Do you want to know everything you need to know about golf driver shafts? In this article we explain it to you. Do you need us to help you? Contact us.
What are Driver Shafts and what is their importance?
What many gamers don't know is that finding the right driver shaft for each player is like walking through a minefield. This is why it is best to place a driver shaft through a clubfitter as much knowledge and experience. In our case, we have the preference that this fitting should be done in a driving range or outdoors, because there you can visually observe the trajectory of the ball, the shot, and you can actually see what is happening on the field, without no simulation.
However, since we don't live in a perfect world, the reality is that many golfers will skip getting in shape and buy aftermarket shafts without asking.
Golfers often buy certain shafts for various reasons. Some want to play the shaft popular on tour, or the one used by Tiger Woods, or maybe they listen to a friend's advice in terms like, “you have to wear this shaft it's amazing”. The problem with buying a shaft in this way is like buying a size 44 shoe when one is really wearing a size 40, so we must bear in mind that it is counterproductive for your game to buy the wrong shaft.
You should also know that all the shafts on the market are good but... not all of them suit you. It's very shocking to find clubfitters talking about this shaft being bad or I don't know who recommended this shaft to you because it's like a toy, it always shocks me, but that's the industry.
But you should know the following, the first law of shaft selection is that we as professionals should recommend the lightest and most flexible shaft that the player can hit efficiently and according to his level.
Adjusting a shaft online is a difficult job, but not impossible, but for this you must know very clear things about yourself and be honest with yourself. Since all the shaft changes that we make influence the driver and its final result. Shafts are made in different flexibilities, lengths, weights, flex points, and torsion.
What to take into account when choosing a Driver shaft?
In this section I want to explain what parameters are important when selecting a shaft and I hope to write it in a way that you can understand clearly, keep in mind that with this you will not become an experienced fitter but you will see the complexity involved the choice of the correct shaft.
But there is something that I want you to understand there are "signs" that the shaft you play is not working and we detect it as players with these signs, when you go to swing the club, you will find that the ball will not go as far as it should, and it is you may hit the ball off center. You may also notice that the club feels "dead" if the shaft is too heavy or stiff, or if it feels too soft and weak; both can significantly affect your game. So if you don't know what to do, don't guess, because you may end up with the wrong shaft and it can be expensive to rework if you have to buy more shafts or a new driver.
The parameters are the following:
- Speed with the driver: As you know, many of the lessons we do when making a filter is the speed of the driver, that determines what flexibility each player needs. But keep in mind that depending on the manufacturer due to the flex point of each shaft, the example of the regular shaft will not always have the same frequency since each manufacturer has its frequencies.
- Swing Tempo: You know that many fitters do not know how to clearly define this parameter, because without this parameter the selection of the shaft can have a problem when choosing.
- Ball height: It is a very important factor since they are normally divided into high, medium or low flight but for a correct choice of shaft the trajectories are multiplied since we have high, high-medium, medium, medium-low and low flight. In this way we can filter better and be more precise.
- Spin Rate: It is the factor that is being looked for when making a correct selection of the shaft since we are locating numbers with the driver between 2100-2500 rpm.
- Player Weight: the weight of a player, age and physical condition, since what people do not know is that at the moment of impact, despite the speed of the club at impact, the player generates a weight on the ball, which is what many know as power. It is a factor that will help us select the weight of the shaft.
- Handicap: It is a very important factor since many fitters have a tendency to recommend expensive shafts in order that this improves the distance of the player with the driver but what the player often does not know is that this shaft is intended for a player who has a higher level of handicap and forces you to hit the perfect ball every shot and if that doesn't happen the ball comes out without force and falls very quickly to the ground.
- Mistakes you always make: when one plays normally we all have a habitual error and when selecting the shaft we always have to work with the player thinking about neutralizing the error and making sure that when the error can appear, it practically does not show itself. How we do this is the assembly secret of Handmade Custom Clubs.
