Seniors, distance with your clubs.

Originally Posted by buteman

I thank you for your input, generous information indeed although ( begging your pardon ) I found it a wee bit confusing. Three of us were at the indoor facility yesterday playing " The Old Course " on the simulator, I was chatting to the clubmaker and he checked the loft on our respective 5 irons. My Nickent was 27, Andy's Callaway Steel was 28 and Trevor's new Mizuno 5 iron was 27.5 not a heck of a lot in it at all.
At my stage in life ( I'm 62 ) I accept what I have in the way of golf skills, and, to be honest I'm very grateful for what I have. I have no doubt that come late Spring I will be playing off around an eight handicap at my new club. On a reasonable day I will score in the mid to high seventies, the mechanics of my swing are fairly sound, once the snow leaves I will be working my buns off on my short game.
I use all Nickent equipment, I could throw them in the midden and go out and spend $ 3000.00 on new top of the line clubs but I have absolutely no doubt at all that they will be no better ( or worse ) than my trusty Nickent clubs. Again thanks for your input. Buteman.

Originally Posted by bill reed

hi Buteman
look out for a club makers open day close to you and go along. i know with Ping they have about 20 5 irons of one of there irons and have about 100 5 iron of the 4 types of irons they make.there all there to try with diffrent lie's and diffrent shafts in them and just see what diffrent shafts feel like in the same 5 iron.
its not like you have to buy anything all you lose is time and you might just find theres a club and shaft mix out there that could help your game.
best of luck
bill

Originally Posted by LowPost42

Man, I take the morning off to go into the city...

Shaft plays a role. A very, very small role in launch conditions. Tip flexibility is this role.

Release point of the club plays a larger role - release early, and it doesn't matter how the tip flexes - it's all done bending by impact and doesn't do a thing. This is the reason most amateurs never, ever see a difference no matter what shaft they use - they don't swing properly to allow any dynamic movement of the clubhead (shaft tip) through impact.

I'm coming to the realisation that players should be playing the stiffest shaft they can handle the feel of. Stiffer shafts give more consistent results, but tend to feel much harsher than softer shafts. I've seen this in my own trials - even with chipping, using the same heads and shaft model, chips with the softer flex feel better than with the firmer flex. However, time and again dispersion and trajectory are more consistent with the firmer flex.

So to answer Bill's first question - I think a softer tipped shaft may very well help an older golfer who's lost swingspeed, but still retains good mechanics - ie a mid-late or late release. But we're discussing a handful of yards per club, nothing extravagant. Generally speaking what will help the older player find more distance is a lightweight shaft so that he can swing it faster. Assuming it's not too light (and feel is lost) then the benefit is there.

@Bruin: There are so many different types of shafts because millions of golfers are looking for millions of things. Especially at the higher levels, golfers become very particular about the bending feel in their clubs. So since shaft A bends diffferently from shaft B which bends differently from both shafts A and C, we have something that can ideally fit the feel that the golfer is looking for.

So, lets not get too caught up here with what our shafts say.

First, we need to make sure we've got a mid-late or late release, otherwise we're generally arguing semantics (don't get me wrong, there are some funky swings out there with early releases that do weird things with hands through impact that can simulate a late release, but by and large an early to mid releasing golfer doesn't need to worry about bending. Find a shaft weight you like in a flex you can handle the feel of - regardless of how old you are.)

So with our late-releasing golfer, you can do some really interesting things.

You can go with a softer tipped shaft and a little less loft to achieve the same launch angle. You can go with more loft and a firmer tip to get the same LA. Or you can go with a mid tip and find an appropriate loft.

But here's my opinion:

What's your ideal driver? It's the one that, when you hit it pure, it goes the farthest. So, if you nut it, the LA and spin numbers are as close to perfect as you can get them. But if you mis-hit it at all, the spin won't be there and the shot loses easily 10% of your potential distance.

How would I build this driver to maximise my chances of nutting shots?

I would find the stiffest tipped shaft I could find in a weight that matched up with my swing, and the loft that complemented my launch angle. Why? It minimises the effect of dynamic bending through impact, offering me the most forgiveness when playing the least forgiving (but most rewarding) driver.

Long story short, Martin is more or less right. It's the launch conditions that dictate distance; and the shaft will not make the most difference: Loft will.

Now, if your loft is fixed (like for your 5 iron) then yes, we need to tweak the shaft to maximise distance. But if you're picking up 10 yards over your current 5 iron, physics says it can't all be the shaft (unless your current 5 iron is fully, completely and totally wrong for you).