This aspect of club fitting is a minefield for most amateur golfers and what I have seen offered by some manufacturers is nothing more than changing different shafts in the hope that one might be more suitable than the other, no attention is made to the swing characteristics of the player involved or any measured input.
First of all, let's get one thing straight, there are no standards in the golf industry, one manufacturers "R" flex is another manufactures "S" flex or even an "A" flex (senior). Therefore these letters are meaningless and this applies to all manufacturers out there.
There are literally hundreds of shafts to choose from both graphite and steel, let's take a look at some of them, Google "Golfsmith.com", scroll down too and click on Golfsmith Europe 2014 Catalogue in the middle of the home page, click onto page 92-93, here we find the popular True Temper Dynamic Gold steel iron shafts together with various information such as weight, length, torque, flex and also a swing speed recommendation or SSR.
Note that you will see that the Iron shaft R300 Regular has a recommended SSR of between 75-85 mph and the S300 Stiff shaft has an 80-90mph SSR. So if your swing speed is 85mph which shaft should you use. Here is the information that you need to know that no one has ever told you about or even seen written in a golf magazine.
Any golf shaft steel or graphite can indeed be measured from the butt to tip, and at any given point in between using a measuring device called a frequency machine. At these determined points, the shaft measurements can be given a value with regard to the stiffness of the shaft, these values are noted and entered into computer software, graphs can then be produced and comparisons made with each individual shafts bend profile.
Here we can see an example of the bend profile between the Dynamic Gold R300 and the S300 with the tip of the S300 giving a frequency of 899 cycles per minute being more stiffer than the R300 at 799 cycles per minute.
Here we see the stiffness along the full length of each shaft, notice how the higher number
meaning stiffer progresses with the S300 at each point.
During the club fitting process, the fitter will ask the golfer to hit a few shots with their existing driver or 6 iron depending which shaft needs replacing. Their swing speed will be measured together with their tempo, and noting either by eye or using a slow-motion camera where the golfer un-cocks his wrists in the downswing. Very important this for this is the point of maximum shaft bend providing our swing speed and will be the main factor in our shaft choice.
Now, let's take a look at a shaft, there is the butt section, the middle section and the tip.
Each part of the shaft has to be matched with the golfers swing characteristics.
The butt section has to be matched with the golfers what we call the transition, that is the change in direction from completion of the backswing to the downswing. Is it 1). smooth (Ernie Els), 2). average (Charl Schwartzel) or 3). fast (Tiger)
The middle section has to be matched with the player's tempo again is it 1). Slow more than1-2 seconds, 2). average 1-1.2 seconds or is it 3). fast less than 1.0 second.
And finally, the tip section has to be matched with where the golfer unhinges his or her wrists, is it 1) Early above the waist, 2) Midway about waist height or is it 3) Late below the waist between 8 o'clock to 6 o'clock position.
Generally speaking the smoother the transition, the slower the tempo and earlier the release then the more the swing speed should be at the upper end of the SSR scale, and the more aggressive the transition, the faster the tempo and the later the wrist release then the swing speed should be placed at the lower end of the SSR. So the golfer with an 85mph swing speed who has an early release would require the "R" shaft and the golfer with the later release requires the "S" shaft.
Obviously, there are 27 permutations available and therefore not quite as simple as above, however, the club fitter will run these observations and measurements through computer software, and a narrowed down list of recommended shafts will be produced. These half a dozen shafts will no doubt be of varying weight which is also important, for the stronger golfer with a late unhinging of the wrist and a fast swing speed a heavier weight of shaft can alter trajectory and spin whereby the golfer with an early release and slower swing speed, shaft weight will affect the feel of the shot more so than spin.
From here having narrowed down the shafts to your swing characteristics its a simple matter of trying each shaft to see what difference the weight of shaft makes to your shots. Some times lighter shafts can help increase swing speed and therefore increase distance, heavier shafts can help timing and tempo and aid consistency.
All the above may be a little daunting and time consuming to some, but I can assure you that determining the right shaft in this manner would only take a good club fitter maybe 15 -20 minutes at most. Most golfers I see chop and change their drivers in particular in the hope that the hype and a different shaft will somehow make them hit the ball further, and 9 out 10 golfers end up with a driver bought off the shelf with much the same shaft and results as they did before. This is because the manufacturers understandably due to costs and inventory restraints want us to be put into a convenient single choice L, A, R or S flex and are not able or willing to offer the wider range of shafts that are indeed available to us. Looking through the Golfsmith catalogue you can now see that there are hundreds of shafts out there, all different enabling us to accommodate all of these 27 variables and if fitted correctly it can make a huge difference, so it's not too difficult to find a more suitable shaft for you.
Comments