shafts vs ball flight?

[Voiceontapex]

someone asked me the other day why there are so many different shafts out on the market, I told him I think there are low launch and high launch shafts

which he came back with how does a shaft determine the launch? shouldnt it be the loft of the club?

at which point uhhhhh ummmmm uhhhhh came into play

so my question is was i right telling him that the shafts have a little bit to do with trajectory?????

and if so, why??? lol I couldnt explain to him what the shafts significance is

can anybody explain what the different shafts do, and what exactly happens that makes the shaft do what they claim its suppose to do

[golfmonke]

I believe you need to look at it from 2 different perspectives:


LAUNCH ANGLE

The biggest factor in launch angle is the bend point and the stiffness of the tip.

The flex of the shaft has very little impact on launch angle when tested on a robot.

However I could see a human swinging slightly differently depending on the flex and therefore affecting launch.


SPIN

Then you've got to account for spin, which will affect whether the ball rises (balloons) has a flat trajectory or falls quickly. The flex of the shaft plays a big role here.

[denver_nuggs_15]

There are a bunch of threads on this, but high kickpoint=low launch and low kickpoint=high launch. Also, the flex helps to determine the ballflight (stiffer=lower).