Graffaloy ProLaunch on a Callaway RAZR X Black?

[dbrock504]

If I could make a suggestion here. I don't recall you having said that you hit your driver with a fitter present, and if they had a trackman, or similar launch monitor. If not, why not get fitted for a shaft..? There are big differences in shafts, i.e. a stiff shaft from Aldila for example, can a few different characteristic's, and those shafts would be different form other makers, but be rated as a stiff shaft.

Graffaloy in case you didn't know was famous long time ago, now they mainly make fishing rods. And high quality shafts sell for as much as 400.00, most in the 200.00 to 300.00 range. Anyhow, if I were to buy a new shaft, I'd go see a fitter.

As an example, my Aldila NV stiff has a low kick to it, and for an old mans slower tempo and swing speed, it feels whippy to me, if hit at full speed, I get hooks, so I try to compensate by not turning my hands over, I tend to "hold on" a bit, and hit what I call power fades, not a slice, but more fade than I like, normally I hit draws with every other club, my irons have DG S300's, mid flight shafts.

And just for the heck of it, I doubt a to flimsy shaft would cause a slice, hook or other unwanted shot. there's a vid on you tube, where a dude hits a Ladies driver over 300 yds, and fairly straight.

What I am saying is I feel like a swing flaw is 99.9% of the problem for most of us (pro golfers excluded). I feel like correct length & flex are somewhat important but all of the other stuff like low torque high torque, kick points ect.... aren't really that important. I don't want to sound rude but I doubt that you can pick up a club with a stiff shaft and hit 10 perfectly straight drives. Then grab the same club with a softer shaft and hit 10 slices. It just doesn't work like that. At least I don't think it does.

See, that's the kind of stuff I don't like on these threads because it's all pish-posh and I feel as if y'all do it ALL THE TIME. What does that mean? I have seen a guy on YouTube light his hair on fire too... So a guy hit 300 yds with a Ladies driver straight, good for him! But this guy doesn't sound like he has a perfect swing and it doesn't sound like at 6'3 anyone here would be recommending a ladies driver. Yes, we realize the perfect swing and perfect mechanics is the ultimate key. We know that! Look at our hcp, does it look like we have perfect mechanics? haha. Sorry for the tangent, but I'm really tired of people asking for equipment advice and all they do is say nothing matters because it's all in the swing, which is true, but not helpful considering you can find equipment to help you.

I realize you "don't think it works like that" and hey, you're probably right. But I can take a 11.5* senior flex, high torque, high kickpoint shaft and be everywhere with an undesirable launch angle and then pick up a driver that is proper for me (9.5*, stiff, mid kick, mid torque) and be doing what it should be doing MORE OFTEN. That is a fact, bud. I've tested it out on a range, not a machine. And that's another thing: Why take all this advice from JUST a machine? Do you play golf based on these little numbers that a machine pops up? Go try this stuff out on a range where you can witness the ball flight with grass and a flag and distance under you, not into a screen 10 ft from you. That's just my opinion.

I have a friend who is pretty good golfer (<10 hcp) and he also says all this stuff means nothing. It's all in the swing. Again, true. I went and got some lessons to help my swing and then got fit to some irons. Dropped 5 strokes over night. Got fit for a driver about 4 weeks ago, dropped 3 strokes over night (and will continue to drop strokes as my driver game is my biggest issue). So what does this tell ME? The right equipment will help you. Maybe I'm just that sucker these golf companies look for with all their "new and improved" technology while using big words and technical jargon to make them sound eltie because I will end up buying it, haha.

So, if flex isn't an issue (or as big of an issue), can you clear something up for me?

Here are my focus points:

1) Two different drives with S flex shafts, stock length, fly straight, while my R flex, stock length, curves. I also experience this problem with a friend's TM RBZ 2.0, which has a stock length, R flex shaft.

2) With both stiff shafts, I can swing as hard as I want to and still go straight. That tells me that my form is good.

3) With my regular shaft, anything I swing over ~75% arcs, which, when combined with the results from the stiffs, tells me that the shaft is flexing too much and the clubhead isn't keeping up.

So, at the risk of sounding thick, how is that not a shaft problem? Or am I misunderstanding what you guys are conversing about? When the only difference in the equation is the shaft flex or type, I have to assume that's the problem.

