I spoke with Nick Sherburne at Club Champion, and he told me that he has seen a lot of people having success with the XM in their fairway woods rather than their driver. Remember earlier when I said the tip section was stable and the response in the shaft was solid? Well that made me think there was still something to the Kuro Kage XM shaft that I was missing. The shafts geared toward the extreme lows and highs don’t seem to get along with me all that well. If you look through my shaft reviews, I am definitely a “mid” kind of guy for launch, spin, speed, etc. I had to really slow my entire swing down and work to control the club so much that I became very hesitant hitting the ball, often resulting in a shot to the right. Now, let’s be fair, that’s nothing against the shaft, it just wasn’t a good fit for me in a driver. What the graphic doesn’t show is how much I had to work to put those numbers up consistently. Looking at my numbers with the Kuro Kage XM, I would say they are ok but not great. I feel like the XM and the XT fall on the far ends of the feel spectrum so I will be very interested to see if MRC drops another Kuro Kage that falls right in between.

Based on feel, I think people with smoother swing tempos will be the best fit for the XM. The TiNi Wire in the tip does help the shaft stabilize to avoid the dreaded wet noodle feeling, but the softer mid-section made me feel like it was easy to lose control of the shaft. The Kuro Kage XM has good feel in regards to response and stability but it felt soft in my driver, even in X-flex.

When Mitsubishi says the Kuro Kage XM has a softer mid-section, they aren’t lying. What I like about this shaft, and Kuro Kage shafts in general, is that they are fairly modest looking shafts at first glance, but after closer inspection, they have a lot of cool detail and character that leaves you feeling like Mitusbishi really pays close attention to the smallest details. Immediately noticeable is the rainbow foil look throughout the shaft – a result of the ION Plating finish process utilized by Mitsubishi Rayon. The Kuro Kage XM looks differ from the XT’s with a predominantly black color scheme and silver accents. The XM carries over the same attributes as the XT, including Titanium Nickel (TiNi) wire in the tip of the shaft for stability, high quality materials, and ION Plating finish, just with a softer feel to expand the reach of the Kuro Kage shaft line. Well those players needing a little higher launch with a little more kick now have an option in the Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage XM shaft. Many people were impressed by Mitsubishi Rayon’s Kuro Kage XT that we reviewed late last year, but not everyone has the swing for a stout, low-launching shaft like the XT. The Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage XM shaft is a higher-launching, softer alternative to the acclaimed Kuro Kage XT shaft utilizing the same technologies.

Mitsubishi rayon kuro kage