Shaft help needed

Could someone please tell me what the following things mean whan golfers are talking about shafts?

Flex (I think I have a general idea of what it is, but would like it defined in more detail please)

torque number

kickpoint

stiff tips

soft tips

Finally, can you please explain how those different things affect how a shaft plays, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of different degrees of those things? (i.e., what's the advantage/disadvantage of a soft shaft versus a stiff shaft, what's the advantage/disadvantage of a high torque number versus a low torque number, what's the advantage/disadvantage of a high kickpoint versus a low kickpoint, what's the advantage/disadvantage of a soft tip versus a stiff tip, etc.)


Also, can someone what the purpose of ultralight shafts are and how they work? What are they good for? What are their advantages?

Thanks in advance.

This is a useless term, really. It originally was used to give you an idea on how stiff a shaft plays. The problem is that there is no industry standards. Regular isn't Regular just because it says 'R'. Some are much stiffer than others, just as some are much softer than others. We've taken butt readings on frequency analysers (a number measured in CPM or Cycles Per Minute). It's generally regarded as 250 being 'R', 260 is 'S', 240 is 'A', and 230 is 'L'. But now we've learned about shaft profiling, and a Butt reading isn't the be-all and end-all...

This is the measurement in degrees of how much a shaft will (or won't) twist along it's longitudinal axis (ie from grip to head). The higher the number, the more it will twist. Steel shafts have a torque rating of 0.

The way shafts are made, there is a stiffness slope. The kickpoint is where the slope changes. Kick point is only useful if the golfer has a mid-late to late release. Otherwise the shaft has kicked before impact. What this means is if you have an early to mid release in your swing, changing shafts will not effect your ball flight enough to make a difference.

This is more of the shaft profiling that I mentioned earlier. Some shafts stiffen up again in the tip, while others get soft. IIUC, this does help ball flight tendencies, regardless of swing mechanics. A stiffer tip will keep ball flight down, a softer one will help get it up.

I'd like to think that I covered most of that. I'd also like to offer that the old thinking of 'too soft a shaft will have you hooking, too stiff a shaft will have you slicing' is incorrect. I've experimented with Ladiesl shafts, which are obviously too weak for me, and got my hands on a XXX flex long drive shaft. I put them both in the same head via club conex, and lost them both to the right (read, slice). So much for that.

The ultralight shaft is for weaker golfers, certainly. It helps to get their swingspeed up. I personally do better with heavier weight shafts, but then, my swing speed is in the low 100's (110 MPH with a 45" driver).

But I installed a 50g shaft for a lady golfer with a 60 MPH swing speed, and it's made a world of difference for her.

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