After market shaft upgrades

[neil ingle]

Hi,

I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on expensive after market shaft upgrades?

I was trying various driver heads and shafts today on a fitting and was hitting a RBZ very well but it was a non std shaft, a Mitsubishi Diamana Kai'li in stiff 70g. When I heard the price I nearly died!!! An extra £180 on top of the club making it £379 in total!!!

Would an average mid handicapper really get that much out of a shaft like this vs the std?

Completely confused now what to do with the new purchase.

Thanks

Neil

 

[Essex_Stu]

The shaft makes all the difference to a driver in my very limited opinion. It alters flight, roll and pretty much everything else. The most important thing is did the shaft feel £180 better to you?

 

[Piece]

Hi,

I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on expensive after market shaft upgrades?

I was trying various driver heads and shafts today on a fitting and was hitting a RBZ very well but it was a non std shaft, a Mitsubishi Diamana Kai'li in stiff 70g. When I heard the price I nearly died!!! An extra £180 on top of the club making it £379 in total!!!

Neil

That's about the price of an R11s TP off the shelf without fitting...Therefore, not *that* expensive?!?

If the results are great and giving you what you need (confidence, length, narrow dispersion) then you have to ask if you want to pay for it now, or continue picking off the shelf drivers and changing every 12 months? E.g. False economy.

If you are serious about trying to improve then you need all the tools at your disposal. One of them is a fitted driver. If not, then don't spent and focus elsewhere.

 

[neil ingle]

All very good points and as i am on my 4th driver in 2 years your probably correct.

Don't mind paying the extra but not sure what the extra money is going into? Better materials I suppose

 

[Region3]

That shaft is one of the standard choices in the Titleist 910 drivers. I guess it's a 'made for' shaft, but someone might be able to say how close it is to the real thing or maybe even suggest a very similar shaft that is standard in that club?

You can pick the Titleist one up for £60-£80 off Ebay then you could sell your shaft and the Titleist adaptor and hardly be out of pocket after paying to have the shaft put in (if it's not a quick change one?).

 

[Ethan]

That shaft is one of the standard choices in the Titleist 910 drivers. I guess it's a 'made for' shaft, but someone might be able to say how close it is to the real thing or maybe even suggest a very similar shaft that is standard in that club?

You can pick the Titleist one up for £60-£80 off Ebay then you could sell your shaft and the Titleist adaptor and hardly be out of pocket after paying to have the shaft put in (if it's not a quick change one?).

The stock version is a 'made for', but it isn't a bad one. You can get the real thing as a custom upgrade.

 

[Dave B]

I've been experimenting a great deal with various driver heads and shafts lately and even though I had a fitting for my last driver, I am starting to come to the conclusion that for the average mid handicap golfer, it is debatable as to whether there is any benefit in getting fitted or buying aftermarket shafts.

To explain and support this statement one of the golf monthly's recently took three golfers of differing abilities, high, mid and low handicap players who were fitted with various shafts. They all trialed shafts recommended by a professional fitter and although the stats reflected a slight improvement in yardage, if you analysed the information provided, apart from the odd shaft that was totally unsuitable the majority gave very similar statistics with not a great deal to choose between them.

I recently bought a Callaway Razr fit 10.5 degree driver which I was fitted for and although I hit it well , I do tend to hit it very high to the point where I am definitely losing distance. To bring the trajectoy down I've tried two aftermarket shafts with differing results.

The first was a regular Grafalloy Blue which plays far stiffer than it's regular rating and when hit well it does deliver however when compared to the stock RIP Nv it isn't as consistent and requires much more effort to load correctly and get the desired results.

The second shaft is a stiff Tour Design YSQ-st and I've only played once. The results were very good as it loads well and has bought the trajectory down slightly however in todays winds it was difficult to tell if there will be any benefit, when compared to the stock shaft, (not that I am too worried as I only paid £50 for the shaft, adaptor and grip and will get my money backon ebay if it doesn't work out, (the grafalloy blue has already sold for a small profit).

going onto fitting Alvaro Quiros doesn't use flight scope statistics when choosing his drivers. Basically he hits the ball, looks at the trajectory, carry, roll and distance and if he likes it that is what he uses.

This is no different to the average Joe Blogs who trys half a dozen drivers off the shelf and then chooses one he likes. Basically for the average golfer if you try enough drivers, including your mates on the course, you will find something that will suit your swing.

If you try half a dozen stock drivers some will feel awful but two or three will feel very good and then it's just a case of finding the one that you like.

I know some people will justify the expense of being fitted however if we are honest how many of us with all the changes in technology and customfitting are really hitting the ball significantly further than we were four or five years ago?

 

[munro007]

Dave its not all about distance, i want to be more accurate, and that is what a custom fitted club will do for you.

 

[Dave B]

Munro

You are correct it isn't all about distance as the shaft will affect dispertion, roll and trajectory, however my findings to date have found only small variances in each attribute whan compared to stock shafts.

If you look at it logically when the manufacturers introduce new clubs it is in their best interests to ensure that their product is as good as or better than the offerings manufactured and marketed by the oposition.

This will no doubt involve a substantial amount of research in finding the best head and shaft combination for Joe Bloggs the average golfer.

There is some very clever marketing in Golf and the majority of claims regarding increased accuracy and distance however the truth of the matter is the club is only as good as the swing. There are shafts that will suit one golfer better than another but by the same admission there are also "off the shelf" head and shaft combinations that will also suit the average golfer in the same respect.

I'm a big fan of the Nike VR pro drivers and when I went for my fitting I was really looking forward to trying the new VRS which had received good reviews however the head felt heavy and the stock shaft was too light making it feel totally unsuitable for my swing. It was a big disappointment as was the R11 with the Rip Phenom Shaft.

The Ping G2O was good as were the TM RBZ and the Titleist 910 D2 with the Diamana Kia however the dispertion and spin rates with the Razr Fit were marginally better. I did try other drivers however any of the above head and shaft combinations would have suited my swing with very little difference in terms of distance and dispertion.

After market shafts may make a slight difference however my honenst opinion is that for £200 you can find a good head and shaft combination that will offer you very similar results to a professionally fitted driver with a custom fit shaft which could cost you in excess of £400.