55g vs 65g vs 75g vs 85g Driver Shafts – What’s Best And For Who?

55g vs 65g vs 75g vs 85g Driver Shafts – What’s Best And For Who?

 

Yes, but maybe not the way you think it does. The stereotype is that “A lighter shaft will make you hit it longer” or “Stronger players need to play a heavier shaft”.

These things are true, but to an extent. Not every strong player plays a heavy shaft, and not everyone that goes lighter gains clubhead speed. These are all starting points that you need to consider when choosing a driver.

There can be terrible implications to your game if you play a shaft that is the wrong weight for you. In this article we will help you understand the importance of driver shaft weight, and narrow down some options for you.

 

My Experience With Different Driver Shaft Weights

Lighter isn’t always better, and just because you are strong doesn’t mean you need a heavier shaft. When doing a fitting I always start with a few questions.

What is your current driver setup? Does your driver feel too heavy or light? What is your handicap? What is your age? How far do you currently hit your driver? Are you looking for distance or accuracy? Is your bad shot left or right?

These questions give me an idea of where to start, there are a lot of options out there, so it’s best to narrow it down. It’s easier to get an idea of where to start instead of starting from one end and moving to the other.

Let me run you through my thinking with each of these questions.

Your current driver setup and how it feels to you, will give me an idea if we need to try something lighter or heavier. Your handicap and age, will tell me what weight and flex we should start with.

How far you hit it and if you are looking for distance or accuracy, will also indicate which shafts we should start off with.

Remember these questions are just helping me to narrow things down, I have not found the perfect shaft for you by just asking these questions, but I have narrowed things down.

From here we will try out a few options and compare results. I will give you an idea of what different shafts weights do and the pro’s and con’s of each.

 

55 Gram Shafts And Who They Are For?

These are considered a ‘lighter’ shaft. A lighter shaft is usually found in ladies, senior and some regular shafts.

Ladies, senior and beginner golfers usually use lighter shafts as they are easier to swing and the light weight helps them generate clubhead speed.

If you swing under 75mph to 85mph I suggest using a 55 gram shaft.

 

65 Gram Shafts And Who They Are For?

This is your average shaft weight, most regular, stiff and x-stiff shafts are 65 grams.

Mid to low handicap golfers would use a 65 gram shaft.

The 65 gram weight helps players with swing speeds of 90mph to 105mph generate enough speed while still keeping the head under control. 

 

75 and 85 Gram Shafts And Who They Are For?

 

These are generally for your stronger and better players, as they will be generating a lot of clubhead speed, the weight of the shaft helps to keep the clubhead under control during the swing.

You would see players swinging over 110mph using a 75 to 85 gram driver shaft, however I swing it at 118mph and I use a 65 gram driver shaft. We will get into that later.

 

Pro’s and Con’s Of Lighter And Heavier Shafts

This is why choosing a shaft is so difficult, it’s not as simple as “I swing it a X so I need Y”.

Let’s jump into some pro’s and con’s

 

Lighter Shaft Pros And Cons

Pro’s

• More clubhead speed
• Higher launch
• Higher spin
• More feel
• Easier to shape the ball

 

Con’s (if it’s to light)

• Clubhead becomes hard to control
• Spin and Launch becomes hard to control
• Shaft feels very whippy
• Loss of distance  

 

Heavier Shaft Pros And Cons

Pro’s

• More control
• Less spin
• Less launch
• Takes away the left shot

 

Con’s (if it’s to heavy)

• Loss of clubhead speed
• Not enough spin and launch
• Will slice the ball to the right
• Loss of distance

 

I love to use this analogy – Think about putting a clubhead on a hosepipe, you will be able to create a lot of speed but the clubhead will go all over the show.

Now put a clubhead on a broomstick, the clubhead will be very stable but you won’t be able to swing it very fast.

You need to find the right combined between the hosepipe and the broomstick.

 

How Does Swing Speed Affect Your Driver Shaft Weight Choice

Swing speed is your starting point. From there the information you need to look at is spin, launch and dispersion. Like mentioned above, if you need more spin try a lighter and shaft, if you need less spin try a heavier shaft.

If you don’t want to hit the ball left try a heavier shaft and if you can’t turn the ball over try a lighter shaft. The heavier shaft prevents the clubhead rotating, while the lighter shaft makes it easier to rotate the clubhead.

Everyone’s swing is different, start with the clubhead speed and from there try out different options.

 

Shaft Flex Vs Weight In Drivers

This isn’t rocket science, the heavier the shaft is the more material is in the shaft. The more material there is, the thicker the walls are and therefore the stiffer the shaft. 

Generally stiffer shafts are heavier but you are always getting shaft manufactures that are trying to bend the rules.

 

How Do I Know If My Driver Shaft Is Too Heavy?

Firstly, it’s going to feel hard to swing, it’s going to feel heavy, and almost make you tired after a few swings.

Your ball flight will be low, your ball will look like it’s falling out of the sky because it doesn’t have enough spin. 

