ARETERA Alpha One Series Shaft Review

50 Words or Less

The Aretera Alpha One Series shafts have a smooth feel and excellent accuracy.  Alpha One Blue has a softer tip and higher spin than Alpha One Gray.

Introduction

Aretera is a new name in the golf space, but the the designer behind the brand is no stranger to high performance shafts.  Alex Dee, formerly the VP at Fujikura, was a major force behind the immensely successful Ventus shafts [review HERE].  His first line at his new company, the Aretera Alpha One Series shafts, shows that the success of Ventus was anything but a fluke.

Looks

The Aretera Alpha One Series shafts share an attention-grabbing bright white base color.  Off this stark background, the sharp gold, blue, and gray graphics really pop.  I think these shafts look good in pictures, but they’re really stunning in person.

Large Aretera branding covers the middle of the shaft on both sides, so there is no clean “logo down” look, though the weight and flex is only listed on one side.  The one aesthetic choice I find a bit confusing is the fade to gray near the tip.  In contrast with the bright white, I found this a bit distracting.

Feel

I do my best to enter every review with a clean slate, but I didn’t have that opportunity with the Aretera Alpha One Series shafts.  Several weeks prior to receiving these shafts, I was having a casual conversation with a trusted fitter and friend.  He mentioned that he got to demo these shafts and expressed his disappointment with how “boardy” they felt.

Trying to put his negative opinion to the side, I loaded the Aretera Alpha One Blue in my driver and swung away.  After the very first swing, I thought to myself that my friend and I have very different ideas of what “boardy” is.

In my opinion, the Aretera Alpha One Blue shaft is the furthest thing from boardy.  It’s extremely smooth, bordering on active.  The sensation is extremely pleasant with energy flowing from just below the grip to the club head.  It doesn’t demand that you swing it gently, but it encourages it by kicking hard even on moderate swings.

The Alpha One Gray is, per Aretera, almost identical to the Blue except for a 10% stiffer tip.  This translates to a feel that is still smooth but not as active as the Blue.  My notes say, “It barely feels like an X flex.”  If you want a stiffer tipped shaft with a smooth feel, this is it.

Performance

After getting a feel for the Aretera Alpha One Blue, I started focusing on the dispersion.  The feel had me thinking that I should be looking left and certainly not expecting laser-like shots, but that’s exactly what this shaft was producing.  Swinging normally, with effort ranging from 80% to 100%, I was seeing shots that didn’t appear to curve at all.  When I switched to the Aretera Alpha One Gray, I had high expectations, and the shaft delivered.  I saw more drives that started on line and motored straight downrange like they had blinders on.

As I continued hitting, I realized that there was a clue to this dispersion in the feel.  While both shafts have a smooth feel, neither feels like it has much torque in the tip.  Aretera doesn’t have a torque measurement on their website – and there are no industry standards anyway, so the number isn’t terribly meaningful – but I would expect that it’s low.  Even when I really went after Alpha One Blue, the shaft never felt like it lagged or twisted.

The key technology in Aretera Alpha Series shafts is called POWERGRID.  Per Aretera, this is a “structural interlocking” weave that “distributes forces more evenly and stores more energy.”  It also provides “more forgiveness in torsional stiffness in the butt and middle sections.”

While both Aretera Alpha Series shafts had excellent dispersion, there was a clear difference in spin.  Alpha One Blue produced 400 RPM more spin for me, on average.  During some windy testing, Alpha One Blue did hit some ballooning shots when I really went after the ball.  Alpha One Gray was consistently lower spin and performed better in the wind, even on all-out swings.  Both shafts launched the ball toward the high end of my normal range.

There are ten total offerings in the Aretera Alpha One Series family.  Aretera Alpha One Gray comes in 65 or 75 grams, both in 4 (stiff) or 5 (X) flex.  Aretera Alpha One Blue has three weights options: 55, 65, and 75 grams.  The 55 gram version is offered in 3 (regular) and 4 (stiff).  Both 65 and 75 are available in 4 and 5.

Conclusion

The ARETERA Alpha One Series shafts are an impressive debut from this new company.  Pairing an exciting feel with superb dispersion makes them an immediate must-try for any gear head.

Check out the ARETERA Alpha One Series HERE

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Matt Saternus

Editor In Chief at Plugged In Golf

Matt has worked in nearly every job in the golf industry from club fitting to instruction to writing and speaking.

He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.

Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.

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