Stiff vs. Extra Stiff driver shafts

Redhill · June 17, 2012

I was playing with a couple of guys at a local course in a 3 some when the 4th guy arrived late. We all played together and had a grand time. On the 18th tee box I hit a great drive and then noticed that the lad that came late had a 3 wood that I wanted to try. He gladly gave it to me and then mentioned that it was a regular shaft. I bombed it to within 20 yards of my tee shot and I could really feel the shaft flex and it launced it.

On the way home I was thinking about that 18th tee and decided to put back into my R11 the original stiff Blur shaft that I had quickly changed out when I first hit the R11. Back to the course a couple of days later and I was spraying the ball but hitting it deep with the stiff Blur. At the end of the first 9 I went to my trunk and quickly changed back to my shaft that I had been playing in it after replacing the Blur; a Motore F3 Extra Stiff. Back on the 10th tee and it was a rocket and split the fairway about 290 out. During the rest of the round I found that not only did I hit the tee shots straighter but also longer than the stiff Blur.

I had known that normally the stiffer the shaft, the tighter the dispersion at some loss of distance as a general rule.

But this on-the-course experiment was an eye opener.

Anyone else had similiar experiences with the stiff--extra stiff shafts???

Mattco · June 17, 2012

I had my driver checked out today and my stock phenom x in R11s checked out a little whippier than a Project X black 6.0s. I was roping the 6.0 that was more between an X and an S.

PaulBoy · June 17, 2012

Hi - From my experience you will hit almost [b][i]any[/i][/b] shaft (stiff or x-stiff) better than the Blur that was the stock shaft in the R11 - I am a big fan of Fuji shafts usually, but they really seemed to produce a shaft for the mass market & dare I say it, for those people who struggle to get an R11 with 10 or 11 degrees of loft up in the air - Most half decent golfers hit the Blur like a balloon - The Motore F3 is a huge step up in quality compared to the Blur & it sounds like it is a good fit for you in x-stiff - You could arrange a fitting & find the 'perfect' shaft for you & this might be x-stiff or stiff - As you know from being a member here, there are thousands of shafts out there with so many permutations of weight / kick-point / flex etc it's pretty hard to happen upon the 'perfect' one - It is fun searching though!
Cheers
Paul