So, you think you're playing a stiff shaft?

I had the pleasure of visiting another clubmaker this weekend, and he showed me the most hilarious thing I've seen in a while.

A TaylorMade MAS shaft (stiff), and he put it on the deflection board...



and the board reading:



Now, what was I saying about OEM shaft flexes?

Was the regular off the board?

He only showed me the one. A shining example.

I find this thread most alarming.
How many people must have bought a " off the peg " driver etc, expecting it to perform to its proported design specs , only to find problems with their expected results and therefore thinking that they must be at fault and not the extremely over priced club....Are there any governing bodies in force in the uk and usa ???????

Aft

I wager there are many of us out there who have been gifted an expensive drivers by friends or relatives because they " can't use it ". ...Makes you think.

Stock shafts are not very good quality, I onyl go for Aldila or Grafaloy shafts!

Yep. These bodies are known as 'clubmakers who care'.

Hi Pal.
i see where you are comming from and i think the reason why more leisure golfers in the UK choose not to buy from clubmakers is becuase we automatically think that it will cost us more, like visiting a tailor for a fitted suit as opposed to buying off the peg from a high street shop.

aft

could it be that driver heads are getting bigger and shafts are remaining the same flex???

Yes, heads have gotten bigger, but only because they're made out of lighter and lighter material. The weight for a driver head for a long time has been 197g, give or take 5 grams.

Hey Lowpost24,
Can I get permission to reprint these pics on my local board?

Which local board? The shop where I saw this made me promise not to mention what shop I was in - I'd hate to have someone put 2 and 2 together...

Local board is www.ottawagolf.com

As long as you say 'an anonymous clubmaker', I'm sure it'll be fine.

[quote=aftford]I find this thread most alarming.
How many people must have bought a " off the peg " driver etc, expecting it to perform to its proported design specs , only to find problems with their expected results and therefore thinking that they must be at fault and not the extremely over priced club....Are there any governing bodies in force in the uk and usa ???????

Aft


There has always been talk that TaylorMade and Callaway stock shafts play 1 or 2 flexes soft. That they do it on purpose because a lot of golfers like the idea of hitting "stiff shafted" clubs, but really can't. So, their flexes are soft to basically trick golfers into playing the flex they need and end up hitting the ball farther with their equipment.

I know when I visit my Dad and do not have room for my clubs and borrow and old set of his, I play with an TayloMade 320 with purports to have a regular shaft. Now my swing speed is somewhere around mid 90's maybe 100 on a good day. So a regular shaft should be OK and right now I am hitting a regular fujikura shafted Adams driver, but that TM plays more like a senior flex.

As for governing bodies they are concerned wether the equipment conforms to usga/European rules of core etc. not on any terms put on the equipment.

I demo'd a Callaway driver in the summer. It claimed to be a regular shaft but was obviously very soft.

My Mizuno has a reg shaft and so is my Orlimar 3W. No compaints there.

You could tell the Callaway was off just by shaking it. It was like a bloody fishing rod. Pure hype.