The new Nippon N.S. Pro 750GH neo steel shaft is like Goldilocks’ porridge. If you find the Nippon 750GH shaft too firm and the Nippon Zelos 7 shaft too soft, you’ll find the 750GH neo juuuust right.
Let’s be clear. We’re talking about really light steel shafts here, and light is right in the Nippon Shaft wheelhouse. The N.S. Pro 750GH neo is the newest and lightest addition to the neo family of Nippon shafts. According to Nippon, it’s a dual-purpose shaft.
First, it’s designed specifically for slow swingers who crave the lightness of graphite but prefer the feel of steel. Second, and most importantly, it’s designed specifically to optimize performance for slow swingers who game strong-lofted game-improvement or player’s distance irons.
Yeah, it’s a niche offering. However, given the growing number of women golfers and the aging golfing population overall, it’s a sizable niche.
Let’s dig in.
Nippon N.S. Pro 750GH neo
The Nippon Shaft mission statement is simple: Play steel for life.
When you’re in the business of making steel shafts, that’s a rock-solid credo.
Nippon does make graphite shafts but at the company headquarters in Yokohama and at the factory in Komagane, steel is king.
Nippon Shafts is celebrating its 65th birthday this year. The company started making shafts in Komagane in 1959 as a subsidiary of NHK Spring, an 85-year-old conglomerate that makes high-quality steel springs for the automotive industry. Nippon Shafts became a player in the U.S. in 1999 when it introduced the N.S. Pro 950GH, a sub-100-gram constant-weight steel shaft.
Since then, Nippon has rounded out as full of a line of lightweight steel shafts as there is in the golf industry. The 950GH (94.5 grams in R-flex, 98 grams in S) was soon followed by the 850GH (87 and 91 grams, respectively) and the 750GH (79 and 83 grams).
Nippon then went one step lighter with the Zelos line, ranging in weight from 68.5 grams in the Zelos 6 up to the mid-80s for the Zelos 8.
As you’d expect, the neo line is slotted between the two. The GH neo line is a skosh lighter than the standard GH line but they’re designed specifically for strong-lofted irons with larger heads.
That’s not just a point of differentiation.
It’s the whole point behind the neo line in the first place.
What’s “new” about neo?
If you’re into words, pretty much everything. Neo, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary, literally means “new, recent or in a modern form.”
What makes the neo line truly neo is that it’s made specifically for modern, strong-lofted irons. We’ve gone through the tech behind game-improvement and player’s distance irons plenty of times on these pages but it’s worth a quick review.
Even before Old Tom Morris was winning Open Championships, golfers craved two things: irons that are easier to hit and irons that go farther. Designers have known since the mashie-niblick days that a low center of gravity makes it easier to get the ball airborne. They also know the easiest way to get more distance is to make the lofts stronger. One without the other is a disaster but both together is the recipe for playable distance.
The problem is that it’s also the recipe for low spin.
Even Tom Morris knew that shots that didn’t spin would have trouble holding greens. In recent years, club designers and fitters have added descent angle to their design and fitting processes. You can make up for low spin with a steeper descent angle.
This is where the shaft comes in.
Nippon Shaft has designed the neo line with firmer butt and mid sections than the lighter Zelos line but with a noticeably softer tip than the standard GH line. When paired with a strong-lofted game-improvement iron head, the neo launches higher and with considerably more spin than the GH line. Conversely, the lighter Zelos shaft, with its softer butt and mid sections, would tend to balloon, which impacts carry distance and distance control.
More options, more choices
When the industry talks about slower swing-speed players, it generally means seniors and a large percentage of women. That’s a healthy market, no matter how you look at it. Unfortunately, it’s a market that, if it wanted steel, didn’t have much to choose from.
With the addition of the new Nippon N.S. Pro 750GH neo, Nippon Shafts now has at least 10 steel options under 100 grams. You can easily imagine how many combinations fitters now have to work with without having to go graphite. After all, why should the faster swingers have all the fun?
The N.S. Pro 750GH neo shafts are 74.5 grams in R-flex and 78 grams in S-flex. Both are roughly five grams lighter than their 750GH counterparts. The balance point is also very slightly more centered than either the standard 750GH or the Zelos 7.
The Nippon N.S. Pro 850GH neo and 950GH neo follow the same basic profile. The 850GH neo weighs in at 84.5 grams in R and 88 grams in S. The 950GH neo offers four flex options: the 94.5-gram R, the 97-gram SR (stiff regular), the 98-gram S and the 104-gram X.
When it comes to fitting, Nippon recommends the 950GH neo for the more compact player’s distance irons. The 750GH is designed for the larger, more forgiving modern game-improvement or super game-improvement heads. The 850GH neo is, of course, for the ones in the middle.
Nippon N.S. Pro 750GH neo pricing and availability
The Nippon N.S. Pro 750 GH new was first released in Japan this past spring. It will be available in North America and the rest of the planet this fall.
If you do your own club work, you’ll be able to buy the 750GH neo through Nippon Shafts’ online partners. Those include The Golf Works, Grips for Less and The Golf Club Trader. They’ll retail for $34 each.
Any golf shop with an account with Nippon Shafts has access to the 750GH neo. Nippon says the price will be $69 installed.
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