There's been a lot of talk on this site and everywhere else recently regarding the importance of the correct shaft in your golf clubs, and regarding the merits of one shaft vs another. are we all being carried along by "conventional wisdom" on this? Is there a big difference between one manufacturers shafts vs a different one? or is it really down to simply whether you need stiff or regular?

There was a post somewhere here recently linking to a reference to Tom Wishon, a respected clubmaker. if you follow up on the net, there is a comment by Wishon saying that the right clubhead to suit the golfer is much more important than the shaft - the wrong shaft with the right clubhead will produce much better results than the perfect shaft with a poorly matched clubhead. But from most of the discussions, you'd have to conclude that the opposite is true.

What do you think?

I think the shaft is more important. Found many a club I could not hit propoerly due to the wrong shaft - but have never had a problem hitting ANY club when I know it has a shaft that suits me.

So what was Wishon's point?
Or have we now got to the stage where head design on irons is basically maxed out, with any new innovations either gimmicks, or with such small impact on performance that they are barely worth the effort? Such that attention has now shifted onto shaft technology?

What next - grips that give you 10 extra yards?

The Shaft has always been the engine of the entire club.

I've spoken with Shaun (Exmax) who is a club builder, he says that the if you broke the game of golf into percentages, the mental and physical side would be 90%, the club itself would be 10%. Of that 10% the shaft would be 90% and the club head would be the remaining 10%.

If you can follow that lot your a better man than me ;-)

I carried ou a little experiment a while ago to help me get my own thoughts on the "shaft is the key" issue. I bought 2 Progen drivers, same heads, one with an NV & t'other with Prolaunch. As soon as I swung them, I could feel the difference, Prolaunch shaft much higher launching, & more prone to hooking, NV much boardier, more prone to the blocked shot.

Now continuing the experiment with Wilson drivers, 1 Grafalloy blue, 1 UST, and Hibores, 1 Prolaunch Red, 1 Fuji.

Nothing in the way of concrete evidence, but I will track down the best shaft for me, eventually, & have a lot of fun in the process.

I would have to say the shaft is the biggest component in a club.
Having been to a graffaloy fitting centre and been on the launch monitor my stock shaft was removed and I was fitted with the correct shaft for my swing.
Results about 70% of fairways hit compared to 20% previously.

I have since moved on to an Aldila shaft/Nike head combo since my previous driver was going to become illigal.
I chose the Aldila through trial and error at the range as the stock R shaft was to soft and the S to stiff the Aldila sat nicely inbetween and gave me the flight I desired.

I too have found the shaft to be the most important factor by far, I have had several drivers in my time, (so much it's a subject of amusement for my regular playing partners), but when you look closer you see that when I have found a head I've liked I have stuck with it, changing only the shaft until I find the right fit. (3 x Ping G2's, 5 x Taylor Made R7's, 2 Callaway FT-3s).

Each of these clubs have performed completely differently with various different shafts fitted in them, whereas the different heads have done little or nothing to alter the performance.

I believe the only real difference made by a different head is the loft, i.e. my first FT-3 had 9.5° of loft and my current one has 10.5°, the only difference is a higher launch which is giving me more yards, as the ball is now airbourne for longer, otherwise there has been no dicernable difference.

The change in shaft however has been nothing short of miraculous, my previous FT-3 had a stiff NV65 which was too light and difficult to control for me, the current set up with stiff Proforce V2 77g is superb, easy to control and very accurate, these results have been reflected whenever I have tinkered with set-ups and tried different shafts.

In my experience the clubhead is a very small factor in the performance of a club, the shaft is everything....I would say even more than the 90% quoted elsewhere in this thread.
My advice is, find a clubhead which you like, (look, feel, sound, set-up etc), and then get fitted for the correct shaft for your swing.

Paul,

I wholeheartedly agree with Rob, find a head you like then try to arrange a fitting with that company. Don't worry what the shaft is, just look at the graphs or launch monitor stats.

I also believe that the grip you choose will make a difference, so take some time over that choice too.

I've been for a custom fitting for a driver today - Custom Fit Centre at The Belfry. So the experience of trying different driver heads and shafts is very fresh.

Couldn't agree too much with the majority of posts emphasising the importance of the shaft. The biggest change for me is to have a shaft that doesn't cause me to spin the ball so much.

However, it's only fair to also say that some of the new driver heads, with their weighting pushed far back to help get a high launch, also had a big effect on spin. Some people need that but not everyone, and a club head of more traditional design was best for me. And the lie of the clubhead made a big difference in accuracy for me. About half a degree closed worked best, whereas one or two pro models I tried were 2 or 3 degrees open, and that forced me to make unhelpful adjustments to stay on line. So the driver heads were important too.

