Steelfiber 95R gave me 15 yards over ns980gh Stiff- ns950 much different specs

Sorry for the long post- but I feel like I'm almost on the verge of understanding a bit more about shafts and heads- and maybe this could help someone

All of this is experience with the stiff 980 from a set of stock srixon z565's

so i've always seen the comments that oh yeh the 950 is basically the same as the 980- and the 950gh. the 950 is apparently a mid high launching shaft but with fairly low torque (compared to the 980's listed numbers) So I was worried when everyones saying the 950 is a high launching shaft and I'm hitting the 980 pretty low- then see- The 950 torque is 1.7-2.0 the 980 is 2.4. "oh man the 980 is even softer than the 950 and I never balloon these at all- But then I saw the 950 is listed as mid high launch with 980 as mid-low launch.

I have shafts from stock z585 4-gw in my current irons -bridgestone j38 dual pockets in stiff- they are 1/2" long- when I removed the grip from the 4 iron I found it had a raw length of 38.5" stamped on it (the raw length of the 950 3 iron) "oh man theyre softer than 950's AND theyre soft stepped" Then I saw the launch and realized the kickpoint must be much different between the 980 and 950s? is that right?

I swing a driver about 98-102mph. maybe more sometimes. Am I getting any benefit from playing a high kickpoint high torque shaft? Or am i just sacrificing accuracy on the high torque of the 980? while also sacrificing distance? I do seem to have a ton of spin for how low I'm hitting it- i stick every long iron I hit a green within 10 feet of the ball mark unless its a downhill landing on the green

I tried the steelfiber i95 in regular because of the previous thought that I wasnt flexing the 980 hard enough (based on idea that its similar to 950 and the posts i found saying that i95's in stiff are stiffer than typical- maybe compared to other graphite was the implication) and I was hitting my 7 iron about 165 and even longer compared to 150-155 with the 980's- but my accuracy went way down. They felt super easy and smooth- but I see the torque is even higher at 2.8 on stiff and 2.9 on regular. I wasnt hitting them high either.

Wouldnt a high kickpoint high torque shaft be counterintuitive? what kind of swing is that for? Maybe its the iron head? I had the nippons in j38 forged pocket cavities and the steelfibers in ap2s? maybe these shafts are made for even lower center of gravity iron heads?

I'm looking for a way to get an accurate graphite shaft to take some shock out of my hands and finger pain- id definitely accept lower spin and more distance if I'm losing it with the 980 or maybe im wrong in thinking the 980 is higher kickpoint?

Any input is much appreciated!

Youll get more responses in the Club Techs forum than here

OP

You are sending yourself down a shaft data rabbit hole!

Sadly golf shafts don’t often provide the ‘launch’ suggested in the manufacturers literature. The difference’s in torque values stated aren't as huge an influence as you think. What matters is hitting as close to the sweet spot as often as possible and the ‘right’ shaft is the one that helps achieve this. Launch is the job of loft (dynamic loft) not a job for the shaft.

It’s back to the drawing board, you know you want graphite, so that narrow’s the candidates considerably, but there is nothing for it, other than testing and finding what works for YOU. Priorities remain the same, first get the shaft weight right (everything thus far might be too light), then try a few different profiles at the target weight (Steelfiber FC might be better than the std Steelfiber for example) then finally select the correct flex, in the selected model.

The Mizuno Optimiser is a good way of getting a reasonable starting point, the DNA Tempo factor will give you a reasonable starting point as far as shaft weight is concerned.

Finally, finding mid / heavy weight graphite shafts for testing is likely to prove a little difficult, many of the fitting carts only contain sub 100 gram models.

Hope this helps.