Shaft weight driver

Heavy shafts offer more control, lower torque and stability in the clubface, lower launch angle, and more accuracy and consistency. In contrast, lighter shafts offer more speed and distance and a high launch angle. The disadvantages of heavier shafts are less speed and lower spin while light shafts contribute to inconsistent contact on the clubface and high ball flight. Golf clubs are built around the industry standard for male golfers measuring 5 feet 9 inches and women golfers for 5 feet 7 inches.

A longer shaft will increase your swing speed while decreasing the control you can exercise on the path. To achieve the optimum balance of speed and control it is extremely important to have the shaft cut down to the correct size keeping the impact of reducing the length on the shaft characteristics.

The longer the shaft, the bigger the arc that you can create and the faster the swing speed that you can generate. Although a longer shaft generates more speed, it will substantially impact the feel and strike point on your clubface.

Shafts that are too long will cause inconsistent face contact and promote heel side impact while shorter shafts generate a consistent strike pattern with impact on the toe.

Shaft flex is more than a letter on the shaft that provides you with an opportunity to compete with your playing partners. Flex is the EI profile of the shaft that defines the stiffness of a shaft from the tip stiffness through the butt stiffness measured at different points in the shaft.

Static flex is the amount the shaft bends when the butt end is clamped, and weight applied to the butt end. The shaft will bend more the softer the flex is. Frequency is the amount of sway in the shaft when the butt end is clamped and then pulled to one side before being released.

The shaft weight can affect the sway with light shafts having the highest frequency. Tip flex or retro flex refers to the average stiffness at the head side of the shaft. This is measured by clamping the tip end and applying weight to the butt end of the shaft. Launch angle is affected by the tip flex with a softer tip producing a higher launch angle and spin rate. Torque is the amount of shaft twist experienced during the golf swing measured in degrees and shown as a rating. More twist equals a higher rating.

A higher rating produces a softer than a low rating. Finding the best driver shaft for high swing speed requires less torque shafts, whilst slower swingers and slicers require more torque. This is the point where the shaft bows most during the downswing and impacts the ball trajectory. A low kick point will bow near the clubhead thus producing a higher trajectory and a high kick point will generate a low ball flight.

Mitsubishi is a well-known brand internationally for producing motor vehicles, electronics, and sporting equipment. It is one of the most frequently used shafts on professional golf tours by top professional golfers, as is the DF model. The DF shaft is a low-to-mid launch and low spin shaft designed with a stiff tip section. It is available in a variety of flex and weight options ideally aimed at golfers requiring workability. The mid-kick point promotes medium launch and maximizes distance for golfers that struggle to get the golf ball into the air off the tee.

Accra is one of the lesser-known shaft manufacturers in the amateur game but has been supplying shafts to professional golfers for decades. Just like anything, there are exceptions to these rules. It is really important to understand that swing tempo, transition from back to forward swing, and release point can have a big impact on shaft weight. Our BGF Fitting System takes these factors into account as well as swing speed to make very precise shaft weight recommendations.

Then, using TrackMan data, we test different shaft weight and flex options to optimize our golfers performance with every club in their bag. So before you make a decision to get the latest light weight driver, or go from steel shafts to graphite because you are getting a little older, go see a qualified clubfitter and get dialed in.

Weight, in some instances, can be your friend! View Results. Home Contact Us Call us at D'Lance Golf. The general golfing public has been conditioned and educated that shaft flex is the end-all-be-all when it comes to shafts and that simply is not true. Shaft flex has no industry standard. That is why choosing a club solely based on shaft flex is highly flawed. After finding the right weight and torque, shaft flex is used to fine tune the shaft for the player.

Your Name. Email Address. Want MyGolfSpy's email newsletter? Jan 6, 74 Comments. Stuart Anderson 1 year ago. The Club Nut 5 years ago. Coach Freddy 4 years ago. James Jennings 6 years ago. Jamie 6 years ago. Fred 6 years ago. Darryl Parente 7 years ago. William Bruce 4 months ago. Scott 8 years ago.

Augustine 8 years ago. Mark 9 years ago. Thanks for the excellent write-up. Not all of us benefit from these extremely light shafts. Jerry Noble 6 years ago. Gus 9 years ago. Greg 6 years ago. Kelprod 9 years ago. GolfSpy Matt 9 years ago. Good luck finding the best shaft for your R1, Matt. Boris 9 years ago. John 6 months ago. RAT 9 years ago. Golfspy Matt 9 years ago.

