Does my driver have the wrong shaft for me?

[weifert]

I'm a newbie. I've been trying to figure out why I can hit my irons well. But swinging the driver feels uncomfortable, and I never hit it well.

I realized that while my iron shafts are steel extra stiff, the driver staff is graphite and flexible. Could a flexible shaft be causing problems in a golfer's swing?

[Vinsk]

What brand and flex shaft do you have? Have you been fitted for your irons but not driver? Neither? If you’re happy with your irons fine, but take that driver and go get on a monitor and find your right shaft. 

[weifert]

9 hours ago, Vinsk said:

What brand and flex shaft do you have? Have you been fitted for your irons but not driver? Neither? If you’re happy with your irons fine, but take that driver and go get on a monitor and find your right shaft. 

The driver is a Titleist 983k driver with an "Ultralight" S shaft. A friend of mine gave it to me a couple of years ago.

I've never been fitted for clubs, and I'm happy with the irons. I'll definitely consider getting fitted for a driver.

[Vinsk]

9 minutes ago, weifert said:

The driver is a Titleist 983k driver with an "Ultralight" S shaft. A friend of mine gave it to me a couple of years ago.

I've never been fitted for clubs, and I'm happy with the irons. I'll definitely consider getting fitted for a driver.

Just as pure basic static read, if you’re fine with x-stiff shafts in your irons I doubt that shaft is right for you. Do you know your driver swing speed? Ultralight is probably too light for you. 

[weifert]

1 minute ago, Vinsk said:

Just as pure basic static read, if you’re fine with x-stiff shafts in your irons I doubt that shaft is right for you. Do you know your driver swing speed? Ultralight is probably too light for you. 

No on the swing speed, and I think a fitting would give me that information.

[Club Rat]

16 hours ago, weifert said:

Could a flexible shaft be causing problems in a golfer's swing?

A flexible shaft can be played by a player who becomes accustom to waiting for the club head to release at impact.
Not many players prefer a soft tipped driver for that reason.
You could remove the driver head and trim the tip which would make it stiffer.
Or replace the shaft or find a different driver.

A flexible shaft requires a long smooth swing arc and slower tempo, then increase hand speed through impact, IMO.
Being you indicate you like the stiff irons, then then driver you indicate is most likely not the club for you.

[JGus]

Based on looking at your My Swing thread, I would say that XStiff shafts on your irons are not the right shafts.  I don't think your swing speed is anywhere close to requiring XStiff, and a Stiff in your driver may be to much as well.  But that's just based on swing speed vs. shaft type.

[Cfmgolfer]

It could be all of the above, and also having to do with shaft length in the driver being that much longer than the irons.  Most golfers are more consistent with shorter clubs and get progressively worse at hitting the center of the face as the club gets longer.  Couple this with quite a few of us overswinging a driver due to our desire to hit it further can provide undesireable results.  I see that you are in the Cincinnati area - quite a few decent fitters in the area.  Miles of Golf and Golf Exchange are two of the better ones.  Exchange can give you some free fitting advice for a quick trial, and MOG you will have to book a fitting and it is quite a bit more expensive but most of the personnel at both are good.  

[butchammon]

This is a great thread...  As seen in the screen printed image (and imbedded text from Photoshop), I learned *the hard way*  about drivers and shaft flex over the years - believe me!

Confession:  I used to own an older Ping G10 driver with a 9° face and a stock Ping TFC129 (Stiff) shaft!  10 years ago - okay, fine - I could blast the ball off the tee, like we all could back in the day. But then something happened, where it was like I woke up one day, and couldn't hit the darn thing at all! Something seriously changed in me, where I'm getting older, and not as flexible anymore.  Oh well...  What I finally learned:  Too stiff of a shaft, and you'll only drive the ball about max 190-200 yards with a real low, 15' 20' high stinger, fading to the right.  Everyone, repeat after me:  DUH!! 🙄

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by butchammon
Added an image...

[Talldog]

On 8/5/2019 at 5:18 PM, JGus said:

Based on looking at your My Swing thread, I would say that XStiff shafts on your irons are not the right shafts.  I don't think your swing speed is anywhere close to requiring XStiff, and a Stiff in your driver may be to much as well.  But that's just based on swing speed vs. shaft type.

As I recall from another thread, the OP plays irons that are +1" in length. A longer shaft does two things:

1. makes the shaft play more flexible

2. increases the swing-weight

If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say the reason his driver feels strange compared to his irons, is the swing-weight of his driver is so different than his irons.

 

[weifert]

9 minutes ago, Talldog said:

As I recall from another thread, the OP plays irons that are +1" in length. A longer shaft does two things:

1. makes the shaft play more flexible

2. increases the swing-weight

If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say the reason his driver feels strange compared to his irons, is the swing-weight of his driver is so different than his irons.

 

This seems like the most plausible explanation to me. I'm just wondering if/how the difference in weight throws off my swing and prevents me from striking the ball well. And if so, how to correct that.