Graphite shaft flex for a 69 mph SS with an 8 iron?

[boggyman]

69 mph SS with an 8 iron so the machine was telling me at EW couple days ago. My son looks at me and says, “dad, you need graphite shafts”. Like the feel of graphite and wondering which flex direction I need be looking. 8 iron carry is roughly 145. 

[Billfitz]

That's not a shabby swing speed, probably translating to around 100MPH with driver, so either R or S flex is probably OK. But there's a lot more than flex to consider. You have a broad choice of shaft weights and flex patterns that will affect trajectory and distance.

[MisterT]

Proper fitting is the key to maximizing shot distance and dispersion. Graphite shafts are not a universal solution to anything - slower swing speeds, golfer's elbow, etc. Having said that, Steelfiber and UST Recoil seem to be the graphite iron shafts more often included in BST posts on this site. My swing speed is similar to yours and I recently switched to Modus3 105 R flex shafts (in new irons) and have found my distance for each similarly lofted club has not increased but my dispersion is much better - almost point and shoot.  Edited to fix typos.

Edited October 16, 2021 by MisterT
Fix typos

[daveob]

I recently was fitted into my first graphite shafts. My data similar to yours. I was very surprised when based on the #s I opted for an A flex in my irons, R in my woods. Took a bit of learning but very pleased after 2 months.