how does shaft flex affect ball flight?

[Goonsidious]

This R flex driver I switched to is a dream. Definitely what I need to be using. Now that I solved a huge issue in my hips/swing. [Apparently my hips were turning so quick compared to where my clubface was.. resulting in constant slices.(hopefully this is a correct fix, and not an adjustment to a wrist issue or left arm issue)] It's exactly the right flex I need to be using.

Now to figure out what my fairway woods flex is.. because I hit those well also.

[iacas]

Does not compute.

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

True but if we are going to argue about 1 degree of launch we are splitting hairs here.

Should the average golfer really obsess about 1 degree of launch when they dont hit the center of the clubface anyways?  Missing the center of the clubface is going to change the launch angle much more than different shaft flexes ever will.

I dont deny that there is a difference but not a huge difference and not something that the average person should obsess about.  Ive honestly never seen a big difference from reg to stiff flex.  Maybe a slightly lower ballflight but certain not the high, ballooning shots or the huge hooks that some stiff shaft advocates swear by.

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

Id call that a fair description.  About S flex, dont feel bad.  My average drive is about 250 yards and I cant hit s flex either.  Every club Ive owned that was S flex resulted in shots that were low and a push.  I basically have to try to murder the ball every time in order to load the shaft enough and when I do that, Im not consistent.  Thats OK, my ego can take clubs that are R flex.

Just take a look on Ebay sometime and you will see thousands and thousands of listings by people who thought they could hit S flex and found out that they were mistaken.

[mdl]

I always hear the overly stiff flex promotes low launch and push, fade/slice, and overly weak flex promotes high launch and pull, draw/hook. This has to depend on swing, no?  I ask just because the only time I've hit a regular flex driver was a round I played with my brothers where I had to travel and could only fit my irons, not my 3W or driver.  So I borrowed my brother's regular flex driver for the round.

My normal good shot with my stiff flex driver is straight or a baby fade, and my miss is a big push fade or slice.  I had forgotten that the too loose flex shaft is supposed to promote a pull and draw/hook, and just thinking about the physics I thought the shaft would be bending too much as I accelerate which would open the face and cause a push-fade/slice.  I set up accordingly, aiming off the fairway to the left, and took my regular swing, and hit sweeping fades all day that started right of my target line and faded pretty hard.  Worked out all right actually, hitting a lot of fairways on the right side, but it was always a push-fade, not a pull-draw that I got.

Does that have to do with my swing?  I've always struggled getting the face closed with the long clubs and recently have been working on really extending down and through the ball (instead of thinking of rolling to close the face, something I've tried before, which never works out well), and that works incredibly well, especially if I start the swing from the top smooth and easy and try to feel the power and explosion later with the extension down and through the ball.  Maybe that means with a proper swing your hands are slowing down more before impact, getting the whip that closes the club face among other things, and in that case a too loose shaft will over whip there and cause pulls and hooks?  But when I'm not getting the proper whip and extension to close the face the shaft whip/rebound happens later, so when I hit the ball that way with the too loose shaft I'm still in the phase of the shaft bending too much backwards, instead of whipping through the ball and closing too much, so I got push fades instead of pull hooks?

[luu5]

Originally Posted by mdl  I had forgotten that the too loose flex shaft is supposed to promote a pull and draw/hook, and just thinking about the physics I thought the shaft would be bending too much as I accelerate which would open the face and cause a push-fade/slice.  I set up accordingly, aiming off the fairway to the left, and took my regular swing, and hit sweeping fades all day that started right of my target line and faded pretty hard.  Worked out all right actually, hitting a lot of fairways on the right side, but it was always a push-fade, not a pull-draw that I got.

I would like to get an explanation why too flexible shaft would cause hooks. Our hands/rotation do not stop at impact, but is the club head anyway closing too fast? As you wrote, my physics (and your own experience) would also tell me that to flexible shaft would lag behind and be open at impact.

[inthehole]

Originally Posted by luu5

too flexible shaft would lag behind and be open at impact.

exactly - this has always made sense to me.    I would think too soft a shaft wouldn't close at impact, leading to a slice; too stiff a shaft would be too closed, creating a hook ... but in reality, seems to be the EXACT OPPOSITE - does not compute ?!?!?!?

[EverythingGolf]

The shaft bends forward at impact. Too stiff can cause a slice and not stiff enough can cause a hook.

