Stiff shaft v regular. My opinion

[Bobirdie]

Just thought id post my thoughts up on my iron shafts.

Ive played stiff shafts in everything for as long as i can remember.

Ive always hit the ball average 150 7 iron 160 6 iron 260 driver and so on

End of last season i bought titleist irons with regular nippon shafts and right away i noticed a difference in my yardages. Fair enough i have a higher ball flight with these shafts but i have found myself gaining 15 yards per iron.

also

I bought a titleist 909 driver with a regular Diamana shaft.
My distance hasnt changed with that but it feels so much for playable and have been alot more consistent with it.

Ah well bring on my first medal tomorrow

Anyone else done the same and dropped back to regular?

 

[Andy]

Sure did. Titleist 910 driver had Stiff Kai'li which I thought was well suited. Now got a Regular ProLaunch Red SC.

As you say it feels easier to get it out there with a lot less swing.

 

[granters]

I found the exact opposite. Just switching from reg to stiff, and get so much more control. Putting x stiff in the woods to,a regular goes all over the place for me. In truth I think it's my swing getting back to where it used to be when I played off 5. But I do know what you mean,far too many people assume they need stiff shafts when they don't

 

[thecraw]

Biggest problem with shafts is that there's no industry standard. One companies regular is another companies stiff. The fact that within your own set the shafts can vary greatly is also a concern and playing characteristics within your set also vary making it a minefield.

A professional club fitter is the only way forward now for shaft fittings and I don't include custom fit centres in that. Having heard and seen what comes out of some manufacturers factories is shocking.

 

[Smiffy]

Biggest problem with shafts is that there's no industry standard. One companies regular is another companies stiff.

True.
My Cobra S3's "regular" feel stiffer than my Ping i15's "regular". And the Cobras are graphite whereas the Pings were steel!

 

[Dave B]

I've tried several shafts in different irons and I found the TT Dynamic Golds to play more boardy/stiffer than Nippon NS Pro 950 GH and NS Pro 1130 tour shafts offering a lower launch giving the impression that they are a stiffer shaft.

With regard to Drivers I have tried both the Nike VR Pro STR8 fitted with a Voodoo shaft in both a stiff and regular in both 11.5 degree driver 9.5 degree heads over an extended period. The regular gives more carry and allows a controlled relaxed swing whereas to get the best out of the stiff shaft you have to swing with confidence and commit to the shot to get the best out of the shaft.

Trajectory wise I have found that I get a slightly higher flight with the regular shaft as it's easier to launch the ball in the air with less effort. With the stiff shaft I get more feedback, control and rarely slice or hook the ball. Distance between the two shafts is marginal.

In a recent trial between shafts in one of the golf monthlies they selected three players and gave them a selection of driver shafts to try. My conclusion after reading the stats where at odds with that of the magazine as the majority of the shafts tried fit most of the players with marginal differences in spin, carry and roll. There were one or two shafts that obviously didn't suit the players, (this would be obvious on trying a driver), however in the main most of the shafts tested were comparable and for the every day golfer wouldn't have made a huge difference to his day to day game.

 

[Ethan]

Generally speaking, softer shafts will generate more distance, height and dispersion, and stiffer shafts will improve accuracy but perhaps cost some distance. However, that depends a little, and someone who has a very inefficiently high skinny shot with regular shafts may get more distance with an optimised flight with stiffer shafts.

As said above, shaft brands vary, and the example of switching from Ka'ali stiff to PL Red regular is a case in point - there may not be much difference in flex between those.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

It's important to understand how shafts actually work in order to understand how they affect your ball flight.

During the swing, the shaft flexes in two directions. The first one is the lag of the head behind the shaft. As you swing down, the shaft flexes causing the clubhead to lag behind the hands but it reaches a point in the swing where it starts to catch up and ultimately, overtake the hands. The correct flex for the golfer is the one that optimizes this ''whipping through' of the head to generate the maximum possible speed through the ball. This provides the distance.
The second flex is the 'bowing' of the shaft. Harder to explain but basically the shaft 'bows' so that the clubhead is fractionally closer to your feet at impact than it was at address. This is the reason that at the address position, the toe of the club shouldn't be flat on the ground but in fact very slightly in the air.
There is also a third movement of the shaft during the swing which is the rotational movement or torque. This movement has an effect on the dispersion of your shots.

Talk to any good clubmaker and they will tell you that you should always play the most flexible shaft you can get away with. Using stiffer shafts than you actually require is just a macho myth and it won't improve your golf.

 

[Foxholer]

As said above, shaft brands vary, and the example of switching from Ka'ali stiff to PL Red regular is a case in point - there may not be much difference in flex between those.

And at the other end, a mate's Whiteboard X-flex felt more responsive/softer, for me, than a Stiff NV Protopype; while, for him, it was the other war around! Ball flights were opposite way around too (he hit NV higher; I hit Whiteboard higher)! And with a SS measured at 128mph, he's rather long compared to my 95!

So swing attributes are important too. Could explain some of my swing charcteristics/results too. First time I was fitted for Driver, a low-torque, slightly tipped Regular was the spec. That could well (still) be the 'proper' spec for me - as I can probably now resist the temptation of 'going after it' resulting in a serious slice from my dodgy balance!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Fox

Yes indeedy, all down to how each individual loads the shaft in the transition from backswing to downswing. See my comment above about how the shaft should whip through the hitting zone, falls into line with what you describe.

 

[tagnut69]

I have Ping JZ shafts in my eye2 irons (i think DG s300 is the nearest modern shaft) and the flight is quite low, but straight, getting around 150 from 6 iron. These shafts were in them when I got them last year but everything I read said regular would be better for me, higher and longer, so I put in a set of DG R300's and they totaly ruind them, about 20 yds loss in distance and a ball flight so high there was very little run when the ball finally landed.
I would love to get fitted for a new set though

 

[USER1999]

Sophie sandolo. Mmmmm.

 

[Slime]

I finally admitted the ravages of the ageing process & went from stiff shafts to regular.
Golf is so much more enjoyable now. Same distances with less effort!
All my clubs now have regular shafts except my beloved 4 wood. It's an old Callaway Big Bertha Warbird 4 wood with 16.6º of loft and has it's original RHC90 Firm shaft.................I just find it so easy to hit, and yet it doesn't have a regular shaft. Maybe it's a fairly 'soft' firm, maybe Ethan could shed some light on this?
I ignored the initial pi$$ taking & will soon be beating them, (at golf), into silence, of that I'm sure!

Slime.

 

[thecraw]

I actually wonder if regular KBS would suit me better than stiff.

 

[Bobirdie]

worth a shot craw. cant see me going back to stiff. not getting any younger