The Surge asked me to do an article regarding shaft dynamics and how they relate to the golfer. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation propagated by retail clerks, professionals, and even the shaft companies themselves when it comes to shafts and what they do or don't do. There are several characteristics of golf club shafts that should be considered and which will have a dramatic affect on the playability of the shaft for an individual. In this article, we will look at a few of the basic properties of a shaft and how they correlate to the swing.
Flex is a common term often used to denote the amount of bend in a shaft. The designations are usually: L for ladies, A or M for senior, R for regular, S for stiff, and X for extra stiff. Sometimes you may even find XX or XXX. These are usually 'telephone poles' and used by very hard and fast swingers such as your long drive professionals. However, the flex of a club is really the amount of cycles that the club will vibrate per minute when 'twanged' while being secured in a stable holding device, like a clamp or vice. The amount of vibrations or CPMs (cycles per minute) are then correlated to a chart that a company has devised and the corresponding flex is assigned to the shaft.
The problem with this practice is that there is no longer an industry standard as to what vibration range equals what flex. So, the result is that you can have many and various shafts that have the same flex label that do not have the same CPMs. Another consideration when determining the CPMs is what size holding device, usually a clamp, was used to get the CPMs? Some companies use a 2.5' clamp and some companies use a 5' clamp. If you were to take the same shaft and test the CPMs under both clamps, the one under the 5' clamp would have a higher CPM.
Just how does a player know what flex shaft he needs? Swing speed is often mentioned as the determining factor of what flex is correct for the player. However, this is misleading. The actual factor is the club head speed. Swing speed and club head speed are not the same. Along with club head speed, you must take into consideration the players tempo. Tempo is the amount of time elapsed from the beginning of the back swing until contact with the ball. The third and most overlooked aspect of fitting for the correct shaft is the release point. Where the golfer releases the club in the swing will also dictate the shaft characteristics that will be needed to properly fit them.
Let's look at a couple examples to explain what I am talking about. Say that we have two golfers with an identical club head speed of 100MPH with a driver. Historically, most golf establishments would have told them both that they need the same shaft. Now, let's factor in the Player A has a 1.4 sec. tempo and Player B has a .9 sec. tempo, Player B would need a stiffer playing shaft, more accurately stiffer in the mid section, due to where he is loading the shaft. Player A has a release point of 6 o'clock and Player B has a release point of 8 o'clock (the clock is viewed face on as you look at the golfer from the front). Player A would need a shaft that is stiffer in the tip. Ok, so just how do you know what shaft out there can match all that criteria? Great question. Try asking that one at your local retail shop. We'll get to the answer in just a bit.
Let's look at a recent fitting that I did that shows just how important getting the profiles of the shaft correct for the player really is. The fitting I'm referring to was of The Surge. If you looked at his club head speed you'd say that he needed a stiff flex shaft. Even when you factored in his tempo you'd say he needed a stiff flex shaft. But, just what is a stiff flex shaft. It's like saying what is hot and what is cold. It means different things to different people. Remember, flex is designated to the shaft by a company based on the vibration frequency of the shaft as it is clamped at 2.5' or 5'. In other words, it's giving you the shaft characteristics of the shaft under your left hand (rt. handed player). Wow, that's a maximum of 5' out of a shaft that is 46' raw length.
More on that later. Back to Surge. Surge was playing a stiff flex shaft but it was a Graffaloy Blue Pro Launch shaft. Now the Surge's club head speed is still pretty good, in the mid to upper 90 MPH range. His tempo is quick and he has a late release. So, what was wrong with the Pro Launch shaft? The mid and tip sections were too soft for his swing and, as a result, he would leave shots to the right on his misses. When we did his fitting, we ran his numbers and the shaft that fit him best actually says R flex on the shaft. But, his R shaft plays stiffer than a lot of S flexes. It has a fairly tight mid section and a firm tip.
