Age vs. Shaft Stiffness (Golf Club Shaft)

[Duffy]

Hi guys,

I'm interested in knowing how many men play stiff shafts past the age of 60. I bought my Burners last year based on my age rather than my swing speed so I bought reg flex. Yesterday I was told by the folks at Golfsmith that I should be swinging stiff shafts. I'm not so certain that I want to buys a new set. What say you?

[Slammin' Sam]

I'm 53 and played stiff shafted clubs when I was in my 30s but as my swing speed slowed down in my mid to late 40s my golf pro recommended I switch over to regular flex. There used to be a conventional wisdom that people over 50 should play senior flex or soft regular or a flex clubs but this is by no means a universal truth. Your shaft flex should be geared to swing speed, not to age. I know many golfers over 50 who still have high enough swing speeds that make stiff shafted clubs more suitable to their game. If Golfsmith says you should be using stiff shafted clubs by all means follow their advice,

[shades9323]

Hi guys,

Are you having problems controlling your irons? If not, if it isn't broken...

FTR I am 30 and play regular shafts in my irons.

[sean_miller]

I'm "only" in my 40s and my gear is all S shafts - in 20 years we'll see how that works out since I might be using the same irons. Not hitting the sweet spot every time extends their lifespan.

Anyway, I played 18 holes at River Bend last year with a couple in their mid-60s. They both walked. He carried while she used a pull/push cart (can't remember which way she went). He was using a G5 driver with stock S shaft. There was a double tee-box on # 9 (shared with the par 3 third) and another member asked him if he'd picked up a new driver yet. I asked him why he was looking for a new driver, since he was smashing the G5. He says, "he's still needling me because he outdrove me on #6 last week". The guy making the comment was about 50 years old. It was cool.

[Fourputt]

Age has nothing to do with it... or at least it's no more than a contributing factor. It's determined more by swing speed and clubhead speed. If you tend to swing violently... that is you have a fast backswing and a quick transition, then you might need the stiffer shaft even if your clubhead speed is average. On the other hand, if you are a smooth swinger with a wide arc, you might be better off with a softer shaft even though you might have a higher than average clubhead speed. Only a good clubfitter can tell you for sure what's right for you.

I'm 63 and I've used regular flex shafts almost all of my life, despite the fact that I'm 6'2" and have weighed from 230-280 during most of my playing days.

[WUTiger]

Three different teaching pros have told me that the average golfer should dump the stiff shafts about age 53.

I played stiff shafts until just 2008-09, and have switched to regular (Uniflex in irons) except for my GW and SW. I have had three assorted surgeries since 2005, and despite rehab-going to the gym I lost some brute strength. Also, I had adjusted my basic stroke from hitter to swinger.

The two seasons before the club switch, I was having trouble bending the shafts, was losing distance, and my swing tempo pretty well left. Since switching to regular (at age 58), I have had several good streaks of holes, and have broken 90 twice this year.

My suggestion is get on the launch monitor, and see which flex and shaft gives you the best trajectory and ball speed. Also, try out the Mizuno shaft optimizer - I've talked to some people who said it narrowed down the forest of shaft types to a few that might work for you.

Any feedback on M's shaft optimizer?

[double_j]

I wouldn't have thought of this thread title in a dirty sense if the OP didn't add the parenthetical clarification to ensure that people knew he wasn't trying to be dirty. How ironic.

OK - who am I kidding? My response would have been Viagra either way. I can't help myself.

[double_j]

But seriously - if you're hitting the ball well, why bother changing? Who cares what the folks at GolfSmith say.

[Duffy]

But seriously - if you're hitting the ball well, why bother changing? Who cares what the folks at GolfSmith say.

Ithink I agree. For what ever eason, the only club that I have a concern with is a Hybrid. I hook the crap out of a hybrid with a reg flex and hit the snot out of a stiff flex. So..... I recon I'll just get the hybrid with the stiff flex and not worry about the rest.

[double_j]

Ithink I agree. For what ever eason, the only club that I have a concern with is a Hybrid. I hook the crap out of a hybrid with a reg flex and hit the snot out of a stiff flex. So..... I recon I'll just get the hybrid with the stiff flex and not worry about the rest.

