How to choose the best driver shaft for your golf game
The shaft is widely regarded as the engine of the golf club, which gives you an idea of just how important it is to choose the best driver shaft for your swing.
Choosing the best driver is of course important, but the right shaft matters just as much &#; if not more. That&#;s why most tour pros will stick to the same shaft for many years, even when switching driver head to the latest releases, and why a good custom fitting can make a huge difference to your drives.
The right driver shaft will offer you maximum distance and consistency, while also feeling good and giving you confidence. The wrong shaft can contribute to hooks and slices, rob you of distance, and feel hard work to swing.
I&#;ve had several driver fittings and tested countless shafts over my years of playing golf, including recently getting dialed in for what I hope will be my driver shaft for many years to come. I&#;ll take you through the key factors to consider when choosing a driver shaft to suit your swing.
Let&#;s start with shaft flex, because it&#;s the thing people tend to focus on the most and it is important.
In simple terms, the faster your swing speed, the stiffer the shaft you&#;ll need in your driver.
As a general guide:
Swing speedBest shaft flexUnder 75mphLadies / Senior75-95mphRegular95-105mphStiff105mph+Extra stiffDon&#;t take these numbers as gospel, though. For a start, there&#;s no standardization between brands, so a regular shaft from one manufacturer might be more akin to a stiff from another. And the way you swing plays a part, beyond just the clubhead speed. A more aggressive swing may benefit from a stiffer shaft than a smoother swing, even if the total speed generated is similar.
If your shaft flex is too soft, it can cause shots that fly too high, create too much spin, and encourage misses to the left (for right-handed golfers). If your shaft flex is too stiff, you&#;re more likely to suffer shots that fly too low, have too little spin, and miss to the right.
Weight and flex tend to go hand-in-hand, with stiffer shafts coming in heavier, and softer shafts more lightweight.
The symptoms of having a shaft that&#;s too light or too heavy are similar to those of having the wrong flex (discussed above).
Driver shaft length is an interesting one. All else being equal, a longer shaft generates more clubhead speed than a shorter one &#; that&#;s why your clubhead speed with your 4-iron is faster than with your wedge. So, in theory, your distance potential is higher with a longer shaft. But more clubhead speed is only worth having if you&#;re still able to make solid contact and maximize ball speed. It&#;s harder to control a longer club than a shorter one, which is one of the main reasons so many golfers struggle with driver.
If you can&#;t hit driver consistently well with a longer shaft, you may well get better performance from a shorter one.
We spoke to some of the world&#;s leading club fitters and they suggested that many golfers would gain distance and accuracy from a slightly shorter driver shaft. &#;I&#;d say 90% of the drivers sold in the shops today are too long for most players,&#; said one.
Bear in mind that many of the world&#;s best golfers use driver shafts that are shorter than the standard length of stock shafts at retail. If elite golfers are opting for the ease of a shorter shaft, it might be worth considering.
Your physique &#; in terms of height and arm length &#; also plays a factor in determining the right shaft length.
The next two elements of driver shaft composition are where many golfers get lost, so I&#;ll try to explain them as simply as possible.
The kick point is the place along the shaft where it bends the most. A higher kick point will tend to create a lower ball flight, whereas a lower kick point will help raise the ball flight.
So, if you struggle with a launch that&#;s too high or too low, a driver shaft with an appropriate kick point can help give you a more optimal trajectory. The optimal launch angle will depend on your speed and spin rate, and it&#;s something an expert fitter will be able to help you with.
Torque refers to how much the driver shaft wants to twist or rotate during the swing, so a high torque measurement means it will rotate more, while low torque shafts will resist twisting.
Generally, high-speed players and those who naturally draw the ball will benefit from lower torque to stop them &#;over-releasing&#; the club and hitting the ball left, while slower swingers and those who battle a slice will do better with higher torque that rotates more and helps them square the club at impact.
Higher torque shafts may feel more &#;whippy&#; than shafts with less torque.
As with all of these factors, though, it&#;s important to remember that no two swings are the same so there are no hard-and-fast rules.
Driver shafts can cost anywhere from $50 to over $1,000. Whilst you get what you pay for to some extent, there won&#;t necessarily be a direct correlation between the price and the number of fairways you hit or the yardage you&#;ll gain. It&#;s all about finding the shaft that&#;s the best match for your swing. The most expensive driver shafts are only needed by a very small minority of high-speed golfers.
Obviously you should never spend more than you&#;re comfortable with, but if you&#;re thinking of value for money, remember there&#;s no reason you can&#;t keep a driver shaft you love for many years, even if you change driver head during that time. If you change driver head from one manufacturer to another, you will have to change the shaft adaptor, but this isn&#;t a particularly difficult or expensive job.
Any new driver you buy will come with a shaft included. This will typically be one of what is known as the &#;stock&#; shafts &#; simply the choices offered as standard.
&#;Aftermarket&#; shafts, on the other hand, refers to anything outside this stock selection. These options tend to come with a surcharge.