What did you choose in the end A.Brown?

Newnick - went through a similar process till I found the right shaft and intend to stick with it even if I change driver. Went with the fuji speeder 553 tour spec in regular (which plays firm).

For me its a combination of the shaft and head.
A certain shaft in another head doesn't guarantee the same results.
Things like the COG of the head and insertion depth (particularly Titleist drivers) will all have an effect on the result. Even manufacturing tolerances mean that if u find a driver combo you like and get good results with - buy that one. :)

But i'd echo what BoB said Exmax said :) and i'm sure anybody who's moved from DG to Nippon 950's or BG's will agree.

I won't mention Ozik! doh! :)

I don't agree with the majority of opinions so far expressed.

At our level of golf I think shafts are just the next big thing. The majority of golfers play once a week (at best) don't warm up and usually are only just out of their cars in time for the start.

Custom fit only custom fits the swing you take with you that day. Having a choice only helps justify the inflated price tag we are asked to pay (and now suddenly an average set of irons is only 8 clubs!). How many times have we read on this forum that XXX or YYY were rubbish in their fitting only to read the week after that both XXX and YYY are in fact fantastic.

A stock shaft in most clubs will suit most people in either reg or stiff (if it is steel then probably reg!!!)

Jon

Sorry Jon G, but i've got to disagree with you there.

I recently had a fitting for a new driver, where they could put a choice of about 15 to 20 different shafts into the same head. The difference in distance, ballflight and feel was amazing.

While I appreciate what you are saying about your swing that day, it's still going to be your normal swing, maybe with timing off a bit etc. If it's completely off at a fitting i'd do another one. Interestingly when golfers good and bad shots have been filmed on high speed cameras and put on a biomechanical model they found that they were pretty much identical. Don't forget you can make a great swing but not hit the middle of the clubface.

Also the reason you read some people saying they dislike a shaft, then others say it's great pretty much proves the point. Different shafts suit different people.

Besides the price of clubs seems to have dropped over the last 10 years or so, certainly in real terms, yet the quality of components has gone up.

Lets try moving this in a slightly different direction then. Most people seem to agree that the shaft in the golf club really does make a difference.
Also, the variety and availability of shafts on the market today seems almost limitless - but in the past, this variety wasn't there, and somehow people still managed to play good golf.

So, is what we are seeing a result of the big brands cutting the quality of their stock shafts in clubs to minimise production costs, with the effect that nearly everyone could now benefit from an upgrade in the shafts they play?

What next - grips that give you 10 extra yards?

Or SHOES that give you more straight drives!

Oh...

T add to Sarnia........

re:stock shafts in irons....

If you take Dynamic Golds as the stock shafts in most clubs, for a beginner the R300's are too heavy and the S300 are really only for the stronger amateur/professional golfer. eg my mate fitted at mizuno (yup this same mate gets dragged out over and over again!) for a graff blue stiff in a 9.5 driver and S300's in his irons. He's 6' 4" and a pretty strong guy. Not many of us are in that category.

The DG Lites or SL's or Nippon 950s would be a better fit.

I have made up sets with Nippon 950's for friends who are beginning and they find them much easier to swing over 18 holes than the R300's.

DGs seem to get a real pounding on here, with people saying amatuers should not be using DG shafts.

I am off 7 and am happy with the way I hit my Callway X-tours (last years model) with DG S300 shafts in. I get a pretty straight ball flight with these and plenty height. My bad shot is an occasional leaked shot to the right with my 3 iron.

I also hit R300 when buying and found they flew higher/shorter and slightly to the right. I have regular shafts in my woods.

I hit my 7 iron about 150-155 yards, am 5'9" tall.

I notice that theses are about 20g heavier than the lighter steel shafts.

So, my question is: what would I gain from using a lighter steel shaft?

I'd hazard a guess at you'd gain some distance due to increased club head speed. Worth a hit. Maybe try the Nippon 1050's if you are stronger player.

I say that because i hit 7iron 155 and use sofstepped BG S300's (about rifle 5.5) or Nippon 950GHs Stiffs with a 'lipstick' swing.

I agree horses for courses.

I recently tried the TM Burner it has 50 gram stock shaft. I could not hit it straight at all. I have since tried one with a custom 65 gram shaft I was hitting straight and about the length I expected.

Never really crossed my mind about shaft weight I have always used stock shafts. From my recent experience it says to me that there are some great club heads out there but the shafts may not work for me.

The problem you will always have as far as I can see is that the additonal cost of a decent quality after market shaft in an off the shelf club makes it cost prohibitive to experiment.