ACCRA Concept CS1 Driver Shaft

By Russ Ryden, A Golf Digest America’s 100 Best Clubfitter
Fit2Score, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
Premium Golf Management evolved from a Canadian distributor of golf shafts to a producer of the ACCRA brand of golf shafts. They have long term business relationships with most of the professional golf club fitter / builders in the world. The golf fitters that attend the annual PGA merchandise show in Florida all arrive a day early for ACCRA day. A day of golf hosted by ACCRA  gives them all a chance to renew relationships and exchange ideas.

The 2014 Concept CS1 is another step in the evolution of ACCRA. Shown to the right is a shaft summary document that comes wrapped around every Concept golf shaft.

Several years ago PGMC, purchased one of the Fit2Score shaft measuring instruments. It brought manufacturing consistency into focus as it has now for the several shaft companies that own the instrument. Through a partnership with Mark Timmes a fully automatic shaft measuring instrument was invented.

The evolution I speak of is shaft to shaft quality and consistency. The ACCRA Concept CS1 ranks among the best of the best in quality, shaft to shaft consistency and uniformity of bend profiles through out all the weights and flex options of the model. The review samples of the ACCRA Concept CS1 shafts were at hand when I was updating the software that accompanies my own shaft measuring instrument. The S3 Shaft Summary inspired me to finish my own project to produce a report on individual shafts. This is a composite of the entire CS1 family of golf shafts.

This is more information than we usually provide for a golf shaft review.  Thie Concept CS1 is a high balance shaft that we see often now. The desire to create swing weights in ranges considered acceptable with heavy, bling loaded driver heads is moving the shaft balance of many 2014 models towards the butt. Radial integrity of the CS1 is exceptional in every shaft measured, averaging 99.5% with a 0.3% standard deviation. Don’t bother with alignment of the ACCRA Concept CS1, it is perfectly round to start with. As our measurement instrument technology evolves we are beginning to survey hoop strength at 7 points on a shaft. The first set of hoop strength measurements is shown in these reports. 

The tip to butt ration indicates a mid to mid high launch propensity, making it a good fit for the low launch heads that are common today. The tip torque is on the low side of what is typical in premium shafts, indicating tight dispersion control. The weights are true to the labels. This is a unique design. A soft handle with a perfectly smooth change of stiffness down the shaft. Many shafts are getting high balance by adding material to the butt. That creates stiff handles that resist loading by smooth transition golfers. The ACCRA Concept accomplished a high balance with a soft handle. Nice touch. It would appear they did so with premium super high modulus graphite judiciously positioned in the shaft.
The ACCRA Concept CS1 is on the cutting edge of shaft design. Find an ACCRA fitting partner and take one for a test drive.