Shaft or clubhead ---if you must decide

[MtlJeff]

I'm kinda bored as Mrs MtlJeff is out with little Mrs MtlJeff ....

 

I bought a new hybrid the other day (Titleist TS3) because it had my favorite shaft , which is the Hzrdus Smoke Black. I didn't even really consider the head....I just assumed that with that shaft it would work for me. But it made me think, with some clubs does the head even matter to me? or is the shaft like 95% of the decision (for Hybrids i would say this is the case)

 

So here's the hypothetical: A genie appears and tells you that you must get a fully new golf bag. For each section of clubs you get to choose either the clubhead you want, or the shaft you want. NOT BOTH. The item you don't choose gets selected for you via a random generator/selector of every product on the market from a mainstream OEM. So for example if you choose an Epic Flash Driver head, you get that head but the shaft gets selected for you at random. or vice versa. 

 

How would you build your bag? For me i'd go:

 

Driver: I'd choose shaft (Smoke Black)

3 Wood: Same

Hybrid: Same

Irons: Toughest call by a mile. I honestly am leaning towards picking club heads (Forged Tec) and rolling the dice on shaft. I feel like most mainstream shafts work at least OK for me

Wedges: I'd pick club head, shaft doesn't matter to me with wedges. 

 

 

 

 

[DMartini]

not a bad topic Jeff, im a firm believer in the correct shaft for each golfer and for each club.

 

id wager that there would be guys out the swinging TI X100 or C Taper X in Ping G410 excavators and guys with XP95 R300 or Nippon GEO 95 in MB101s or P7MBs etc, different strokes for different folks (a we pun there)

 

so i would be in the shaft camp for sure.

 

im guessing in your we experiment you get to pick your flex through the bag?

[MtlJeff]

4 minutes ago, DMartini said:

not a bad topic Jeff, im a firm believer in the correct shaft for each golfer and for each club.

 

id wager that there would be guys out the swinging TI X100 or C Taper X in Ping G410 excavators and guys with XP95 R300 or Nippon GEO 95 in MB101s or P7MBs etc, different strokes for different folks (a we pun there)

 

so i would be in the shaft camp for sure.

 

im guessing in your we experiment you get to pick your flex through the bag?

 

Yes, if you choose clubhead the only thing you could specify for shaft is the flex. Other than that, they spin the wheel and you get what you get!

 

Opposite would work like this: If you choose shaft, you get to pick the loft of your club (so you wouldn't end up with like a 13.5 degree driver etc)

 

 

[boggyman]

 

Driver, Fwy, & Hybrid all with the OG Aldila Green NV

Irons... Px 5.5 

Wedges would be the heads though.... 

[20six]

Woods and hybrid: shafts (Ventus Blue)

Irons and wedges: heads

[jvincent]

If I don't like the look of a head I won't be able to play well with it, so head for me.

 

I can always swap shafts later. 😁

[tannyhoban]

I think I would go with heads all the way through. If I could request high balance or counter balance with flex on the Driver 3 wood that would seal the deal.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by tannyhoban
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[SugarLandGolfer]

Definitely leaning towards shafts in the woods / hybrids, heads in irons / wedges. I feel like woods across the board are relatively similar heads, while there’s huge variability in irons heads. No matter how perfect the shaft, if I got stuck with a MB head, I’d be screwed.

[mogc60]

I gotta go with heads on everything. There are just some brands I will not use. 😁

[Saltydawg15]

Not that simple, I purchase a sim2 head to use with my current driver shaft and the two did not work together, 

[winegr]

I absolutely love my Cobra Pars and Stripes Driver....but is it much because of the real Ventus Blue?  Perhaps, but I can’t say for certain. Does it help that the Speedzone isn’t draw biased and fairly long, probably. 

[sadclevelandsports]

As long as it's as stiff as I need, I'm not super shaft sensitive, so probably heads through the bag

[MPAndreassi]

As much as a shaft snob as I am, if I had to pick and “make do” with one or the other picking the heads for everything would be my choice. 

[phizzy30]

Shaft hands down.  Any good player can play any modern club head provided it's within the vicinity of the ideal loft.  Flex matters, so does length and profile.  Even though the club head makes the biggest difference in launch and spin, I'm a firm believer that the shaft is the engine. 

[ChipNRun]

7 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

A genie appears and tells you that you must get a fully new golf bag. For each section of clubs you get to choose either the clubhead you want, or the shaft you want. NOT BOTH.

 

A genie or a grifter? Beware! Let's review the placard I have seen next to the launch monitor fitting station at more than one golf shop...

 

Influences on ball flight:

1. Clubhead loft and design is the biggest influence.
2. Shaft (with flex, weight, and bend dynamics) is a fine-tuning choice.
3. Grip (get right size so you don't  introduce wobble into swing)

 

7 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

The item you don't choose gets selected for you via a random generator/selector of every product on the market from a mainstream OEM.

 

This is too much like what happens when people get a club off of eBay that they have never seen before in person.

 

Again, are you sure this apparition is a genie?

[DYOS4]

Club heads for me for everything in the bag. I'll adjust to the shaft specs. 

