What happens if your shaft flex is too flexible/stiff for your swing?

[FortAsel]

I'm just curious to know. I tryed to google it but I haven't found anything...

[Everardo]

Go see a fitter/clubmaker (or two) to verify whether it's too soft or if it's the shaft profile is not matched to your swing.

[FortAsel]

I wish I could... I live in portugal, near the lisbon, and we don't have a big golfing background (plus our mentality doesn't help because most of us prefer to have a big 20 something hcp to win club tournaments, rather than having a very low hcp to be in the hunt for big tournaments) so I don't know any guy that knows much about that subject. That's why I asked.

If your shafts are to flexible will you lose distance? I know that you'll lose control

[dreamsmith]

I guess the first response guy didn't understand or didn't care what your question was.;

If your shaft is too flexible, then the clubface will be open at impact, and the ball will either be sliced or pushed to the right. If the shaft is too stiff, the opposite will occur: the face will be closed, and the ball will be hooked or pulled to the left.

[FortAsel]

So what can happen with the too flexible type of shaft is that the balls will be going basically everywhere because I will have to try and compensate. Am I correct?

[joshtpa]

If the shaft is too flexible for your swing speed, the face will be open and most shots will go to the right if you are right handed.

[rebby]

If the shaft is too flexible for your swing speed, the face will be open and most shots will go to the right if you are right handed.

Or you will try to compensate for this in your swing and you'll just lose consistency. That's what I experienced with my old driver which had a shaft that was way to soft for my swing. When my timing was dead perfect, everything was fine. Otherwise I'd overload that old shaft pretty easily. Most of my bad misses were right but there were quite a few times where I'd guard against this by (unconsciously) changing my swing and end up left as well.

[Everardo]

If your shafts are to flexible will you lose distance? I know that you'll lose control

You'll loose accuracy and distance (the same is said can be said for too stiff a shaft) That's why I still say custom fitting is key.

[grantc79]

I'm just curious to know. I tryed to google it but I haven't found anything...

You won't be able to torque the shaft enough which will lead to wayward shots (especially pushes).

It will also lead to you trying to swing too hard to torque the shaft when you realize that this is the problem which means you'll develop bad timing and rhythm. At least this was the case for me before I was ready for them.

[bengals/redsox]

For me too flexible causes me to loose it left..hook too stiff causes me to loose it right push/fade because there is not enough torque in the shaft and hands are too slow through impact..just my 2 cents

[Dub]

Speaking just for myself....I've found that too weak of a shaft will allow me the wonderful power to spray the ball around while hitting higher than normal. The club simply feels too whippy and the head position at impact is more unpredictable.


Too heavy and I don't reach a nice mid trajectory and my shots fly shorter. Aim is usually on the right line....just no power.....no snap....no height on the ball.

[NBGC]

Shaft flex- how much the shaft bends during the swing from tip to handle.
Senior- more flex for slower swings to whip the clubhead and get more distance for a given swing speed.
Stiff- less flex, lowers traj normally. Argueably more control and less distance, tho golfers who use stiff/xstiff have SS's 100MPH+ so distance usually isn't an issue vs control.

Kickpoint- angle of launch (low, med, high) and traj.

Torque- clubhead twisting on the shaft. Higher ratings have more twisting effect.

I'm no tech, but just from researching here at TST and talking to the guys at my proshop and golfsmart-
To flexible- high traj's and spraying usually to the right.
To stiff- lower traj's and misses to the left with hook's.

Also take into consideration kickpoints and torque which whill also change your ballflight for a given flex.

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15918
Has some really good information I used.

[CG031]

Shaft flex- how much the shaft bends during the

I always thought it was like this:

Too flexible - H.T. and hooked shots To Stiff - L.T. and sliced shots although, i guess it really depends on your swing.

[NBGC]

Could very well be. I explained to the techs what my ball flight was doing and that's what they told me. Could also be the torque on the shaft as well as the swing.

[Everardo]

I guess the first response guy didn't understand or didn't care what your question was.;

Actually I did and do...I just don't feel that anyone can effectively be fit online. I also didn't tell him to see me but ANY clubmaker/clubfitter.

[NuclearMike]

I'm living proof that everything goes right unless I lower my swing speed, which matches what everything I see on the net says.  The reason shots go right is that the clubhead is turning past the optimal position (becoming CLOSED at impact) before you hit.  Shafts that are too stiff will cause you to hit it to the right as the clubhead is still too open at the time of impact. I've tried slowing down my swing but sometimes in the heat of competition it's hard to do that, so I've moved the ball forward a ball or two in my setup to compensate a little more.

[B of H]

for me:

stiffer (xs): lower, less spin and straighter

less stiff (s): higher, more spin and easy to hook or push

I have yet to encounter a shaft that is so stiff that I hit low fades like some people claim when a shaft is too stiff.

[shades9323]

Wholly thread revival batman!