arturo28mx

I'm 61 years old. If the shaft and the swingweight are too heavy I cannot maintain lag and I release early. Reducing shaft weight and having a D0 swingweight makes it much easier for me to maintain lag and not have an early release.

If I swing relaxed, and rotate my shoulders properly in the downswing, keeping my chest and arms connected, the shaft of the club and my left arm will maintain a 90 degree angle until just before impact. I understand this is called lag. If I rush my swing, I will lose the 90 degree angle halfway down (thus losing power). I understand they call this early release.

In my experience, shaft weight is a lot more important than shaft flex. Shaft weight affects your tempo, shaft flex affects ball trajectory and dispersion. You may need a heavier shaft.

For my game, the most important factor in fitting was SHAFT WEIGHT. Shafts that are too heavy or too light ruin my swing. For me, lie angle, shaft length, shaft flex, etc. were secondary.

The two things that helped me tame my driver: number one, posture. Before I was too upright. Make sure the shaft of the club and your lower spine form approximately a 90 degree angle. Number two, keep elbows together the entire swing until well past impact. This is enormously important and many people fail. At address I hold my elbows as close as possible to a point where it starts to hurt a little, and keep them in the same position on the backswing and the downswing. The benefits are well worth practicing this movement .

I only play with 11 clubs. I took out the long irons. I can still shoot 90 and I'm happy with that.

My opinion, first decide how good you want to be, then be serious about getting there. Once you get there, enjoy it. In my case, I was "serious" about learning to shoot low 90's. Now that I'm there, I play to relax and have fun. I have no interest in shooting 80's.

From an interview with Tom Watson, Golf Digest, October 18, 2012 "On the course, you determine the bottom of your arc with practice swings".

Are you cocking your wrists 90 degrees at the end of the backswing? I am 60 years old and my left arm only reaches parallel, but I can still get good distance because I cock my wrists 90 degrees and can maintain lag on the downswing.

When you see Pro's making practice swings, many times they are checking where the bottom of their arc is and that is where they place the ball.

Titleist Pro V1. Great feel off the face, beautiful sound when struck, and it holds greens like no other on approach shots. I'm just a mid handicapper but I only lose one ball per round on average, so I can afford Pro V1.

In my experience, the only way to properly compare "regular" vs "stiff" is if we are dealing with the exact same brand and model shaft. Comparing flexes of different brands or even different models in the same brand is no good. In the exact same brand and model shaft, a "regular" flex will give you a slightly higher ball flight than stiff. For some people this may mean more distance, for some people it may mean less distance. You just have to experiment. A regular flex will also give you slightly more dispersion than stiff flex. I normally choose a shaft based on weight, and once I have the right weight I fine tune ball trajectory with flex.

In my experience, 50% of the club is the shaft. I'm 61 and I like steel shafts, but cannot handle the heavy ones, so I use True Temper XP95, a very popular shaft.

Losing swingweight points is not necessarily bad. I trimmed 1.5 inches off my Titleist driver and lost 8 swingweight points but I am actually hitting the driver better than ever because it feels lighter and I'm 60 years old.

This is just my own opinion and experience. I don't worry too much about lie angles. The courses I play are full of uphill lies, downhill lies, balls above my feet, balls below my feet, etc. In these situations if the lie angle is a little off it doesn't matter much.