Web News About Golf
 
 

UST Introduces New Frequency Filtered™ Putter Shaft

(November 1st 2005) FORT WORTH, Texas — Nov. 1, 2005 — Already earning its first PGA TOUR victory and Top 10 acclaim as a prototype, the all-new Frequency Filtered™ putter shaft by United Sports Technologies® (UST) is the first technological leap in putter shaft development for more than 70 years. Today, UST proudly announces the official launch of its new Frequency Filtered putter shaft.

Featuring a butt section of woven graphite, frequency filter mid-section and steel tip, the all-new Frequency Filtered™ putter shaft is the result of a joint venture between UST and Alabama-based Balance Certified, an equipment technology company well-known for its Tour-proven Pro-Balance shaft weighting system. The goal was to design a system that significantly improved a player’s ability to perceive or ‘feel’ exactly where ball impact occurs on the putter face. This feedback to the player results in improved putting ability since the player quickly learns to stroke more putts on the putter’s sweet spot.

“The Frequency Filtered putter shaft was put to the ultimate test on the PGA Tour and, not only did the new shaft design exceed our expectations for the new technology, it delivered a victory,” says Shawn Mullin, PGA Tour manager for UST. “The Frequency Filtered putter shaft provides a scientifically measurable increase in player sensitivity during putting, and the biggest benefits are easily seen in putting distance and directional control.”

RESEARCH AND DESIGN


UST’s new Frequency Filtered Putter shaft features a steel tip section and a butt section of woven graphite called Interlinked Carbon. Using the same 0/90-degree graphite fiber weave used in UST’s IROD Hybrid shaft — the No. 1 Hybrid shaft on the PGA Tour — the high-modulus woven material in the Frequency Filtered putter shaft provides hoop strength and stiffness that significantly reduces torque for solid feel, control and confidence.

However, the most unique and important characteristic of the Frequency Filtered putter shaft is the actual ‘Frequency Filter’ device strategically integrated between the steel and graphite sections. The Frequency Filter is specifically designed to allow certain vibration frequencies to pass through to the player’s hands and block out other frequency ranges from proceeding up the shaft length.

Skip Pankewich, product developer for UST, explains that vibrations are created when the putter face impacts with the ball, and that these vibrations differ depending on where the impact occurs on the putter face. Many vibrations are like ‘static noise’ on a stereo, but some vibrations at selected frequencies are extremely helpful in providing feedback on how the ball was struck.

By filtering out the ‘static noise’ vibrations, the Frequency Filtered putter shaft permits only those vibrations that provide positive feedback so players can learn to hit more putts on the sweet spot, thus gaining putting distance and directional control.

ON TOUR


Several professional golfers on the PGA TOUR have played UST’s new putter shaft as a prototype over the past few weeks, and the results have been outstanding. Not only has the Frequency Filtered putter shaft earned numerous Top 10 finishes, but it won a dramatic victory at the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas.

AVAILABILITY


The Frequency Filtered putter shafts feature a weight of 106 grams, length of 37.75 inches and a 0.600-inch butt diameter. While custom shaft tip configurations will be available to original equipment manufacturers, UST is offering some of the more common tip configurations for custom clubmakers. Seven bend, tip profiles include straight parallel 0.370, straight tapered 0.355, flare, single bend, double bend one-plane, double-bend two-plane and 0.395 over the hosel. The new UST shafts are now available at golf shops and component distributors worldwide and carry an $85.00 MSRP.