Perhaps the most mysterious piece of equipment in all of golf is the graphite driver shaft. The biggest consumer complaint of the last 30 years is the lack of a standard in determining shaft flex. Stiff isn’t necessarily stiff, nor does regular always mean regular.
Shaft makers rigorously avoid the issue, maintaining that each model of shaft is different because of weight, torque and kick point. That doesn’t even account for the difference between factory-installed shafts from equipment manufacturers and aftermarket shafts of even the same model, which is another issue entirely.
That, shaft makers say, is why players need meticulous fitting to determine the right shaft for their individual swing. Even so, those results could depend on whether a player was fit indoors or outdoors. And what happens when you get it to the course and it doesn’t perform the same way the simulator and launch monitor showed it did? In nearly all cases, you can’t return it, so you’re stuck with a $300 shaft that doesn’t work for you.
Newton Golf believes it has largely solved the issue in two ways — by designing shafts in which kick point is not an issue and by matching flex and torque with clubhead speed, thereby simplifying the entire process for the consumer.
The Motion shaft by Newton was developed by Aki Yorihiro, company founder and chief technology officer. He insists that his basic design can be used successfully by about 90% of golfers, including a number of elite players. The Motion and the newer Fast Motion has gained widespread use on the PGA Tour Champions, with about 50 players using one of the two models.
"Two examples, let's go the extremes," Yorihiro says. "You have a slow swinger — ladies or senior shaft. You know you need flex. You need to be lighter, you need to have higher launch, because without speed, you need a little bit of help launching the ball, and you need a little bit of torque. Because a lot of those people are hitting down on the ball. We incorporate those qualities into our most flexible shafts.
"Now let's go to the other extreme, which these guys are swinging at 115 or 120 miles per hour. They need low spin. They have plenty of speed to launch the ball, so you don't need a high launch design in the shaft. You need low torque, because they’re swinging so hard. We incorporate those qualities into the stiffer end of our product line."
The major difference, Yorihiro says, is in the bend profile of the Motion shaft. "We have ability to bend more of the shaft," he says. "A typical driver these days is almost 46 inches. Three inches of that shaft is the head and you have 10½ inches in the grip. So, the effective length of the shaft that you're using is roughly 33 inches.
"If I can bend more of those 33 inches, I can store more energy across the shaft. And if I can store more energy, and I can time the release of that energy, it's going to help me propel the golf ball faster and farther. That's the core principle we have now."
To further simplify consumer choices, Newton’s flex designation is non-traditional. Instead of using words like "senior, ladies, regular, stiff, extra-stiff," the company uses dots with 1-dot the most flexible up to 7-dots on the stiffest end of the scale, all correlating to the players swing speed. Shafts ordered on the company’s website come cut to preferred length with grip and adapter of choice installed. Newton also offers a return and replace program.
The Motion shafts were introduced in November 2023 after almost four years of development and Yorihiro took his creation to the PGA Tour Champions the following year. Ken Duke and John Daly — on the opposite ends of the distance spectrum — were the first Motion converts. Once players began having success with the Motion, more players became curious, then interested, then believers.
Most Champions Tour players grew up using persimmon woods and the desired angle of attack was level, and some even hit down on their driver, instead of the modern approach of an upward angle of attack.
"For them to achieve high launch, they were using (higher driver) loft and shafts that kick a little bit lower to get the ball in the air," Yorihiro says. "But the trade-off is you get (too much) spin. When we introduced the elongation to them, they were able to get higher launch without changing their spin with their swing. So, they were able to go from a 10½ (degree driver) loft down to a nine.
"They get a little better energy storage from this, so you get better smash factor. Lower loft gives you even better smash factor. You're lowering spin so you get more rollout. That's, I think, how we were able to convert so many people in a very short period of time."
In early 2025, Newton introduced the Fast Motion, 10 grams lighter than the Motion. The company now offers fairway wood shafts, including Fast Motion models, along with 2026 updates of the shafts in the Motion line. Newton is also expanding its line to hybrid shafts, all of which will use the dot system, enabling players to match dots in driver shafts, fairway woods and hybrids.
