Stiff Shaft Drivers

[rossvanwyk]

TheSandTrap losing some real face here I'm afraid...

[bkoguy07]

Originally Posted by adhughesie

Ok so it must be my imagination!!!

Why is it so hard to believe??

As i said, i am 23, 5'11, 13.7 stone an ex rugby player and can one rep max in bench press is 125kg, therefore by general standards I would be strong.

If I was asking for help and advice on a forum, why the hell would i lie???? To boost my ego in front of people i dont know??

Also i greatly appreciate all of the advice that I am getting.

I mean its kind of hard to believe don't you think?  You hit it farther than many pro's.  Your benchpress of 275lbs has absolutly nothing to do with any part of your golf swing as it is a pressing movement.  I bench easily 45 more pounds than you and can hit it no where near as far as your 3 wood even with my driver.  I don't think you are lying but I just don't think you know how far you hit it.  Just post a video and everyone will shut up and start giving you real advice.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Yeah, I know, I'm working on it. Getting fit for a driver in any way soon, I don't like the one I have now, sounds terrible.

What is a bit weird is that I hit my 3 woods as far on a good strike. But OK, this thread is not about me, sorry.

I think a lot of players at our level aren't taking advantage of technology with their drivers. With wedges, irons, hybrids, and even fairway woods you want accuracy and distance control . With a driver you want accuracy, but you want to get the most distance. Otherwise why even carry it? A DG S300 shaft is still my choice in irons, but driver shafts these days are simply incredible. 15 years ago I'd have chuckled at the thought of carrying a 10.5 degree driver, but with the proper shaft it's much longer than I should be able to hit the ball (with my "LOFT"). On a really windy day I'll put the 8 degree back in the bag, but I might just go with a 3-wood on those days too.

[sbasson]

Originally Posted by adhughesie

Hi Guys, I have a general query changing shafts from a regular graphite to stiff in my driver.

I play off 7 and in getting down to 7 I have rarely used my Driver (Big Bertha Tit 454) I got it as a present numerous years ago but can never, no matter how good im playing can ever hit it. Instead I use my 3 wood which on the majority of occasions I hit between 280 and 300 yards roughy. I have a very fast swing and as a result I invested in a 1 iron (which has soon become 1 of my favourite clubs in the bag) but my thinking on the matter is that to bring my handicap down to 3/4 i need to sort out my driver as it is the 1 part of my game that suffers. I feel that if I can sort this out that because my irons in general from 3-SW are very good and solid I can progress further. All my irons are steel reg shafts while my 3 wood (although inconsistent) is mid firm.

I am wondering that due to my swing speed, natural build 5'11 and 13.7 stone (ex rugby player), youth and general fitness etc is replacing my reg shaft with stiff or x stiff shaft the answer. Taking into account that I am 22, a student and stone cold broke and that getting a pro's opinion would cost an arm and a leg.

Thanks,

AND COME ON RORY!!!!!

Hi There,

Here is a opinion from someone who  has played this game for a living for 13 years... I read all the comments from some of the other guys regarding your post. Now I make a living playing this game and knowing the game and equipment is part of my trade.

There is a miss perception that a Regular flex is too soft for you and a stiff shaft is always the answer! Let me explain to you something quick, and hopefully everyone else will read this. It is true that flex of a shaft will affect the flight of the ball and that is why some players need a slightly stiffer flex to help "square" the club up at impact. That's what a shaft does!  It assists the player to SQUARE the club at impact.Now if a shaft is too soft for you the flight of the ball will tend to go more right to left, the stiffer a shaft the harder you will have to swing it to get the shaft to SQUARE the club,so the more the ball will tend to fly to the right if you cant swing it fast enough. IT IS ALSO A REASON WHY SOME HIGHER HANDICAPPED PLAYERS FADE THE BALL EVEN MORE WITH A STIFFER SHAFT!!! Anyway, now think of this, if the shaft is too soft for you the ball will tend to DRAW more! so if your 3 wood is a strong loft of about 13 degrees and the shaft causes a draw flight, you will end up hitting it further than most guys hit a driver! It does not make you super human but i can be very inconsistent in flight and distance! Getting a stiffer shaft will maybe promote a slightly lower flight and less distance but it can be more consistent.

Using a 1 iron is fun sometimes, however the carry through the air is not always as far as a metal wood might be. So even though you get lots of roll and distance from it, a lofted metal wood might be more consistent and it seems like that is what you need more than distance!

Please feel free to ask me anything else you want to know and it wont cost you a cent!!

Besides it is nice to have a few extra spare "miles per hour" in the tank!!!!

Have fun, and remember sometimes your equipment restricts your ability!

