Stable Driver Heads and Higher Torque Shafts

[Tdsjfb]

Does the high MOI driver head now allow (or mitigate) higher Torque shafts? I'm thinking of Pros (Louis and many LPGA ) using the Ping ALTA shaft.

[Valtiel]

My understanding is that any instability from higher torque shafts comes from the decreased resistance to twisting causing off center strikes to have slightly stronger gear effects, but the stability (MOI) of the head is definitely the stronger influence when it comes to that. So yes, I believe you could say that a high MOI head would help mitigate the higher torque of a shaft. 

[Stuart_G]

12 hours ago, Tdsjfb said:

Does the high MOI driver head now allow (or mitigate) higher Torque shafts? I'm thinking of Pros (Louis and many LPGA ) using the Ping ALTA shaft.

 

For the most part no, but that's because don't generally need any mitigation.

 

Torque of the driver shaft never really played any noticeable part in what happened to the ball flight on heel/toe off-center hits.  That always was and always will be a function of the MOI of the head (and c.g. location).    The ball is just not in contact with the face of the club long enough for the elasticity to build up in the shaft to the point where there is enough force to significantly influence the movement of the head.

 

Historically, in the early days of graphite shafts, torque could be problematic from the standpoint of the consistent delivery of the head into impact, not what happened at impact.    But that hadn't been the case in a long long time now for the vast majority of players.   Now, the influence of torque is purely subjective for most - a matter of feel - and a fairly minor part of the feel for most compared to the influence of the longitudinal stiffness on the feel of the shaft.  In fact, torque values are actually creeping back up in some of the stiffer shaft options now and shaft designers are steering clear of the idea that lower torque is universally better.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Tdsjfb]

3 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

For the most part no, but that's because don't generally need any mitigation.

 

Torque of the driver shaft never really played any noticeable part in what happened to the ball flight on heel/toe off-center hits.  That always was and always will be a function of the MOI of the head (and c.g. location).    The ball is just not in contact with the face of the club long enough for the elasticity to build up in the shaft to the point where there is enough force to significantly influence the movement of the head.

 

Historically, in the early days of graphite shafts, torque could be problematic from the standpoint of the consistent delivery of the head into impact, not what happened at impact.    But that hadn't been the case in a long long time now for the vast majority of players.   Now, the influence of torque is purely subjective for most - a matter of feel - and a fairly minor part of the feel for most compared to the influence of the longitudinal stiffness on the feel of the shaft.  In fact, torque values are actually creeping back up in some of the stiffer shaft options now and shaft designers are steering clear of the idea that lower torque is universally better.

 

 

Great stuff!

 

Without thinking about it, it was confounding to me that the higher end shafts in the last several years were presenting/trending with higher torque values. I'll be very interested to see the results of the ALTA Stiff (in the G425) compared to the old standbys (Hzrdus Black 5.5 Tipped + Ping Tour 65 Stiff) vs. a new Ventus Blue (5S). With my aging swing I'm thinking the Alta is going to work out great - even with the 4.2 torque! I've been set free - Torque snob no longer!