Results of a shaft puring - are they good?

[boil3rmak3r]

I am building a new 7 iron.  When I ordered my shaft, I paid the extra $14 to have the steel shaft pured.  I just received an email that gave the results.  They are as follows:

SST PURE RESULT: The shaft was rotated 112.1* from the logo up position, stabilizing it by 59.9%.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS:  LSI Measurement: 93.8   LSI Hard Angle: 41.33

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS:  Before Pure Logo Up: -30.9*  Vertical Deviation: 1.1283

PPOP After Pure:  81.2*  Vertical Deviation:  0.4521

I am not all that familiar with puring shafts, but know that some people swear by it.  Can someone with some knowledge of the process let me know what these results mean?  Also, based on the results, does it appear that it was worth the $14 to have the process done?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Nemicu]

I've done quite a bit of club building over the last 30 years. What I can say, is that alignment of one form or another in iron sets can be beneficial in achieving a consistent flex slope throughout the set. This means the flex is matched progressively through the set to give the best possible frequency for each club as it descends in length through the set.

Dynamic Gold, quite possibly the most popular shaft  of all time, benefits from this form of alignment during building. It really makes a discernible difference in feel through the set if they aren't aligned properly and the frequency slope is all over the place - it can make one club feel like a stiff and another feel like x-flex in extreme cases.

Puring, or rather SST Puring, is their take on alignment and a proprietary process which identifies the "optimal" orientation of the shaft using a machine and software. However (and it is a big HOWEVER) it doesn't necessarily match the frequency slope in the SET if it isn't cross checked for frequency with the heads you intend to use. Moreover, if you've only had one club pured (and not the whole set) it's not really going to match anything and is basically a waste of money.

A better bet would be to have your set built by a club maker who can align your set using FLO (flat line oscillation) and frequency checking techniques. A lot has to do with the actual shaft you are using and what you need to do with it, but at least it gives a finished result. Puring one club in a set of irons is pretty meaningless.

[boil3rmak3r]

I've done quite a bit of club building over the last 30 years. What I can say, is that alignment of one form or another in iron sets can be beneficial in achieving a consistent flex slope throughout the set. This means the flex is matched progressively through the set to give the best possible frequency for each club as it descends in length through the set.

Dynamic Gold, quite possibly the most popular shaft  of all time, benefits from this form of alignment during building. It really makes a discernible difference in feel through the set if they aren't aligned properly and the frequency slope is all over the place - it can make one club feel like a stiff and another feel like x-flex in extreme cases.

Puring, or rather SST Puring, is their take on alignment and a proprietary process which identifies the "optimal" orientation of the shaft using a machine and software. However (and it is a big HOWEVER) it doesn't necessarily match the frequency slope in the SET if it isn't cross checked for frequency with the heads you intend to use. Moreover, if you've only had one club pured (and not the whole set) it's not really going to match anything and is basically a waste of money.

A better bet would be to have your set built by a club maker who can align your set using FLO (flat line oscillation) and frequency checking techniques. A lot has to do with the actual shaft you are using and what you need to do with it, but at least it gives a finished result. Puring one club in a set of irons is pretty meaningless.

Thanks for the response.  It seems that I probably wasted $14...  Since I ordered this one shaft and started this thread, I did some research on puring and I also called the company I bought the shaft from (Golfworks) and chatted with them.  The guy at Golfworks said that, in his opinion, puring steel shafts will likely not produce any discernible difference in the performance of the shaft.  He said that he doesn't even pure his own steel iron shafts, even though he could do so for free.  So, I'll save my money if I decide to build the entire set.

Maybe I've misunderstood what I've read and heard from the Golfworks guy, but I thought that puring a shaft was an independent process for each shaft (i.e. if I had 8 shafts to pure, the results of one shaft would have no bearing on the results of another shaft).  I thought the puring process was designed to make the shaft bend through the hitting area more stable and consistent.  Also, I'm not sure the puring process measured flex of the shaft, but looked more at how the shaft tends to oscillate.

This is all new to me as I have never really looked into it...

[Golfingdad]

I had it done for my irons, but for no real reason other than "what the heck, it couldn't hurt."  My fitter even told me that the jury is still out on the process.  He said some pros swear by it, some say it does nothing, and some just don't care.  I said, well, I'm already paying 1700 or so for new clubs, so whats another $200?

If he made me another identical set of clubs and didn't pure them, I'd venture a guess that other than the sticker they put on there, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

[boil3rmak3r]

I had it done for my irons, but for no real reason other than "what the heck, it couldn't hurt."

That's exactly what I was thinking. [quote name="Golfingdad" url="/t/72974/results-of-a-shaft-puring-are-they-good#post_959105"] If he made me another identical set of clubs and didn't pure them, I'd venture a guess that other than the sticker they put on there, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. [/quote] I suspect this is true. The stupid thing is, if I build the rest of this set, there's a possibility the "it couldn't hurt" thought will pop back up and I'll pay the extra cash. It's funny what us golf addicts will do if we think it'll give us the slightest advantage on the course :)

[Dirtyzecret]

I ordered some KBS custom wedge shafts in XS for my 52, 56 and 60 Mac Daddy wedges. First I installed the shafts, logos back not thinking about it and started to play. Some weeks ago I read a lot about puring so I got my clubmaker to do it on these wedges. Now my 56 degrees have the logo on the right side, the two other shafts where ''pured'' from KBS,logos back. I do not think about the logo on the side, but what I think about is that I can not feel any difference with the pured club... So I dont know, maybe, maybe not....

Maybe it's a placebo effect? If I take your irons and tell you that they are pured to perfection, you will feel better in your head, only thing is that I have not pured them at all ;)

And what about the shafts on adjustable drivers?