Average Joe’s and X flex shafts

[jomatty]

Not sure if this is in the right place or not…

 

I’m curious if any of you guys who would generally not fit into an X flex shaft use one for certain clubs or builds.  I realize that there are no standards for such things, so for the purpose of this question we can assume we are talking about ventus blue with velocore, or any other shaft that plays reasonably stiff but not rebar stiff.

Anyways, I recently needed a 5 wood and came across an epic speed with a Ventus blue (real deal) in X flex.  I’ve never considered x flex as my swing speed doesn’t warrant it (102-103 driver ss) and I generally like to feel the club load.  It was a good enough deal though that I planned to buy it and pull the ventus, put another shaft in it, and sell or trade the Ventus.  However, when I took it out over the last couple days it has been performing really well.  I believe I’m giving up some distance, but it’s a 5 wood and is hitting my gap quite well.  I’ve been hitting it with much less curvature than normal.  The ballflight is definitely lower than normal, but that is not a bad thing in my case, as Intend to have a very slight flip that can lead to excessively high shots with more lofted fairway woods.  
Anyways, I’m curious if anyone else has had good success with a shaft that seems like it should be too stiff for them?  I’m curious now about trying one in my driver, although I suspect I lose a little distance that I would be unwilling to sacrifice with the driver.  FWIW I’m currently at a 3.6 handicap, so not great, but I am a reasonable ball striker for my level of play.

Thanks!
 

[grochol17]

You kinda answered your own question at the top... there's no standard for flex labels, so play what works regardless of whether or not it "should" work. 

 

I was in a similar boat a few years ago... even though I'm normally a stiff flex player on a whim I bought a 3w with an x-flex shaft in it because I could get it for a good price and I wanted the club head to use with a different shaft.  Just for giggles I took it out with the x-flex shaft and hit that 3w better than I've ever hit a 3w before.  Even though I've since switched heads I've still got the same shaft in my 3w some 8-10 years later because it just keeps working for me.  I tried to put the 10g lighter version of that same shaft in my driver and just couldn't get it to work.

[games]

Sometimes, our bodies react to what we are swinging.  Which is why weight is as important, if not more important, than flex.

 

I had a recent iron fitting where the second best shaft was a ProModus3 105 X.  The top shaft was an Oban CT 100 S.  And, third best was a Project X LZ 5.0.

 

So, in one fitting, I was recommended R, S, and X flex shafts!  (Driver SS mid 90s; 6 iron low 80s).

  

[MrFlipper]

In general, likely all my shafts are considered too stiff for me, however:

 

-I don't want to feel any loading at all

 

-I mostly cut the ball, so whippiness not wanted 

 

-I like hard feel vs soft

 

Just play what feels good to you! No matter what others think.

[jomatty]

On 5/17/2022 at 1:37 PM, MrFlipper said:

In general, likely all my shafts are considered too stiff for me, however:

 

-I don't want to feel any loading at all

 

-I mostly cut the ball, so whippiness not wanted 

 

-I like hard feel vs soft

 

Just play what feels good to you! No matter what others think.

That’s interesting because I’m almost the opposite in terms of what I like to feel.  I have a fairly smooth tempo so have had trouble feeling stiffer shafts load in the past.  At one point I went to regular flex in my irons for this reason. All of my experiments with c taper/c taper lites and project x have gone horribly because of this.  I also play a cut but still like to feel some load.  I’m shocked that this ventus 8x feels so good to me considering all of those things.  Of course getting good results will make anything start to feel good!

 

On 5/17/2022 at 9:19 AM, grochol17 said:

You kinda answered your own question at the top... there's no standard for flex labels, so play what works regardless of whether or not it "should" work. 

 

I was in a similar boat a few years ago... even though I'm normally a stiff flex player on a whim I bought a 3w with an x-flex shaft in it because I could get it for a good price and I wanted the club head to use with a different shaft.  Just for giggles I took it out with the x-flex shaft and hit that 3w better than I've ever hit a 3w before.  Even though I've since switched heads I've still got the same shaft in my 3w some 8-10 years later because it just keeps working for me.  I tried to put the 10g lighter version of that same shaft in my driver and just couldn't get it to work.

sounds like a very similar situation to mine.  I was 100% planning on selling the ventus and the deal was so good I could make a profit and have the epic speed head for free and possibly make a little extra on top.  Shockingly it has been feeling great!  Like you, I’ve been considering picking up a lighter Ventus for my driver.  I’ve had such good results with this one that it makes me start to wonder.  Interesting that you had poor results with the same shaft in your driver.  Maybe that story will help convince me not to spend $250 on a shaft for my driver…

On 5/17/2022 at 10:09 AM, games said:

Sometimes, our bodies react to what we are swinging.  Which is why weight is as important, if not more important, than flex.

 

I had a recent iron fitting where the second best shaft was a ProModus3 105 X.  The top shaft was an Oban CT 100 S.  And, third best was a Project X LZ 5.0.

 

So, in one fitting, I was recommended R, S, and X flex shafts!  (Driver SS mid 90s; 6 iron low 80s).

  

weight has always been more important than flex for me.  Especially considering that flex can mean such wildly different things.  I’ve used regular flex clubs with no issues if the weight is right and never had any success with shafts that are very far away from my preferred weight.
 

[Billfitz]

I went to an L flex driver shaft this season, primarily to get a higher launch. I got it, along with 5 yards or so of distance and no loss of accuracy. The only hard and fast rule is that there are no hard and fast rules.

