Shaft stiffness

[nil1121]

hello,

Will a stiff iron shaft give a more consistent flight than a regular ?
I ask as my daughter who plays off 2 handicap has been on the Mizuno DNA and also launch monitor with Titleist and both have recommended a light steel stiff shaft for her. She currently uses a light steel regular shaft NS pro 950. So i was wondering what the benefit would be for her as there wasnt a distance change.

thanks

 

[Foxholer]

Stiffer shafts tend to give better accuracy at the expense of some distance.

Softer shafts tend to give greter distance at the expense of some accuracy.

At that level, I'd suggest accuracy is likely to be more important than distance.

 

[duncan mackie]

at it's simplest I think it's reasonable to think in terms of dispersion.

increase the stiffness to reduce the dispersion; for most people you do this to the point that other performance elements are negativily affected. I say most, because in some cases the additional positive impact on dispersion can more than outweigh distance costs!

shaft weight, seperately from stiffness but often associated, will also reduce dispersion as it increases - but again you wouldn't increase it at a cost to clubhead speed (again in most cases).

 

[stevelev]

Hopefully Ethan will have some input here.

But different shaft work with different heads as far as I can recollect from previous posts.

For most people it is a minefield, but I think more detailed measurements than the DNA tester would prove more reliable.

 

[duncan mackie]

.... I think more detailed measurements than the DNA tester would prove more reliable.

".....and also launch monitor with Titleist and both have recommended a light steel stiff shaft for her."

I didn't read nil's post as wanting advice on fitting shafts for his daughter, just the question asked - what's generally seen as the playing characteristic of stiffer shafts?