Golf technical definitions, what do they mean?

[CMAC]

I understand stiff/Regular/loft/lie etc but when it comes to shafts what do they mean by...
Soft/hard tip?
Smash factor?

apart from what are they what should they be and how does it affect your ball flight?

 

[Charlie_B1981]

not sure of soft/hard tip unles thats something to do with the whip.

smash factor is a calculation used to determine how much power is transferred to the ball. not sure of the exact calculation but it takes the club head speed and ball speed to work it out. think the highest is something like 1.5

 

[Ethan]

Smash factor is the ratio of ball speed to clubhead speed, and the highest is about 1.5. That occurs with the driver, and the maximum smash factor is lower with shorter clubs. It is a measure of (mostly) the quality of transfer of energy to the ball. If you hit the ball away from the sweet spot and/or with a glancing blow, the smash factor will drop a lot.

Hard/soft tip means the degree of shaft flexibility at the clubhead end of the shaft. Shafts do not have a uniform stiffness through their whole length, some have greater stiffness or flexibility in one or more zones - butt (grip end), mid-section, tip to suit different types of player. Soft tip will give more upward kick, so more height, but be a bit less stable, hard tip will be more stable for harder hitters and control the height better.