Am I the only one?

[lambertslunatic]

who can't tell the difference between shafts

I realize this may make me sound stupid or unaware of something I should be, but I have a confession to make. I can't tell the difference between stiff or regular. I can't tell the difference between high end and stock shafts. This applies to everything from the driver through the irons. I've tried alot of golf clubs and have owned quite a few. I see no difference in performance when I demo. I don't feel the shaft "load", I don't notice if it's more "whippy" than another, and I don't see any trajectory or dispersion differences. I hit every shaft on the monitor pretty much the same. Different heads and lofts have had vastly different results for me, but the shafts don't seem to matter. I'm a slightly better than average player 78-85 from the back tees. Am I missing something?

[leftypga]

yes...you are the only one

[leftypga]

Sorry. I had to do that. I know I can definately feel the difference between shafts. IMO, the shaft is the most important part of the club. I can play any old head if I put a proper shaft in it.

[HarboursideTC]

Based on my own experiences which includes 45 years of playing the game and a dozen or so working in the golf business - I would definitely have to say that you are a little odd and very lucky. Some people, myself in particular, are very sensitive to equipment changes. All you are missing is the endless search for the best equipment. Think of all the time and money you are saving.

 

I would also like to add that although most of us feel all the differences in shafts, heads, etc - it probably makes very little difference in the long run. If you are shooting that low from the back tees, then lessons and practice time are really the only way to lower your scores. The endless search for exactly the right feel won't help you or anyone else. Good Luck...

 

 

David

[Samsquanch]

Have you tried a lot of different shafts? I would think the more you hit them, you'll increase your awareness of differences in shafts... just a thought.

[racinelow]

In the shorter irons I can't tell much difference. I use to have a set all all TM with rifle stiff and my gap wedge was regular and it made no difference to me. But as the shafts get longer I notice more difference. In the driver the shaft can make a HUGE difference for me.

[jcrew]

I have a hard time believing that you wouldn't notice any difference in feel, trajectory, dispersion, or distance between a regular graphite design ys-6 and a stiff aldila nv. If it's true then that's quite weird.

[finalist]

There's an interesting article in the latest NCGA.org publication they send out to members that talks about the shaft not really be all that we think it is. I haven't read all of the article yet, but it seems very unbiased. Wish I could post a link to it but I can't find it. I'll look into the article more tonight.

[Blackfinn]

Based upon my own experience, as you build a repeatable swing, I think more than anything you will see tighter shots with a stiffer staff, I think especially in the higher swing speed ranges. I'm a 104 and for some shafts I'm kind of in between a stiff and regular. But if you are a progressive loader, I think you should really see and feel a difference. I did - but it took a while. And . . a stiffer shaft gave me not as high of a trajectory.

[Wookieedog]

yes...you are the only one

 

 

Sorry. I had to do that. I know I can definately feel the difference between shafts. IMO, the shaft is the most important part of the club. I can play any old head if I put a proper shaft in it.

 

 

:rolleyes:

 

(laughing at the the order of the 2 comments, those made me laugh, not laughing at the original poster)

[Awsi Dooger]

I don't notice unless there's an extreme difference. For example, a few months ago I was experimenting with carrying two different drivers, one with burgundy Prolite stiff and the other with the orange NVS regular. Now that was a transition. I could flail at the Prolite, my normal tendency, but had to be smooth and load the NVS. Downwind I was fine with the NVS but there was no way I could relax and swing that thing into a breeze. I'm having trouble with driver height (too low) so I thought a low kick point like the NVS would help. Maybe I'll try NVS stiff. I read the NVS plays softer than list. I'm generally between R and S.

 

I definitely detect more of a variance in graphite than steel. My dad has senior flex graphite and occasionally I'll borrow them for a few swings when we're playing together and I'm frustrated in the middle of a round. Inevitably the first swing or two will be great, forcing me to slow down. I can really feel the slingshot effect of the whippy shaft. But later I return to my preferred tendencies and everything is left. I can't imagine being patient enough to play a full round with shafts like that. I should mention I'm 6-4, 205, late 40s.

