Steel Shafted Fairway Woods

[Hoganman1]

I started this topic on another forum site, but didn't get a lot of responses. I recently switched back to a 12 year old set of fairway woods. I'm playing the 2004 Callaway Big Bertha 3 and 5 woods. I've been struggling with graphite shafted fairways for some time. At 67 my distance off the tee is diminishing and I need to be able to consistently play fairways on the longer par fours and the par fives. It got so bad that I was actually laying up with irons to avoid cold topping the ball or hitting it so poorly my third shots were  unplayable. I cannot explain this because I know almost everyone finds graphite easier to play and longer than steel.. Maybe it's a swing weight issue or an overall weight issue. Is anyone else experiencing this?

[RussUK]

I have steel shafts in every club up to, and including, my 22* hybrid but my longer clubs (19* hybrid to driver) are stiff graphite.  I like to think of my 22* as another iron so maybe the steel shaft tricks my brain a little, who knows, either way i hit it great.

I think a lot of it is personal preference and what feels better for a particular person. Didnt Tiger play steel shaft in his driver in his early pro years?

[Hoganman1]

I think you're right about Tiger. My guess is it may be a confidence issue as well. I probably played my best golf ten to fifteen years ago when these steel shafted 2004 Big Bertha fairways were in the bag. Frankly, I cannot remember why I went to graphite in the first place. It's probably because everyone else did and steel shafted fairways were hard to find. Also, I've been playing for over fifty years and I have always been a sweeper (rather than a digger) when playing fairway wood or long iron shots. Now days I see guys on the tour taking divots with their fairway woods. One would have never done that back in the persimmon days. 

[Hoganman1]

Update: Well, I've gone back to my graphite shafted GBB fairways. I finally figured out my swing flaw and my index is dropping. It's a shame Winter is coming. Although we play year round here in Charlotte we still have some wet, cold days (like today!)

[WUTiger]

8 hours ago, Hoganman1 said:

Well, I've gone back to my graphite shafted GBB fairways.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across a set of Callaway Hawkeye titanium-headed FWs: 3, 5, 7, and 9, with graphite shafts. I haven't put them in my main bag, but the clubs feel solid when I hit them. (But my current 815As fly a bit longer).

One thing about your graphites: these were the old 0.350" shafts, a tad thicker than the current 0.335" long-club shafts. The older FWs, it you can hit them, may be slightly more stable than the newer ones.

It turns out that TM went back to 0.350" shafts on a couple of variations of its SLDR drivers and FWs, seeking a bit more stability. 

Edited November 9, 2017 by WUTiger

[Mr. Desmond]

11 hours ago, WUTiger said:

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across a set of Callaway Hawkeye titanium-headed FWs: 3, 5, 7, and 9, with graphite shafts. I haven't put them in my main bag, but the clubs feel solid when I hit them. (But my current 815As fly a bit longer).

One thing about your graphites: these were the old 0.350" shafts, a tad thicker than the current 0.335" long-club shafts. The older FWs, it you can hit them, may be slightly more stable than the newer ones.

It turns out that TM went back to 0.350" shafts on a couple of variations of its SLDR drivers and FWs, seeking a bit more stability. 

I did not know that many golfers who enjoyed .350 shafts because they lacked feel. OEMs used them because they did not want to deal with warranty issues and .335 shafts cracking. I don't think the issue was performance related as to stability - but economics.

As to steel v graphite and poor performance, it can be a club issue as to weight, but it's probably a swing issue and even a ball position and address position or weight transfer issue. Or a LOFT issue - 43 inch and 15 degrees is not easy to launch at a certain age - either the loft must increase and/or the shaft length must decrease.

Edited November 9, 2017 by Mr. Desmond

[WUTiger]

7 hours ago, Mr. Desmond said:

I did not know that many golfers who enjoyed .350 shafts because they lacked feel. OEMs used them because they did not want to deal with warranty issues and .335 shafts cracking. I don't think the issue was performance related as to stability - but economics

Interesting view of things. A TM rep has said the SLDR variants resurrected .350 tips to increase stability. I guess it's a trade-off thing.

Mr. D, I wasn't aware of the .335 shafts cracking. Is this a persistent problem, or just one with the early versions?

[Mr. Desmond]

33 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Interesting view of things. A TM rep has said the SLDR variants resurrected .350 tips to increase stability. I guess it's a trade-off thing.

Mr. D, I wasn't aware of the .335 shafts cracking. Is this a persistent problem, or just one with the early versions?

You must remember the flimsy shafts that OEMs brought out in the late '90's-00's. The quality was not there and for most of the first decade, if memory is somewhat right, several major OEMs used .350 for warranty purposes - at least that's what we read and that's what people posted. But everyone preferred the feel of .335 shafts - Was it around 2009 or maybe before, the trend was back to .335 shafts - of course, people were making better stock shafts by that time and golfers were complaining that they wanted .335 shafts, like the big boys used on Tour.

[WUTiger]

54 minutes ago, Mr. Desmond said:

You must remember the flimsy shafts that OEMs brought out in the late '90's-00's.

That hits a dead zone for me. I played with the same set of Ping Eye 2 clone irons from 1994 to 2008. I had a component driver and steel-shafted metalwoods fitted at the same time. I swapped to an Air Zevo driver from about 2000 until 2008. I picked up some Tour Edge Bazooka FWs with the .350 Grafalloy Ultralight graphite stiff shafts (green heads and shafts); played them from about 2001 to 2009, but they proved too stiff for me as I got older.

So, I guess I missed out on the play by play of the early .335 shaft problems.

[Mr. Desmond]

1 hour ago, WUTiger said:

That hits a dead zone for me. I played with the same set of Ping Eye 2 clone irons from 1994 to 2008. I had a component driver and steel-shafted metalwoods fitted at the same time. I swapped to an Air Zevo driver from about 2000 until 2008. I picked up some Tour Edge Bazooka FWs with the .350 Grafalloy Ultralight graphite stiff shafts (green heads and shafts); played them from about 2001 to 2009, but they proved too stiff for me as I got older.

So, I guess I missed out on the play by play of the early .335 shaft problems.

I don't know if a real problem ever existed -- sounded like an excuse to assure themselves the problem would not exist - maybe an accountant suggested it. D#mn beancounters screwing with the quality and feel of a shaft... lol.