Review: Nunchuk xi Iron Shafts

The Straightest Darn Iron Shafts.

There are steel and there are graphite iron shafts. They each offer certain benefits to the golfer. Steel tend to be heavier and straighter, while graphite tend to be lighter and longer. It often comes down to a players personal preferences. Steel has been the standard for many years now, but recently graphite has been making a push because of new technologies and manufacturing processes that have greatly improved graphite iron shafts. nVentix takes that to a whole new level with their Nunchuk xi iron shafts in the one size fits all unique design. Their weight is similar to steel but their feel is more like graphite and their accuracy exceeds both.

About 2 years ago I did the first review of the Nunchuk wood shaft and found it to be the straightest wood shaft I ever hit, but the heavy weight and slight loss of distance probably has had many skeptics since then. I still have it and use it from time to time when my swing goes south. The special design of the Nunchuk fits all swing speeds which allows the shaft to be in a 70 year old lady’s driver and also the strongest tour pro’s driver. This too has probably caused great skepticism, but when you see it first hand it is pretty awesome. Enter the Nunchuk iron shaft for 2013. I said in my original review how awesome it would be if nVentix made irons shafts because accuracy is a far greater premium in irons than a driver. I think people just don’t want to give up as single yard of distance with their driver, but irons people will give up a few yards to be more accurate.

Many shafts make promises but none deliver like the Nunchuk xi iron shafts. They actually might actually better than billed. They simply do not allow the ball to move left or right, or curve in any direction. I just hit them on a straight line every time. Now that doesn’t mean I hit my target every time because I didn’t always aim straight or have a straight swing path, but the ball just went one way and stayed going that way, straight every darned time. There isn’t even a steel shaft that is so straight. While I don’t really work the ball both ways, I can usually work it pretty hard right to left, it simply didn’t happen with these shafts. I don’t think I saw the ball move more than 5 yards off the starting line. You must see it to believe it, straight, straight and more straight.

Feel is somewhere in between steel and graphite. They have that distinct Nunchuk feel which isn’t as heavy as the real weight, but not lightweight either. They have a firm crisp feel at impact, but slightly gentler on the joints. The trajectory I would say is mid launch. I didn’t find them to hit as high as say KBS but not as low as DG. nVentix calls it a true trajectory based more on the loft of the head than changing a launch parameter. Spin was very controllable. I didn’t run into issue with ballooning the ball into the wind. They just wanted to go so straight, there was little side spin to ever worry about, yet they seemed to hold the greens very nicely. I can’t really say I noticed any change in distance. I installed my set in my Nike VR Pro Combo irons and the distances were exactly the same as I had been playing with the previous shafts. I suppose if you factor in the lack of left or right, they might average out to be longer, but I have a pretty good feel for my distances and when I struck these well, they went the exact yardage I expected them to.

Irons are designed for precision and you won’t find a more precise shaft to put in your irons, they go so straight and hit the same distance consistently. The only thing that is going to slow these down is their high price. To be fair, all after market graphite shafts command a premium price so if you decide to reshaft your irons, your installed price might be higher than you initially paid for the irons, but investing in the straightest darn shaft sure does pay off.

For more information: www.nventix.com

Quick Hits
+Super straight
+One flex for all
+Graphite feel but steel weight and accuracy
+Mid trajectory and spin

-The high price of graphite shaft upgrade