What Is the Distance Gain From Stiff to Regular Shaft?

[very handicap]

When I first started golfing, I used to hit hard and my average driving was around 270 yards. As a result, I was custom fitted with a stiff shaft during one of the fitting session several years ago. Over the last few years, I noticed my driving distance is reducing. Partly due to age, and partly due to controlled swing as i value accuracy more these days. Hence, my driving is only about 220 yards. This makes playing blue tee a bit of a struggle some times. I'm thinking of going back to the club fitter and get fitted with a regular shaft. Before I do that, I just want to find out from the folks here if anyone has similar experience and how much distance gain you can get for changing the driver shaft from stiff to regular. Many thanks.

[shades9323]

There really is no way to tell since there are so many shafts and there is no standard for what is a regular flex or what is a stiff flex. Getting fit for your driver shaft is a great way to get the right shaft no matter what flex it is.

I would also suggest moving up to the white tees instead of playing the blues.

Originally Posted by very handicap

When I first started golfing, I used to hit hard and my average driving was around 270 yards. As a result, I was custom fitted with a stiff shaft during one of the fitting session several years ago.

Over the last few years, I noticed my driving distance is reducing. Partly due to age, and partly due to controlled swing as i value accuracy more these days. Hence, my driving is only about 220 yards. This makes playing blue tee a bit of a struggle some times.

I'm thinking of going back to the club fitter and get fitted with a regular shaft. Before I do that, I just want to find out from the folks here if anyone has similar experience and how much distance gain you can get for changing the driver shaft from stiff to regular.

Many thanks.

[tx_basser]

I did the same about 6 years ago, I went from Stiff to Firm (Inbetween Stiff and Regular) and tipped them with little weight to get some snap on them.  I went Regular on my driver, and increased the loft on the head from 10.5 to 12 degrees. It help quite a bit overall, as I was looking to get the ball more in the air thus increasing my distance.

[very handicap]

What is the distance gain?  10%?

[saevel25]

If you lost 10% from going from a regular to a stiff shaft then you were not fitted right. There is not general rule of thumb saying a less stiff shaft goes farther. Its all relative to your own golf swing. I bounced from a stiff to an x-stiff driver shaft, and i didn't see any drop in distance.

[kevin.chan]

For Driver , I am hitting further than I used to , due to better fitting process and better shaft . I have been using stiff for the last 12 years . On irons , I hit shorter than I use to . From 6.0 to 5.5 . I swing with slower but with better tempo than I used to. I was killing the ball previously by hitting them really hard .

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by shades9323

There really is no way to tell since there are so many shafts and there is no standard for what is a regular flex or what is a stiff flex. Getting fit for your driver shaft is a great way to get the right shaft no matter what flex it is.

I would also suggest moving up to the white tees instead of playing the blues.

^^^ This.

[very handicap]

Kevin,

Are you suggesting we should have 2 type of swings.  The first is a driver swing where you bomb the driver as hard as you can, and the second is an iron swing where you use a nice tempo slower swing for accuracy.  Can this be done?  I always thought that we should use one swing for all clubs in the bag.  I could be wrong.

[dbuck]

As Shades said, there is no real standard for stiff, regular, etc, though it is somewhat more precise in some shaft brands than others. Years ago, a friend of mine had the same set of irons as me but with stiff shaft as opposed to my regular, yet I could hit his about 1 club longer because the flight suited my swing better. A "regular" shaft will not necessarily give you more distance and you may lose some control if you are focusing on hitting fairways.

Driver distance is a combination of launch angle and ball speed and spin which is a result of shaft flex, torque, and kick point, combined with the loft and design of the driver head.  A lot of us with a driver swing speed around 90-100 will need a launch angle of  around 12-14 degrees and backspin of around 2400-2900--these are very general numbers-- but that is what they tell me for optimum distance. Another variable is the ball you use. Each of these optimized might only add a couple of yards individually, but the combination will add up.

A good club fitter can help you find the right combination of shaft and head to optimize the distance from your swing. If you at least know your swing speed that is a help. I really got lucky with mine as I did not have a monitor or anything, but wound up with a combination that is working well for me. I am older, but really hitting it maybe longer than ever.

Moving up a set of tees is no disgrace, I am 15.9 index and can occasionally hit it 270+, but I play the whites(regular tees) and enjoy it. Somewhere around 6400-6600 is a  good length for me, our blues are 7100.

A long answer to your seemingly simple question; a shorter answer is a regular shaft won't necessarily give you more distance, but the right shaft will optimize the distance from your swing.

[NHpro]

My experience has been that you will benefit from going to regular shaft flex if your swing speed is correct for them vs using stiff flex with the slower swing speed.

 

[MacDutch]

4 hours ago, NHpro said:

My experience has been that you will benefit from going to regular shaft flex if your swing speed is correct for them vs using stiff flex with the slower swing speed.

 

Wow what an eye-opener. Topic starter will be pleased to hear. Wait... you are 7 years late to the topic 🤷‍♂️

[ndabunka]

16 minutes ago, MacDutch said:

Wow what an eye-opener. Topic starter will be pleased to hear. Wait... you are 7 years late to the topic 🤷‍♂️

He says to a guy about a 7 year old thread itself that never ACTUALLY provided any REAL guidance in the first place.  A bit ironic, don't you think?

How about this.  Assuming that the OP has a consistant tempo that does not "require" a stiffer shaft, he can generally gain about 3% by moving from the same manufacturer's stiff to regular as long as his driver speed isn't over 100 MPH.  On the other hand, should his swing speed be from 105 to 110, he will actually hit it FURTHER with a stiff shaft as such speed is capable of providing him the shaft action necessary to get greater distance

Edited August 21, 2018 by ndabunka

[William Easson]

I'm 77 and used stiff shafts throughout for over 60 years. I switched to regular on professional advice but found I hit my irons "fat" and gained nothing in distance. I have returned to stiff (DG S300 in the irons and Aldila S in the woods) and hit the ball MUCH better. In any event, distance is only one factor in good golf.

[arturo28mx]

In my experience, the only way to properly compare "regular" vs "stiff" is if we are dealing with the exact same brand and model shaft. Comparing flexes of different brands or even different models in the same brand is no good.

In the exact same brand and model shaft, a "regular" flex will give you a slightly higher ball flight than stiff. For some people this may mean more distance, for some people it may mean less distance. You just have to experiment. A regular flex will also give you slightly more dispersion than stiff flex.

I normally choose a shaft based on weight, and once I have the right weight I fine tune ball trajectory with flex.

[3jacker]

I hit my X 5 yds further on avg than any of my S shafts, because they are too soft.  When I'm really swinging well, the delta is larger.  Same shaft otherwise.