[Goonsidious]

It's all in the wrists.

[Snowgolf]

A lot of oversimplifications here:

Variables

Flex                 L,A,R,S,X

Weight            50,60,70,80,90g

Kick Point        Low/ mid/ High

Tip stiffness      Soft--> Stiff

Tourque            1.7deg  to 3.2deg

All these can be manipulated to effect launch and spin

Example Aldila R.I.P. Shafts

Models Alpha, Beta, Gama

Weights 60g, 70g, 80g

Flex      R,S,X

So 3 types of shaft with 3 different weights and 3 different flexes = 27 different shaft combinations

Thats why a professional fitting is so critical.

Generally players with over 85mph clubhead speed 135mph ball speed  should launch between 12-16 deg with less than 2500rpm

[golf1-lfd]

For the hell of it I just had a Sr flex placed in my Nickent cyg driver head, (play it in the neutral position with 9* .

At the driving range about all I could hit were hi almost duck hooks.  I have both regular and stiff shafts for this head too.  Haven't really noticed any difference in the Regular and Stiff VS proto, get about a 5 to 10 yard draw or straight have only had 2 fades with those shafts this year.  I also have the Aldila DVS and NV shafts R and S, about the same results, either straight or slight draw not much loss in distance either, almost equal. Use these shafts depending on course and weather (wind conditions), higher or lower flight.

Being 69 I was trying to get just a little more distance the reason for the Sr shaft.  Only hit it about 20 times just before league play and left it in the car so I wouldn't be tempted to use it due to the hi almost duck hook draw. Guess I Need to use a different {Slow} tempo with this club with lots of range practice.

[NuclearMike]

Originally Posted by golf1-lfd

For the hell of it I just had a Sr flex placed in my Nickent cyg driver head, (play it in the neutral position with 9* .

At the driving range about all I could hit were hi almost duck hooks.  I have both regular and stiff shafts for this head too.  Haven't really noticed any difference in the Regular and Stiff VS proto, get about a 5 to 10 yard draw or straight have only had 2 fades with those shafts this year.  I also have the Aldila DVS and NV shafts R and S, about the same results, either straight or slight draw not much loss in distance either, almost equal. Use these shafts depending on course and weather (wind conditions), higher or lower flight.

Being 69 I was trying to get just a little more distance the reason for the Sr shaft.  Only hit it about 20 times just before league play and left it in the car so I wouldn't be tempted to use it due to the hi almost duck hook draw. Guess I Need to use a different {Slow} tempo with this club with lots of range practice.

I have the same driver but have three shafts, all regular flex, with different launch angles, but I have A flex in my irons.  My misses with the irons are left as well but a well struck shot will go straight or have a slight draw.  I've tried to slow my tempo as you did but occasionally I'll just get after one and, if it's not on the sweet spot, it will go left (not usually a duck hook, though) almost without fail.  I guess my swing isn't as old as I sometimes feel.  Wish that I had opted for regular flex for my irons as well.  It would let me be a lot more free swinging with my irons than the senior flex does.

[Rip24]

Has anyone watched Mark Crossfield's youtube vid http://youtu.be/ZVZ3PCgxTlw  on if shaft flex makes any difference?   For those of you who swear by your aftermarket shaft upgrades...your brains will literally explode...

[rehmwa]

I've only messed with the extremes.

For me, it's in the feel, so no data there.

I have Stiff flex in my drives and I can swing hard, or (better yet) with what feels like my normal tempo when I want to be smooth (that doesn't mean slow, in fact, the smoother my swing feels, the faster my head speed - Trackman says so).  I've tried X in the store and that 'feels' good or about the same to me....

When I hit a softer flex club (like my wife's) I am unable to swing my 'normal' swing, I'm forced to change up my pace and release and then typically get pretty decent hits anyway.  I think I lose a little bit, but I'm not sure, my variability in my swing is likely a much larger contributor.  I think if I tried my 'normal' tempo with her club the ball would just spray away.

However, I do feel the club reaction to my swing more obviously with her club, (I feel it load up and can feel the rebound.....or at least I think I can...)

With the S and X clubs, that 'feedback' is usually only there on really smooth/clean swings.....

So I use what feels the most natural to me (S and X) and that, hopefully, will play back in my level of confidence when I pick a club.

Quote:

s...your brains will literally explode...

Literally