Shafts 101 & 201

[tbjohnston]

Can anyone point me to a good summary of how an aspiring and improving golfer should think about shafts?

I've dropped my index over the past 3 years from 19+ to 13+, with corresponding improvements in distance, accuracy, short game, sand play (probably the biggest single improvement), and putting.

My goal for next summer is single digits.

One of the guys who is among the longest and most accurate hitters I know - - mentioned that he believes the shaft is the most important part of his gear.

Thanks.

[jcrob902]

Yeah, I'd say thats probably true in most cases, you should go to a custom fitter or some place with a launch monitor to get your swing checked out, down the street a pro shop got one of those new $50,000.00 similator's with a driving range on it that tells you everything from spin rate, clubhead speed,angle of attack and even smash factor it helped me get my driver back on track I went from my new G10,graffaloy pro launch red S flex 10.5* back to my old original Nike SQ with a new Aldila VS 65 S flex 9.5* my launch angle went from 17.5* to 12.9* and my spin rate came dowm from 4200 rpm to 3300 rpm still not great spin but I went from 230-240 all the way up to 260-270.

[wachesawgolfer]

Lots of hype on shafts. I personally would continue to improve with what you are using which seems to be working very well. Once you get on the gear merry- go-round, its tough to jump off.

[anthonykim3]

shafts are the engine of the golf club and once you get a fitted shaft you will be amazed at the diffrence go get fitted for a shaft and you will be happy you did. i got fiited into a proforce v2 stiff and i gained 10 yards. You will most likely gain more yards then me the stock shaft was pretty much fitted to me i was great with it but the proforce brought my spin down to 2600 so i gain 10 yards.

[cigarnut81]

Here is a link with more info on shafts than you will ever want to know!!!
http://www.wishongolf.com/etechreport/2006/june/

[tbjohnston]

  cigarnut81 said:

Here is a link with more info on shafts than you will ever want to know!!!

Thank you!

[cigarnut81]

  tbjohnston said:

Thank you!

You are welcome. I hope it is not to much.

[jcrob902]

He's not lying, just go to a fitter and trust the #'s you get, no matter what your loyalty to brand name the right shaft clubhead combo will blow your mind.although I'll be visiting that site he suggested I'm a club junkie

[Righty to Lefty]

  wachesawgolfer said:

Lots of hype on shafts.

No way man. A shaft is about the only way you can gain 10-20 yards without increasing your swingspeed. The way that the club head is delivered at impact is the most important factor on a club in my opinion with the grip being second and then the clubhead being last. They did a bigtime shaft test of high end golf shafts on bombsquad golf's website and they showed the difference between a good shaft and a bad shaft. They put the shaft in an Iron Byron and what was crazy is that you would think that the machine would just stripe the target line over and over but it doesn't. Some of the shafts would miss

25 yards right or left of target and they weren't cheap shafts. But the high end shafts would miss 10-15 yards right of target, BUT they would make the same miss over and over and so they were predictable and that is what separates a good shaft from a bad shaft. Oh and to give you and idea of the caliber of shaft that they were using the Proforce V2 75 gram shaft ranked at about 42 out of about 45 shafts tested. The testers couldn't believe that there was so much error in golf shafts and it proved that sometimes you make a good swing and don't necessarily get good results.

[DaveLeeNC]

There is a bunch of information at Dave Tutelman's site - http://www.tutelman.com/golf/index.php .

FWIW, shafts can be a big deal for golfers with a lot of lag and a late release (Sergio would be the poster child for this). The leverage is much reduced for typical golfers (with much less lag).

My lag is not that great and my swing is way onto the long/smooth side. I like some shafts better than others, but the results (shaft to shaft) don't change that much. With more lag or a more aggressive swing, that would probably not be the case.

dave

[DaveLeeNC]

  Righty to Lefty said:

No way man. A shaft is about the only way you can gain 10-20 yards without increasing your swingspeed. The way that the club head is delivered at impact is the most important factor on a club in my opinion with the grip being second and then the clubhead being last. They did a bigtime shaft test of high end golf shafts on bombsquad golf's website and they showed the difference between a good shaft and a bad shaft. They put the shaft in an Iron Byron and what was crazy is that you would think that the machine would just stripe the target line over and over but it doesn't. Some of the shafts would miss

Do you have a link to that by any chance - I'd be very interested in reading it.