[MtlJeff]

8 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

 

A genie or a grifter? Beware! Let's review the placard I have seen next to the launch monitor fitting station at more than one golf shop...

 

Influences on ball flight:

1. Clubhead loft and design is the biggest influence.
2. Shaft (with flex, weight, and bend dynamics) is a fine-tuning choice.
3. Grip (get right size so you don't  introduce wobble into swing)

 

 

This is too much like what happens when people get a club off of eBay that they have never seen before in person.

 

Again, are you sure this apparition is a genie?

 

I like the idea of a genie, i've met enough grifters! And they have most of my stuff now. Stupid grifters and their convincing schemes.

 

I've thought many times about heads vs shaft. I really wonder. For some reason i feel more confident with a driver saying "Give me an 80G Hzrdus Black" and whatever head i get will be fine. 

 

I'm less confident saying "Give me a Mavrik Subzero" or something like and taking the chance that i could end up with a 60G high launch shaft or something. 

 

It's hard for me to imagine any clubhead could negatively impact me as much as that 60G high launch shaft. But i could be wrong, i don't know a ton about this stuff

[Nessism]

Heads.  Shafts don't matter nearly as much just as long as they are the proper length and weight.

[TommyRam]

Would pick heads, with the counter stipulation I pick the general weight range for the shafts...

[ChipNRun]

7 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

I've thought many times about heads vs shaft. I really wonder. For some reason i feel more confident with a driver saying "Give me an 80G Hzrdus Black" and whatever head i get will be fine. 

 

I'm less confident saying "Give me a Mavrik Subzero" or something like and taking the chance that i could end up with a 60G high launch shaft or something. 

 

It's hard for me to imagine any clubhead could negatively impact me as much as that 60G high launch shaft. But i could be wrong, i don't know a ton about this stuff

 

@MtlJeff of 0.1 HDCP.... You may not know a ton about this stuff, but big deal. You just go out and play scratch golf.

 

And, the idea about the clubhead as primary influence and shaft as fine-tuning seems to be dominant opinion in industry. This is the broad boundaries...

 

So, we'll get into what all this means for different groups of golfers.

• For players who struggle to break 90 (me lately), get clubs that won't hurt your game.
• For players who shoot in the 70s (or lower, that's you), get clubs that enhance your game. That's why you think about fine-tuning, that's how you squeeze out a stroke or two.
• For players in between, get clubs for the swing you have today, not what you hope to have next year.

For me this year, I'll get fitted for irons. I turned 70, and my current steel shafts are a bit hard to control. I was taking notes on a short list of iron models with my long-term pro, but he retired and moved back to Idaho. (I live in St. Louis area). I'll be shifting to graphites in irons and wedges.

 

So, I want to be in control of both head choice and shaft pick.

 

Personal note on shafts: In recent years rough fittings encouraged GI irons with circa-100 gram shafts. In rough fittings, KBS Tour 90, DG.105, Recoil 95 and SteelFiber 80-CW regularly came up as suggested shafts. I have come to call this my shaft band, basically a group of shafts that have similar dynamics and tend to work well in testing.

 

@MtlJeff, what shafts are in your shaft band for irons? ( Didn't mean to hijack the thread... 🤔)

 

And for drivers...

 

[MtlJeff]

1 hour ago, ChipNRun said:

 

@MtlJeff of 0.1 HDCP.... You may not know a ton about this stuff, but big deal. You just go out and play scratch golf.

 

And, the idea about the clubhead as primary influence and shaft as fine-tuning seems to be dominant opinion in industry. This is the broad boundaries...

 

So, we'll get into what all this means for different groups of golfers.

• For players who struggle to break 90 (me lately), get clubs that won't hurt your game.
• For players who shoot in the 70s (or lower, that's you), get clubs that enhance your game. That's why you think about fine-tuning, that's how you squeeze out a stroke or two.
• For players in between, get clubs for the swing you have today, not what you hope to have next year.

For me this year, I'll get fitted for irons. I turned 70, and my current steel shafts are a bit hard to control. I was taking notes on a short list of iron models with my long-term pro, but he retired and moved back to Idaho. (I live in St. Louis area). I'll be shifting to graphites in irons and wedges.

 

So, I want to be in control of both head choice and shaft pick.

 

Personal note on shafts: In recent years rough fittings encouraged GI irons with circa-100 gram shafts. In rough fittings, KBS Tour 90, DG.105, Recoil 95 and SteelFiber 80-CW regularly came up as suggested shafts. I have come to call this my shaft band, basically a group of shafts that have similar dynamics and tend to work well in testing.

 

@MtlJeff, what shafts are in your shaft band for irons? ( Didn't mean to hijack the thread... 🤔)

 

And for drivers...

 

 

Oh i definitely know what you mean with "Shaft band"

 

For irons , if i'm using SGI's i will go KBS C-Tapers or S300s. If i'm using more of a player's club i will go Modus 130's or DG AMT tour White. Reason being that with player's clubs i need more help getting the 4 and 5 irons elevated

 

With drivers it's something low launch / low spin and heavy. HZrdus Smoke Black is my choice these days. Prior to that it was either the Matrix Black Tie or Diamana D+ family