Project X PXi Shaft
Project X shafts have been a staple on the PGA Tour for years, and are known for the stepless golf shafts. The Project X PXi follows the same stepless design as the traditional Project X Rifle shafts, in a lighter weight variety. They are designed to produce a lower, more penetrating ball flight, while maintaining great feel at a lighter weight.
First Impressions
The first thing I thought when seeing the Project X PXi was “is this a graphite shaft?” The shaft features some busy graphics at the top of the shaft, with a graphite-like appearance in the bottom half. Heck, I’ve even had guys in my group ask me why I was playing graphite shafts, and have had to correct them (they still didn’t believe that they were steel). This is from a graphics coating to the metal that covers the entire shaft to give it that appearance.
How Does it Feel?
When first picking up a club with the Project X PXi, the club head felt noticeable heavier than with my previous gamers (Dynamic Gold’s). This is expected, since the shaft is lighter. With this, I could really feel the club head throughout my swing.
The shaft also feels incredibly smooth throughout the swing. I never found myself “fighting” the shaft, and also felt trying to “juice” a couple of extra yards out of them without losing stability. Every swing with the shaft just feels downright smooth. There’s really no other way to describe it.
On-Course Performance
While feel is incredible important to me in a shaft, it still needs to perform on a golf course. After doing an iron fitting and testing shaft after shaft, the Project X PXi won. With the PXi, I really felt I had total control over my game. Flighting the ball high to get over a tree, low to get under (yeah, I’m in the trees quite a bit), wedges, long irons, and everything in between was just easier. The best part? They still had that smooth feel.
Although the lightweight shafts are made for a more penetrating flight, I still was able to stop the ball well on greens due to the spin. With a combination of a higher launching iron, and the added swing speed from the lightweight shafts, I hit the PXi relatively high, without ballooning the ball, giving me more distance and more confidence on shots into the green. After my fitting, the PXis were an easy decision to put in the bag immediately.
Final Thoughts
The Project X PXi are one of the best iron shafts on the market for both feel and performance, period. They gave me great confidence in my iron game, and my scores were never better than with these shafts in my clubs. It’s lightweight, smooth, and has incredible feel to go along with stellar performance. If you’re looking for new shafts in your irons, make sure the PXi are on your list of shafts to test.
Hi Tommy, I entered your website after a very long research I been doing about iron shafts. I’m from Argentina and I will be in the States on August, but not for many time in order to make a propper fitting and get my club made. I want to ask if you can help me with my decision. I´m actually going to buy Apex pro half and inch longer. Now a days I use a project x 6.0 shaft with standar height. Im a long hitter, but I find the shaft a little bit heavy. I was wondering if I could use a project x Pxi 6.5, in order to have a lighter shaft but more stiff.
Hi Jorge!
Thanks for checking out our site. There’s a lot to unpack here so I’ll do my best.
In regard to weight, yes, the PXI in a 6.5 is 115g, where as a 6.0 Project X is 120g. However, you’re also adding a half inch, which will add overall weight to the shaft. So in reality, there may not be much of a difference, particularly a noticeable one. However I can’t give the exact number as I don’t know how much an extra 1/2” butt end of the PXI would weigh.
In regards to a “more stiff” shaft, I have found that the PXI tends to plays a touch softer than the Project X. Some say (based on numbers) there is a .5 flex difference between the two, meaning the 6.5 in the PXI would feel/play like a 6.0 in a Project X.
With all of that, it’s hard to make a recommendation as to which route to go. I found these shafts to feel and play very differently for me, and every swing is different. That, matched up with trying different lengths as well, my best recommendation is to try and find a place to hit the PXI in a 6.5, .5” over standard somewhere to see what feels better for you. When it comes to shafts, everyone is going to have wildly different opinions.
Thanks for reading!
Tommy
Hi Tommy,
I tried the apex irons 19 and among the various shafts I tried the best results I had with the Project PXì 6.0 shafts.
However, I cannot find in the market the possibility of buying apexes 19 with these shatfs. All online shops allow you to choose only the Project x model.
Do you think the same is good or alternatively which shafts available on the market look more like Project PXì 6.0?
Thank you very much,
Michele
Michele-
I did not find the Project X and the PXI to play similarly. They have very different characteristics. Your best bet is to find a golf shop, golf pro, or fitter who can order exactly what you’re looking for.
Thanks for reading!
Tommy
Hi. I love the Project x PXi 6.5 but it’s new club time and I’d like a similar shaft with a lower flight. I just assumed it would be the standard Project x 6.5 or 6.0 but after reading the comments maybe they are very different. Like I said I love everything about them but they launch too high…and they are hard to find anyways. Any suggestions? Thanks and sorry for bringing up an old topic.
Jeff –
If you’re getting new sticks, I’d start with trying the new club heads with the PXI, but then do a fitting to find out what the best combo would be. There are plenty of shafts that can launch lower, but they’ll all feel/respond differently dependent upon your swing.
Thanks for stopping in!
Tommy
If I currently use the Rifle 5.5 (and love them) shaft in my irons- what version of the PXi shafts should I look at?
RJ –
First recommendation? Find a fitter or somewhere to try the PXI out and see what flex fits your game best.
If you don’t want to do that, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. While the profiles of the shafts are different, start with the 5.5 and go from there. But again, my first recommendation is to try it first.
Thanks for stopping in,
Tommy