Shaft question, does this make any sense?

[Kloeshuman]

So after coming back to golf this year after 20 years of not playing, I noticed a lack of distance. Being much older now, I accepted the loss in muscle and began trying different flex shafts. I figured senior flex was the was to go. So now my irons have improved with the light flex but I was still struggling with my driver.  Now I never did a fitting but tried out clubs and ended up with a XR16 driver with senior flex. Now I just made the purchase two weeks ago, today after my round I stopped back in the shop and decided to try a stiff flex . That made a big difference on my distance and more consistent. They swapped out the shaft for me(free) and I left happy. 

This just seems odd to me that a stiff shaft works for my driver but not in irons. I tried a few other stiff shaft irons and just couldn't hit them at all. Any thoughts on why my driver would be so different then my irons?

 

[boogielicious]

11 hours ago, Kloeshuman said:

So after coming back to golf this year after 20 years of not playing, I noticed a lack of distance. Being much older now, I accepted the loss in muscle and began trying different flex shafts. I figured senior flex was the was to go. So now my irons have improved with the light flex but I was still struggling with my driver.  Now I never did a fitting but tried out clubs and ended up with a XR16 driver with senior flex. Now I just made the purchase two weeks ago, today after my round I stopped back in the shop and decided to try a stiff flex . That made a big difference on my distance and more consistent. They swapped out the shaft for me(free) and I left happy. 

This just seems odd to me that a stiff shaft works for my driver but not in irons. I tried a few other stiff shaft irons and just couldn't hit them at all. Any thoughts on why my driver would be so different then my irons?

 

Not all stiff shafts are the same. For older golfers, lighter weight can increase swing speed. But flex can affect control. So light and stiff could be optimum for you. 

[WUTiger]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Not all stiff shafts are the same. For older golfers, lighter weight can increase swing speed. But flex can affect control. So light and stiff could be optimum for you.

Good point, BL. Also, some golfers swing a bit differently with irons than with woods.

This summer at Golf Galaxy, a retired teaching pro who works as a fitter was helping a tall, athletic 20-something find a driver solution. In a driver, the golfer got the best results with a 70-gram, stiff shaft. For irons, however, a medium weight R-flex seemed to work best.

The golfer was a bit perplexed as to why the numbers said stiff driver, and regular irons.

"You just go after the ball with a driver a lot more than with your irons," the fitter said. He added that his iron swing was a lot smoother.

I first met the fitter when he was still a pro at a local course. Back then, he had a similar set-up: stiff flex for driver, 3W and 3i, and regular for all else. He had a very rhythmic swing with a late release, and said he got more bend out of the longer shafts than the shorter ones.

Test things out, and go with what works.

[newtogolf]

This is why fitting is so important.  Club makers are offering so many different shafts with different characteristics that you could end up with a bad combination if you don't test them.  Most people think club fitting means length and lie angle but it's now that plus finding the fight combination of shaft and loft that provide you with the best results.  

You can take any driver head and get it to perform differently by attaching different shafts to it.  

[Kalnoky]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Not all stiff shafts are the same. 

I thought I had regular flex shafts in my irons, until my instructor said (paraphrasing) "these would have been considered stiff shafts back then" - back then as in less than 5 years ago, when my irons were new. Imagine my surprise...

Actually, I still don't know what this means exactly, but it has inspired me to experiment. I bought a stiff shaft for my driver. I'm going to test it this off-season. For now that is a cheaper option for me than buying a new driver or getting fit. As it stands now, the only way I can remotely keep my driver (R-Flex) in play is by swinging it so excruciatingly slow it feels completely unnatural.

@KloeshumanThank you for posting - I've been curious about people's experience w/ this sort of thing a while now. 

[Groucho Valentine]

Like some have said, there can be variations depending on the manufacturer. And weight is an important factor in how the shaft performs, regardless of the flex.  If you swing an irons and driver with different tempos, that can explain it too. Im much the same. I use an X flex in my driver but Rifle 6.0 in my irons. Ive always assumed their 6.0 equates to a "regular" stiff. A gear head would say i dont swing fast enough to use an X in my driver ( my swing speed is around 105)  but I've always loved the way that shaft performs for me. 

[newtogolf]

6 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Like some have said, there can be variations depending on the manufacturer. And weight is an important factor in how the shaft performs, regardless of the flex.  If you swing an irons and driver with different tempos, that can explain it too. Im much the same. I use an X flex in my driver but Rifle 6.0 in my irons. Ive always assumed their 6.0 equates to a "regular" stiff. A gear head would say i dont swing fast enough to use an X in my driver ( my swing speed is around 105)  but I've always loved the way that shaft performs for me. 

Project X 6.0 is close to X Stiff from other shaft manufacturers.  

[Groucho Valentine]

Just now, newtogolf said:

Project X 6.0 is close to X Stiff from other shaft manufacturers.  

Really? Always assumed 6.5 was getting into x from them. 

[newtogolf]

4 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Really? Always assumed 6.5 was getting into x from them. 

For Rifle, 6.5 is their official start of X Stiff, but 6.0 shafts tend to be stiffer than other manufacturers stiff shafts.  So a Project X 6.0 would be closer to an Dynamic Golf X Stiff in terms of stiffness because of the way Rifle tips their shafts.  

[Kloeshuman]

Thanks everyone, I see what you're saying now and that makes more sense now. 

[Groucho Valentine]

8 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

For Rifle, 6.5 is their official start of X Stiff, but 6.0 shafts tend to be stiffer than other manufacturers stiff shafts.  So a Project X 6.0 would be closer to an Dynamic Golf X Stiff in terms of stiffness because of the way Rifle tips their shafts.  

Damn. Im a beast then!