FWIW, There are a number of differences in the motion of an Iron Byron swing vs. a golfer's swing. The big ones are the 'clamp' which is much more rigid than the hands (I'm not sure that this is a big deal, BTW) and the fact that Iron Byron is a single axis swing vs. a golfer's swing with a bunch of rotation. That latter factor might be important - don't really know. dave

[Righty to Lefty]

  DaveLeeNC said:

Do you have a link to that by any chance - I'd be very interested in reading it.

You have to go to their website and sign up for an account and then you can access their info because they only let members read there tests. I couldn't believe it when some of the shafts were missing 25 yards right and then on the next swing 25 yards left. That is a crazy amont of deviation from the center line. They said that the differene between those two numbers is what separates good shafts and bad shafts. That shaft would have 50 yards deviation while the 15 Matrix Ozik shafts tested (pretty much the best shaft in the world) would have less than 5 because it would make the same mistake over and over. I've heard about the clamp on Iron Byron not being able to simulate human hands but that clamp actually helps the shaft perform at their best because the shaft acts more as it should at impact. Basically you have to find the correct shaft and flex that helps you deliver the club to the ball with maximum lag no matter what company or flex it is. If you need senior flex because it maximizes your game roll with it.

[DaveLeeNC]

  Righty to Lefty said:

You have to go to their website and sign up for an account and then you can access their info because they only let members read there tests. I couldn't believe it when some of the shafts were missing 25 yards right and then on the next swing 25 yards left. That is a crazy amont of deviation from the center line. They said that the differene between those two numbers is what separates good shafts and bad shafts. That shaft would have 50 yards deviation while the 15 Matrix Ozik shafts tested (pretty much the best shaft in the world) would have less than 5 because it would make the same mistake over and over. I've heard about the clamp on Iron Byron not being able to simulate human hands but that clamp actually helps the shaft perform at their best because the shaft acts more as it should at impact. Basically you have to find the correct shaft and flex that helps you deliver the club to the ball with maximum lag no matter what company or flex it is. If you need senior flex because it maximizes your game roll with it.

I'm registered there (BombSquad) but didn't see that article. I'll inquire there to find the article/report/review. If what you reported can be applied directly to a human swinging a golf club, then it (to my way of thinking) has huge implications for shaft fitting that I don't recall ever hearing.

Thanks. dave

[Righty to Lefty]

  DaveLeeNC said:

I'm registered there (BombSquad) but didn't see that article. I'll inquire there to find the article/report/review. If what you reported can be applied directly to a human swinging a golf club, then it (to my way of thinking) has huge implications for shaft fitting that I don't recall ever hearing.

Once you log in click on the forums page (top left corner) then go to the tour issue + super high end equipment forum, then " Final shaft test rankings 2007" then scroll down through the first page of reader comments and "Big Hitter" comments in a couple of his responses as to why a good shaft is good and a bad shaft is bad. It is very intersting and it will definately make you realize that the shaft is the most important part of the club. If a robot making the exact same swing over and over can't hit the target line consistently from swing to swing and will miss the target 25 yards right then 25 yards left then the human error is gonna really exaggerate it!

[DaveLeeNC]

  Righty to Lefty said:

Once you log in click on the forums page (top left corner) then go to the tour issue + super high end equipment forum, then " Final shaft test rankings 2007" then scroll down through the first page of reader comments and "Big Hitter" comments in a couple of his responses as to why a good shaft is good and a bad shaft is bad. It is very intersting and it will definately make you realize that the shaft is the most important part of the club. If a robot making the exact same swing over and over can't hit the target line consistently from swing to swing and will miss the target 25 yards right then 25 yards left then the human error is gonna really exaggerate it!

Thanks. I do believe that I've got some reading to do

dave ps. Just to save others (if interested) the lookup process. http://www.bombsquadgolf.com/invboar...owtopic=162927