Want to know more about driver shafts? We visited one of the world&#;s leading shaft manufacturers, Fujikura, to find out how they create golf shafts for the best players in the world.
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Rob McGarr &#; Contributing Editor
Rob has been a writer and editor for over 15 years, covering all manner of subjects for leading magazines and websites.
He has previously been Features Editor of Today&#;s Golfer magazine and Digital Editor of todays-golfer.com, and held roles at FHM, Men&#;s Running, Golf World, and MAN Magazine.
You can follow him on YouTube where &#; depending on what day of the week it is &#; he&#;ll either be trying his best to get his handicap down to scratch or shoving his clubs in a cupboard, never to be seen again.
Rob is a member at Royal North Devon, England&#;s oldest golf course, where he plays off a three-handicap.
We are
back with our Chapter 2 of how to choose a driver; in this article, you&#;ll get
to know about how the shaft affects your performance?
Do you know that a shaft is known as &#;the engine&#; of a golf club? Yes, it is, and that is why it&#;s crucial to use shafts that boost your performance and deliver according to your swing tendencies. There are some things to consider while choosing a shaft; flex, length, weight, and bend profile are the main parameters that we will discuss further.
Steel and graphite, these are two basic types of golf
shafts. All modern drivers come fitted with graphite shafts and you can
typically choose the flex you want; however, if you decide that you would like
to change your type of shaft, you should know the basics of golf shafts.
Drivers till the end of the 20th Century were only fitted with Steel Shafts. These shafts offer more control and have a greater emphasis on accuracy than distance, which means that faster swing speed is required to generate the same distance as a graphite shaft.
Which players normally use steel shafts &#; In today&#;s time nobody uses a steel shaft in a driver anymore; as these shafts are much heavier, they don&#;t deliver the optimum performance out of a driver.
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from jundi.
Graphite Shafts help to produce a more majestic swing speed for added power; however, it surrenders control due to the flex generated in the swing. Therefore it is of utmost importance to choose the right flex and weight combination for your driver shaft. A perfect shaft can deliver great results off the tee even for a high handicap golfer.
Which players normally use this &#; Every golfer from club players to professionals use graphite shafts in drivers now.
What went wrong?
The most common place golfers go wrong is in the amount
of flex they have in their golf club&#;s shaft. But finding the club shaft that
makes you happy involves some trial and time.
What golf shaft flex is right for me?
The flex defines a golf club shaft&#;s ability to bend
during a swing, affecting the distance and control. There is a thing you must
know that the shaft flex really impacts the accuracy, trajectory, and distance
of your shot. Therefore, getting the right flex in your golf clubs is essential.
Talking about the flex rating you use, then it will
clearly depend on the type of swing you have. Like the beginners and those with
normal swings tend to use a shaft with greater flexibility to propel the ball
more. Whereas, powerful swingers will require a stiffer shaft with less flex.
According to what you carry, below is a table to understand better.
Driver Carry Flex Swing Speed 260A club fitting with a golf expert is the suggested way to choose the proper golf shaft flex for your golf clubs.
TRENDING:
Now if you feel that you have learned the art of choosing the right shaft after studying about the flex, then you must know that the shaft length also plays an integral role in driver performance. Shaft length varies depending on different aspects such as player height and wrist to floor distance. For more details see the chart below.
You
can&#;t pick the right shaft without knowing how much the shaft&#;s length and
weight will impact your game. For instance, a ball impact that is 0.5 inches
off-center equates to a 7% loss of carrying distance, and an impact that is
1-inch off-center equates to a 14% loss of carrying distance. So, the key to
choosing the right shaft is finding the correct length that provides a
repeating, robust hit all the time.
Another
crucial thing to consider in your shaft is its weight. Shafts can range
anywhere from 40 to 85 grams. Typically, the rule of thumb is that a golfer
with a slow swing might use lighter shaft, and he/she would add weight as swing
speed increases.
The
simple fact is that the lighter shafts provide the opportunity to increase
swing speed. Increased swing speed correlates to more distance; however,
playing with a shaft too light will ultimately lead to off-center hits.
Whereas, the heavier Shafts will not allow the golfer to generate enough speed
to maximize distance and produce more off-center hits.
Also, a
lighter shaft promotes a higher ball flight while a heavier shaft generally produces
a lower ball flight. So, yes, weight can affect swing speed along with other
factors, and it&#;s critical to find the right weight that fits your swing so you
can maintain control while also increasing club speed.
Sometimes
a player doesn&#;t know what he or she needs in a golf shaft; Even the most
devoted players undervalue the significance of selecting the right shaft for
their golf equipment and then troubles in the game.
But,
after reading this in-depth article, I&#;m pretty sure you&#;ve discovered a lot
about how to choose your driver&#;s shaft, and from now onwards, you will not
make any mistake of selecting the right shaft for your driver.
Stay tuned for the next chapter of the series: How to choose the right grip for your club?
MUST-READ: TOP FOUR DRIVERS USED ON THE PGA TOUR
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