This is a week in equipment that just keeps on giving!
First, we had the launch of the all-new Vokey SM8 Wedges (WRX Spotted: Vokey SM8 wedges), then we also spotted Aaron Wise with some Callaway Prototype Apex MB short irons (WRX Spotted: Prototype Callaway MBs).
Now, we have the newest prototype steel shaft to hit the PGA Tour and this one is from Accra Golf.
What makes this shaft interesting is Accra Golf has always been known for its high quality, high-end graphite shaft offerings. Only for a short period of time almost a decade ago did they ventured into the steel shaft game—if you don’t remember, you’re forgiven, since the Accra Tour Steel was a custom club builder exclusive that, although extremely well-designed, never quite caught on. It was an original Accra design manufactured by Royal Precision—yes, the same Royal Precision that was eventually bought out by True Temper.
We have reached out for information but have yet to get any confirmation on potential specs for this Accra Prototype, but don’t worry, your equipment industry expert and insider Ryan Barath (yes, I am qualified to talk in the third person ) is here to hopefully shed some light on what this could potentially mean for golfers in the near future.
As reported earlier this year, Accra Golf was purchased by True Sports—the umbrella under which True brands, including True Temper Golf, True Hockey, True Diamond Sports (baseball), and True Lacrosse live. Not only did this move help True gain access to Accra’s knowledge base and distribution within the custom club world, but it in turn also gave Accra access to True Temper R&D—a mutually beneficial transaction.
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It looks as if Accra has wasted no time in developing a steel shaft profile to begin testing. We are seeing the first of what could be many iterations of either another custom club fitter exclusive or a tight tolerance high-end offering. The original Accra Tour Steel shaft was a parallel .370″ shaft that could be built to any required frequency for the golfer. Since the original Accra Tour Steel was produced by Royal Precision, in theory, the tooling and or the design specs would be around, and with True Temper’s manufacturing capabilities, could even be recreating the original Accra Tour Steel.
But here’s where it gets interesting: 99 percent of all club heads used on tour are taper tip, and with that in mind, the possibility of this first prototype being a parallel shaft is not likely. In my experienced opinion, this is most likely some kind of Accra Tour Steel second generation that could be based off of the original weight and profile to be manufactured in taper for testing with a parallel version to be coming down the line for distribution.
Either way, this is all educated speculation, and we are eagerly awaiting information from Accra on what this could mean. Once we have more information we will be happy to share.
- See what WRXers are saying about the Accra prototype shaft here.