Now, I'm sure that some of you have tested clubs at your local retailer or at a demo day that had the same shaft designation for flex listed on the shaft. But when you hit the clubs they did not react or feel the same at all. Why is this? The answer quite simply is there is no industry standard any longer as to what constitutes a particular flex. You can compare one company's R flex to its S flex, but from company to company you can no longer make any generalized comparisons. Let's take a Graffaloy Pro Launch Blue shaft in stiff flex and compare it to a Fuji Motore' stiff flex. These two shafts are about as different as night and day, even though they both have stiff flex labeled on the shaft. The Motore' will play considerably stiffer all the way around with lower launch and a much lower torque rating.
Torque is another factor of a golf shaft that needs to be considered when getting the correct shaft for a player. Torque is the shaft's resistance to twist. That twist factor comes from the force of hitting a golf ball on the club face and from the actual swinging of the golf club. Obviously, the further you hit the ball from the hosel on the club face the more torque is required. Torque can also relate to the 'feel'. If you have a slower swing speed, then you don't want a club with too low a torque as the club will have a very 'harsh' stiff, almost 'boardy' feel, to it. Conversely, if you have a high swing speed, you don't want a shaft with too high a torque as the club head will twist drastically as you swing. That will put additional side spin on the ball which will cause the ball to fly off line as well because you will lose energy. That equates to losing distance.
Along with torque, which deals with the tip of the golf club, you also have a choice of shaft tip sizes. You can get most driver shafts in .335 or .350 tips. The .335 shaft will play softer and theoretically allows more 'working' of the golf ball. Most professionals play .335 tips in their woods. Hybrids generally have a .370 diameter but you can find some in the .335 and .350 range. Irons will either have a .370 parallel tip or a .355 taper tip.
One other shaft characteristic that I want to address is kick point. Kick point is the spot on the shaft where it flexes or bends the most. A shaft with a high kick point will hit the ball with a lower trajectory and one with a low kick point will launch the ball higher.
I also believe that there is a proper way to orient the shaft in the head for maximum playability and repeatability. The shaft, no matter how well it's made, will have a spine or seam. I read on one of the blogs recently that a gentleman thought this area of club technology is bogus because if you spend enough money on a shaft, you won't need to have it aligned. The major difference in the great shafts and the poor shafts is the amount of spines and how pronounced they are. But even the best and most expensive shaft will have a hard side or spine. It will also have a NBP (neutral bend point) and it will have a FLO point. This is the spot where the shaft does nothing but vibrate back and forth perfectly. The benefit of this is that you are not 'fighting' the shaft to get the club head back to square. The shaft is doing all it can to help square the club head up as you swing. Orient the shaft in any other position than FLOed, the club head will do circles and somersaults. To see this for yourself, take a driver and put the butt end in a vice and a laser pointer on the head (if you have one) and watch the pattern that the head makes. With most clubs you'll be able to see this effect even without a laser.
Shaft manufacturers can do all kinds of things with shafts and playing characteristics. So how in the world does the golfer know which shaft is correct for him? The simple hard truth is, he doesn't! And, again, if you walk into most retail establishments and expect to get the proper information and help, you are in for a letdown. The only true way to get properly fitted for the correct shaft, regardless of what club it is going in, is to see a certified fitting professional. This is the answer to the question asked earlier regarding how to find a shaft that fits all the parameters of your swing. Club makers and fitters profile shafts. That means we take readings of the shaft for the entire length of the shaft and then arrive at the characteristics of these shafts and group them into BUTT, MIDDLE, and TIP readings. I have two different programs that have the profiles of over 700 shafts listed and a program that I put the fitting numbers for a golfer into and a list of suitable shafts is the given that match the dynamics of their swing.
Bottom line, to play the best and most consistent golf that you are capable of playing, it is essential, for accuracy and distance, to ensure that you have the proper shafts in all your clubs. Go see a fitter. If you don't know one, I'll try to locate one near you. Email me at: thegolfstop@att.net.
J. Lynn Griffin,
Certified Master Fitting Professional
PPGS Certified Instructor