Okay, here's a little morsel of experience for all of you who *think* you need stiffer shafts. Consider this. I play with 710 blades and have low single digit handicap, so as we all know, the shafts become ''whippy'' as they become more used, it's a simple metallurgical fact from wear and tear. I play a lot and practice a lot, so it was time to re-shaft the irons.
I had DGS S300 lites and switched to the Rifle PX 6.0 flighted shafts. My fore arms are KILLING ME !... These are wayyyy too stiff for my 51 year old body, I can even feel it in my knee's from swinging these "water pipe stiff" shafts. I shutter to think what the 6.5 or 7.0's must feel like.
here's where it was noticeable;
1. hands sore as hell, as theyre being pried open from no flex during heavy load portions of the swing.
2. From that comes OVER gripping the club trying to not let the club pry the hands/grip open. So fore arms are sore as hell too.
(squeeze hand really tight and feel the top of the forearm burn between the elbow and the wrist. )
3. Over compensating my ''hitting into a strong leg'' technique has caused my old, weak ass, knee's to be sore as hell too.
4. This is the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE RIGHT HERE. I LOST about 10 yards for EACH iron I have. I play 3- PW and ALL of them came up shorter and man did I look silly now being in every front guard bunker on the course. My bro's LOVED taking my money with these new shafts that I *thought* I was still strong enough to swing.
I decided to swallow my pride and turn in my "Man Club Card" and sulk back to the ''wimp golfer'' line and get weaker shafts. I switched back to Rifle, flighted 5.0's (very F-ing expensive), I didnt even stop at the 5.5's, I went STRAIGHT to the 5.0's and now Im right back to where I started with my accuracy in both ball flight and distance control.
I also feel GREAT after a round and sometimes can go 18 additional holes on the same day (if momma doesnt require my many, many services at home). The 5.0's are like a "R+", theyre a little stiffer than ''Regular'' flex.
So the moral of the story is this;
All you older guys (50 plus) need to embrace and accept the fact that stiffness of a club has EVERYTHING to do with how much money you win during a round and it most certainly doesnt mean your poor in bed if you use less stiff shafts either, so go down in ''stiffness'' and get closer to scratch and never mind the BS of swinging SUPER STIFF shafts unless you are a 22 year old lumberjack or a machinist who can use his hands as metal clamps, consider softer flex for treating your body better.
Here's another weird observation; I have a tipped ''XS'' driver shaft that only weighs 60 grams in my ''R9 Supa-Dupa Tri". Its as light as I could go with as stiff as I could get it. The "S" shafts are too soft for me on the long club as evidenced by the "too high" ball flight.
This is counter intuitive for me, but its the way that it is for whatever reasons.......
I can still hit my drives anywhere from 250 to 280 yards. Accuracy off the tee is the strong point of my game, I attribute it all to the shaft of my driver.
I can tell you this too, the mfg-ers of the shafts are BS-ing us all on their shafts, theyre ALL different from one shaft to another, even in the same brand, stiffness and model. I use a "tour" shaft that alone cost me 300 bones, but it is worth every bit of it.
If you find the right shaft for you, it'll change your life. It took me 8 years to figure this out and with all the new technology today it makes it even easier to find that correct shaft that fits YOU.
Edited by SoCal Blade - 11/13/12 at 1:35pm
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