shaft flex

i was wondering what effect using a stiff shaft would have on ball flight with a lower swing speed .

Blocks right...and low.

I'm having trouble understanding the what the different types of shafts and flex actually do? Can anyone help?

Well, I haven't quite furthered my education into the field of what really happens with shafts, but I'm largely left with the impression that the flexes are designed to put you into a comfortable 'feel' range. My current opinion is actually contradictory to Greg's. I believe that having the wrong flex will simply bring out your swing faults (and resultant ball flight) whether said flex is too stiff or too weak.

For example, my swing fault is often a push or a pull (I guess I keep the face square to the path well ). I went out with a few drivers - my current one, an SMT Encore w/AccuFLEX Evolution R, a friends' wife's driver, Bang Pink-O-Matic w/AccuFLEX EP L, a driver I made for a friend, Ashton MS-5 std w/AccuFLEX Assassin 2 WC X, and a Wishon 515GRT w/Aggressive nRAGE 78 X.

All these clubs were different weights and lengths, so the test isn't perfect. But (needless to say) I had to slow way down and make half swings with the PinkOMatic, and I had to get ridiculously aggressive with the MS-5 (and even when I flushed it, it felt horrible). The Encore and 515 felt fine.

Now for the neat part: Aggressive swings with the POM resulted in balls out to the right. In fact, aggressive swings with any club left balls pushed to the right, that bent even more right. So what? So, my swing flaw (push) showed up, and because I was aggressive, I choked the club open - so now I get a push slice.

Now, for more interesting stuff: If you never release the club, it pretty much doesn't matter what the shaft flex is. You'll be open at impact, and the shaft may never recover. If you release early, it kind of doesn't matter what the flex is. The shaft has already recovered before impact, and is no longer 'kicking' forward. With a mid-to-late release, the shaft will bend forward through impact, adding loft (dynamic loft) and clubhead speed. In other words, you get the same distance at a higher ball flight.

Now, this is largely theory about shaft bend (I have yet to read that chapter in Mr. Wishon's book), but I can largely state that there is no one ball flight that will dictate whether or not your shafts are the right flex.

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For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

This goes back to an old thread we had, had to look in my old posts to find it

http://www.golf-tuition-online.com/c...iff-shaft.html (reg or stiff shaft)

here is the basic idea, shaft flex and swing speed are very inter-related, too shiff for YOUR swing speed and you loss loft, too flexable for you speed and you add loft, releasing comes into play as well, too stiff you release late, too whipy you release early, so as Greg mentioned to stiff would most likely cause a late release (open club face) and lost of loft, causes a low flight. In the thread above find my reply that has the diagram of what is actually happening to the shaft at impact, you will find it very surprising.

When I look at features in magazines and on websites about what clubs they have in their bags, the pros have extremely stiff shafts. Are there any top tour pros who use regular shafts rather than extremely stiff ones?

I am hitting high block to the right with my irons and sometimes a pull to the left (I'm a right hander). My shafts are stiff flex Titleist ms-209. Are my shafts two stiff?

I held a club yesterday with a regular shaft, I could feel the head of the club better with this.

Can you get a stiff, but light shaft so I can feel the club head a bit more?