Shaft Upside Down? Inverted?

Dobber · June 18, 2007

To all:

I bought a new Tour Edge Exotics (Tour Proto) about a month ago. The shaft came stock with the Aldila NV Proto "By You". I took it in to the local golf shop on Saturday to get a new grip put on. The tech in the store put it on his machine to test the stiffness...registered at 254 which he said was right in the range. As he would bend the clubhead to make the head go back and forth, he stated he was trying to find the 'kick center' {I'm most likely saying this wrong but he was trying to get the shaft to go straight back and forth without the clubhead making circles). He finally found it but had to turn the club upside down....after saying that, he stated "Looks like the Mfg. put the shaft in upside down."

As he had never seen this, he wasn't sure how (if at all) it may affect ball flight. He said if its off a bit to the left or right, it could have the potential to launch the ball a bit off....with the shaft being 'upside down', he wasn't sure how it may affect.

Anyone heard of this or now what (if anything) it may do to the ball flight? I'm a 2 hdcp and have driver swing speed between 105-110. I have hit the club and have hit it real good and of course hit some crooked...

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Dobber

thewitt · June 18, 2007

What he did was locate the FLO plane of the golf shaft.

Whether or not FLOing the shaft will impact how you hit the club will depend on how bad the spine was in the shaft. If he measured the magnitude of the spine (with either a deflection spine finder with a guage or a frequency meter) he can tell you. A spine of 5 cpm or greater will impact ball flight.

How ball flight is impacted is the rub. What happens when a shaft with a significant spine is installed without taking the spine into consideration is the shaft wobbles during the swing cause more off-center contact.

You cannot orient a shaft to consistently cause a draw or a fade, all you can do is orient a shaft to allow you to make more consistent center face contact.

Since virtually all OEM clubs are assembled on assembly lines in China - there is no "pre-orientation" of the shaft for spine alignment, so every shaft is simply a random insertion based on the location of the label...

-t

Dobber · June 18, 2007

Thanks for the info...to be honest, I'm not sure he tested much more than the FLO point...I was asking him for the specs but all he really mentioned was teh 254 (regarding stiffness) and then when he found the FLO point. I'll hit the driver a bit more and then take it in to see if he can re-invert to see if anything changes with the ball flight.

Dobber

JCAG · June 19, 2007

Dobber

The clubmaker had a "vague" idea what he was doing although his remark about "kick center" and the shaft being upside down put me off on him.

What he did was secure the butt end of the club then "twang" the shaft and watch the head oscillate. We call this floing or flowing. Align the club, toe up, face square, then twang horizontally. If the shaft is "aligned" you will see a nice even flow. If the shaft is not, you will see the head move in all directions. Flow smooth but with face open or closed, bounce all over, or maybe even a figure 8.

Many will do this by force fitting a head on, twang, twist head, twang, over and over until a smooth (flat) flow is achieved then install the shaft at this position.

Some say they can watch the twang and the shaft can be installed to favor a flow that results in an open or closed face. This "alignment" violates USGA rulings on shaft alignment.

geeza_1 · June 20, 2007

Assuming he has a spine finder, I would simply get your guy to pull the shaft using low heat, spine align it and then reinstall.

If he knows what he is doing (and from his other responses, I am not so sure), this should be a cheap and easy job.

It is a real shame that shaft companies don't spine align their shafts. I recently reshafted a set of Mizunos and the spine in some of the DGSL shafts was unbelievable, almost half a flex difference from one side to the other - not good if you're looking for a set of clubs with a consistent flex throughout the set.

JoeF · June 20, 2007

Excuse my ignorance but can you FLO a shaft with the head on? Seems to me the weight of the head would effect the results.

thewitt · June 20, 2007

Yes, you would FLO with either the head on or with a weight clamped to the tip - it doesn't matter which one.

Some people believe that the CG of the clubhead will impact the FLO - however it will not. FLO is exactly the same with a head (offset CG) as an inline weight.

-t

Dobber · June 21, 2007

To all:

Thanks much for the responses. I do have another friend (whom I trust) that I will see next week. I believe he can truly FLO the shaft and realign for me.

What is funny about the one gent...it is a well known store (Franchise I believe) and all of the owners of the store claim to be PGA Equipment Techs...not Tour Techs, just PGA Techs. I'm assuming they went to some ceritification class.

Anyways, thanks much!

John (Dobber)