Jason Day: Was the new TPT shaft key to victory at Torrey Pines?

Jason Day returned to the winner’s circle at the Farmers Insurance Open, but was the secret to his success hidden in his bag all week?

Last week’s PGA Merchandise Show began with a Demo Day at Orange County National. There, golf pros, media and assorted other individuals can drool over new drivers and take a swing with them. Same for irons, wedges, and a plethora of golf weapons. There are also new products for driving yourself around the course, like the Phat Scooters, the GolfBoard, and products to help patch you together, like knee and back braces.

Scattered among them are a collection of interesting products that people haven’t heard about yet, including a new shaft company called TPT Golf. When I saw that David Leadbetter was involved with TPT, even though I had no clue what it was, I knew I had to stop by and see what was going on because it was going to be something new that would advance the sport in some way. There are a few people like that, and Leadbetter, as well as Dave Pelz, are chief among them. If they are associated with a new product, I pay attention because it’s sure to be something interesting and often really good.

I caught Leadbetter’s eye. We exchanged pleasantries, and I asked about the shaft and what the big deal was.

Leadbetter said, “Jason Day just put the shafts in his clubs.” I made a mental note in case it turned out to be important.

Then he introduced me to a variety of people at TPT who explained that the difference with the TPT shafts is that they are constructed differently to remove that whip that graphite shafts often have, even in the stiffest ones.

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For high handicappers, that whip in the shaft helps provide distance, but the tradeoff can sometimes be accuracy. For pros, that whip in the graphite shaft is a problem because accuracy is key in what they do.

Traditionally, graphite shafts are rolled over a piece of metal into the round shape that we see. There is always a seam in the shaft, where the two parts of graphite are sealed, even though we can’t always see it.

The TPT shaft is made differently, using a graphite tape, if you will. Think of a roll of masking tape or Duck Tape. They roll it down a shaft-shaped mold or piece of metal and maybe roll it up, giving the shaft wraps in different directions. It doesn’t sound like it would make a difference, but it does. They showed me by playing a video that demonstrates how regular graphite shafts behave and how theirs behave. I was shocked. Honestly, you won’t believe it until you see it.

Up close, you can see the wraps in the TPT shafts quite plainly and, though it doesn’t look like it could possibly made a difference in performance, apparently it does. For a further semi-technical description of what’s going on, see the TPT explanation of how the shafts are made

here

The TPT people are a division of North Thin Ply Technology headquartered in Switzerland. They make stuff that goes into stuff. They make body parts for Formula 1 cars, for skis and snowboards. They created the material that went into the parts of Bubba Watson’s Richard Mille half-million-dollar and up skeleton watches.

In short, they are technical wizards when it comes to materials, particularly graphite composites.

This morning, golfwrx.com had the in the bag details on Jason Day’s victory at the Farmer’s Insurance Open. Sure enough, there were TPT shafts on his driver and 3-wood. If you look closely at the photos, you can see a pattern in the graphite. That’s from the wraps, at least, as it was explained to me.

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After Day’s victory, expect to see more pros switching to this TPT shaft. If Jason Day can win with them, pounding the club the way he does, they must be indestructible. Others will take note and follow suit.

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