Shaft weight question

[deh]

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully one of you can provide your insight from your personal experience. I am 49 y/o and had a back injury earlier this year that resulted in 2 herniated discs (T12/L1 herniated to the left and L3/L4 to the right). I have been very lucky with the recovery and have been incredibly intentional with diligent therapy and working out. 

 

As a result of all of this, when I got back to swinging a golf club a few months ago, I thought my x-flex days were behind me and got rid of my driver, fairway and hybrid shafts. A friend of mine that I trust owns a golf shop and has a really nice launch monitor that is not "juiced". My swing speed with a driver is now back to 106-109 on average and this has been sustained since September. I am not swinging out of my shoes and will not be doing so again (as long as I possibly can avoid it). While I am not necessarily keen on going back to x-flex shafts, I was curious if going to heavier shafts might have the same effect of increasing the flex. I am interested in creating a better dispersion. My typical miss is a hook.

 

I am interested to hear from anyone that might have tried this or could provide some expertise around this question. Thanks

[phizzy30]

I have 3 herniated discs in my back(L5 and 6) and one in the middle.  42 years old.  Your ss is borderline X and you could easily play it if you wanted to.  With that being said, the heavier shafts could help you with delivery and contact especially if your miss is the duck hook like me.  Going heavier doesn't necessarily mean it will increase the flex but it could slow down your ss and give you more consistency.  Also, my buddy who used to be a Cleveland/Srixon rep said that heavier shafts tend to promote a more in to out path.  As for myself,  I used to play 70 grams shafts for driver and still play 80 gram shafts in 3 metal because my tempo and transition can get thrown off with lighter shafts.  I went to 60 gram for driver this year but added 2 strips of lead tape to the head which has done wonders. 

Edited November 26, 2022 by phizzy30

[jvincent]

2 hours ago, deh said:

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully one of you can provide your insight from your personal experience. I am 49 y/o and had a back injury earlier this year that resulted in 2 herniated discs (T12/L1 herniated to the left and L3/L4 to the right). I have been very lucky with the recovery and have been incredibly intentional with diligent therapy and working out. 

 

As a result of all of this, when I got back to swinging a golf club a few months ago, I thought my x-flex days were behind me and got rid of my driver, fairway and hybrid shafts. A friend of mine that I trust owns a golf shop and has a really nice launch monitor that is not "juiced". My swing speed with a driver is now back to 106-109 on average and this has been sustained since September. I am not swinging out of my shoes and will not be doing so again (as long as I possibly can avoid it). While I am not necessarily keen on going back to x-flex shafts, I was curious if going to heavier shafts might have the same effect of increasing the flex. I am interested in creating a better dispersion. My typical miss is a hook.

 

I am interested to hear from anyone that might have tried this or could provide some expertise around this question. Thanks

 

There's no definite answer to this one.

 

All things being equal, a heavier shaft is generally stiffer than the same model in a lighter weight. I.e. the 70g version of an "X" will be stiffer than the 60g version of the "X".

 

So, you might find a heavier shaft in "S" that from an absolute flex perspective is halfway between the two X's, if that makes sense. The only way to know what suits you best is to try them out.

[deh]

1 hour ago, jvincent said:

 

There's no definite answer to this one.

 

All things being equal, a heavier shaft is generally stiffer than the same model in a lighter weight. I.e. the 70g version of an "X" will be stiffer than the 60g version of the "X".

 

So, you might find a heavier shaft in "S" that from an absolute flex perspective is halfway between the two X's, if that makes sense. The only way to know what suits you best is to try them out.

Thanks, that really what I’m hoping to achieve. 

[bvanlieu]

As noted by the great fitters here, get the weight right first then dial in flex within that specific shaft model. 

 

I worked with a fitter this summer just on a driver shaft and went from a GD 60 S into a PX 70-X. The heavier weight is what I notice more vs. feel/loading of the shaft (both have a blue style profile).  Not that it matters much, but similar speed as you. 

 

I have no doubt I could have been fit into some model 70S given unlimited time, however once we found something that was working OK we focused there and put a pin in it. 

 

So don't get too wrapped around the axle about the letter on the shaft, just get a good fit and hit them straiter 🙂 

 

[chipa]

16 hours ago, deh said:

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully one of you can provide your insight from your personal experience. I am 49 y/o and had a back injury earlier this year that resulted in 2 herniated discs (T12/L1 herniated to the left and L3/L4 to the right). I have been very lucky with the recovery and have been incredibly intentional with diligent therapy and working out. 