Very well could be the case - different shafts from different manufacturers will not have consistent flex ratings. Could also be a number of other things (draw biased clubface vs. nonbiased, etc.) but all that matters is that you find a club you're comfortable with, whatever the reason.

[Curt]

I had been playing regular (xp95 R-flex steel) and making progress - I just really picked up this game about five years ago, at age 50+ - but then at the bad advice of a perfunctory fitter at Golftec, I switched over to heavier stiffer shafts... and my progress stopped completely and maybe went backwards.  It seemed like good advice at the time, and stroked my ego a bit because in fact I have lifted weights for forty years and I'm stronger and fitter than most 55 year olds, but I always kind of suspected that the advice was a bit weird even as I spent a bunch of money on Apex cf16 w DG300-S shafts....

Finally, being frustrated by stagnation, I recently I got two more fittings, one a less thorough one at Golf Galaxy, and one thorough one at Club Champion.  Both put me in lightweight graphite shafts for all the clubs.  However, Galaxy said light graphite stiff... and Club Champion said graphite regular.  Different shafts though, and indeed different heads... Galaxy was RogueX w Recoil 460 S.  Champion was regular Rogue w Fuji Vista Pro 70 R.  I'd be much better off with either, instead of the heavy stiff steels that I've been trying to play with.  I guess I'm more confident in the Champion diagnosis, ultimately.  

Until I can afford all the custom shafting of the Champion selections, as a holdover compromise I'll play some stock xp95 R-flex steel regular Rogues and try some stock regular Rogues in their Aldila 60ir graphite R-flex also and see how that goes.  It'll definitely be better for me than the DG300-S that the Golftec guy told me to use.

Oh, another interesting thing... instead of a Rogue 10.5 stiff driver, we got much better results at Champion with a Rogue 13.5 R-flex... higher, longer, straighter, more consistent (the straighter and more consistent with R-flex surprised me, but the data was clear as could be.).

[SteveH]

I think it depends on swing tempo and swing speed, not age.  I am 62 and the last time I checked my driver swing speed was 106 and they told me to stick with S shafts. I was also told that because my tempo is quick that is another reason to stay with S shafts.  I was having a bit of an issue with my hybrid and tried a different one with some adjustment capability. I did not like the feel of the regular shaft in the one I tried vs the stiffer shaft so I am planning to stay with S shafts until my swing speed begins to decline. A friend recently bought a new driver on sale and has not been happy with it. I hit it just fine, whereas he has trouble getting a good ball flight with it. He has a much slower clubhead speed but made a mistake of not checking the shaft and bought one with an S shaft, instead of R.

[dbuck]

I know, I should get fitted properly.

With that out of the way, I am 60 and just went through my bag and stuck with stiff shafts. While I did not have a proper fitting, I did hit a few different shafts on the monitor, and my dispersion was better with stiff with insignificant differences in distance. I also know, "feel ain't real", but I just seem to have more control with stiff, and my irons especially go high enough.

Edited December 7, 2018 by dbuck

[arturo28mx]

A word of caution. In my experience of many years playing  many shaft brands and models, "regular" in a light shaft is considerably softer than "regular" in a heavy shaft, even in same brand shafts. True Temper XP95 vs True Temper Dynamic Gold would be a good example.

Edited December 9, 2018 by arturo28mx

[Curt]

17 minutes ago, arturo28mx said:

A word of caution. In my experience of many years playing  many shaft brands and models, "regular" in a light shaft is considerably softer than "regular" in a heavy shaft, even in same brand shafts. True Temper XP95 vs True Temper Dynamic Gold would be a good example.

Likewise a "stiff" in a light shaft is considerably softer than "stiff" in heavier?  

Is is possible that a "stiff" in a light shaft may even be close to the profile of a "regular" in a slightly heavier shaft of the same material... or of a shaft from a different brand?

[MarvChamp]

On 8/12/2010 at 10:31 AM, Fourputt said:

Age has nothing to do with it... or at least it's no more than a contributing factor.

@Duffythis is correct. I'm 73 and I do play senior or soft-stepped regular. But more due to the effects of the onset of RA than age. A friend plays stiff and does well...says he doesn't have to worry so much with tempo. Best, -Marv