Regards,

Steve

[sbasson]

Originally Posted by bkoguy07

I mean its kind of hard to believe don't you think?  You hit it farther than many pro's.  Your benchpress of 275lbs has absolutly nothing to do with any part of your golf swing as it is a pressing movement.  I bench easily 45 more pounds than you and can hit it no where near as far as your 3 wood even with my driver.  I don't think you are lying but I just don't think you know how far you hit it.  Just post a video and everyone will shut up and start giving you real advice.

Hello, I'm a professional player, and if you understand what a combination of loft, shaft flex and and club head speed can do to ball flight you might want to consider that hitting a 3 wood that far is actually possible but, however the consistency of that distance might vary dramatically!

I see often on tour guys that hit metal 3 woods outrageous distances, but remember its shorter than a driver and has more loft! so if the shaft flex assists in generating more club head speed than the flex in your driver, you Will end up with a situation where you have two clubs in your bag that goes the same distance.... Again its not super human, its a bad Shaft, loft and flex combination!

Regards,

Steve

[sbasson]

Originally Posted by nickel_aTm

Is it even possible to have club head speed to hit 3-wood 280-300 "average" with a regular flex shaft?

Please read my answer to this!

[Snowman80]

Now that was some very interesting and knowledgable reading.Thank you very much Steve...

[sbasson]

Hey! No problem! I am glad i can help! I make a living from this and its my need to know this, to share it with you guys is a pleasure!

Steve

Originally Posted by Snowman80

Now that was some very interesting and knowledgable reading.Thank you very much Steve...

[Stretch]

Putting aside the other elements of the discussion so far, it might be worth noting that there is no standard whatsoever for the common designations of regular, stiff etc. among different shaft manufacturers. One particular shaft model in R flex may well be stiffer (in the textbook sense of overall resistance to bending in the longitudinal plane) than another shaft model's S flex or even X flex. And that doesn't even take into account the differences in their overall bend profiles -- ie. the relative distribution of that stiffness over the length of the shaft (butt section relative to mid section relative to tip section.)

So, honestly, without some sort of legitimate effort at fitting, generically recommending a "stiff" shaft over a "regular" shaft (or vice versa) to someone based on reported yardages or swing speed is just pissing in the wind.

[texsurf21]

My thought is this.  You have some kind of swing flaw.  I myself am 5'11" and 205 lbs, pretty close to your 191 lbs.  In one of your posts you mention you hit the PW 150+, but your 3 iron only 205, then your 3W 280-300.  Here are my distance to give you a comparison.

PW - 140 avg.

4I - 225 avg.

3W - 260 avg.  varies from 240-280 depending on condition.

Driver - 265-300 yards.  Occasionally I get a hold of one that goes 330 or so.

I play to around a 7, but lately it feels more like  a 12.  When I was fitted my swing speeds with the driver ranged from 102-108 mph.  The fastest I ever swung was 112, but that was completely out of my shoes and uncontrolled.  I don't have a single club without  stiff shaft.  Both of my drivers have Aldila NV 65S.  Hope this helps a little.

[Daniel Watkins]

Because the longest hitters on any tour can only hit a 3W 300 yds by swinging out of their shoes.  I'm not hating, im just giving you the facts

[Ctp722]

If you can hit a 3W 280-300 then there should be no reason you need a driver.

Once you get into the 150yd marker that's all you need to do to give yourself a chance to birdie the hole.

[Unforgiven93]

So, you mentioned that you hit a PW about 150, that's about what I hit mine.  You also said you hit your 3 iron around 210,  that's relatively close to me.  I hit my PW about 150, and I hit my 3i about 230.  Irons can vary in distance by a pretty significant amount because of loft differences between companies.  My swing speed averages about 117, which is definitely x-stiff (I think 110+ is usually recommended x stiff?).  I have x-stiff on all of my clubs.  I'm not going to debate whether or not it's possible to hit a 3w 280 yards, just going to answer the question, and my answer is yes, if you're hitting it that far, you should definitely be using extra stiff.  I don't know if that will solve the problems you're having with your driver, but it's the right flex for you.

[RC]

The answer to shaft stiffness is for a person to keep getting stiffer and stiffer shafts until ball control is good.  You might even get slightly shorter with stiffer shafts, but if your accuracy increases then use stiffer shafts.  This is an old Hogan idea.  Generally higher swing speeds suggest stiffer shafts as has been pointed out.  When my swing speed with a driver was over 120 mph, I used an X-shaft.  However, now that I am down to 100 to 105 mph, I still use an X-shaft because my dispersion pattern is much better.  Your type of swing plays a huge role in what shaft stiffness you should select.  I tried a stiff shaft and was a little longer, but I hit lots of pushes and a few pulls.