When you look out in the sea of wood shafts available, TPT might not be a brand you are familiar with. While TPT Golf was started in 2016, NTPT started all the way back in 2004. The company was founded on Thin Ply Technology, which developed extremely thin carbon fiber sheets for use in high-performance sails for racing boats.

This technology has been further developed for use in Formula 1, Richard Mille watches, snow skis, aerospace, and, of course, golf shafts. Using a combination of their thin carbon fiber plies and automated manufacturing, TPT is producing their most consistent, spineless, and highest-performing shafts ever.

I was excited to test out the new Nitro driver shafts, as I had hit the original TPT shafts back in 2017, but it was a much stiffer model. A previous coworker had the shaft and swings much, much faster than I do. TPT offers an online fitting tool to find the shaft that works best for your swing, but also a search for a fitter that is closest to you.

Getting fit for a shaft is, of course, the best way, but with the wide range of flex options, I felt like the online tool did a good job recommending me a Nitro 16/Hi. On their spec sheet, this is a 61-gram shaft with 2.9 degrees of torque and a stiff+ flex. This version of the Nitro is built for mid/high launch and mid/low spin with a stiff handle, firm mid, and softer tip section. On paper, this is similar to some other shafts I have found success with, and I was confident I would see some good results.

I built the shaft up with no tipping and to a playing length of 45 inches in my Titleist GT2 head. The shaft looks great out of the box, and I love that they leave it unpainted, so you can see the raw carbon fiber. For some, the yellow graphics that wrap around the upper section might be a little loud, but they are high enough up the shaft, where I wasn’t distracted when looking down during the swing.

Out on the course, the TPT performed much better than I expected. First of all, the consistency of my drives and launch monitor numbers really stood out. When hitting balls on the monitor, I kept seeing very little variation in the shots I hit. Good shots kept showing up as the same ball speed, spin, launch, etc., and I am not that good to be that consistent.

And the best part of it was how good the off-center strikes were when you looked at the numbers. Spin might climb a little when you hit it low on the face, but nothing drastic. Launch angle would again change when you hit it high on the face, but less than I expected, and direction was very consistent and closer to a center start line.

Hitting on a launch monitor is one thing, but it also has to perform on the course, and when I took the TPT Nitro to the course, I didn’t think I would see the same things. I was pretty wrong about that as I played the 16/Hi in both my GT2 head and a G440 LST head, seeing similar results with both. Out there, I was hitting the ball on a very tight line with minimal curve on my draws. My miss lately has been a little high and on the heel, resulting in drives that are OK. With the TPT Nitro 16/Hi, the ball came off there very straight and seemed to be a little further down the fairway compared to other driver and shaft combinations. The overall launch, I think, the Nitro 16/Hi launches the ball in an actual mid launch and keeps the spin to a pretty average number.

I live in the mid to higher 2,000 range, and no matter what the shot shape was, I saw a spin rate that stayed in that zone. When I hit the first shaft back in 2017, I thought it was a little boardy and didn’t give me a lot of feedback. Granted, it was the wrong flex, but this Nitro definitely feels more active and easier to load. It might reduce a touch more vibration than other wood shafts, but as you start your downswing, you can really feel the Nitro build up some flex. When you reach the bottom of the swing, the shaft provides a good feel for kicking and helps produce some good ball speed. The nice thing is that with that kick, it still felt stable and had no problem keeping up.

To me, TPT has stepped up their game from the original shafts into a new line that performs really well while adding better feel. The large number of options should cover most golfers and fit a variety of swings, from the slowest to the fastest club head speeds. This Nitro 16/Hi has become one of the shafts I turn to more and more in my rotation and should continue to find a lot of future rounds.