“The one thing that we’ve always noticed and seen is very good start line tendencies. It’ll start where you’re swinging it and kind of just stay with you really well,” Oates said. “That WB did exactly kind of what Viktor needs this K to do: go a little bit lower and go a little bit more left.”
That was the final build Hovland went with. Despite the .75″ shorter shaft than his previous driver, Hovland was still retaining a 173-175 mph ball speed with more consistentcy and hitting his optimal 9˚-10˚ launch window with 2300 rpm of spin.
If you look closely at the shaft, you’ll see the shaft graphics are actually facing up, the opposite side on what they previously are. That’s because the shaft was actually built earlier this week for Ben Griffin, who also tested it in a G440 K.
Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana WB Wood Shaft
The board is back. After a few years away, the vintage surfboard always associated with Diamana™ makes its return with Diamana WB. Built on an extraordinarily popular and tour-proven platform, WB brings classic low-low performance and the legendary stability and control you’ve come to expect after two decades.
The first in the 6th Generation Diamana™ family, WB is designed with all the traditional branding that made Diamana™ so beloved, including flowers in the handle section, a surfboard behind the Diamana logo, and return to the original 53/63/73/83 weight class designations. But rest assured, the only thing throwback about Diamana™ WB is its appearance. Indeed, super high-modulus 80-ton Dialead Pitch Fiber is used in the butt section to deliver maximum stability and increased energy transfer and high modulus 46-ton fiber is used in the shaft’s angle plies to reduce torque without increasing weight for improved control and stability. Carbon fiber orientation at the tip section is optimized to further lower torque.
The classic feel of this Diamana™ profile is achieved through the use of our proprietary Xlink Tech™ Resin System and MR70 technologies. Our Xlink Tech™ Resin System increases the strength and durability of the shaft while driving carbon fiber volume up for better feel. Feel and strength is further increased through the use of our aerospace-grade MR70 fiber – our strongest fiber to date.
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“The shaft that Victor’s played for 5 years was a James Hahn backup driver because Hovland broke his driver in Mexico,” Oates joked. “So maybe that’s our key to getting Viktor into new product is just build stuff for other players and then work for him.”
Griffin plays his drivers at 44.75″ and neutral but Hovland uses his driver Ping’s flat setting, the opposite side of the adaptor. So the shaft ended up at 45″ when installed in Hovland’s preferred setting.
Griffin also ended up making the move to the 440 K from his G430 Max 10K this week because he was actually seeing the driver reduce his miss.
Ping built him several drivers to test at home while he took last week off but he didn’t end up trying them until he got to TPC Scottsdale on Monday. During a Monday afternoon session, Griffin dialed in both a 440 K build and new 430 Max 10K build that could potentially go in, but after playing with it during the week, Griffin went with the new K and his gamer UST Lin-Q Powercore White 7TX shaft.
The three-time winner in 2025 is also using a new Maxfli Tour X-LS golf ball, which he said allows him to swing hard at the ball with his driver and not worry about the ball spinning too much.
“I’m a pretty high ball flight player. I’m able to put a lot of spin on the ball,” Griffin told GOLF this week. “So this new golf ball that’s come out, the Tour X-LS, is able to keep the same profile ball that I’m playing, yet knock down the spin numbers a little bit and knock down the trajectory height for me and it’s going to be a perfect golf ball.”
Why a game improvement hybrid is trending on Tour
Last week, Cam Young did something very strange with his bag.
Young, who had been playing a GT2 hybrid, switched to to a 20-degree GT1 hybrid with a Mitsubishi Diamana PD 80TX fairway wood shaft last week for Torrey Pines’ deep rough. It’s stayed in his bag for this week at TPC Scottsdale too. Tom Kim is doing the same with one in a hybrid shaft.
The GT1 is a unique club in the Titleist lineup with an oversized, almost fairway wood-like profile and the unique ability to accept both fairway wood and hybrid shafts. Unlike the other two GT hybrids which have left-to-right CG adjustability, the GT1 has fore-and-aft adjustability.
While the GT1 fairway wood, with a large and shallow profile, has gained traction on the PGA Tour, Titleist Senior Director of Player Promotions JJ Van Wezenbeeck said last week at Torrey Pines offered an opportunity to reintroduce the GT1 hybrid to players looking for versatility.
“When we look at GT1, we’re not looking at it solely for slower speed players,” Van Wezenbeeck told GOLF. “We’re looking for trajectory reasons. This is an opportunity for us to do kind of these unique builds on this in-between club.”
The GT1 has a sharp leading edge that allows it to sit close to the turf, making it easy to launch. That high ball flight was great for the rough at Torrey Pines or the firm desert greens this week at TPC Scottsdale.