Playing Regular Shafts For The First Time: What To Expect?

[EmperorPenguin]

I just bought an old set of Daiwa Unipowers for cheap.  I did some research and found that they were released about 1986.  The shafts are Unipower shafts, but to me they look like regular shafts because they look just a touch narrower than the standard S300's I play.  I am quite sure they are regular shafts.

 

Today I will go tee it up with these clubs and let you know what I think of them.  The last time I played regular shafts was way back in 1988 when my mom bought me a box Wilson set (Wilson Aggressor Square Grooves) from Costco that had regular shafts.  I think I used them for about a year before I sold them to a guy I met on the golf course who liked them.  I wanted pro line clubs and with stiff shafts, so I bought two sets of Wilson Staffs (FG-17 and 1989 Staff model) both with Wilson Dynamic S shafts, then traded them in for Golden Rams with FM 6.5 shafts, which are stiff, and those clubs I had played for 17 years.

 

I am 52 now, and being a new geezer I am curious to the benefits of playing regular-flex shafts.  To me this is the first time playing regular shafts; I don't count my Costco set because I was just hacking around and I didn't know what what I was doing back then.  Now I have a good swing, and swinging S300's for the past 30+ years I will go give regular shafts a try.  Will the difference, if any, be noticeable?  I will report back after the round.

[BraxtonFullerton]

Higher launch, whether that turns into extra (or less) yardage is going to depend on your swing, if you're adding more dynamic loft, higher spin, etc. It may be a little harder to control dispersion, especially if you're changing the weight compared to your S300s. May mess with your timing, etc.

[brew4eagle]

Agree with above.  I've pretty much always played r-flex shafts.  Recently tried 2 different sets with DG S300 (Wilson Staff CB and Titleist 690MB).  I've hit both much better than I expected.  Finding it much easier to time things up with the heavier shafts and hitting the center of the face quite often and as a result hitting it farther than I typically do.  Pretty eye opening finding for me, as my swing speed always moved me away from something in the 130 gram range (or even 120 g for that matter).  Could also be seeing increased distance due to spin/loft, as I'm a bit of a flipper and add loft at impact (I think).  Still hitting the DG S300 quite high, which I also didn't expect.

 

Just mentioning this experience in case you start to have timing issues.  

[Stuart_G]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:49 AM, EmperorPenguin said:

I am 52 now, and being a new geezer I am curious to the benefits of playing regular-flex shafts. 

 

There are no inherent benefits or disadvantages from playing any particular flex or stiffness.  It's all about how your swing changes (if at all) to the different feel of the shaft loading/unloading.

 

There is also no standard for flex, so there is no way to really tell how much of a difference in stiffness there might be from what you're used to.

 

Just remember that for most, the shaft weight (and swing weight for that matter) is generally much more influential on the ball flight results than stiffness.   So don't necessarily blame everything that happens during your test on the different flex. 

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Stuart_G

[EmperorPenguin]

Well here is my report of the regular shafts.  After making my initial post I went to the local muni and I did not play so well.  The clubs felt a tiny bit lighter due to the lighter shafts, but after swinging S300's for the past thirty years I found that at impact I had a harder time finding the middle of the club face.  I did not notice much difference in trajectory or spin, either.  I hit only a few shots solidly, and the rest of them were mishits either on just about every part of the face except the middle and the hosel--thank God I didn't hit any shanks.  I scored about the same thanks to my short game and putting, but I hit about half the greens I normally do, and my distance control was inferior and generally toward missing short since I lost distance from mishitting.  After about twelve holes I was disgusted with the clubs.

 

Prior to the round I reckoned that I would gain a little distance because the R flex shafts would kick a little more at impact, but I found that I was noticeably mishitting a lot of shots.  Maybe because I was releasing for S300 shafts?

 

For now I will go back to good old S300's, but I wonder about what will happen when I get much older, and I mean true geezer Ebenezer?  Conventional wisdom says they should move to more whippy shafts.  Based on what I'm reading here, with some guys swinging regulars, and people saying "it depends on how you load the shaft," etc., I have no idea what's right.  At some point in time the shaft will have to be more flexible because I don't think I will ever see a guy like Jackie Burke swinging X100's.

[brew4eagle]

It could just be the weight difference.  I found that the heavier shafts and/or heavier overall club weights seem to somehow engage my larger muscles and I feel overall more connected/powerful on the backswing.  Makes me feel more patient going back and the timing/tempo is better and more central strikes result.

Edited September 28, 2021 by brew4eagle

[Stuart_G]

48 minutes ago, EmperorPenguin said:

Prior to the round I reckoned that I would gain a little distance because the R flex shafts would kick a little more at impact,

 

Common misconception - but it doesn't really work that way.   In some cases, lighter shafts might give a bit more club head speed, but not always.

 

 

12 minutes ago, brew4eagle said:

It could just be the weight difference.

 

Yes, shaft weight will tend to have more of an effect on the quality of impact than stiffness.

[MrFlipper]

3 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Yes, shaft weight will tend to have more of an effect on the quality of impact than stiffness.

 

True geezer Ebenezer here lol

 

It goes against all we were taught to expect years ago, but my experience echoes Stuart's comment. 

 

DG S300 shafts are too much for me, yet so are DG R300. Just too heavy, nothing to do with flex, how it loads, anything like that.

 

Yet, old Apex4 still work for me. So do Apex3, I just hit them a little higher. They do not feel more loose or whippy.

 

I'm a huge believer in static weight as more important than flex.

[EmperorPenguin]

3 hours ago, MrFlipper said:

 

True geezer Ebenezer here lol

 

It goes against all we were taught to expect years ago, but my experience echoes Stuart's comment. 

 

DG S300 shafts are too much for me, yet so are DG R300. Just too heavy, nothing to do with flex, how it loads, anything like that.

 

Yet, old Apex4 still work for me. So do Apex3, I just hit them a little higher. They do not feel more loose or whippy.

Apex 4?  Aren't they S300 equivalents?

[MrFlipper]

8 minutes ago, EmperorPenguin said:

Apex 4?  Aren't they S300 equivalents?

 

Not at all. DG S300 are what 130 ish grams, old apex4 are 115 ish. Noticeably different.

 

Mr. Hogan was on the cutting edge of mainstreaming lightweight steel shafts. 

[Thayneil]

On 9/29/2021 at 7:47 AM, MrFlipper said:

 

Not at all. DG S300 are what 130 ish grams, old apex4 are 115 ish. Noticeably different.

 

Mr. Hogan was on the cutting edge of mainstreaming lightweight steel shafts. 

i read that the kbs tour v is similar to the apex

[MisterT]

I am 61 and fairly musular, so my tendency is to use my arms instead of my body as intended. I went from Nippon 950s (non-Neo) in Stiff flex to Modus 105 Regular flex and have found the slightly heavier shaft weight to be beneficial. My distances are about the same. but my strikes on the center of the clubface are more consistent.

[krusher74]

35 year old clubs!  that about as a random test  to try "reg" shafts as i could thing of. 

[Ghostwedge]

Since you're used to swinging the heavy stuff.....when you get to geezer\ebenezer + stage try the heavier graphite shafts. 95- 100 first as opposed to the stock 60-70g shafts, you can thank me later.