[raggal62]

1 hour ago, Billfitz said:

I went to an L flex driver shaft this season, primarily to get a higher launch. I got it, along with 5 yards or so of distance and no loss of accuracy. The only hard and fast rule is that there are no hard and fast rules.

Indeed there are no hard and fast rules. Although I play senior graphite in my irons, in opposite terms I play stiff (almost X) in my driver.

[games]

Maltby's house brand graphite shafts are incredibly stiff to flex.  The R flex in those is ANY other brand S flex (and in some cases X flex).  They are stout!

[Billfitz]

The L flex driver shaft I went to is a Maltby Pro Series UL. It is softer than the A flex Miyazaki CKua 50 it replaced.

[Roejye]

It isn't as drastic as yours, but I have an Adams XTD ti super hybrid with the stock fubuki stiff shaft and it just performs for me. I usually play regular flex in everything, driver swing speed is usually around 92, and I can get it up 97, but that's during swing speed training and swinging hard.

[phizzy30]

To certain extent, it's about feel.  If it works for you, great, stick with it.  I had the opposite happen to me.  I got the Diamana PD 70TX last year untipped.  285 CPM.  My ss is 118 with driver and I thought surely, I could easily handle it.  My MO for shafts in general is something linear with no kick.  I prefer some feel/smoothness to it though.  PD seemed to fit the bill.  It was too much shaft for me.  Just didn't have any feel to it and I had to really go after it to make it work.  Ended up trading it in for something else.  Apparently, I need something that's stiff in the tip and mid section, but softer in the handle.  Typical White Board profile. 

[ChronicSlicer]

I likely have no business playing an x flex in my driver, but it has basically eliminated my chronic slicing issue. Maybe even gained a few yards. I'm not quite hitting it 350 like a lot of WRX'ers but that's ok.

[Cwebb]

2 hours ago, ChronicSlicer said:

I likely have no business playing an x flex in my driver, but it has basically eliminated my chronic slicing issue. Maybe even gained a few yards. I'm not quite hitting it 350 like a lot of WRX'ers but that's ok.

 

Now you need to try a driver with a really open face angle/

 

 

😉

[DLeightonReid]

Several years ago, a club fitter told me he had several senior golfers that he put in X flex driver shafts to help them control their drives.  He said they weren't very long off the tee, but they were typically in the fairway.  

[miles2go]

I play regular flex in everything except driver. Average 92 mph driver swing speed. I use a very light X flex driver shaft. Anything else and my swing flaws cause torque- related slices.   Not losing any distance and dispersion is very predictable.  Whatever works. 

[WristySwing]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:57 AM, jomatty said:

Not sure if this is in the right place or not…

 

I’m curious if any of you guys who would generally not fit into an X flex shaft use one for certain clubs or builds.  I realize that there are no standards for such things, so for the purpose of this question we can assume we are talking about ventus blue with velocore, or any other shaft that plays reasonably stiff but not rebar stiff.

Anyways, I recently needed a 5 wood and came across an epic speed with a Ventus blue (real deal) in X flex.  I’ve never considered x flex as my swing speed doesn’t warrant it (102-103 driver ss) and I generally like to feel the club load.  It was a good enough deal though that I planned to buy it and pull the ventus, put another shaft in it, and sell or trade the Ventus.  However, when I took it out over the last couple days it has been performing really well.  I believe I’m giving up some distance, but it’s a 5 wood and is hitting my gap quite well.  I’ve been hitting it with much less curvature than normal.  The ballflight is definitely lower than normal, but that is not a bad thing in my case, as Intend to have a very slight flip that can lead to excessively high shots with more lofted fairway woods.  
Anyways, I’m curious if anyone else has had good success with a shaft that seems like it should be too stiff for them?  I’m curious now about trying one in my driver, although I suspect I lose a little distance that I would be unwilling to sacrifice with the driver.  FWIW I’m currently at a 3.6 handicap, so not great, but I am a reasonable ball striker for my level of play.

Thanks!
 

 

I'm kind of the same way.  I tend to hit X flex a bit better in my limited testing with that type of stuff.  I had an R15 5 wood that had a 3 wood Graphite Design MJ-6X in it that I used for about 3 seasons that I hit very well.  Project X and KBS, the stiffer they get, the better they feel to me.  C-Taper 120s feel better to me than DG105 (the 105 feels super stiff) but the CT 120 feels stout but better.  It really depends on your loading pattern.  Another fwy example, when the G Stretch came out, I worked at a big box retailer and our demo had a Ping Tour 80X in it.  I am not exaggerating when I say the vast majority of the time I carried that thing about 255, 17* launch and about 2500 RPMs right down the centre of the GC2 line.  My Ping rep was in one day and I was like watch this and hit three in a row that landed on top of each other.  Did I buy it?  Of course not.

[nosedive32]

My swing speed has fluctuated from around 93-101 on average over the last 7 years.

 

Years on the higher end I'll play stiff. Sometimes on the lower end I'll move into regular.

 

My cousin swings 120+ and still plays an epic sub zero with a tipped 7m3 black tie x. He bought the driver the year it was new and the shaft he already had prior.

 

Every time I've hit his driver I've noticed less curvature on ball flight than anything else I've ever tried. (I can pull the crap out of it however so I wouldn't necessarily say more accuracy)

 

Golfs funny sometimes.