 

As a result of all of this, when I got back to swinging a golf club a few months ago, I thought my x-flex days were behind me and got rid of my driver, fairway and hybrid shafts. A friend of mine that I trust owns a golf shop and has a really nice launch monitor that is not "juiced". My swing speed with a driver is now back to 106-109 on average and this has been sustained since September. I am not swinging out of my shoes and will not be doing so again (as long as I possibly can avoid it). While I am not necessarily keen on going back to x-flex shafts, I was curious if going to heavier shafts might have the same effect of increasing the flex. I am interested in creating a better dispersion. My typical miss is a hook.

 

I am interested to hear from anyone that might have tried this or could provide some expertise around this question. Thanks

 

I have 3 fused discs from many years ago. I also suffer from a hook and have typically played with x's in my driver.

 

Nonethless, now that I'm older and having back issues I started changing my swing to find something easier on my back. I have come up with something that keeps my right hand passive right until right before impact plus I am using a softer shaft (in my 3w) and the combintation of the two has muted my right hand and side action through impact, so my back pain has gone away completely. 

 

My 3 wood shaft is backweighted with 9 grams to be at 71 grams and sw C-9.

Edited November 27, 2022 by chipa

[deh]

5 hours ago, chipa said:

 

I have 3 fused discs from many years ago. I also suffer from a hook and have typically played with x's in my driver.

 

Nonethless, now that I'm older and having back issues I started changing my swing to find something easier on my back. I have come up with something that keeps my right hand passive right until right before impact plus I am using a softer shaft (in my 3w) and the combintation of the two has muted my right hand and side action through impact, so my back pain has gone away completely. 

 

My 3 wood shaft is backweighted with 9 grams to be at 71 grams and sw C-9.

Many thanks, and I hope that the pain has subsided for you. 

[Stuart_G]

On 11/26/2022 at 5:42 PM, jvincent said:

All things being equal, a heavier shaft is generally stiffer than the same model in a lighter weight. I.e. the 70g version of an "X" will be stiffer than the 60g version of the "X".

 

Sorry but that's not really true as a useful generalization when it comes to graphite wood shafts- only steel.

 

With graphite, it's only true when the designer intentionally decides to make the heavier shaft stiffer.   It's very easy to make them heavier w/o altering the stiffness profile by increasing the amount of epoxy - which adds no real structural benefit.   At least when it comes to the shaft weights the OP is asking about.    There are strength limits with the ultra-light wood shafts so the weight can only be reduced so much before stiffness might have to suffer a bit.

 

Just based on casual observation of the Wishon database.   I'd say only about a 50/50 split between the designers that want to keep the stiffness profile the same and those that want the shaft to get a little stiffer as the weight goes up.    And when it does increase, it's more commonly the tip stiffness that tends to go up, not the stiffness through the whole shaft.  So usually not really the same as what happens with a flex change.   There are also plenty of examples where the heavier shaft is slightly softer.

 

A rough generalization is that:

Aldila, MRC, Fuji, Matrix  - tend(ed) to try to keep the profiles and stiffness the same as weight goes up.

UST, GD, Grafalloy - tend(ed) to increase stiffness as weight goes up.

 

 

To make matters even more potentially confusing, for some people, heavier can feel stiffer even when the actual stiffness profile has not changed.    Weight feel and stiffness feel aren't' always as independent as many people think.

 

 

On 11/26/2022 at 5:42 PM, jvincent said:

 

There's no definite answer to this one.

On 11/26/2022 at 5:42 PM, jvincent said:

So, you might find a heavier shaft in "S" that from an absolute flex perspective is halfway between the two X's, if that makes sense. The only way to know what suits you best is to try them out.

 

Yes, this is certainly on the mark - except you don't even need to include the "heavier" qualifier.    And it's also possible to find some X flex shaft that's are between as well.

 

 

 

On 11/26/2022 at 3:04 PM, deh said:

While I am not necessarily keen on going back to x-flex shafts, I was curious if going to heavier shafts might have the same effect of increasing the flex. I am interested in creating a better dispersion. My typical miss is a hook.

 

The important pieces of advice I have to offer are:

 

1) It's a bad idea to generalize stiffness feel just based on flex labels.  There are stiff shafts out there that are stiffer than some x-flex shafts (and vica-versa) - and that's completely independent of weight.   You just have to get out and try different models and flexes and try not to pre-judge the shaft based on the labels.    You haven't mentioned any specific shaft models/weights/flexes that you feel might be contributing to the hook miss - so it's impossible to be any more specific than that or even give any recommendations.

 

2) Don't pick weight to alter stiffness.   Pick the shaft weight to give you the best fit for shaft weight and total club static weight.   For most, the shaft weight and total weight will have more of an effect on dispersion and shot shape control (along weight playing length and swing weight) than shaft stiffness will.   So find the best shaft weight first before worrying about stiffness feel.

 

3) if finding the best fit for weight doesn't help with the dispersion hook misses AND going with a stiffer shaft does help - then that matters more than whether or not you think your swing speed is fast enough for any given flex.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Stuart_G