Shaft help

Tee1up4 · July 29, 2020

Okay.. so this is my first ever post here. Admittedly I’m not the most knowledgeable about shafts/shafts profiles. I’m curious to get some feedback/direction with shafts. A little background. I’ve never had a lesson, self taught. Handicap currently is a 4.2. My biggest opportunity is missing fairways. Costing me multiple shots per round. My hips can get a little ahead of my hands causing me to leave the face open. I’ve always been more of a “hitter” than a swinger. I’m working on that. I’ve always had more success with a heavier(70-75) stiff. My natural shot shape is a fade. My big miss is a block right. Currently playing a hzrdus smoke black 70 6.0. I like the feeling of it but I’m curious on what else I could try that may benefit me. I realize it may be tough to answer that but just looking for a little direction. Thanks guys.

also, I apologize if this is not to correct place to post this.

Tee1up4 · July 29, 2020

Forgot to mention. SS is right around 110.

Valtiel · July 30, 2020

This is always a very open ended question that can be approached a number of different ways. As more of a "hitter" with decent speed, there is a chance you could be sensitive to different types of shaft bend profiles and balance points, and you won't know how or in which ways until you can try them for yourself. The HZRDUS Smoke Black is a pretty linear, somewhat "boardy" shaft that won't really give a ton of feedback in the swing. Sort of a "vanilla" up the middle option. I think your best bet is to pick up a shaft at either extreme away from the Smoke Black for the purpose of really feeling something different. Based on what you feel from that kind of testing you can start to narrow down the type of shaft that works more with your swing.

In keeping with the HZRDUS family and also keeping the cost down, I think a good pair a shafts to pick up would be the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow and the original HZRDUS Black (non "Smoke"). The Smoke Yellow is a higher balance point, mid soft shaft that is going to give you more feedback in transition and feel more "lively". The original HZRDUS Black is a very neutral/low balance point telephone pole of a shaft designed for maximum stability and firmness. Both can be had fairly cheaply on eBay and you probably resell one or both for what you paid, especially if you bargain hunt. It is VERY unlikely you will like both of these, and that is the point. There are other options and ways to go about figuring this out, but IMO that is the most economical and educational.

Stuart_G · July 30, 2020

The way I like to look at it is that the shaft can't really help you if it's a good fit. It's not going to add anything to the swing and you aren't really going to gain anything from it. The swing comes from you. BUT it can hurt the swing or get in the way of you putting your best swing or even a consistent swing on the ball if it's a bad fit.

How we control our swing comes largely from what we feel (hand-eye coordination really only plays a small role). How we feel our body move and what we feel about where the club is and what it's doing in the swing. The shaft can play a big role in that feedback we get, but how much of a role is going to be different for everyone. Some may focus more on internal body cues, some may focus more on the external feedback from the club. But it comes down to a simple generalization that how good a fit it is will largely be determined by how it feels to you during the swing. Both the feel of the shaft loading and unloading, and the feel of the shaft weight. If your current shaft feels good, it's probably a pretty good fit already. At least for the shaft profile., there are things about the driver you should look at that might not be a good fit.

As with any club fitting generalization there are always exceptions. What we think of as a good feel is something that's learned from experience. So how accurate the feel is can be very dependent on how much experience one has had with different shafts. Better or more experienced players tend to gravitate toward equipment that's a good fit naturally even without knowing they are doing it most of the time. But the only way to find out for sure is through a trial-and-error process. Get out and test as many different shafts as you can get your hands on and see how it effects the feel and the ball flight results. That's all a fitting really is. It's just guided by someone who hopefully knows what they are doing (not everyone who calls themself a fitter does) and get you to the best results faster than you could if you were doing it yourself and might have an LM for more accurate feedback on the results.

But with the driver, there are some other club specs that can make a much bigger difference in the results than the stiffness profile of the shaft. And those should always be addressed first. Fortunately, you can do much of it yourself. All you need is some foot powder spray, some lead tape, and a bucket of balls at the range.

Here is the tutorial to get yourself started with that. Once you've dialed in the specs it covers (playing length, shaft weight, and swing weight), then you can go off an see about trying out different stiffness profiles. Demo days, shafts from the OEM fitting carts, see if friends might let you test out their equipment, or go for a full blown fitting. Lots of ways to go about it.

Good luck.