Playing a stiff shaft over reg??

[karlcole]

Hi guys quick one for you all. I got fitted a few months back for a 3 wood to use of the tee at the time I'm almost certain my swing speed was 92mph and they said a reg shaft will be fine. I never bought the 3 wood from them and instead have been using the nike covert or rbz stage 2 3 wood in reg. both these feel a bit whippy and I feel like I'm struggling to control the ball. My friends decided to sell his covert in stiff shaft for a bargain price so I've said ill have it off him. I'm just wondering what effect will the stiff shaft have on my game?? I gather the two most common responses herew I'll be get fitted properly or try the stiff shaft on the range, however I'm away with work for 4 weeks so just after a quick heads up on the likely effect.
Thanks

 

[mab]

Buy it, try it, then keep it or sell it.

It really does depend how the shaft profile suits your swing. The added stiffness could 'tighten' everything up and give you better dispersion; alternatively, it could be too stout for you meaning you can't load it, it feels dead, you overswing to compensate and dispersion deteriorates.

If you got it for a decent price, you have nothing to lose.

 

[Alex1975]

92 mph with the 3 wood or a 6 iron?

Everything is subject to the numbers you produce and how the club feels to you, both things are about as important as one another. If you have a club that produces great numbers but you hate the feel you will not be confident in it.

I have used all regular and all still, I now have regular irons and stiff wood shafts. I like the regular in the irons as it helps me release the club head and I like stiff in woods as they are long and I want to feel I can lean on them.

A regular shaft for a strong player can cause a left shot and sometimes even a right shot. A stiff shaft for a weaker(for want of a better word) can lose you distance but may give a tighter dispersion.

Weight is another thing to consider but thats another matter.

If you are 92 mph with a 3 wood, subject to the numbers your producing you may be good with either, your on the line. There is more to a shaft fit than speed though.


Hope it helps.

 

[Ethan]

The stiff is more likely to suit if you currently hit the R a bit wild, too high, and/or have a fast transition and tempo.

But the most common responses, get fitted and/or try it on the range are still the best answers.

 

[the_coach]

Hi guys quick one for you all. I got fitted a few months back for a 3 wood to use of the tee at the time I'm almost certain my swing speed was 92mph and they said a reg shaft will be fine. I never bought the 3 wood from them and instead have been using the nike covert or rbz stage 2 3 wood in reg. both these feel a bit whippy and I feel like I'm struggling to control the ball. My friends decided to sell his covert in stiff shaft for a bargain price so I've said ill have it off him. I'm just wondering what effect will the stiff shaft have on my game?? I gather the two most common responses herew I'll be get fitted properly or try the stiff shaft on the range, however I'm away with work for 4 weeks so just after a quick heads up on the likely effect.
Thanks

Less Club head speed, less ball speed off the face, lower launch angle, lower peak height, less carry:

(Depends how much all of this happens as to how stiff the stiff shaft is, they vary, and the amount of difference from the particular regular shaft you normally use. The difference is not as great as people tend to believe so you may well notice no real difference at all.)

But it's all only relevant as to how you load the shaft with the overall speed as well as how you load the shaft during transition and how you release it through impact.

The slightly stiffer shaft may well take a little more effort to square the face up through impact. But what happens after initial launch direction will depend on your swing path.

If you swing in to out and normally draw the ball you may well find you push right more shots.
If you normally swing out to in you may well find you hit more fades perhaps even slice more.

All shots if your hands lead the club head through impact will have a lower traj. and lower peak height.
(Unless you have either an over steep swing or tend to flip your hands a little just before impact so the head gets there before your hands which will still tend to add a little height to the shots)

Possibly because of all of these things maybe a slightly tighter dispersion range, that though will depend on whether you can mostly find a centered hit repeatedly, and on if you have a repeatably consistent swing path thats neither wildly from inside or outside the ball/target line and have a consistent face angle delivery through impact whether that's more square, open or closed.

 

[Foxholer]

Unless you are coming from another sport - which can distort concepts...

If you think it's a bit whippy, it almost certainly is!

The Stiff may or may not go better, but certainly worth a punt imo. As Homer found last year - at a fitting - Stock shafts can be miles out from what they say on them, and there is no standard anyway!

Fitting is probably the best solution, but may not be value for money for just a 3 Wood?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Unless you are coming from another sport - which can distort concepts...

If you think it's a bit whippy, it almost certainly is!