Types of Driver Shafts
Driver shafts used to be made of steel like the ones we play in irons, wedges and putters, but nowadays technology has come a long way. Driver shafts have come a long way in terms of technology and materials. What many players don't realize is that all driver heads are highly regulated by the USGA and R&A, but what is not limited in technology is the shafts, only the maximum lengths of the drivers are limited. The rods are usually regulated by flexibilities, next we are going to talk about this:
Extra-Stiff Shaft
It is a shaft that has a very high frequency level of 262 and 271 cycles per minute, which means that this probably sounds like between 6.5 and 7.4 to you. In addition to this we find that of each shaft the extra stiff rods are usually the heaviest, of each shaft model. As far as the speed of clubs players swing these sticks are above 115 mph. They are rods, as a general rule, with a high bend point and reduced torque from 2.5º to 4º. But we also find them with medium torque and medium-high bend point.
The advantages of these shafts is that the player has greater ball control and a higher level of precision in terms of ball handling.
The disadvantages are that if the player is quite clear, since being heavier it is a shaft that tends to tire a lot more, in addition to this if it does not move well, the shots deflected but a considerable loss of distance is appreciated than it really could As for the player's spin, it will be difficult for the player to get the ball high and the ball will reach the ground quickly because the spin will be less than 2000 rpm. This case is usually common in all rods when the player is not able to move the shaft with agility.
Stiff Shaft
It is a shaft that has a very average frequency level of 252 and 261 cycles per minute, which means that this probably sounds like between 5.5 and 6.4 to you. In addition to this we find that of each shaft the stiff shafts are usually of a moderate weight, of each shaft model. As far as the speed of the club, players swing these shafts are in excess of 100-115 mph. They are shafts as a general rule of medium bend point and medium torque of 4º-5º. But we also find them with medium-high torque (3.5º to 4º) but with a medium-low bend point.
Regular Shaft
It is a shaft that has a very average frequency level of 242 and 251 cycles per minute, which means that this probably sounds like between 4.5 and 5.4 to you. In addition to this we find that for each shaft the regular shafts are usually of a weight that is the one that appears on the shaft, for example: 40gr, 50gr, 60gr, 70gr of each model of shaft. As far as the speed of players swing these clubs are in excess of 85-100 mph. They are shafts as a general rule of low bend point and medium-high or high torque of 4º-6º. But we also find them with medium-high torque (3.5º to 4º) but with a medium-low bend point.
Aside from stiffness and weight, what other ratings could we find on driver shafts?
Other than flex and weight, do you think shafts are just that? I am going to answer you quickly, NO, that is why each manufacturer has many models and they work in order to reach the widest spectrum of players possible.
The parameters that I am going to define for you now are parameters that make each shaft go beyond hardness and weight:
- Butt: is the diameter of the back of the shaft.
- Tip: is the diameter of the front part of the shaft at the tip. In the driver we usually find .350 and .335.
- The Profile: It is a graph about which I could write a very long and dense article, but it is the part that I give the most importance to a shaft. It is the graph of the profile of the shaft, where it gives us the hardness in the three zones that the Butt, Mid and Tip shaft has. It is the DNA of the shaft and therefore the part that not many fitters know about.
- Balance Point: Through the profile of the shaft we can read the point of balance of the shaft, since that is what many times when picking up a club we feel that the weight of the shaft is more towards the tip or towards the grip, or, feel a homogeneous weight of the entire club.
- torque: The shafts normally do not move in the golf swing in an axis but they move in an axis of coordinates X, Y and Z. In other words, they move in 3D so that we understand each other. Setting level torque is the degrees by which the shaft rotates during the swing and is directly related to weight and flex.
- BendPoint: It is the point where a shaft will flex at the moment of beginning the transition from the backswing to the downswing. This can be high, high-medium, medium, medium-low or low. It has a very clear incidence on the trajectory.
How to choose the right driver shaft?
To be able to do this, the first thing I recommend is that you go to a specialist or a fitting professional. But to select a rod I am going to give you the fundamental points that any player needs to know:
- player weight
- player height
- stick speed
- Ball height
- spin rate
With this information, if you contact us, we can guide you clearly and professionally. But if in addition to these parameters you want us to do the job as it should, you only have to do one thing, go make an appointment and select HCC Driver Xperience and we will select the shaft that suits you with the head of the driver you play or to get a new one. highly optimized driver, for your physical-technical conditions.
We recommend reading the article about how to choose the right driver for your golf.
