Shaft Change for DeChambeau

Watching the tourney yesterday, he was more than perplexed on why some iron shots were going longer than expected. Faldo was expressing his assessment that BD should go to steel shafts in the irons, for apparently graphite shafts seemingly have a more jump mode in flex and steel shafts are more stable in that regard. Any one have any experience with graphite shafts doing this?

I don't think that is true anymore if it ever was. I am playing some that play much stiffer than any steel shaft I have ever played. It all depends on kick points, torque etc. More and more graphite irons shafts behave similar to steel but with the added ability to weight them differently than steel, make them behave in different ways than steel, and with the added benefit of dampening vibrations for the occaisional miss hit.

This is just my opionion based on what I have observed with my own graphite iron shafts and watching TXG and such.

The shafts LA Golf made for him are probably as stiff, heavy and consistent as any steel shaft he could use. I think it's more an issue that if you are hitting your 8 iron 200 yards you're going to have to vary your wedge swings quite a bit for anything under 150.

In this aspect Faldo has no clue what he is talking about..

Indeed. He finally figured it out on 18 with that little chippy PW to 5 ft

Should probably get a persimmon driver to eliminate any driver hot spots too

Faldo has no idea what he is talking about. He is straight up wrong and in classic golf viewer fashion this take is going to get parroted by people now. Graphite now is not what graphite was 5 years ago, its also not what graphite was 10 years ago, and its nothing close to what graphite was 30 years ago. Newer production techniques, materials, modeling, and understanding of the product can allow companies to make graphite behave extremely consistently and exactly how they want it. You can make more exact graphite shafts than steel shafts now. Its just more expensive and would be fighting against long established norms. You want X7 equivalent 95 gram iron shafts its easily doable in graphite now, and all shafts would be 95 grams and can have the exact same specs.

The graphite shafts are not whipping into the ball any faster like Faldo has said, they are not transferring extra energy on a buttoned hit. You would see it occurring even more in his longer irons if this were the case. Bryson is giving himself no room for error with his over length wedges.

Technology has changed so much. You see this in other things. Gun barrels for example, thin pencil barrels used to be awful they were scrapped in the 60s from many military rifles because they would curve significantly when fired a lot. The heat treatment wasnt consistent and due to that minor minor bends would occur. Current heat treating and material handling has basically eliminated that occurring modern barrels. Something that was an issue in the 60s was less in the 70s, was less in the 80s and 90s is basically non-existent now except in extreme cases.

Shafts are fine. He just needs short game work. Look out if he gets better with the wedges.

I'm in the camp that believes it has way, way more to do with the one length than the shaft itself. What TXG guys said about spin loft, attack angle, etc. Seems spot on to me

Faldo only has 6 majors and was one of the most accurate players in the game. He obviously has no idea what he's talking about.

possibly something to do with the fact all his clubs have lofts that are 2 full clubs stronger? his 4 iron is 18 degrees, that's the same as my 2 iron....

And his understanding of shaft technology seems to have stopped updating with his last major. Tell me exactly how golf skill = technical knowledge, especially when considering we are talking about something that even barely existed when he was actively playing? Byron's shafts are stiffer than the Dynamic Gold X7's be was playing before, Nick Faldo is wrong.

In order to control wedges, you need to learn to flight the ball. He's hitting those wedges hard and they were jumping on him. He's spent a lot of time figuring a lot of things out about his game. He's going to have to spend more time learning how to control his wedge shots. Having longer shafts in his wedges is just going to make it harder. But he's the type of guy that will figure out shortcomings and come up with a plan to fix them. I don't expect him to stay 'status quo' with any part of his game that's not up to par. He'll come out next January with a different approach to his wedge play. He's an eccentric guy but he's also a driven guy.

Anybody know how many/which of BC's clubs are 1 length ?

All of his irons and wedges are one length. His driver, 3 woods have standard lengths.

100% agree, the length of the shafts are going to be a problem. Trying to control a PW which has a 7 iron length shaft in there is going to present problems for anyone regardless of whether you have used them for one week or 10 years.

The other way in which this is completely ridiculous, and again something that would be a total blindspot for someone like Faldo, is that this would be EXTREMELY easy to catch with modern launch monitors, especially for a guy like Bryson. The dude has a Flightscope and a GCQuad with him during warmups, a flier would stand out immediately. For any pro that is reasonably astute when it comes to equipment, let alone someone as obsessive as Bryson, the idea that they would have a piece of equipment that produced such a damaging and easily catchable performance problem is absurd.

