General question on shaft selection for LM testing

The TM M6 comes with a couple of Fujikura Atmos stock shafts, one is the Atmos Black - 65g, 4.2T. low spin, low-mid launch. The shaft for M6's on the shelf is higher torque, lower weight, higher spin and launch. My swing speed constantly puts me between a regular and stiff flex. I now play a Ping Tour 65 shaft regular flex on a ping G400 Max. I hit the ball fairly straight and solid with an occasional draw. The torque on my Ping shaft - 4.3, and the reduced length of the shaft likely help me keep it straight, along with smooth tempo. My spin rate is a little too high; I will be working on teeing it higher and playing it up more to catch it on the upswing. I carry my 7 iron 152+, driver 230+ carry, with a little too much spin. I am 65, 6'2" 210, fairly fit. My question is - what type of player is a low-mid launch, low spin, regular flex shaft for? It seems that players using a regular flex shaft typically need more launch and spin and don't have the speed to lower their launch. I plan to test the Atmos Black - hoping it is available to try. For a shaft with no upcharge, the specs look intriguing. I am hoping a lower spin shaft will help my distance but I won't drive all over creation looking for it to test if my thought process is wrong. I am also anxious to try combinations of a lower spin/launch shaft with various trajectory settings looking for that sweet spot of lower spin, ideal carry and lower sidespin. I don't recall seeing that type of data.

You have not ID'd your spin rate and launch angle but without knowing that, but based on your distance stated, I would say you need 2400-2700 rpm of spin and launch angles of 12-13.5*. Sidespin is totally a function of swing path, club face angle and AOA. Shafts reduce spin by a maximum of 250-300 rpm as confirmed by robotic testing done by Callaway and Ping at their respective HQs.

> @ron5668 said:

> My question is - what type of player is a low-mid launch, low spin, regular flex shaft for?

The simple answer is: players who prefer the feel of that particular low-mid launch, reg flex shaft. There is no standard for stiffness based on flex or profile so those labels, by themselves, are actually pretty meaningless.

For most players, shaft selection, particularly with respect to stiffness and profile, it is much more about matching the feel of the shaft to your particular preferences or expectations than matching it to the more objective aspects of your mechanics. Those mechanics might provide a starting point for the fitting process but the effect of different feels from the shaft (loading and unloading and weight) and how it effects your swing and results will generally be much more influential. So basically the subjective influences will almost always trump the objective ones.

For those player with a fairly late release, the shaft profile can have some additional effect on the dynamic loft delivered, but the above subjective influences above will still generally be much more important.

For most players, shaft weight actually tends to be a much more important spec to pay attention to. Stiffness is generally secondary.

If you’re looking at the club at a big box store that doesn’t have a fitting system, it will appear that there are only two available stock shafts, the Atmos black and orange. Between them, the black is heavier and lower torque, which would tend to make it launch and spin lower than the orange for most people. If you go to a location that actually does fittings, they will have a Taylor Made fitting cart, which has a large number of shafts, several of which don’t have an up charge.

The player who might be best with a regular flex, low launch and spin shaft would likely be someone at the top end of the intended speed range who hits up on the ball and has a tendency towards hooks and/or slices. A shaft’s launch characteristics are a combination of weight and weight distribution, overall flex and flex distribution, torque, and the player’s load timing. Shaft manufacturers like to label shafts to make them easier to differentiate to the average player, who has little interest or understanding of cpm’s and EI profiles.

I wouldn’t look at torque too much. In most shafts these days torque I more about feel than anything else. Got that first hand from DB TT