What shaft flex needed

[bignev]

Having just had my driver swing
Speed checked at 83 mph what shaft flex would
I be better off with. At the moment all
My woods have stiff flex would regular be
Better for me?

 

[Essex_Stu]

If thats your driver swing speed then yes regular would be more suitable. As a general rule 95mph-110mph is stiff anthing over 110 is x stiff. That is though a general rule though and there are many exceptions. I swing my driver at 97mph and found a prolaunch red regular all i could handle.

 

[RGDave]

If that's your driver swing speed then yes regular would be more suitable.

I agree.

(But then again, I'm 15 years "behind the curve"...)

 

[tsped83]

Regular.

 

[Foxholer]

Definitely in 'Regular' country imo.

Now all you have to do is find a genuine Regular!

 

[the_coach]

Having just had my driver swing
Speed checked at 83 mph what shaft flex would
I be better off with. At the moment all
My woods have stiff flex would regular be
Better for me?

It doesn't solely depend on swing speed, it's also very much to do with what kind of ball flight & shape you have with your shots.
As ever the best answer would be to go and get fitted. Then a good fitter would be looking at your launch angle, spin rate, ball flight rather than solely swing speed.
As at just over 80 mph you're on the border of some regulars with a fairly normal kick point, but also some regulars with a softer tip also & differing kick points to give you a better launch angle.
Also you'd need at this kind of speed to be looking at drivers of 10.5 degrees at the lowest loft but probably may need a higher loft to get the flight to get you optimum distance.

 

[Ethan]

One of the problems is the variability between shafts. Some retail clubs have shafts which are labelled stiff but are softer (i.e more flexible) than other brands in regular. The PL Red mentioned above is a fairly solid shaft, for example.

The other issue is that flex characteristics vary in shafts. Some are butt soft but tip stiff, others the opposite, and the net effect for the player varies.

Finally, swing speed alone is not enough. The sped of transition and tempo have a bearing. Generally speaking, the faster the tempo and transition, the stiffer you need.

All that said, 83mph is unlikely to be most comfortable in stiff, but go to a pro with an open mind, get measured and try a few. So long as you end up with a shaft which performs better for you, it doesn't matter what flex it is. Some more loft probably wouldn't hurt either.