Signs You Need Stiffer Shafts In Your Golf Clubs And How To Fix It

Signs You Need Stiffer Shafts In Your Golf Clubs And How To Fix It

Golf is hard enough on its own, so why should you make it harder by playing the wrong equipment?

Playing the right shaft in your clubs can be the difference in you flying that bunker with your drive, or hitting a super tight fairway with ease, it can also be the difference in you hitting more greens with your Irons.

Having the right shaft flex in your clubs has a much bigger impact than you think, we are going to dive into all the information you need in this article.

 

What Is Shaft Flex, And Why Is It Important

Shaft flex is how much the shaft bends throughout the swing, someone that swings it slow will need a more flexible shaft, while someone that swings it fast will need a stiffer shaft.

You get Ladies, Senior, Regular, Stiff and X-Stiff shafts in Woods and Irons, generally your Woods and Irons will be the same flex.

Your shaft flex will be determined mainly by your swing speed, and then by your ability, age and personal preference. Within each shaft flex there are different weights and kick points (bend points).

Shaft flex is very important as it will help with your distance and accuracy.

 

What Are The Different Options For Shaft Flex And Their Characteristics

You get Ladies, Senior, Regular, Stiff and X-Stiff shafts in Woods and Irons, these are not categorized by gender, but rather by club head speed. 

See the swing speed shaft below, this is going to give you a starting point, to help you choose which shaft is right for you.

 

Shaft Flex Selection (Driver)		Shaft Flex Selection (6 Iron Carry Distance)
Swing Speed	Flex	Swing Speed	Flex
Under 75 mph	Ladies	Under 60 mph	Ladies
75 – 85 mph	Senior	60 – 70 mph	Senior
85 – 95 mph	Regular	70 – 80 mph	Regular
95 – 110 mph	Stiff	80 – 90 mph	Stiff
110+ mph	X-Stiff	90+ mph	X-Stiff

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Generally a Ladies shaft will be lighter than a Regular and so on, there are alternatives where you get heavier Regular shafts and lighter Stiffer shafts, but these are less common.

 

What Happens If Your Shaft Flex Is Too Flexible?

If the shaft is too flexible, you will have a ‘whippy’ feeling in your hands, and you won’t be able to feel the clubhead on the downswing.

When the golf ball is struck it will generally have too much spin if the shaft is too flexible, this will cause a ‘ballooning’ effect on the shot and it will tend to go quite high. 

You might have an inconsistent shot shape if the shaft is too flexible.Having a shaft that is too flexible can also cause the ball to hook uncontrollably, because the shaft bends incorrectly, it will come through with a closed clubface causing the ball to go left, this is because the shaft can’t handle your swing speed, and the head is rotating too much.

 

What Happens If Your Shaft Isn’t Stiff Enough?

When the shaft is too stiff, it’s going to feel hard to swing, it’s going to feel heavy, and make you tired after a few swings.

When the shaft is too stiff, you won’t be able to get enough spin on the ball, causing it to come out very low, and look like it’s falling out of the sky.

If it’s too stiff, your shot shape will be from left to right (slice), the clubhead won’t be able to return to square because the shaft is too stiff.

 

If Your Shaft Is Too Flexible, Will It Cause A Hook Or Slice?

If you are struggling with a hook it might be because your shaft is too flexible, try a stiffer shaft, this will help keep the face square at impact, and prevent the face from turning over.

If you are struggling with a slice you might be playing with a shaft that is too stiff for you. Try a more flexible shaft, when a shaft is too stiff the clubface struggles to turn back to square, which will present the clubface open at impact, causing the ball to slice. The more flexible the shaft is the easier it is to turn the clubhead over at impact.

 

How Can You Measure Your Swing Speed To See What Shaft You Should Use?

There are many devices out there that can track your clubhead speed, Trackman, Flightscope and GC Quad, there are many more out there. These are called launch monitors, they track your swing speed, loads of other parameters. 

Unfortunately they do cost quite a bit of money, which makes it hard to get your hands on one. Your local Pro or any Certified Fitter should have one.

Once you have warmed up and hit a couple of shots in front of the Launch Monitor, it will give your average clubhead speed, from there you will be able to determine what shaft flex will suit you best.

 

Heavy Vs Lighter Golf Shaft – What Part It Plays In Shaft Flex?

This isn’t rocket science, the heavier the shaft is the more material is in the shaft, and that makes the shaft stiffer.

The lighter the shaft, the thinner the shaft walls are, which makes it more flexible.

 

When To Move To A Stiffer Shaft?

You should move to a stiff shaft once your swing speed moves into the next bracket, if you can’t track your swing speed here are some signs you need to go stiffer

• Feels ‘whippy’ in your hands
• Feels too light
• Your ball is ballooning in the air
• Your ball is behind your pitch mark when you hit your driver
• You ball spins to much on the greens when you approach with your irons
• Your accuracy has dropped
• You start hitting hooks
• Your ball flight is very high

 

When To Move To A More Flexible Shaft

You should move to a more flexible shaft once your swing speed drops into the next bracket, if you can’t track your swing speed here are some signs you need to go more flexible.

• Feels to heavy
• Feels like a ‘broomstick’ in your hands
• You struggle to get the ball up in the air with your driver
• You get no spin on the green when you approach with your irons
• You hit a slice
• Your accuracy drops
• You start losing distance

 

Can I Change The Shafts In My Clubs

Absolutely yes. Changing shafts in a driver is a little easier than irons, as nowadays the shafts in Drivers can be screwed out, this makes it easy to chop and change different options.

Iron shafts are a little different, firstly you have to buy 7 or 8 depending on your set make up, and they all have to be extracted and then replaced, this is a lengthy process, but it is worth it in the end.

If you want to change your shaft, we suggest speaking to your local professional, they will be able to advise you further.

 

Should You Get A Fitting To Get The Right Shafts?

100% yes, golf clubs don’t come cheap these days. You won’t buy a car without test driving it, and you definitely won’t buy a Ferrari if you need to go off-roading.

Buying the wrong equipment can really put you on the back foot. Having the right shafts for your game can give you a real advantage, and make the game much easier.

 

Best Stiff Shafts For Irons

Our favorite Iron shaft manufacturer is KBS Golf Shafts.

We have gone with KBS as they offer a wide variety for all handicap levels. They have Senior through to X-Stiff and everything in between.

They also have a bunch of different weight options from 85 grams to 130 grams, to cater for everyone’s needs.

These guys are truly the best in their field

Check Out More Reviews Here:

 

Best Stiff Shafts For Drivers – Fujikara Ventus

For Driver shafts, we have to choose the Ventus range from Fujikura, like the KBS range, they offer Senior to X-Stiff shafts.

The amazing thing about the Ventus range is they have 3 different options to choose from.

Red – High Launch/High Spin, Blue – Mid Launch/Mid Spin and Black – Low Launch/Low Spin.

This caters for 99% off all golfers making their range top in their class.

Check Out More Reviews Here:

 

Conclusion

Having the right Driver and Iron Shafts in your equipment can improve your distance and accuracy dramatically.

Your swing speed has a big influence on what shaft flex you should play, but it isn’t the only factor, age, handicap, feel and preferred shot shape also have an impact.

We suggest getting a fitting from a Certified Fitter, as there are so many options out there, you don’t want to get lost in the chaos.

Make sure you test your swing speed before you buy any equipment, if you don’t have the option of testing out your swing speed, go through what to expect if your shaft is too stiff or flexible in this article to help you decide.