Also, I understand and agree that a great golfer can hit any club and make it work. But I'm not a great golfer. I'm really not even a good golfer. I'm an average golfer. And although a skilled golfer can hit any club, I also believe there wouldn't be the market in club customization that there is if the point of the thing wasn't to make it so that you didn't HAVE to conform to the club. They wouldn't do +- shaft lengths, +- lie angle, different shaft flexes if there didn't need to be the availability to make your clubs work for you and not the other way around. That's the whole point of a fitting session, which is one of the biggest things you can do to improve your game. Ya know? I'm not looking for an easy out to my game. I'm just trying to make sure my equipment isn't working against me any more than I am myself. :-)

Sorry for the confusion by adding the video. The reason I added the video, is to go along with what they are saying to an extent and say "nothing matters because it is all in the swing. Only so much can help you, and only so much really makes a difference". And that is true, however, as you have noted, you don't have a bad swing, your hcp truly is not bad (I think a lot of people lie about their hcp), you are 6'3 so you carry some power, and you have played with some stuff to see what the results are.

I had a Ping G10 as I mentioned before. The TPC129D Regular shaft that was in it was a HIGH torque club. It really helped me get the ball in the air and things of that nature when I first started playing. After a couple of years, I started feeling a "whippy" club and noticed I had a lot of action on the ball now. I went to a fitter for irons and they told me I needed a stiff shaft. The stiffer shaft will help eliminate some of the inconsistencies. I bought a cheap shaft (Grafalloy ProLaunch Platinum) but this time decided to go LOW torque I thought my issue was having a high torque shaft. I put it in, and slice McGee was all of a sudden in my bag. I don't slice, I hook, so I knew something was wrong from the beginning. I worked with it for 3-4 months 3 times a week and never could get it to work. Went to Golfsmith and had a conversation with a certified fitter, and he told me it is the low torque. So I bought an Aldila NV 65 Stiff. It's a MID torque shaft 3.5 (low is 3.2 and less). Finally, the club was working well. Then about 3 months later, I found a deal on a driver I had been wanting, so I sold the G10 and got the X Hot.

So what was the point of that little story? I believe, as you have said, the right equipment CAN and WILL help your game. Don't let someone tell you it doesn't matter, and don't let someone tell you to hit a graphite senior flex shaft because on the Trackman, there is not much deviation to a stiff shaft. Trackman or none, I want what's "right" for me. Now, if you are a beginner and you have a seriously flawed swings and consequently you have no consistency and you don't know what club to pull out at what yardage for you, or you hit a push draw, fade, slice, draw, snap hook, etc. well then NONE of this matters because you won't see any difference. You aren't at that level. Let me know what you decide to do and how it works out for you. I'm interested.

[Jakester23]

This is what I believe. [URL]http://m.youtube.com/results?q=mark%20crossfield%20SLDR&sm;=3[/URL]

[dbrock504]

This is what I believe.

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=mark%20crossfield%20SLDR&sm;=3

Which video did you mean to target? I was brought to a page of a ton of SLDR videos...

[Jakester23]

Sorry the mark crossfield SLDR shaft one.

[dbrock504]

Sorry the mark crossfield SLDR shaft one.

Ok. Thanks. I believe what he is saying as well. As I was talking about my other shafts earlier, I said the club began to FEEL more "whippy" to me. Everything in golf is going to come down to your preference. I agree that if you are not striking the ball properly, nothing will change much. As Mark said there in the video, a shaft fine tunes your shots. Going back to my example above, I felt the club head not "twisting" as much with the low torque shaft (mainly because the previous shaft was high torque) and I did not care for that. I wasn't used to having to "roll on the ball" as much. So I got a mid torque shaft and I like it a lot better. I am not saying all low torque shafts are bad. My 3 hybrid is a mid flight low torque shaft. I don't know why, but I really like it that way with that club. Again, do as you will, believe what you want, but these things do change your results. Maybe not a lot on the launch monitor, maybe not as much as it seems like I am saying, but it does change things.

Going back to the original post. Hit on different shafts that do different things. In a perfect world, try to hit them on a range to see the roll out as well. For example, my new club flies 260+ but with minimal roll out. The G10 flew maybe 225 but rolled another 25 yds. Find what you prefer.