Oban Kiyoshi Purple Shaft Review – Specs, Flex, Weight

Oban shafts are known for their premium materials and performance.

They are also known for their lofty price. The Oban Kiyoshi Purple is one of the company’s most expensive shafts. And maybe that’s why not much is known about it.

But we were lucky enough to get our hands on one of these shafts for a very exciting round of testing. We were very eager to see if the Oban Kiyoshi Purple lived up to all the hype we’ve heard about it. Is the Oban Kiyoshi Purple worth the price? Read on to find out!

Oban Kiyoshi Purple Shaft Overview

First let’s talk about the looks of this shaft.

As you can imagine, the Oban Kiyoshi Purple has a purple finish. We’re not huge fans of purple but there is something regal about the combination of the purple finish and the gold bands in the midsection. It’s also a great finish if you happen to be a Laker fan.

But we can totally see the vibrant, eye-catching purple paint job putting some golfers off. In any case, it’s not very distracting because most of the graphics are too high up the shaft to see at point of address.

It should be noted that the Oban Kiyoshi Purple comes in five different weight classes: 45g, 55g, 65g, 75g, and 85g. For this test session, we had the Oban Kiyoshi Purple 75g in stiff flex (79g). Even at the higher weight spectrum, the Oban Kiyoshi Purple 75 feels very  active. There is a very clear kick just under the grip. The torque rating for this particular shaft is 3.1 but it feels higher than that. We were thinking more along the lines of 4.5.

Still, it was a pleasant feel overall. We could tell that this shaft was pulling its weight on full swings and even on practice swings. It’s effortlessly active which should appeal to a wide range of golfers.

Why is the Oban Kiyoshi Purple So Popular?

One of the reasons we guess that the Oban Kiyoshi Purple is a popular shaft is that it is so easily activated.

Even at a heavier weight class, you get a smooth kick and a quick recovery after release. While there is a good kick in this shaft, it somehow feels incredibly stable at the same time.

How Does the Oban Kiyoshi Purple Perform?

We’ll start with the bad. It seems that all that kick has a downside: dispersion.

We were regularly getting off-line divergence in the 15 – 17 yard range unless we were very careful with our swings. While club head speed definitely benefited from the lively kick, the accuracy surely suffered. In other words, if you’re looking for a shaft to help keep you out of the trees, this probably isn’t the one.

The Oban Kiyoshi Purple is advertised as a low-mid spin shaft but we were getting pretty high spin rates with it. It could have simply been how we were swinging it; but it was hard for us to swing it any other way because of how active it was even on light swings. For the most part though, none of this affected distance. Unless we completely heeled it, the Oban Kiyoshi Purple was easily producing 260+ yards of carry. Of course the spin kills a lot of rollout so total distance didn’t exactly eclipse carry distance.

Still, we were very pleased with the distance and the consistency. The Oban Kiyoshi Purple is also advertised as a mid-high launching shaft and Oban wasn’t lying about that. We were consistently hitting high-arcing fades with this shaft (and yes, sometimes those high hades turned into pulls). If you have trouble getting the ball in the air consistently, this shaft will surely help.

Shaft Specs

Specs Oban Kiyoshi Purple
Available flexes Ladies, amateur, regular, stiff, extra stiff
Weight 47g – 87g
Butt .600
Tip .335
Length 46”

What Flexes Are Available? What Swing Speeds Do They Suit?

Ladies and amateur flex should be reserved for players in the 60 – 75 MPH swing speed range.

Regular and stiff may work for players in the 76 – 85 MPH range. Extra stiff should be good for players in the 86 – 95 MPH range.

What Weights Are Available? What Swing Speeds Do They Suit?

The Oban Kiyoshi Purple 45 may be a good choice for sub-70 MPH swingers.

The 55g and 65g versions may fit 71-85 MPH swingers. The 75g and 85g versions should work for 86-95 MPH swingers.

Why is it So Good?

One word: distance.

The Oban Kiyoshi Purple is a great distance shaft. What makes it great is that you don’t have to have a tremendous swing speed to get better distance from this shaft.

First Impressions

We were blown away at how easily activated this shaft was. It takes little effort to feel the kick.

Key Features & Performance

The Oban Kiyoshi Purple is made with high modulus carbon fiber sheets to promote cross-directional stability.

This is how it is able to flex so much but whip back into place so quickly.

Oban Kiyoshi Purple Driver Review

The Oban Kiyoshi Purple can easily add 5-10 yards to your driver. But you have to be careful to nail the sweet spot lest you end up in the cabbage.

Oban Kiyoshi Purple Fairway Wood Review

The launch definitely picked up in our fairway woods. This would be a great shaft for players with lower-lofted woods.

Oban Kiyoshi Purple Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Effortlessly high launch
  • Very active feel
  • Produces great club head speed
  • Produces excellent ball speed
  • It feels stable despite a strong kick
  • Feels light in the hands

Cons:

  • A bit on the pricey side
  • Wide divergence if you’re not very careful

Overall Score: 95/100

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Who Should Buy It?

So is the Oban Kiyoshi Purple worth the price?

Not if you struggle to stay on the fairway. But if distance is your chief nemesis on the links, you should definitely check this shaft out: it may be worth every penny.

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