Teach me about drivers, especially shafts

I am a new golfer, with eight months of experience under my belt. I just started trying to learn to use a driver over the last few weeks.  Before that, I would just play with my 7-iron and up.  Anyways, I have two loaner drivers, and I have noticed that my results seem completely different with them.  Here is what they have written on the clubs and shafts:

TaylorMade Burner 9.5 ° with Fujikura RE-AX S-flex shaft, 4.3 ° torque, 50 grams

Callaway Big Bertha 10 ° with ProLaunch Blue 65S shaft, 2.8 ° torque, 64 grams

I have experimented enough with these two drivers to have made a few observations.

1. The trajectory is way higher with the first driver.  It doesn't even look normal.  Sometimes it looks like I hit a 9-iron, even when I tee the ball lower.  With the second driver, the trajectory looks about right (maybe even piercing on my best shots).

2. Still trying to get a handle on my swing, I can have misses in both directions.  With the first driver, the misses seem to be much more severe.  When I hook or slice, the curve is much more pronounced with the first driver.  I almost never hit a fade or draw with the first driver.  It's usually slice or hook.  With the second driver, I can hit fades and draws.  Not saying I can choose my ball flight.  I just know how to correct and make a small adjustment from whatever my previous swing was.

3. I am capable of hitting the second driver reasonably straight maybe 50% of the time.  With the first driver, my success rate is somewhere south of 25%.

So here are some questions I have...

1. If these two drivers had the exact same shafts, how much difference would there between them?  In other words, would it even be noticeable for me as a beginner?

2. What exactly is the difference between these two shafts?

3. Do shafts really make this much difference?  For some reason, I was under the impression that only top level golfers would need to concern themselves with this sort of thing.

Edit: I just looked up the torque ratings and weights on these two shafts, and added them to this post.

http://www.taylormadegolfpreowned.com/custom/shafts.aspx

http://www.grafalloy.com/newsite/pdf/2011_Product_Spec_Trimming_Guide_Online.pdf

we have some pretty knowledgeable people on here, so i will let them speak to the specs and science of it all...but shafts matter, especially in drivers. the weight and flex play an important role and would play a part in the different trajectories you are seeing.

again, im sure some of the sand trap guys will chime in to help out, but as a quick answer....shafts matter :)

1. There would be no difference between the clubs except for the heads, the loft, feel, and forgiveness of those heads.

2. I'm not 100% sure about the logistics of how the shaft is built (tip stiff, butt stiff, kick, etc), but the weight difference between the two shafts is significant.

3. For a beginner, it is not the deal breaker in your swing.

The loft on the first driver is probably too low for a beginner, and the shaft has more torque which will cause more twist in the shaft by the clubhead. I think the Callaway is the club currently for you.

This is just what I know from my own driver fitting. There are many people who can give you an even more detailed response than I can.

I believe your Burmer, if it's a 2009-2010 model,  is an inch or more longer than the Callaway. I own a 10.5 degree Burner with a standard shaft. It's light and the shaft is too long for me at 5' 7". If I grip down on it and slow my swing down, I hit it well at the range. I usually forget at the course.

When I recently regripped it, I took an inch off the butt end. Very unscientific and anti-club fitter, but seems to work better for me.

I should have mentioned that I choked down quite a bit on both drivers (somewhere between two to three inches), and swung nice and slow.

Can anyone else help me to understand how much the different torque ratings on these two shafts should affect my trajectory and shot dispersion?

I am far from knowledable on this subject, but I can share something I have heard about shafts recently. If anything I say is misguided, please correct me!

With a regular shaft, the clubhead "lags" behind a bit on a fast swing. Changing to a stiffer shaft reduces that lag. Some lag is desirable, but not too much. If you're using a stiff shaft and aren't swinging fast, the clubhead is probably not lagging enough, which may hurt performance.

Then again, my driver is my least faithful club, so take whatever I've said with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone else can verify or alter what I've said.