utilizing the best-grade equipment available to you is essential. 

As a former club fitter, I am of the opinion that if you are a strong, high-speed player, you should at least consider looking into aftermarket shafts if you haven’t already. The higher-grade materials and added stability simply stand up to higher loads better, producing tighter results in terms of spin, strike pattern and dispersion. That is not to say that a slower swing player could not benefit from the added consistency of strike that an aftermarket shaft may produce. In my experience, however, the less load placed on the shaft, the less apparent the performance gains are. 

Like many equipment-related dilemmas, the best thing to do is test. Once you have seen the results, you will be better placed to put your own personal dollar value on any performance gains.