Best, Matt. Chris 9 years ago. Michael Schurman 9 years ago. My thoughts on driver distance would be this: Before getting fit for a driver, work with an instructor that uses a Trackman or Flightscope. A lot of people would be hitting knuckleballs too little spin with that AoA. David Hebert 9 years ago. Rob 9 years ago. Great test…. But I sure would like to know the body types and age of each tester!

Lee Miller, PhD 9 years ago. What process do you go through now to fit a player? Lee 9 years ago. J 9 years ago. J, Glad to hear about your great fitting experience. Pat 9 years ago. Nice writeup Matt, and verrrry interesting.

Jeff Breininger 9 years ago. RP Jacobs II 9 years ago. Biggi 9 years ago. As it says in the article, every player used the exact same head. Not sure I am buying this test. How about show us the smash factor for all those shots? GolfSpy T 9 years ago. Here are the Smash Factors for all 5 Testers: Tester 1 55 — 1.

Matt 9 years ago. BK in Wisconsin 9 years ago. Rev Kev 9 years ago. BK, Great question. BK, thank goodness for that big sample size. Matt, Nice job here! Thanks again, kevin. Matt — my thoughts were not as extreme as going from 50 gm to 90 gm. More like 70 gm in both driver and FW or 75 gm in driver but 70 gm in FW. Do you think going down this route is something the average leisure golfer should consider?

Makes sense to me, Matt. Guess I should not have been so tough on myself after hitting a few chunked iron shots! My body felt like it was outracing the club — or maybe it was vice versa? You definitely should cut yourself some slack. The Edel wedges feel too light. I was thinking of going with a Nippon N. Pro Modus 3 Tour Regular shafts in the Edel wedges. I like a heavier shaft and am thinking the Regular flex along with the heavier weight could give me better feel and control.

Hi Matt, Very good article. As getting older, I decide it was time to go lighter. I went to TT dynamic gold s to Modus3 stiff last year to Modus3 stiff now and only saw improvements. Over the top move disapeared. My objective is to increase my swingspeed without increasing dispersion. My suggestion is to figure out where that is for you and stay above it.

Another myth the industry would like you to believe to sell their products. Like huge or multiple sweet spots. Lighter shafts make the head feel heavier.

Jack Nicholas back weighted his clubs to gain club head speed. A light shaft can maintain the same swing weight depending on how the weight is distributed.

Jack may have felt that back weighting his clubs helped him gain speed, but did he have any data to prove it? Sergio Garcia also backweighted his clubs….. As someone who shafts their own clubs and messes around quite a bit with shafts and equipment i would say for sure the weight of club and overall weight is far more crucial than flex and profile….. I have slow smooth tempo and light shafts cause me to lose timing and tempo…..

So, I play a bag full of Srixon clubs and Cleveland wedges. Thanks for the answer Matt. So, if I send you the results of a Flightscope or Trackman fitting session, could you help me to choose the right shafts?

Regards, Massimo. What difference in weight do you think should be between driver and 3 wood? I have a driver at the moment and after a 3 wood shaft in the same type of shaft an project x handerafted LZ. But not sure which weight to buy. As always, the best answer is to work with a fitter like Club Champion or True Spec who has the ability to let you try shafts in a variety of different weights.

My driver has an Aldila A7X65 3. My current average driver distance is metres yards. Last week at the range I tested a Callaway 7 wood that had a Mizuno graphite shaft with torque 6.

I hit 6 shots with the 7 wood and they ALL went around metres — yards , and that was on a range that you hit up hill on. At best I could only hit my driver around yards. This has raised a few questions for me. Based on the extra distance I was getting from the test hits with the 7 wood, could I also use a similarly weighted shaft in my irons? If you want the exact same gram weight in every shaft in your set, you can do that, but you would likely end up with unusual swing weights due to the different lengths.

What is the gram weights for this shaft? Shaft weight is based on much more than your body weight. You need to work with a qualified fitter to find your best weight and profile. I think the driver to iron translation is hard because the scope is much greater in irons.

The best advice I can give is to work with a good club fitter. What would be the impact of going from a fubuki 60x to a Fubuki 50x. I fall right on the stiff x stiff line but find the x gives me a more accurate tee game. However I might be leaving significant yardage on the course. In summary same shaft make and model but shifting from 66 grams with a torque of 3. I also play a little fade. There are a lot of variables there. The only way to get a good answer would be to work with a fitter who can see you hit both.

I have definately noticed this year my distance has vanished.. You should visit a club fitter and experiment with different weights and flexes under their guidance. Hi Matt, Fantastic article. Can you please help me fine tune my driver fitting?

Differences between the 2: Cool Clubs: D3. Club Champion — D9 swing weight. Swing speed mph, carries , yards of rollout, much tighter dispersion, straighter flight with no fades.