Green Grass Golf Shop

Last week I tried to introduce this new series with some overarching themes and general ideas about how unique your golf swing is. Today I want to get just a little more into the details about the golf shaft, how that little stick that attaches your clubhead and grip can influence your golf shots so much more than you think, especially in this modern era. Even if you think you have the same swing as someone else, even if a manufacturer tells you to get this shaft for your certain swing speed, or one shaft always fits this certain player, I’m here to tell you it is far more complicated than that. Your swing speed alone is nowhere near enough to narrow down even the proper flex you should be playing, let alone the make and model, and the amount of spin and launch angles that shaft’s construction would influence. Today we’re just going to talk about driver fitting, so the exact numbers that we talk about will differ if you’re in the market for irons or other parts of the bag, but I think the overarching ideas are ultimately always the same.

The golf shaft is generally a hollow piece of graphite or steel, that part really doesn’t change from shaft to shaft. What does change shaft to shaft are how thick the walls of that shaft are, how that graphite is constructed, the quality or weight of the steel or graphite, even the way they are tested after being constructed, among many other things from company to company. The differences of construction, weight, the types and amounts of proprietary materials and methods of building these shafts leads to an outrageously wide variety of different ways a golf shaft can influence the direction, height, and amount of spin that is put on a golf shot. Now when we combine that with what we talked about in the first part of this series, the essentially infinite number of different combinations of golf swings there are out there to fit to, and I hope we’re beginning to understand the importance of getting fit for your clubs and shafts!

As a chatter for a pretty prominent club and ball manufacturer, quite often I get a question along the lines of, “I have an XXmph swing speed, what shaft weight do you recommend?” or, “I need a 60g shaft for my driver, what do you have in that weight range?” The understanding is that weight directly influences the launch and spin put out by a shaft, but I hope (if you’re still reading this, anyway…) that we understand by now that just the weight of a shaft is not nearly enough to tell you how it performs in those all-too-important launch and spin categories. Let’s just quickly take a look at a few different shafts, all the same weight and flex, and see how they compare in the actual performance categories, shall we? The (original) Ventus Black Velocore 6 in Stiff flex is 64 grams, the Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 in Stiff flex is 65 grams, and then the Project X HZRDUS Black 60 (5th Gen) in their Stiff flex is also 65 grams. All of these driver shafts share only two things in common, their weight and flex, but as far as the launch and spin they provide they couldn’t be more different. When compared to other shafts in that weight range, that Ventus Black driver shaft is one of the lower launching and spinning shafts that is currently on the market. Then you go to the HZRDUS Black, a shaft I’ve fit to many a player with an average swing speed, advertised and for most players will perform on the lower launching and spinning end, but far from even being categorized as a low launching and spinning design, showing up in most fitting manuals as a low-mid or mid-low launching and spinning option. And finally the Tour AD DI, a shaft I personally play in my certainly-not-outrageous swing speed, categorized as a mid to mid-high launching option, albeit a lower spinning model, it launches about as high as any other 65 gram shaft on the market. Between these three shafts of exactly the same weight and flex, I’ve seen as much as 6-7 degrees of difference in launch in certain player’s swings. I’ve seen thousands of RPM of spin rate between the three in the same exact swing and club head, just as much as I’ve seen the Tour AD and Ventus launch and spin exactly the same, or the HZRDUS and Ventus launching higher than the Tour AD. So by saying “I need an XX gram shaft for my XXmph swing speed” you are really limiting the quality of fit you can receive. With your swing speed compared to others with the same, if you have a slower tempo, an incredibly smooth transition, a level angle of attack, a little forward press and lower effective loft at impact with the driver, you might need a little higher launching and spinning shaft than most with your swing speed to maximize your distance. Someone making the recommendation of a Ventus Black based on your swing speed alone might lead most to believe that is a terrible club they just purchased, when really it was just a lack of information and an improper fitting that led to those poor shots and the loss in distance. These days you are spending close to $600 or even hundreds more just for that one golf club, it’s beyond outrageous to think you could spend that amount of money without being absolutely certain it’s the perfect fit and will work as much as anything else in your bag.

The way a shaft is listed in a fitting manual, the way it’s advertised on paper or the specs that are listed by a manufacturer on their site are all FAR from everything that is needed to tell you how a shaft would perform. Just like it doesn’t tell you what compression your ball needs to be, your swing speed doesn’t tell you how heavy your shaft needs to be or what flex you should be playing. The launch, spin and distance you get from a shaft and club head combo can only be illustrated by actually hitting that shaft and head using your very unique swing mechanics. Everything in your swing goes into the equation, from how you release the club, your angle of attack, your tempo, shaft lean at impact and effective loft, swing direction, on and on and on…. There are at least a dozen metrics in your golf swing measured by a launch monitor that are crucial together to tell us as fitting professionals what you need from your equipment. Your swing speed doesn’t tell us your tempo, or angle of attack, and your angle of attack or swing direction don’t tell us your swing speed or tempo. When you combine that with nothing about a golf shaft on paper telling you exactly how that would compare to other shafts on paper, no matter what anyone tells you, it is not possible to guarantee a fitting with 100% accuracy or any sort of consistency without doing so in person and actually hitting the golf shafts with your very unique combination of swing mechanics. You cannot get a proper, guaranteed fitting online or by just speaking with someone and giving them a printout of your swing mechanics. Golf club and golf shaft fitting theory without taking one’s very, very unique swing mechanics into account are just that, they are only theories, simply ideas. They are not absolutes, there are no guarantees, the only way you can guarantee you have the right golf club for your very unique golf swing is by getting out there and actually hitting those clubs and shafts.

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