I've waited an ample amount of time to post this. Invested in a driver in July 2024 at Club Champion. Shelled out $1200, and the experience truly changed my game from a driving perspective. Went from getting almost no roll at all to 30+ yards on average. Ended up with a Callaway Paradym Ai-Smoke Triple Diamond and the Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 5S (Velocore). I'm in the upper northeast US, so I played this club from end of July thru October (maybe 1-2 rounds a week on average), the full season of 2025 (maybe 2 days a week on average).
$1200 for a golf club mentally for me was quite a reach, so I have completely babied this thing. I don't slam it on the ground, I don't lean on it when I'm picking up my tee. I take the head off when I travel, etc.
Playing indoor golf this winter. Took a normal swing, and the shaft broke entirely in half in the follow through (directly over my head). Assistant club pro was sitting right behind me, along with my playing partners. He'd never seen such a thing.
Took it to Club Champion, they took picks and submitted it to Fujikura. Fujikura swiftly rejected the warranty claim, stating that they only cover shafts that break at the grip end or head end and that their clubs never break in the middle. I eventually had a conversation with Fujikura directly, had a great and civil conversation and was promised that they'd call me back. Completely ghosted. Followed up with an email, no reply. Ultimately copied the Club Champion folks onto an email to Fujikura expressing my disappointment.
I have zero beef with Club Champion. In fact, the fitter that sold me the club offered to cover it on his own, which I refused to let him do. Tremendous gesture.
I could never justify spending that kind of money on a setup if they can't even honor their 2-year warranty. Which, unfortunately for Club Champion, means I'm pretty much done there too.
I found the specs on the shaft, found a non-premium shaft with similar specs, ordered it on Amazon with the Callaway tip. It was delivered in 5 days, and I have to be honest - I can't even tell the difference.
Fujikura will never miss my business, but searching online I've found a number of people complaining of the same mid-shaft failure. Simply lazy and bad business practice to not honor a warranty on something that I'm sure they're making huge margin with.