If it’s too heavy, your shot shape will be from left to right (slice) , it will be hard for you to turn it over.

 

How Do I know If My Drive Shaft Is Too Light?

It’s going to feel whippy in your hands, you won’t be able to feel the clubhead on the downswing. Your ball flight will be quite high and the ball will look like it is ballooning, because it has too much spin. 

You might have an inconsistent ball flight with the ball hooking left, but it could also be going right. This is because the shaft can’t handle your swing speed, and the head is rotating too much.

 

How Can You Measure Swing Speed?

There are many devices out there, Trackman, Flightscope and GC Quad. These are just to name a few.

These are called launch monitors, they track your swing speed plus hundreds of other parameters. They are extremely expensive, as they are jam packed with radars and other technologies. 

Your local Pro or any certified fitter should have one. You will hit a few shots in front of it and all your data will come up.

 

What Is Swing Weight?

The swing weight of a club is measured from the butt end of the club to the fulcrum point on the club. Depending on how heavy each end is, will give you a reading.

Wait, What? Ok let’s explain it like this, Club A and B both have a weight of 200g, but Club A feels heavier than Club B, how can this be?

Club A has more weight towards the head of the club making it feel heavier than Club B, while Club B has more weight towards the butt end, making it feel lighter.

When there is more weight towards the head of the club it feels heavier than a club with the weight towards the butt end. By distributing the weight into specific places in the club you can manipulate the Swing Weight.

By doing this you can make a heavier shaft feel lighter, and a lighter shaft feel heavier.

I use a TENSEI Blue CK Series Shaft, it weighs 68 grams. I swing at 118mph, so you would think I would need a heavier shaft. The heavier shaft exaggerates my bad shot which is to the right.

Going a little lighter helps me keep the ball under control. The great feel it provides, helps me feel like I still have great control. I also make sure my club has a swing weight of D3, which is the most common Swing Weight.

Having the correct swing weight is incredibly important, I can have a light shaft and a heavy swing weight, and a heavy shaft but make it feel lighter than it should, by controlling the swing weight. 

Have you ever used your friends club that has a heavy shaft in it but it feels so easy to hit? Well he probably has it swing weighted similar to your clubs. If you would like to know more about swing weights like here.

 

Our Favorite 55g Driver Shaft

Ventus Red Series

The Ventus Red Series by Fujikura is my favorite 55g shaft, it actually comes in at 58.5 grams, not all shafts that say 55 grams on them actually weigh 55 grams, they may be slightly different. 

The Ventus Red shaft comes in 3 flexes all slightly heavier than each other. It has a great smooth feel and is really easy to get the ball up in the air.

The light weight and Velocore technology that Fujikura uses in this range make it easy to hit and very stable in the hands.

Overall Score 95/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

 

Our Favorite 65g Driver Shaft

Tensei Blue CK Series

The TENSEI Blue CK Series is by far my favorite shaft on the market.

Most shaft manufactures use three to six different materials, the TENSEI™ CK Series combines 11 different prepreg materials, including their Low Resin Content (L.R.C.) Prepreg, ultra-thin prepreg and for the first time a Carbon Fiber/DuPont™ Kevlar® weave featuring Mitsubishi Chemical carbon fiber. 

It comes in 3 flexes, regular, stiff and x-stiff, all varying in weight. The shaft has a very smooth feel and is easy to swing, with the technology built into the driver shaft it still has a lot of control. 

Overall Score 94/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

 

Our Favorite 75g Driver Shaft

HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX

Nicknamed the Black Mamba, this driver is going to give you everything you need from it. Low Launch, Low Spin and an incredible feel. The x-stiff shaft in this range is the only one over 70 grams.

Project X teamed up with Hexcel, Hexcel is an aerospace and military operations company.

These shafts have their HexTow® carbon fibers in them. Hexcel’s HexTow® carbon fiber is the highest quality aerospace-grade carbon fiber giving you superior performance, that means this shaft has spacecraft material in it! Learn more here.

Overall Score 96/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

 

Our Favorite 85g Driver Shaft

Ventus Black

Back with the Fujikura Ventus Series on this one, and it is a beast! The ultimate stability shaft, this thing is moving nowhere. It isn’t for everyone as it feels like a broomstick, but hey, some of you guys like that.

The 85 gram shaft actually comes in one flex, which is x-stiff, the other flexes are all under 80 grams. It comes with the Velocore technology similar to the Ventus Red, which means this thing is loaded with tech, read more about it here. 

Overall Score 94/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

 

Conclusion

Choosing the right Driver Shaft for your game can drastically improve your distance and accuracy. Don’t be fooled into going lighter or heavier just to gain distance, it can result in loss of accuracy.

Your swing speed has a big influence on what weight shaft you should use, but it isn’t the only factor, age, handicap, feel and preferred shot shape all have an impact. Ask yourself the right questions and seek advice from a qualified fitter.

Be open minded when testing out shafts, there are hundreds out there, the one you least expect it could be the one you take onto the first tee.