Shaft Flex (standard for industry)

[RGoosen]

I searched for this topic and I couldn't find any recent relevant topics.  Mods feel to merge if there is one.

After playing golf for 12 years I find it puzzling that the industry has not come up with a standard for a shaft to be labeled x-stiff, stiff, regular, etc.  Some manufacturers "stiff" is another manufacturers "regular".

I have have had some of my clubs measured on some sort of frequency device at PGA superstore and by golf course pro shops and found that the letter XS, S, R, ect. didn't always match their reading.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Does anyone know why the manufacturers have not come up with a method to label clubs XS, S, R with any universal standard?

[newtogolf]

Each shaft manufacturer has their own standards for flex, kind of like a large shirt from one manufacturer may be larger or smaller than another manufacturers.  There is also some variance within each manufacturers stiffness range for consumer clubs.   Other variables like torque and flex point also impact how the shaft flex is perceived.  

I find Ping wood shafts to have more flex than others so if I buy a Ping wood, I'll usually get it in stiff flex where as I'd buy regular flex from most other manufacturers.  

If you're really concerned about the variance between shafts of the same stiffness then the best thing to do is test the club you want to buy.

[JxQx]

It is fairly known that the ratings have little to no standard across manufacturers. Tom Wishon goes into the topic in depth in many articles and also has some videos on youtube about it. My guess as to why there isn't a standard is cost, it would require companies to reclassify and possibly develop new shafts to fit the ratings. Since the companies don't have a large benefit to establish one they won't. 

[onthehunt526]

37 minutes ago, RGoosen said:

I searched for this topic and I couldn't find any recent relevant topics.  Mods feel to merge if there is one.

After playing golf for 12 years I find it puzzling that the industry has not come up with a standard for a shaft to be labeled x-stiff, stiff, regular, etc.  Some manufacturers "stiff" is another manufacturers "regular".

I have have had some of my clubs measured on some sort of frequency device at PGA superstore and by golf course pro shops and found that the letter XS, S, R, ect. didn't always match their reading.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Does anyone know why the manufacturers have not come up with a method to label clubs XS, S, R with any universal standard?

Different shafts have different FCM... For instances a Project X 6.0 (marked stiff) is actually stiffer than a True Temper Dynamic Gold S300:

 

Chart below: 

[RGoosen]

If are a "tinkerer" (as my friend calls me), you can end up with a box full of expensive shafts that you no longer use.  I would frequently change shafts out of my driver b/c I could never get the right feel with that club.

For example... I have a "stiff" graphite design shaft that feels like a senior flex, I have a "stiff" Kaili shaft that feels like an x-stiff, and I have a "stiff" Ilima and ozik white tie that feel like what my concept of stiff is for a golf shaft.

I just find it frustrating as a consumer that I have to buy several 200+ dollar shafts before I find the right one.  I know having a standard for a stiff shaft wouldn't completely eliminate this problem, but it would certainly help.

[WUTiger]

When golfers analyze shafts, their end consideration should be how the shaft performs for them.

If you only look at flex, you're missing a lot of information about the shaft and its performance niche. Besides flex, shafts have ratings for torque, tip stiffness, and weight.

Gauging shaft performance is getting more refined. For several years, Mizuno has been using the shaft optimizer, which gives six different measures of shaft performance for the golfer. The end result is a short list of three recommended iron shafts.

In graphite and steel fibre shafts, things have advanced well beyond simple flex. Miyazaki shafts (owned by Cleveland/Srixon) feature a four-part International Flex Code  which measures a shaft at four different points along its length.

In the components world, GolfWorks has offered industry-wide sorting of shafts for more than a decade. Chekc out the MPF Ratings  system.

And, don't forget the design characteristics of the clubhead on the end of the shaft.