Why Reax™ is the Shaft You Must Try in 2026

I want you to imagine something. Imagine every golf shot you’ve ever hit in your life. The ones on the range, the ones on the course and even the ones in your backyard. How many swings do you think you have taken?

Now imagine that you had the data from every single one of those swings compiled into one place to dissect and analyze to make your golf game as great as it possibly could be.

When it came to developing the next advancement in our driver technology, the TaylorMade R&D team did exactly that. For over 20 years, we logged more than 11 million shots taken by amateur, collegiate and professionals of all skill levels and swing types.

Amongst all the things we learned, perhaps the most important was how to connect a swing type to the appropriate shaft type. In a traditional fitting, this would be done through analyzing clubhead speed, launch angle and spin rate.

However, the data told us to change that. Instead of fitting for flight, our engineers explored fitting for what’s right for the individual golfer’s swing. The easiest way for a fitter to do this is by assessing the golfer’s clubhead rotation profile.

Clubhead rotation is measured by when and how the player releases the golf club. Do they release early, in the middle or late in the downswing? Additionally, do they have a held, balanced or active release?

In simpler terms, are they low rotation (LR), mid rotation (MR) or high rotation (HR)? As you can see with our TaylorMade athletes below, you can identify clubhead rotation by seeing where the shaft lines up to the lead arm relative to impact (left arm for a right-handed golfer).

HIGH ROTATION

For a high rotator, like Team TaylorMade’s Charley Hull, we will see that lineup happen just before impact or right at impact where the hands are right in the middle of their body. This golfer would require a shaft with a soft tip section.

LOW ROTATION

On the opposite end of that spectrum, for a low rotator like Collin Morikawa, the shaft lines up to the lead arm well after impact with the player’s hands almost outside the lead leg. Because of this, a stiff tip section would match a low rotation golfer.

MID ROTATION

Right in the middle of the bell curve is a player like Rory McIlroy with a more neutral release lining the shaft up with his lead arm just after impact where his hands are over his left leg. Matching a neutral release, a more of a middle of the road tip fits a mid-rotation golfer.

An important thing to note here is that clubhead rotation profiles do not directly correlate with ability. Both Collin Morikawa and a 15 handicapper can be low rotation players.

So, instead of solely relying on the traditional shot metrics to identify a shaft…we are also analyzing the characteristics of the golf swing – regardless of skill – to find the right shaft.