The Stiff may or may not go better, but certainly worth a punt imo. As Homer found last year - at a fitting - Stock shafts can be miles out from what they say on them, and there is no standard anyway!

Fitting is probably the best solution, but may not be value for money for just a 3 Wood?

Foxholer is right. At my G25 fit last year, I had a TM burner driver, 3 and 5 wood bought off the shelf with R flex in each. The driver was like wet spaghetti, the 3 was a stiff bordering on stiffer and the 5 wood was Mr Whippy. Apparently TM are notorious for their lack of quality control and you can get two drivers off a shelf and their specs will be way out. Try a stiff, see how it goes and decide. If you go to a pro or range, many will have demo clubs (and I'd rather give them the business than a corporate). If all else fails go to an AG or DG and try one ideally on a range rather than a bay and their notorious launch monitors

 

[markgs]

i got x2 3 irons same club head one with a dg xp r300 one with dg s300. cant tell much difference in them

 

[mab]

The Covert is adjustable isn't it?

Just go shaft mental on eBay!

 

[Oddsocks]

The Covert is adjustable isn't it?

Just go shaft mental on eBay!

Hell yeah, and with the covert being a year old you'll get some right bargains

 

[karlcole]

The Covert is adjustable isn't it?

Just go shaft mental on eBay!

I think it's just the tour version that's adjustable mate. I'm only getting the standard versiom

 

[garyinderry]

The slightly stiffer shaft may well take a little more effort to square the face up through impact. But what happens after initial launch direction will depend on your swing path.

.

why would a club that is flexing less be harder to square up? surely one that is on the whippy side would be harder to square up?

 

[the_coach]

why would a club that is flexing less be harder to square up? surely one that is on the whippy side would be harder to square up?

Because your getting less help from the shaft and the differing kick point to move the face angle back to square.

 

[Oddsocks]

I'm sure I read somewhere you play the softest club you can control consistently

I come from a reg to a stiff when my swing changed, I wouldn't say I gained any distance, but I achieved more consistent results, both in dispersion and also flight, surely this is what we are all after,

 

[garyinderry]

i rented clubs on holiday in the summer. mizuno 825 set. i couldn't give the driver any welly at all. it was either a big push or big hooks. absolutely no consistency at all. in the end i had to grip way down it in an attempt to hold the shaft together.

buy a stiff shaft and hit more fairways! :thup: in fact, go one further, buy x stiff and hit it down the middle

 

[the_coach]

buy a stiff shaft and hit more fairways! :thup: in fact, go one further, buy x stiff and hit it down the middle

Not if you are wanting to be standing far enough away from the ball ..... after you've hit it

 

[Khamelion]

It depends on the shaft weight as much as the manufacturer of the shaft just as much as the stiffness.

At my recent iron fitting I was swing my 6 iron between 86 to 90mph, which at that speed a fitter would pretty much suggest a stiff shaft, but by happy accident I was handed a regular shafted JPX 825 pro to try and it was butter, a flushed ball was like a bullet.

I also tried the same shaft in stiff and it as like the club head was attached to a broom shank, so stiff it wasn't the club for me.

The way the fitter explained it was that a heavier club will have thicker shaft walls and hence a heavier regular shaft will play the same as a stiff shaft but which is lighter.

So for me having a heavier shaft but in regular thus allowing it some flexibility works well.

So the OP may want to consider the shaft weight and stiffness as putting a heavier regular shaft in the 3 metal may work for him, where as a lightweight stiff shaft may not.

 

[garyinderry]

worth mulling over!

http://www.mygolfspy.com/mygolfspy-labs-wrong-shaft-flex/

 

[delc]

why would a club that is flexing less be harder to square up? surely one that is on the whippy side would be harder to square up?

In a properly timed swing, a more flexible shaft tends to bend forward more just before impact, which has the effect of slightly closing the clubface.

 

[garyinderry]

right I can understand that. a faster closing face is not going to help everyone. if you swing in to out all this is going to do is cause hooks. depending on how hard to you swing will dictate how much this face closes. this is relying on a hell of a lot of timing to hit two repeatable shots.

you often hear people talking about stability in the swing. the stiffer shafts allow this to happen, even when the swing gets jerky.


I often hear people saying, you will lose distance on an overly stiff shaft. is this lose not offset by added stability? tell me this, how can someone play a little half dunty punch shot with a project x 7.0 iron if its not being loading to its supposed full capacity?