This. He is as anal as anyone about his equipment or actually any factor than can be manipulated in his favor. There’s just no way he could let something like that slip. No way.

a lot of tour players really don't delve into equipment theories. Faldo likely talking from what he "feels" based on what he has experienced and heard...but not enough to be the industry expert for sure. He needs to learn this fact and not make wanton statements just because he is in the booth.

Exactly. Faldo is keeping really on brand here and just flat wrong. Bryson's "Rebar" LA golf wedge shafts last year were 371 CPM, which is insane. My prior set of irons were fit at TrueSpec with Modus 120 TX that came in at 328 as a reference point. I don't actually know if it's possible to get a current steel shaft, still playable, into 371.

The TXG test was done indoors and on mats, so of course the spin numbers make for a good control but don't simulate golf course conditions. I think it's more of a byproduct of Bryson adjusting to his clubhead speed and the fact that his wedges are built long.

No idea how a shaft could cause a flyer. The club FACE makes contact with the ball, and flyers happen when grass gets in the way. Faldo was just grasping for a talking point.

I didn't watch when Faldo was talking about this, but by flyer did he really mean just more club speed from what he likely still thinks are very bendy graphite iron shafts? I agree, I don't understand how you can get a "flyer" because of a shaft. Flyer to me is grass between ball and clubface and less spin gets imparted thus making the ball come out higher and with much lower spin, or a shot struck a bit high on the face, or a shot that was hit on the up swing off a fluffy lie or tee peg.

The graphite shafts I play seem very consistent and I definitely don't get any flyers due to the shafts.

Graphite iron shafts are not the graphite iron shafts of old. With the carbon fiber, they are actually stronger than than steel provided you take two shafts of the same weight.

The problem with graphite iron shafts is the expense to make them and then purchase them. Thus, there's not a lot of graphite iron shafts out there and thus not a lot of different bend profiles, shaft characteristics to choose from. Most graphite iron shafts are thus suited for those who would be in the market for them...high handicap senior golfers.

But if a manufacturer makes a graphite shaft with certain bend profiles and characteristics, it will behave and perform like that regardless of what it's made out of. If a graphite shaft has the same bend profile characteristics ofa KBS C-Taper X-stiff...it will produce lower launches and spin than say a True Temper AMT X-Stiff Steel Shaft.

And with the carbon fiber, they can make graphite shafts just as heavy as steel shafts. UST Recoil shafts are. Fujikura Pro's go up to 115 grams.

And Bryson did struggle with the irons at Detroit, but was fantastic with them at Harbour Town, Colonial and better than average at TPC River Highlands.

RH

There is a reason, in a game that has developed over a long period of time, that short iron and wedge shafts are shorter than longer iron shafts. It just plain works better that way. He'll learn.

I read that one of the reasons that Bryson's distance to the hole measure on his approach shots was flawed, was that the statistics counted his drives if they came within 15 or 20 yards of the green. So, of course those would skew the distance to the hole measure.

I am personally of the Camp that a wedge is a “touch” club and having them as long as a 7 iron does not promote any “touch”. Good wedge play is more art than science.

I am also a “tool guy”. Lots of tools. A wedge with a 7 iron shaft is like using a mini sledge hammer when a standard sized claw hammer is the proper tool for the job.

I say make all the wedges the same length and lie but 1.5” shorter. Just my 2 cents. May be worth 3 cents or may be worth nothing.

He makes the most of his reputation of being smart, let’s see how smart he actually is...

Lots of good comments regarding equipment in this thread.

IMO, I think he is still getting use to his new weight/upper body strength. His upper body is over powering in the area he needs control and finesse (the wedges). To me he looks overly aggressive regarding his wedge swings and not as comfortable holding his finish. That kinda makes me think something to him does not feel right--again I think its his new upper body strength.

More practice regarding wedge distance control (full, half, 3/4's). His clubs have been measured so much that if the shaft, weight, etc were the true culprit that would have been identified by now. Probably needs to put as much effort in the wedge part of his game as he did regarding driver distance, bulking up. Maybe he has/is?

His body has changed and his timing with wedges are just a little off. With those pro golfers we see it week in and week out, the guys that win/finish top of leader boards have nearly everything clicking (swing mechanics/timing) and those that don't are out of sequence so to speak in multiple areas.

He won the tournament.

You tell'em