Project X LZ Iron Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas

True Temper introduced the term “Loading Zone” with the Project X Loading Zone driver shaft a few years ago. I was skeptical at first, having seen other shafts with severe approached to mid shaft stiffness that did not work for many of my clients. I put one in my own driver and it stayed there for several months. It comes back when I finish play testing a new design. It loads effortlessly and gives my unfixable negative angle of attack the launch I need to buy some distance. I was anxious to see how this approach would be implemented in an iron shaft.

The Project X Loading Zone irons shaft has a rapid loss of stiffness in the mid zone of the shaft. It then runs out in a long stable tip. We have seen some very successful implementations of this design over the last few years. Each with its own particular flavor. But overall in my fitting experience a very playable shaft for a wide range of golfers. This design is easy to load, creates a moderately higher flight but remains workable for the highly skilled golfer. I have seen this design add distance without adding dispersion.

 The radial quality of the Project X LZ shafts I tested were all greater than 99%. That is a big number. Spining, aligning or puring these shafts is a waste of time and expense. Label up or label down is the only installation choice that you need to make. They are neutral balanced. I showed the hoop stiffness to illustrate its cofluence with the stiffness profile of steel shafts. To the degree that hoop stiffness adds ‘kick’ to a shaft, the Project X LZ shaft far exceeds any carbon fiber shaft I have seen. And it does so with a very similiar stiffness profile to some carbon fiber shaft designs.

The Project X LZ comes in 4 different weights, with weight comes stiffness. The True Temper Project X iron shafts retain their EI profiles as they get stiffer. The same is true for the True Temper Project X shafts. This is much different from the Dyanamic Gold and XP designs. This gives True Temper fitters unique fitting option. Vary weight while retaining profile in the Project X designs. Or use a consistent weight and very flighting with flex in the Dynamic designs.

In my experience flex consistency in a set of iron shafts is critically important. It is this property that keeps me fitting steel over carbon fiber. Steel is a monolithic material. Its bend properties are determined by wall thickness and diameter. With conscience manufacturing and quality control most sets have consistent stiffness profiles. Meaning, the stiffness profiles from shaft to shaft within the set are much the same. If your fitter has one of the Fit2Score EI instruments they can validate the stiffness makeup of your iron set. This certification is far more important than spine finding or frequency matching. Quality shafts are spineless to start with. Frequency matching measures a single point near the butt of the shaft and ignores the consistency of bend points down the length of the shaft.
This illustration is a composite taken from the Fit2Score iron set certification process. Each shaft is checked in 2″ increments for stiffness. What you see is a set that is consistent with a slightly stiffer tip in the 9i and wedge. The deflection profiles and EI area show a consistent increase in overall stiffness through out the set. The weights and balance points are indeed constant. Radial integrity is as stated earlier, as close to perfect as I have seen. This set of shafts will build out to as perfect a set of irons as can be made.

A couple of sets are going out to local pros for play testing, stay tuned.