Aldila Rogue Silver 130 MSI Shaft Review - PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway

Looking for a shaft that tames your swing, wins your heart, and puts confidence back into game from the tee box?  The new Aldila Rogue Silver 130 MSI shaft will do that and more.  Club twirls are in its DNA. 

 

The Rogue line has been extremely popular on Tour for years now, and it's won multiple major championships and countless other tournaments.  So when Aldila announced earlier this year it was upgrading the Rogue, it got people's attention.  And I can tell you right away, the Rogue Silver 130 is a golf engineering gift to mankind. 

I'm not going to delve into the tech specs of this shaft, you can read all that on Aldila's web site.  But I will give you the CliffsNotes so the rest of what you read here about feel, performance, and dispersion have a bit more context. 

 

 

DIALED Pitch Fiber basically minimizes unwanted shaft deformation during your swing.  NexGen Micro-Laminate Technology gets rid of dead zones in the shaft (yes you might actually be able to blame your lack of distance on dead zones in other shafts you've been using).  And finally, the new Silver 130 features the same counter-balanced design as the last gen, but with a slightly lower torque and the strongest carbon fiber ever used in the Rogue line. 

Rogue Silver 130 is a low launch, low spin shaft, but it performs almost unlike any other shaft in this profile, particularly in terms of dispersion - it's truly one of the most stable shafts you're ever going to hit. 

 

 

The feel is firm, but not extremely stiff feeling.  It's probably best to call it a strong, reactive feel.  You're getting that consistent, one-piece, full shaft load (where you can feel the entire shaft work in concert through impact), but you don't need to go full Paul Bunyan to load it correctly. 

The Rogue Silver 130 will stay on target however, even if you have the inclination to swing out of your shoes.  This is a shaft that loves to go exactly where you're aiming. 

 

If there's a bias it's probably more towards fades than draws, but full disclosure - very rarely am I purposely hitting one or the other.  Most of the time I just want to hit my drives as long and far as I can, and this shaft produced some nice baby fades for me, along with roll out that seemed to go on forever. 

Ball flight is flat, but still gets enough height to carry impressive distances.  The supremacy of this shaft however, is in its dispersion.  Other shafts with similar profiles to Rogue Silver simply won't give you the 130 kind of lethal accuracy. 

 

Now granted, nothing's going to fix swing path issues (and I struggle with that from time to time).  But if your miss on the face is generally concentrated, you're going to consistently hit shots that are dead center in the fairway, and all within a few yards of each other.  There just aren't a whole lot of shafts on the market that can deliver this kind of performance. 

Ball flight surprisingly didn't deviate much when I hit mediocre shots.  And on good swings it was incredibly consistent and long.  In the hands of a skilled player, the Rogue Silver will be surgical. 

 

 

Overall the Rogue Silver 130 was the straightest and most stable shaft I played all year.  I never felt like I had to fight to square this up consistently.  And hands down, it gave me the best and most consistent dispersion.  Shots I mishit with other shafts sometimes went crazy hard right, but those same kinds of mishits with the Rogue Silver stayed in play like they were driver whispered. 

This is a beast with some serious mojo, and it's going to be one of the all-time favorite shafts many of you ever play.  Rogue Silver doesn't merely live up to the hype.  It legitimately surpasses it. 

 

 

 

 

PROS: 

One of the most stable and consistent shafts you'll ever hit 
Tight dispersion even on inconsistent strikes 
Rolls out forever with distance that gets down the fairway in a hurry 

CONS: 
Counter-balanced shaft might make your driver feel too light, and you'll need to add weight to the head to compensate