SHAFT REVIEW! – Diamana B Series

By: Matt Saternus

Being in the middle is often a bad spot.  In sports, you hear the term “tweener” for a guy who’s too small for one position, but too slow for another.  The middle child is never anyone’s favorite.  The middle finger…well, you know.

On the other hand, we all know what Little Red Riding Hood said about the porridge that wasn’t too hot or too cold: it was just right.  That “just right” middle ground is exactly where Mitsubishi has positioned their blue Diamana shafts: not too much kick, torque, launch, or spin, just the right amounts.  The B Series is the 3^rd generation of Diamana, following in the footsteps of the original Blueboard and the second-gen Kaili.  Is this new addition “just right” or is it just a “tweener”?

Specs, Price, and Manufacturer Notes

Among the technologies present in the B Series are DIALED Pitch Fiber, Tough-Qure prepreg, and 3G MDI.  If that all sounds like Greek to you, you’re not alone.  The long and short is this: Mitsubishi has continued to push the material technology forward to provide shafts with superior strength, reduced “ovaling,” and superior feel.

The B Series is available in Regular, Stiff, and X flex.  Weights range from 55 grams to 87 grams.

You can expect to find the B Series at retail for $360.

Looks, Feel, and Miscellaneous

As I mentioned in the intro, the Blueboard and its descendants have always walked a middle ground in terms of both feel and performance.  The B Series carries on that tradition.  There is a small kick in the upper-mid section, but not too much.  The shaft has a bit of torque, but only enough to keep it from feeling boardy.  When I, and others, compared it to the Kaili, the B Series felt a bit more stable with a bit less kick.  Based strictly on feel, I think the vast majority of golfers would enjoy this shaft.

The B Series also finds a brilliant middle ground when it comes to looks.  The gloss blue paint is neither garish nor dull.  With the exception of the branding, the graphics are all done in shades of blue so that they’re easy to tune out at address, but visible enough to admire after you smoke a drive past your friends.  Admittedly selling me on the color blue is as difficult as selling cheese to a mouse, but I would say the B Series is one of the best looking shafts ever.

Performance

For the Performance testing, I hit each of the shafts in a Callaway RAZR Fit Extreme 10.5 head on a FlightScope X2 launch monitor.  I hit 20 “good” shots with each shaft, changing frequently so that fatigue was not an issue, nor did I get grooved with one shaft to the detriment of fairness.  All shafts were gripped with PURE Grips.

Testing was done at Golf Nation in Palatine, IL, one of the best indoor golf facilities in the country.

*NOTE: Testing was done over the winter, and our FlightScope seems to be producing somewhat different numbers indoors compared to outdoors.  To greater or lesser extents, ball speed, club head speed, and spin are all coming in lower than they did outdoors, hence the carry number is smaller.  That said, it’s still an apples-to-apples comparison, so no attempt has been made to “normalize” the numbers: we’re publishing the numbers straight off the FlightScope, as always.

DATA

ANALYSIS

The Flightscope numbers for this test really drive home the importance of fitting for weight and flex.  While all of the numbers are quite good, there were distinct differences in shot patterns and launch numbers even though they were all hit with “the same” shaft.

Looking at the 70-X, and the 70-S to a lesser degree, you can see most of the shots favoring the right side of the grid.  These shots were primary pushes with a couple of fades mixed in, and so they had higher launch and spin.  Switching focus to the 60 gram shafts, you see that the S flex was a little inconsistent for me (though the grouping did include one of the longest balls of the indoor season).  The X flex, on the other hand, produced a really nice batch of low-spin draws.  In fact, for the balls that drew the most, the spin was actually way too low to optimize carry.

Conclusion

After producing one of the most popular aftermarket shafts ever (Blueboard) and a very successful follow-up (Kaili), it would have been easy for Mitsubishi to rest on their laurels.  Instead, they brought new technology to the table that allowed them to improve the performance while retaining the character of the original.  For anyone who has enjoyed Diamana shafts in the past, the B Series is a must-try.

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