Driver shaft heavier or lighter than fairway wood shafts

[Tiptx1122]

Just curious as the fairway woods I have are 54 grams and I don't want an ultra light driver shaft so how normal is it to go with a shaft that is heavier in your driver. How many people do this and should my flex go stiffer if I go lighter in my driver as I normally use regular shafts with a swing speed of 94 mph

[bnperrone]

A lot of people use the same weight class in fairway and driver, but the other most popular option (seems like) bumping up weight in fairway wood shaft. 
 

As far as stiffness, it seems like most keep stiffness similar. Sometimes people think they need stiffer when they actually need heavier, or vice versa. So, going heavier AND stiffer runs the risk of moving too far in the direction of requiring too much effort to make your natural swing. 
 

I’m no fitter or expert, but that’s what I see generally. Personally I wound up with bad fairway wood results by experimenting and assuming I automatically needed heavier shafts for the fairway wood. I play a relatively heavy driver shaft (75g) but I’ve realized I like everything else midweight. I guess my driver move is just different, plus I play it short at 44” while I play irons at standard length. 
 

If I’d done a solid fitting and just bought the result (like I did with my driver) I’d have spent a lot less money figuring out the fairway and hybrid positions.

[Stuart_G]

11 hours ago, Tiptx1122 said:

How many people do this and should my flex go stiffer if I go lighter in my driver as I normally use regular shafts with a swing speed of 94 mph

 

It's not common but it's also not unheard of.

 

Don't confuse weight and stiffness, particularly with graphite shafts.  Just because the weight might be different doesn't mean the stiffness will be.   Each model and weight you'll have to test independently for the best stiffness profle.

 

There is also no standard for flex so you can't rely on the flex labels to tell you if a shaft is stiffer or softer across different shaft models.   Don't get overly fixated on any particular flex label.

[Tiptx1122]

So if I have a swing speed of say 94-97 I could fit nicely into a Kai'li Stiff as I'm right near the stiff flex as it would weight more than my fairway shafts. Would it work with a 12" driver such as the new Stealth. I want that penetrating ball flight not something that will ballon on me?

Edited January 27, 2022 by Tiptx1122

[JungleJimbo]

28 minutes ago, Tiptx1122 said:

Would it work with a 12" driver such as the new Stealth. I want that penetrating ball flight not something that will ballon on me?

OP: Genuine question... what's a 12" driver? Presumably a typo?

 

Am following this thread you've started, as it's a good debate/discussion

 

[Tiptx1122]

A 12* sorry for the typo. 

[JungleJimbo]

44 minutes ago, Tiptx1122 said:

Would it work with a 12* driver such as the new Stealth. I want that penetrating ball flight not something that will ballon on me?

FWIW... I ❤️my ping g400 12* driver (with a ping Tour 65 s-flex... sometimes swapped out for a UST V5 7F4?).

Whether it will balloon on you= depends on your AoA/ dynamic loft & delivery via your swing?

 

@Stuart_G and @Howard_Jones may be able to share further insights! 🙏  

Edited January 27, 2022 by JungleJimbo

[jomatty]

1 hour ago, Tiptx1122 said:

So if I have a swing speed of say 94-97 I could fit nicely into a Kai'li Stiff as I'm right near the stiff flex as it would weight more than my fairway shafts. Would it work with a 12" driver such as the new Stealth. I want that penetrating ball flight not something that will ballon on me?

The only way to answer that question is going to be by testing them.  I hate the stock WRX answer of “get fit” but with this sort of question it is the best answer, if you are looking at buying something as expensive as the new stealth.  At the very least demo the different lofts and shafts if you can.  
While it’s true that slower swing speed players usually want more loft in their drivers (like the 12 degree driver you mentioned) it is far from a rule.  I used to add a lot of loft at impact and even though I was not very fast at the time, an 8 degree driver gave me the best numbers.  Now I’m faster and use a 10.5 and my ball flight is lower than when I was using an 8 degree.  I am far from great, but was still a single digit when I was flipping and needed very low loft.  My point is that none of our swings are perfect, whatever perfect is, and it is hard to say what loft and driver someone needs just by their swing speed.  Shafts are even trickier to guess at.  Especially when terms like “regular” and “stiff” do not have any standardized meanings.  
Man, I get long winded…I could have summed this up much more succinctly.  I’ll try that.  If you want to take a flyer on a cheaper used driver, then people on here can make a guess as to what to buy.  If you are going to buy a new, expensive, driver then spend a little more money and time and get fit, or at least figure out a way to demo.  There are just too many variables to guess.  

Edited January 27, 2022 by jomatty

[Howard_Jones]

14 hours ago, Tiptx1122 said:

Just curious as the fairway woods I have are 54 grams and I don't want an ultra light driver shaft so how normal is it to go with a shaft that is heavier in your driver. How many people do this and should my flex go stiffer if I go lighter in my driver as I normally use regular shafts with a swing speed of 94 mph

A few guidelines
To get a feel of "constant wgt" in woods, (just like irons) we need the same CUT wgt, and here is how we do the math for that.

Lets say your wood and driver have the same BBGM, and that the driver is 45.00 and the 3W is 43.00 or 2 inch difference on the net cut shaft. for the same example we say BBGM is 1.50" on both and grip cap is 0.25, so the difference from Play length to net cut shaft becomes 1.75"

Net cut shafts is now
3W = 43 - 1.75 = 41.25
1W = 45 - 1.75 = 43.25

The 3W net cut wgt
54 grams uncut wood shaft / 46.00" uncut length = 1.17 grams pr inch x 41.25 = 48.3 grams
Now we take 48.3 grams / 43.25 for the 1W and get 1.12 grams pr inch x 46 = 51.50 grams uncut.

That means you "should" find a shaft thats 2.5 grams down as uncut wgt in THIS example to get the same feel or shaft wgt like a constant wgt set of iroin's (do the numbers right for yours, this example is related to the specs in the example) Weight sorting of the same model can often make it, but it might be hard to find a dealer who offers that service.

IF we want ascending wgt, and keep MOI the same, the rule of thumb is 3.5 grams uncut pr inch in woods.

Its no problem to use the same shaft wgt for both, its normal to play the driver with a higher MOI value than the 3W, but most of it comes from LENGTH difference, so the shaft itself might feel a little heavy if your 3W is "just fine"...
 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Howard_Jones