True Lacrosse Comp SF Lacrosse Shaft

After years of quietly working away in the background, manufacturing shafts for some of the biggest brands in lacrosse, True Temper have finally launched their own line.

The Comp SF headlines the release and when you look at the features it's going to turn heads.

With features like their exclusive "SmartPly" composite shaft design, revolutionary grip coating, extremely lightweight design and various "SmartFlex" options, it rubs shoulders with the leading shafts in the market.

Material & weight

The shaft weighs 6.2 oz, which put's in in the light range. It's actually 0.1oz lighter than its sister, the 7075 alloy shaft.

The shaft is a carbon fibre shaft and is manufactured using their exclusive SmartPly process. This involves fibres being placed at specific optimised angles and constructed into a unidirectional carbon fibre layer. Up to 25 of these layers goes into each shaft.

This gives you a highly optimised shaft design which scientifically places the carbon fibres to give you a super strong shaft.

One big question I had about carbon fibre shafts was whether they were any stronger than a metal shaft. But what I've learned is that it's very difficult to compare because of one main difference.

Their approach to handling flex.

A metal based shaft uses its strength to work against the forces applied to keep it straight. It's a battle between the stress applied and its strength.

Carbon fibre shafts don't fight the stress, but actually go with it. It allows the shaft to flex which acts like a buffer to reduce the initial impact of the force. It stores the energy in the shaft and releases it at the end, giving you the whip.

The True Temper Comp SF shafts are fitted with SmartFlex, which gives you the choice of two levels of flex. The Flex 6 or the Flex 9.

The Flex 6, the model we tested, has more flex and is geared towards junior and high school players.

The Flex 9 is more firm and has less flex. It's designed with professional and senior players in mind.

Shape

The shafts had a standard octagonal shape with a slight concave curve of the sides. This is a good thing, despite that fact that I prefer a more concave shaft.

Some shafts have a more concave shape to give them more grip. The sharper edges make it easier to hold. They do this primarily because the shaft itself has virtually no grip.

Any amount of concave curve on the Comp SF 4.0 shaft wouldn't work. A more concave shape would make it more difficult for the grip coating to come into play. We touch on that in the next section.

One thing I noticed is that the diameter of the shaft felt a little smaller. It's a standard 1 inch thickness, but the lack of the pointy edges you get from concave shafts make it feel so.

It's nothing to worry about but it's good to know ahead of time that it'll feel different.

Grip

The grip. Oh how I love the grip!

It's not tacky, it's not sticky and it's not rough. It's ooooh so good! The weird thing is that the grip feels kind of smooth which is completely counter intuitive.

The grip is a result of tiny little glass beads or microspheres being incorporated into the shafts coating. The spheres reduce the surface area in contact with the gloves, thereby reducing the friction and allowing a faster transition of your hands on the shaft.

The surface is also matched to the palm of your gloves. So when you apply pressure to the shaft, the grip will engage and lock the two surfaces together, increasing your hold and control.

This style of grip is great for your gloves because it's consistent throughout the length of the shaft. It doesn't grab or catch your gloves like how grip tape or a rougher surface would.

Wear and tear

Being that we tested the Flex 6 I expected the flex to be noticeable, but it wasn't. The shaft was very firm and none of our players remarked on it. This is good because it makes for an easier transition from other metals.

During our testing, the shaft held up very well. After a couple of weeks of there were a couple of tiny chips out of it, but they were barely visible. But the most impressive aspect was no dents. Nada.

This shaft is pretty tough.

Summary

True Temper has been manufacturing shafts for decades and it's no surprise they've entered the lacrosse shaft market with a boom.

The Comp SF doesn't hold back and oozes top quality features. Excellent grip design, outstanding SmartPly manufacturing, innovative SmartFlex features, and a light weight profile make this a top of the line shaft.

It available in black, red, blue and white with a 6 month warranty.