Driver Shaft Change

[Slab]

I have a newish driver and to cut a boring story short I got it with a budget shaft (UST Mamiya DHI drvr 60g R flex) I can make it work but since day one I've wanted to get a shaft fitting to see what shaft best suits my swing & the clubhead

With a budget of say 150-200 for a shaft upgrade, what kind of improvement should I be looking to see in terms of distance and dispersion i.e what return on the investment is likely?

Thanks

 

[Mel Smooth]

You won’t really know that until you do the fitting I guess.
I’m thinking of doing the same as the shaft in my driver only works for me if I keep the tempo down.
When the youth was fitted for his driver, reducing the length by 1” lost him 10 yards and he couldn’t hit a fairway with the shorter shaft. I was amazed how much it affected his numbers tbh

 

[Slab]

You won’t really know that until you do the fitting I guess.
I’m thinking of doing the same as the shaft in my driver only works for me if I keep the tempo down.
When the youth was fitted for his driver, reducing the length by 1” lost him 10 yards and he couldn’t hit a fairway with the shorter shaft. I was amazed how much it affected his numbers tbh

Yeah I guess, its just not worth the hassle if it'll just be 10yard gain for a shaft 5 times the price

 

[KenL]

Out of interest, did you consider getting fitted for the driver before you bought it?

 

[Slab]

Out of interest, did you consider getting fitted for the driver before you bought it?

Nah, that would've been far too sensible and totally out of character for me when making golf purchases

 

[harpo_72]

Cheap way to do it is to understand everything about what you like … then try to get as much information as possible on what is available.
If the club is adjustable then you can use the weights to fine tune.
The other thing is to go for a fitting and if the fitter is any good they should be able to identify shafts that are very similar in different price bands. Precision Golf helped me in the past with this.

 

[Imurg]

To make it worthwhile you need to be looking for at least 10 yards carry and a narrowing of the dispersion
Don't go too heavy.....none of us are getting younger and that 70g shaft will feel like scaffold pole on the 18th...

 

[Slab]

Well continuing my theme over being overeager & impatient once I start thinking about something golf related... I've just booked a driver shaft fitting session for tomorrow morning

I'll be sure to post an update after with current data and what else I try. Maybe it'll tell me the 'cheap N nasty' is perfect for my swing, lets see...

(last outing on Sunday I hit 12/13 fairways with driver so it has to give me that but longer)

 

[harpo_72]

Well if you want to hear cheap but actually not nasty ..
I use a ladies flex 44g grafalloy pro launch blue shaft which with adapter is around £50.
I use a Callaway epic speed head 9degrees turned to 9.75or 10degrees ( I cannot remember the sleeve settings) . Head is std weight. Shaft is 44.5” and I have another at 46” .. which is an experiment.
Think the swingweight is D0 -D2
Swingspeed around 96-102mph smooth transition..
I was thinking I may try the NV pink ladies shaft .. I like the aldila shafts.
My experience is anything that feels a little tip stiff can be adjusted via head weight increase or it’s worth trying them in softer flexes. I would never have played the Graffalloy in regular or stiff it’s just rough as ..
The UST shafts are worth looking at there shaft fitting app is okay. I got a 60g senior flex in my 3 wood which I swing out of my shoes in and the flight is controlled.
I am afraid I am one of these guys who shows up with some bodged up contraption.. that works.

 

[Slab]

Back from shaft fitting and that was very useful, I haven’t logged into the online stats yet for exact numbers but my mizuno stx head is now fitted with a new shaft and didn’t need anything pricey (I’m not good enough)

Now have a Velocity 45g acer reg flex (down from Mamiya 60g reg)
Plus 1° extra loft adjusted on the head (was 10.5°)
main diff before loft added, was an increase in clubhead speed ( up 5) and ball speed (up 9) cant recall if it was set on kph or mph, I’ll look later

tried 4 new shafts after the baseline taken with old shaft but it was his 1st recommendation that suited me best

found hitting indoors to be really restrictive (walls/ceiling etc) and I didn’t hit any shot as freely as I feel I would’ve on the range/course (even though I was probably nowhere near hitting a wall, it felt like I was)

He noted my biggest issue at impact is hitting down rather than up and also the face pointing left, so I know what to look out for going forward. On the plus side dispersion was nice and tight on all shafts

Can't wait to pop to the range tomorrow and give it a proper whack,

thanks for the comments above

 

[jim8flog]

The cheapish was I always do it is buy shafts off ebay try them and resell on there if they are not right but I have a fair idea of what will work for me.

 

[IanMcC]

Fitting is a must. I used to be stiff shafts all the way, but, being the wrong side of 60 now, my swing speed aint what it used to be. Irons were changed last year.
This season I changed my 3 wood to a regular shaft Qi10 5 wood. Won the Handicap club champs first outing. Nett 67 and 69
Last week I replaced my stiff shafted driver with a regular Callaway Ai Smoke Max. Won the August medal. Nett 64
Cant emphasise the importance of correct shaft enough.

 

[Slab]

Hit about 40 drives on the range this morning with new shaft fitted and, other than the shots I changed grip/stance to explore limitations, the bulk of the drives were nice and straight
Too soon to say what extra length might be on the course, I’ll find out at the weekend, but definitely good results from dispersion and an added confidence (from seeing the numbers on screen yesterday) that I can swing faster than previous config
Very aware today of clubface hitting down & left at impact, so that’ll give me something to work on the weeks ahead to look to get a higher ball flight (I do use a pretty low tee for driver, a smidge under pink castle I'd say, so that might be part of the issue)

All in all a positive change with the fit session, shaft and labour coming in at about £100 all in