Fujikura’s new Ventus TR Blue shaft filled a hole in my bag

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of Fujikura Ventus The family of golf shafts has dominated the Tour for the past two seasons, and earlier this year the company released an updated version of the Ventus TR Blue, adding Velocore+ technology. Fujikura has also changed the way its Spread Tow fabric is placed in the grip area, opting for a 90º layout instead of an angled one. This increases rotational stability in the grip, maintaining feel throughout the swing. (For more on the differences between the OG TR Blue and the new Velocore + TR Blue, see this part from my colleague Jack Hirsh.)

If you have been in our step Fully Fit Seriesyou may have noticed that I suited up in OG TR Blue during a few driver builds; Cobra, Callaway and TaylorMade all opted for the Velocore version of the TR Blue. The thing is, while I’ve had a lot of success with TR Blue in my driver, opting to play it for the end of the season last year with a Qi35 before switching things up this year with the same Velocore TR Blue in my Qi4D, I haven’t had much success with TR Blue in my free woods or a mini driver. I always had to look for another solution. So I was excited to try out the new TR Blue with Velocore+ because it was described as offering more feel combined with more stiffness in the grip. Boy, that was an understatement.

Fujikura turned the TR Blue Velocore+ into a speed-hungry powerhouse. The handle section is noticeably stiffer to me than the OG version. Because of this I find myself a bit faster with the new version, but it doesn’t really match my transition. So even though I was repeatedly hitting the same spot on the face, the head wasn’t giving me exactly what I needed. While the OG TR Blue Velocore helped me get a nice tight pull, I found it much harder to turn the TR Blue with the Velocore+. There is much more “anti-left” in it. It still stands as a nice offering between the Velocore+ Blu and the TR Black, but with an improved feel. To me, it’s not the best option for a driver, but you know what it can be great for? Construction of a new freeway wood.

Fujikura 2026 Ventus TR Blue Wood Shaft (Velocore+)

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Because of the differences in how the shafts are released, I’ve always found that something that doesn’t work well for me on a driver seems to work well on a loose wood. I try to stay lean with my fairway woods like I’m hitting my irons. I also produce a bit more of a violent swing. While I prefer a softer grip on my driver, I usually opt for something with a firmer grip on the rest of the bag. The only problem? I hate 3-woods. With a burning passion. I’m not good at hitting them, they don’t do what I need them to do and they own me mentally. Enter TR Blue with Velocore+.

The numbers you see above are really good for me: 260 meters from the deck is perfect for what I need, and the best part was the new TR Blue Velo+ wants to move fast. The more I pulled the handle at the top of the swing, the faster the club became and the more stable it felt. It’s almost like speed unlocks the profile. Being more neutral in attacking the ball also seemed to help the profile perform better for me, and the face contact was in the same place every time. The dispersion in the chart above may seem wide, but I promise, for me and my raw wood playing, it’s close to a miracle. It got even better when I put the ball on a short tee.

Check out that spread! This was with a 16.5º fairway wood (a 4-wood), and these numbers off the tee were perfect. A straight-to-check draw that never left me, a nice 3000 RPM spin window and ball speed that’s a tick higher than I usually generate with a free wood of this loft off the tee. You will also notice that there is a ball there that was going ahead of the others in the group. It went about 270 in the air and came out at 290. It was my last swing and I gave it everything I had in the transition – proving, again, that the profile loves speed. The faster you go, the more the shaft will help and the more stable the profile through the swing.

All in all, there is hope here. I’m on a long journey to find a cheap wood that I can play consistently, and a big part of that search will be finding the right shaft to give me confidence in the swing I need to produce. So far the new TR Blue has passed all the tests, and knowing that I can rock hard and stay with my more neutral and lower angle of attack on the freeways is a huge confidence booster. Honestly, I’m a little bummed that the profile changed so much from OG, but the game is growing, players are getting stronger and faster, and it was time to give the stronger players a more reliable mid-start profile. So while the TR Blue with Velcore+ won’t go into the driver for me, it is a leader in the club for a wood build.