This week at the Players Championship Bryson DeChambeau was spotted testing a new putter shaft. Like many of his clubs already, the new putter shaft from LA Golf is 100 percent made from graphite, which allows engineers greater control over the parameters of the shaft. The other benefit to the graphite construction is that compared to steel, graphite has a much higher strength-to-weight ratio, which allows it to offer greater stability.

Speaking of stability, there is one more unique design feature of the putter shaft and that is it’s almost constantly thick diameter from top to bottom. We reached out to John Oldenburg, Chief Product Officer and shaft designer at LA Golf Partners, to help explain how this design is beneficial to Bryson’s putting.

“All shafts, or structural tubes for that matter, decrease in stiffness as the diameter decreases. With putter shafts this occurs at the tip end of the shaft as it tapers down significantly to fit into standard hosels that are typically 0.350 to 0.370 in diameter. This causes the tip half of all putter shafts to be more flexible than the butt end where diameters run from 0.580 to 0.620″ and from a putter head control standpoint it’s not at all a beneficial attribute.”

“Bryson’s new constant diameter putter shaft is 0.580 to 0.600 the entire length of the shaft. It is extremely stiff along the entire length to provide extreme flexural stability both in the hands and at the most important section, down by the putter head. Where typical steel putter shafts have torque ratings around 2.0 degrees, the torque of this new shaft is 0.75 degrees and provides Bryson with ultimate control of the putter head throughout the stroke.”

“Just like with his previous LA Golf putter shafts he has used for 3 top 5 finishes in his last 3 events, his new constant diameter putter shaft utilizes a proprietary internal laminate material technology that gives this extremely stiff, extremely low torque shaft, a smooth, pleasing, highly responsive feel at impact.”

LAGP furnished the image of the shaft below.

Considering Bryson’s attitude towards experiments with his equipment and his current run of great play, it’s going to be interesting to see if he puts the shaft in play at TPC Sawgrass.

As you can see from the image below, BAD appears to be sticking with his Ozik shaft through round one, but we’ll see if that changes.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – MARCH 12: Bryson DeChambeau of the United Staters lines up a putt on the 11th green during the first round of The PLAYERS Championship on The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, 2020 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Either way, it’s another fascinating experiment for the Golf Scientist.