bootstrapping the approximately correct shaft for club acquirer on a budget

[HiawathaHitter]

My first post - as such, I want to say thank you to the great members and instructors who've contributed over the years to the knowledge built up within this forum. Special shout-out to famousdavis for gifting us his ping eye 2 knowledge back in '11. Hope to get a set someday, loved the gusto.

I would like to add a used 15* 3W and an 18.5* 5W  to my bag of clubs, but I need some guidance on making sure I purchase club(s) with approximately the correct shaft, since I cannot afford to get set up by a professional right (which I plan on doing in 2-33 summers) now as a 27 year old with a budget who returned to the game after 18 years. I am okay with approximate for now...

Say I were to just bootstrap together the relevant pieces of information for my size and swing and how I want to play the game, what are the main three or so characteristics of the shaft I want to take into consideration? (and are possible for me to approximate their "correctness" without the aid of computers)

I am guessing they might be weight, flex, and length... does anyone have some insight to provide for me, given my thoughts below?

Weight - I have a 45g stock shaft on my current hand-me-down '08 Taylor Made driver. I have TT S300 steel shafts on my Titleist irons. I can't feel my driver head with a 45g shaft, and like the weight of my steel iron shafts. Is a 66g graphite shaft heavy enough to make the weight feel closer to my iron feel or should I look at something in the 70 or 80g range? I don't know what is considered a light shaft or a heavy shaft or in between. I forego my driver and play my 4-iron off of the tee, which I move 215 +/- 10yds

Flex - I want to limit spin and control accuracy more than distance. Am I right to look for stiff or x-stiff shafts? I am not sure what all the affects on the ballstrike the flex of the shaft are. Slicing keeps me awake at night.

Length - are there any rules of thumb for determining length? (distance of fingers to floor maybe?) Do I want a different length between the 3W and 5W if I intend to hit the 3W from the tee and the 5W from the deck (and want to hit it like an iron)?

Insights into all or any of the notes above would be greatly appreciated to myself and all others in my boat.

Lastly, if there are any threads which you are aware of that I should read through, let me know...I searched my best first.

Thank you!

[saevel25]

Weight - I have a 45g stock shaft on my current hand-me-down '08 Taylor Made driver. I have TT S300 steel shafts on my Titleist irons. I can't feel my driver head with a 45g shaft, and like the weight of my steel iron shafts. Is a 66g graphite shaft heavy enough to make the weight feel closer to my iron feel or should I look at something in the 70 or 80g range? I don't know what is considered a light shaft or a heavy shaft or in between. I forego my driver and play my 4-iron off of the tee, which I move 195 +/- 10yds

Most Drivers will always feel lighter than irons. It's really hard to match the exact feel because you are dealing with very shorter clubs, much heavier clubhead weights and shaft weights.

45 gram shaft is uber light. Most current drivers consider 65 grams to be light weight. 3-wood shafts tend to be in the 85-95 gram area.

You could also go to the golf store near you and try out different drivers till you find one you like. This would give you an idea of what shaft type you like.

Flex - I want to limit spin and control accuracy more than distance. Am I right to look for stiff or x-stiff shafts? I am not sure what all the affects on the ballstrike the flex of the shaft are. Slicing keeps me awake at night.

Depends on your swing. There is no golf standard for shaft flex.

Length - are there any rules of thumb for determining length? (distance of fingers to floor maybe?) Do I want a different length between the 3W and 5W if I intend to hit the 3W from the tee and the 5W from the deck (and want to hit it like an iron)?

Depends on your preference. I tend to believe that 45 inch drivers are the longest you'd want to go.

You'd want a length difference between both just because it gives the proper gap in the woods. 3W and 5W are made with different length shafts to begin with.

I would do something like 1.5 - 2 inches between your driver and your 3 wood. Then 0.5 to 1 inch between your 3 wood and your 5 wood. That is pretty standard.

[HiawathaHitter]

Depends on your swing. There is no golf standard for shaft flex.

Thanks Saevel! If there is no standard for shaft flex, what is flex measured by? Is it where the club flexes along the shaft and also by how much flex the shaft allows?

[saevel25]

Thanks Saevel! If there is no standard for shaft flex, what is flex measured by? Is it where the club flexes along the shaft and also by how much flex the shaft allows?

Depends on the golf company. Some measure by frequency, how much the shaft oscillates. Others measure by how much it bends under a certain weight applied to the tip end. There is no standard.

Most golf companies will make one shaft model. Meaning all shafts in the same model will bend and load the same but they just add or remove material to make them flex more or less.

Other companies will change up how the shaft bends and loads with in a model as well. You really got to know what you are looking for. It is hard to tell because you have no clue, and golf shaft companies don't tell you.

In the end it is very hard for a person to go and buy an after market golf shaft.

I would go to the golf shaft companies websites and go through their online fitting. In the end this still might not get you the best fit.

I am kinda lucky because my swing has a very fast transition, very fast swing speed. You can find someone who swings just as fast as I do but he might swing totally different in terms of tempo and how he loads the shaft that he would not be able to use my golf clubs effectively.