theoretical discussion about flex

[doublesuited77]

topic came up at dinner last night.

which would have a greater effect-- a player playing with shafts too stiff for them or with too much flex.

my response was too much flex was better since you can slow down your swing speed with accuracy much more easily than you can speed it up. the other 2 guys disagreed.

[Dent]

I also think too much flex, ive tried a driver with too much flex and your body is easily infront of the ball before the club is, which will easily cause a slice. Its awful.

[bigD728]

When i was 12 i tried out a driver in a launch monitor and it had regular flex and the ball would always horribly slice. The guy there gave me a driver with an extra stiff shaft and i hit it straight for some reason. Now with my swing speed i "should" have just a stiff flex but i always hit extra stiff better. So i think it is better to er on the stiffer side.

[allin]

IMO overly stiff is better than overly whippy, (barely). I base this on the theory that straight and short is better than long and crooked. For brand new golfers I might reverse this since they wouldn't have as much ability to adjust.

[powerhitter]

In theory a shaft that is not stiff enough is better for you because you can reduce your swing speed to adjust, while the opposite may not be true. Now I lean more towards the stiffer shafts in actual practice because I can not swing slow enough to consistently hit the ball with a shaft that is not stiff enough.

[sboardz006]

I'd rather the shaft be too stiff. Before I got new clubs around a month ago, I was playing with shafts with too much flex & it was awful. No matter how good of a swing i put on the ball, the club head was staying open, causing me to hit a bad slice.

[Spamination]

if you have a tendency to block a shaft that's too loose, I would say you aren't getting a good whiplash effect with your hands.

if you notice on all the swing videos out there on the net, the best swings (like tiger's swing)...you'll see the following:
you'll see tiger's legs stop moving, then you'll see his shoulders stop moving, then you'll see his arms stop moving. The final move of tiger's down swing are his wrists. When you get this uncoiling move that all powerful golf swings have, you'll tend to hook your drives when using an overly flexible shaft.

If you tend to leave the face open with an overly flexible shaft, you aren't maximizing your distance potential b/c you aren't uncoiling properly.

That being said, I would always side with a stiffer shaft. Like the other poster said, straight and short is better than long and errant.

Trying to slow down your swing for a loose shaft brings too many variables into play. And if you are swing faster and faster? why slow down your swing? The only time I slow down my swing is when i'm under 110 yards in and have to use touch.

[Ringer]

topic came up at dinner last night.

That's not exactly a well phrased question since flex itself influnces your swing. Too stiff will promote one thing while too flexible will promote another.

If what you meant to ask is "Which flex will promote a better swing, too stiff or too flexible?" then I would go with the latter. It promotes a stronger release and better timing of the armswing to the body. Too stiff and people usually end up trying to pull the club around causing them to loose their axis tilt. Plus with flexible shafts you can FEEL the clubhead and learn from it, but with too stiff you can't. You can only guess what the clubhead is doing by watching the ball fly.

[lamebums]

Recently, my buddies ask me why I'm using a garden hose for a shaft (or so it seems from how much the club bends when I swing). I'm slicing and pulling all my drives, a problem which has only crept into my game in the last week or so. I'm using a regular flex shaft, and I will probably need to get my driver reshafted in a stiff - or extra stiff if my speed continues to increase like so.

Stiff or extra stiff? I swing at about 105, ball speed about 150, and bump the ball about 270 on a good day. I'm working on flexibility and particulary strength training - at 18, and plenty of room to get into better shape, should I get x-stiff, and simply "grow" into it, saving me a hundred dollars?

To answer your question - too stiff is better than too flex. Too stiff means you lose distance, but you can still hit it straight. Too flex causes sprayed shots. Better to be 30 yards shorter and in the fairway than 30 yards closer to the hole, in the trees.