Different club flexes

[oneyear]

I play clubs with lite flex except for my lob wedge which I don't use that often. I'm thinking of buying a used 7 wood which adjusts to a 23 loft. It's a regular flex. I hit it pretty well, but I'm concerned that if I use it fairly often, it will throw off my timing with other clubs. Any thoughts? Thanks.

[dkolo]

  oneyear said:

I play clubs with lite flex except for my lob wedge which I don't use that often. I'm thinking of buying a used 7 wood which adjusts to a 23 loft. It's a regular flex. I hit it pretty well, but I'm concerned that if I use it fairly often, it will throw off my timing with other clubs. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I play a 3 wood that is stiff while the rest of my set is regular flex. Never had any issues with it. I prefer it, actually.

[Tat14]

Survey says, "get a fitting", but on the practical side:

I suggest keeping all of your clubs the same flex, keeping in mind that disparity exists among different companies.

I play stiff steel irons - would never consider regular flex in woods, especially if graphite shafts apply.

[danL]

I like regular flex because I don't have a 100mph club head speed. If I don't bend the shaft on the down swing I feel like I'm not using the correct flex. Is that right or wrong?

[trickyputt]

  danL said:

I like regular flex because I don't have a 100mph club head speed. If I don't bend the shaft on the down swing I feel like I'm not using the correct flex. Is that right or wrong?

Probably wrong but only because it is a game of opposites. Feeling good is often a goal, but a flexy shaft has more head movement per unit of movement and can result in hard to time perfectly face to path issues resulting in higher dispersion.

[danL]

That's perplexing to me. If you want the shaft to stay straight why wouldn't everyone use xstiff?

[trickyputt]

  danL said:

That's perplexing to me. If you want the shaft to stay straight why wouldn't everyone use xstiff?

Because there are two components of ball flight that are the low hanging fruit so to speak, one the vertical result of the shaft, the other the horizontal result of the shaft. Like a +, the ball flight tells you something about whats going on. Dynamics add the ablity to build energy and pile it up or store it for a moment release at a certain time aming other things. It you cant bend it, you cant store potential in the spring so when you get to the ball your xflex is short Down the fairway, and low for the expectations of the head design. Its just a given that the swing is ok or not considered when isolating on flex topic. I can play x drivers when they are longer like 47 inches. 44 and 45 inch I get better out of a stiff. Long drive guys have XXX flex even. Long irons vs pitching wedge is a similiar idea. The curve that describes the flex across your irons needs to match good with what your body is able to do consistently. I think for example that a lot of people could use a reg or firm in their long irons, and still use a stiff in the heavier headed irons like 6-pw.

[DrvFrShow]

There are R flex and there are R flex. There are 50 g R flex and there are 60 and 70 g R flex. They have different torque ratings. Someone having trouble getting the ball up in the air might want a higher torque rating. To this person a lower torque rated shaft will feel like hitting with a board. If you're at the low end of R flex (around 82) you might want the higher torque rated shaft. If you're at the upper end, you might want the lower torque rated shaft.

Then there's kick point, and all that stuff. It's important to get fitted.

[rdsandy]

  DrvFrShow said:

There are R flex and there are R flex. There are 50 g R flex and there are 60 and 70 g R flex. They have different torque ratings. Someone having trouble getting the ball up in the air might want a higher torque rating. To this person a lower torque rated shaft will feel like hitting with a board. If you're at the low end of R flex (around 82) you might want the higher torque rated shaft. If you're at the upper end, you might want the lower torque rated shaft.

Then there's kick point, and all that stuff. It's important to get fitted.

The only reasonable way to compare shaft flex is to get the frequency of the shaft measured with a frequency counter. Yes there are 50, 60 and 70 gram shafts but you will find the 70 specs out stiffer than the 60 and the 60 stiffer than the 50. The freq of the shaft is the first quantifiable measure of shaft flex. Typically, shaft torque is inversely proportional to frequency. The higher the frequency the lower the torque value. Weight is also inversely proportional to frequency.

So if you measure two shafts and X has a higher frequency than Y (of course each shaft is the same length and has the same head weight) X will be heavier, have less torque, and be stiffer than Y.

The only reason companies resist this standardization is that they would not be able to sell you the latest, greatest, colored logoed super stiff blah, blah, blah for $380 a pop.

I can buy a $6 graphite shaft at Golfsmith, trim it to flex at 280 cpm, compare it to a $200 shaft trimmed to 280 cpm and you can't tell there's a $194 difference between the two when you hit them side by side.

The reason people say I like the FST better than the Fujikura most likely has nothing to do with the brand and everything to do with the frequency of the shaft.

Everyone's swing has a natural rhythm that is complimented by a golf shaft of the right frequency.

So, get your Freak on :)

[Hardballs]

  dkolo said:

I play a 3 wood that is stiff while the rest of my set is regular flex. Never had any issues with it. I prefer it, actually.

Me too!