Of the many aspects of golf club building that I have tackled over the years, one topic reigns supreme when it comes to creating controversy and generating debate: SST PURE.
Based on the nature of the subject, I have tended to avoid the topic, but after being asked enough times, and having someone reach out to the Gear Smart Hotline, I decided it was finally time to provide my full opinion on the topic.
But before we get to my answer, I’ll let SST PURE provide a description of what their process claims to provide.
“SST PURE identifies asymmetries that exist in every golf shaft and locates each shaft’s most stable orientation.”
This process is conducted using a proprietary machine and generally costs $45 per shaft, on top of the aftermarket install price. The SST PURE process is most commonly associated with agnostic fitting specialists, Club Champion, and is not something offered by any major equipment manufacturer.
The real question is, does it provide any actual benefit?
In my opinion, and in the opinion of many others within the industry, the PUREing process doesn’t provide a tangible advantage in any performance metric. The reason being, during the golf swing, a shaft is not oscillated back and forth along a plane; it is subject to load and rotational forces, including tension along the beam (shaft length) caused by the centrifugal force created by the golf swing.
This variance in applied forces bears no relation to what PUREing does, which is why I feel it has zero added value.