Iron shaft flex

[SaintHacker]

I struggle badly with my long irons. 7 and down are fine, 6 is usually ok, 4 and 5 are more often than not a complete disaster, the stock shot being a big high slice. I was thinking it was more of a mental issue but got chatting with a mate who's just been fitted for new clubs. His new irons have sfiff shafts, whereas mine are regular and 1 1/2" longer. My friend has a slower swing than me, which suddenly got me thinking is the shaft making things harder? Do iron shaft flexes make much difference? I can't afford new clubs at the moment so would i be better taking the long irons out and replace with a cheap hybrid?

 

[Orikoru]

You will only know the answer by trying some out. If I was you I'd go to a nearby American Golf that has a big second hand stock in store, find a set of irons with stiff shifts, and say you want to try them out on the range. They'll let you hit several shots with them for free. I suppose try and pick irons that a bit similar to yours to give you the best comparison and see what you think.

 

[r0wly86]

I struggle badly with my long irons. 7 and down are fine, 6 is usually ok, 4 and 5 are more often than not a complete disaster, the stock shot being a big high slice. I was thinking it was more of a mental issue but got chatting with a mate who's just been fitted for new clubs. His new irons have sfiff shafts, whereas mine are regular and 1 1/2" longer. My friend has a slower swing than me, which suddenly got me thinking is the shaft making things harder? Do iron shaft flexes make much difference? I can't afford new clubs at the moment so would i be better taking the long irons out and replace with a cheap hybrid?

Correctly fitted shafts are probably the most important thing in a set of clubs so yes it can make a huge difference. You could try going to a club fitter and having a fitting session to see where you need to go in terms of clubs, even if you can't afford them now you'll know what to get in the future. Alternatively they will prbably be able to reshaft your current set with the correct shafts for about 1/2 the price of a brand new set.

 

[Face breaker]

Sounds to me like a 'long iron' issue, my 7/8/9/PW/SW are all spot on, my 6 on the other hand is where things start to get a bit ropey, as it happens I don't use the 6/7 that much anyway so not a real issue for me...

I don't use a driver either much preferring a '3-wood' and then moving onto my little 22* hybrid and from there it's straight onto the 8 and so on, and to answer your question 'yes' shaft flex makes a hell of a difference even to the point where no two reg-flex shafts are the same...

I had (aquired) some 'Speedblades' with 'reg-flex 85g HST' shafts in which I couldn't for the life of me stop pushing right, I then happened across some 'King Cobra' irons on a local selling site with 'Nippon NS Pro' reg-flex shafts in which consequently I hit spot on barring the 6 iron that is...

My personal view on the subject of fitted clubs is that each and every club should be fitted individually and not as a set, after-all that is what the pro's do and is something that I may well look into at a later date, that's if I can find a pro-shop locally that's prepared to do it...

Should be interesting to see what others opinions are on the issue, I like to be controversial... :thup:

 

[the_coach]

I struggle badly with my long irons. 7 and down are fine, 6 is usually ok, 4 and 5 are more often than not a complete disaster, the stock shot being a big high slice. I was thinking it was more of a mental issue but got chatting with a mate who's just been fitted for new clubs. His new irons have sfiff shafts, whereas mine are regular and 1 1/2" longer. My friend has a slower swing than me, which suddenly got me thinking is the shaft making things harder? Do iron shaft flexes make much difference? I can't afford new clubs at the moment so would i be better taking the long irons out and replace with a cheap hybrid?

while shaft flex is important - having the correct length & weight of shaft along with the right shaft 'profile' (basically how the shaft flexes and when it flexes most under the forces any individual swing motion puts it under) is a tad more important than the flex label

bearing in mind there is no industry standard across the manufacturers to flex - have seen some "regular shafts" that were 'stiffer' than some "stiff shafts"

all of which to why folks should get a 'good' club fitting

are the shafts primarily responsible for the shot direction/contact difficulties across the longer irons - almost certainly not

that will be more around the club delivery with the swing motion to impact - which again will be around grip hold issues - & perhaps also set-up issues that then play into how the clubhead is being delivered to impact

with more loft on the clubs down from the 7i that puts more backspin on the ball which helps keep the shots straighter to aim - plus the shorter shafts will make them a tad easier to control

would video yourself from dtl taking note of the shaft angle at address with say an 8i & a 4/5i - look to see how much more vertical the shaft angles are at impact to the shaft angle at address - if that is the case that will be a huge part of the problem
also would look at how the posture spine angle may well be changing from set-up to impact

at set-up would look at ball positions & just where the upper body (shoulders/chest) are angled compared to hip line & the ball/target line

answers more likely to start from these type of things rather than just the shaft flex

 

[Neilds]

Just had a fitting with a great bloke from TM who came to the local range. I had stiff shafts in my RSI 1s which I had a feeling were wrong. This was quickly confirmed with a 7i swing speed of 77mph and then we set about finding the right shaft. It was a big eye opener what difference the flex, make and weight made to the ball flight.
moral of the story- get a proper fitting

 

[jim8flog]

one and half inches longer is a big step up from 'standard'. How tall are you (although it is only part of the equation) and have you done a static fit on - ping or Golfsmiths website.

 

[SaintHacker]

while shaft flex is important - having the correct length & weight of shaft along with the right shaft 'profile' (basically how the shaft flexes and when it flexes most under the forces any individual swing motion puts it under) is a tad more important than the flex label

bearing in mind there is no industry standard across the manufacturers to flex - have seen some "regular shafts" that were 'stiffer' than some "stiff shafts"

all of which to why folks should get a 'good' club fitting

are the shafts primarily responsible for the shot direction/contact difficulties across the longer irons - almost certainly not

that will be more around the club delivery with the swing motion to impact - which again will be around grip hold issues - & perhaps also set-up issues that then play into how the clubhead is being delivered to impact

with more loft on the clubs down from the 7i that puts more backspin on the ball which helps keep the shots straighter to aim - plus the shorter shafts will make them a tad easier to control

would video yourself from dtl taking note of the shaft angle at address with say an 8i & a 4/5i - look to see how much more vertical the shaft angles are at impact to the shaft angle at address - if that is the case that will be a huge part of the problem
also would look at how the posture spine angle may well be changing from set-up to impact

at set-up would look at ball positions & just where the upper body (shoulders/chest) are angled compared to hip line & the ball/target line

answers more likely to start from these type of things rather than just the shaft flex

Thanks Coach, plenty of food for thought as always:thup:

one and half inches longer is a big step up from 'standard'. How tall are you (although it is only part of the equation) and have you done a static fit on - ping or Golfsmiths website.

6'4. I haven't but I'll have a look at those sites

 

[Blue in Munich]

To reinforce two of the excellent points that the_coach makes;

while shaft flex is important - having the correct length & weight of shaft along with the right shaft 'profile' (basically how the shaft flexes and when it flexes most under the forces any individual swing motion puts it under) is a tad more important than the flex label

Hence the Titleist fitting mantra of "It's not how fast you swing, it's how you swing fast".

bearing in mind there is no industry standard across the manufacturers to flex - have seen some "regular shafts" that were 'stiffer' than some "stiff shafts"

I recently got fitted, and got near identical figures with a KBS Tour 90 & a Nippon Modus 105, but the fitting recommended the KBS in stiff or the Nippon in regular.