 

The shafts I've been disappointed with are Hogan Apex graphite. I've played Hogan steel blades Apex 4 for 15+ years and recently purchased used Hogan Edge irons with R graphite, and new CFT hybrids with the same shaft. They were bargain prices so I pounced, wanting to try cavity back Hogans and also graphite. Very little feel and frustratingly erratic. This is my first venture to graphite irons and I'm not thrilled with the results, only occasionally threateningly the hole. Again, that was probably too much of a transition, steel stiff to graphite regular.

 

When I was a teenager and 3 handicap, Bob Toski used to hang around the golf range at a course I played in Miami. He would walk the range and give advice to the juniors who looked promising, including my friends and I. I remember he asked to see the clubs and shafts we were playing, and he babbled some things. At least that's the way we took it. At that age and confidence level I didn't give a damn about shaft specifics. Hand it to me and I could hit it. I'd love to get back to anything approaching that unconcerned level.

[Hougz79]

I used to be in your same boat about 4 years ago. I always just bought the stock shafts, as the shaft craze was new at the time. I had a 983K with the stock Fuji Speeder Stiff. I couldn't get in a groove with that club (it was the club too, as that year I got down to a 2 handicap), some shots would miss left, others right. I reshafted with NV-85 X shafts on a whim and it totally transformed the club. It turned into a rocket-launcher and gave me an extremely consisitent power fade. Since then I have been a believer in shaft influence in clubs. It did take a legitimate "night and day" turn around to believe in it though. I have since been able to see differences in shafts pretty easily. Mostly in trajectory and feel. I noticed right away the difference the Matrix shaft makes in my LCG (absurdly high inital launch, then flattens and travels forever). I was also able to see the differences in trajectory switching from Dynamic Golds to PX in my irons.

 

Consider yourself lucky, if you are playing solid golf with what you have and honestly can't tell, you are blessed because you are not going to get caught up in the search for a perfect shaft quest that plagues most on this board (myself included).

[lambertslunatic]

I guess I'm going to have to chalk this up to me being an anomaly. I've tried everything in the golf shop (Aldila,Graphite Design,UST et al.) and feel incredibly stupid when asked how they feel or differ one from another by the staff (although not as stupid as I feel now that I've read the responses to my original post). I've even fibbed when I sense they think there's something wrong with me. I guess I'm on an island with this and I'll move on. I can't help feeling I SHOULD be able to notice the difference, though. I read the threads about shafts and I feel left out. Oh well, ignorance is bliss (I guess).

[mac94]

I'm an 8 and while I can notice a difference SOMETIMES, I'm not nearly as sensitive as some people claim to be on here. Unless the shafts were very different (like the prolite v. nvs example) I doubt I'd notice.

[IndyIN]

I guess I'm going to have to chalk this up to me being an anomaly. I've tried everything in the golf shop (Aldila,Graphite Design,UST et al.) and feel incredibly stupid when asked how they feel or differ one from another by the staff (although not as stupid as I feel now that I've read the responses to my original post). I've even fibbed when I sense they think there's something wrong with me. I guess I'm on an island with this and I'll move on. I can't help feeling I SHOULD be able to notice the difference, though. I read the threads about shafts and I feel left out. Oh well, ignorance is bliss (I guess).

 

 

I don't think you're an anomaly. I believe the people (in this thread) that say they notice the difference, but I think most couldn't tell if you gave them 5 shaft options all painted black. The mind has a funny way of believing what we want it to believe.

 

I do think it's interesting that with different shafts you don't see launch number differences. I would expect that you'd see differences there, although you might not feel them.

 

For me it's putters... Get the lie and length right and a $100 Ping feels about as good as anything, doesn't keep me from spending though!