Equipment

Do You Know Oban?

Published

17 years ago

May 20, 2009

Tiger Woods used one of their shafts for 2 rounds during the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte. Padraig Harrington, John Rollins, Alex Cejka, Jim Furyk, Eric Axley, Rich Beam, Marco Dawson, Mark Brooks, Robert Gamez, Marc Leishman, Tad Ridings, and JJ Henry also used the brand. Several others on the Nationwide gave them a try and they had over 23 players gaming them at another event. If you haven’t guessed, the company is Oban.

Oban was started in June of 2007 by Ralph Reichert and Victor Afable. Previously with Graphite Design International as VP of Sales and Marketing, Afable teamed up with one of his closest friends from his college days to launch the company. The initiation into the golfing world happened at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. The goal was to stand out from the other manufacturers and the two set out to create a boutique shaft brand that stands for excellence and high performance in composite shafts.
Oban is a worldwide brand and is targeted to the audience of golfers looking for the best in feel and performance. The company states that they target the golf consumer that understands the importance of custom club fitting and how this can help optimize clubs and better scores.

The shafts are manufactured using the sheet roll process. Oban uses their own proprietary designs and specifies which prepreg manufacturer is used in each of their shaft lines among other details. Being able to work with 3 of the top prepreg suppliers allows them to utilize a wider assortment of materials. When making a great golf shaft, they believe in 3 important principals; high modulus materials, advanced proprietary designs, and a consistent manufacturing process.

The Tour Prototype, formerly known as the Mach 4, is manufactured in Japan. The Tour Prototype V430 model uses an advanced design featuring three distinct layers that is highlighted by a 4 axis honeycomb weave which results in a greater transference of energy to the golf ball. A custom engineered mandrel serves as the base for an inner circumference of ultra premium high modulus graphite fabricated with four axis weave graphite. The shaft is over-wrapped with a custom blend of additional graphite plys to create structural hoop strength and stability throughout the force of the golf swing.

Both the Tour player and the Average player can use Oban shafts. There are three distinct families of shafts with performance characteristics to match almost any player. For example, the Devotion 45 gram shaft is a ideal for someone with less swing speed that needs to launch the ball higher. The Tour Prototype 75 X is geared for the player looking for a high performance shaft with less spin and lower launch. The shafts range from 45 grams all the way up to 90 grams.

There are approximately 80 to 100 locations throughout the world that consumers can find to be custom fitted with an Oban shaft. The company only sells through authorized custom club fitters and the management team has made it a point to personally visit and qualify almost every Oban Dealer in the world. They are not available through catalogs or online purchases. As the company grows, Oban shafts vows to be more and more readily available.

The best way to locate an Oban Dealer close to you it to go to the company website and click on the Dealer Locator button at the bottom of the homepage: www.obanshafts.com. You can call also 866-607-0284. Just about all Dealers have demos available for testing. Also, the shafts are now available as upgrades with Titleist, Cobra Golf, and TaylorMade Golf, Ping Golf will be offering Oban as an upgrade in the Fall.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

7 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.

Joel Thelen

Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.

First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.

Mitchell Meissner

Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.

Whats in the Bag

Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)

Published

7 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX

7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX

Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

See more in-hand photos of Bud Cauley’s clubs here.

Equipment

Name every set of irons you’ve owned – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

7 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.

@Lamosteve began:

Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine

Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6

Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”

Entire Thread: “Name every set of irons you’ve owned.”