Alpha Golf

Kickpoint, torque, bend profile, frequency, length, and weight are all important factors in the design of a golf shaft. But let’s go back to the basic and most important parameter - shaft flex.

The right flexibility of a golf shaft for you depends on your swing speed and swing tempo. You can qualitatively measure your swing tempo on how smooth your transition is from backswing to downswing, as well as the smoothness of acceleration from the beginning of downswing to the point of impact.

Let’s first examine swing speed. This chart from GolfSmith is a good rule-of-thumb to map swing speed to flex. But beware - one shaft company’s regular flex is another’s stiff flex. There is no standard out there.

For swing tempo, a golfer needs a stiffer shaft if he has the following characteristics:

• fast transition from backswing to downswing
• uneven acceleration from the top of the swing to impact (faster acceleration towards impact)
• late release of the wrists during the downswing

All 3 factors comprise a swing tempo, which can basically be boiled down to how “jerky” your swing is. The smoother it is, the softer the flex should be.
For both swing speed and swing tempo, you don’t want the club head to lag behind your shaft at impact (too soft). And you don’t want the head to be misaligned in front of the shaft at impact (too stiff). Optimal energy transfer from club head speed to ball speed happens with perfect alignment of shaft to head. And the right flex is the most important factor in accomplishing this.

What happens when your shaft is too soft for you?

• The ball will launch higher than it should due to a lagging kick point.
• The ball will hook left since most golfers have closed clubhead faces during the backswing, and the head will remain closed at impact
• With inaccurate trajectory and direction, the ball will not travel as far

What happens when your shaft is too stiff for you?

• ll will launch lower than it should due to a stiff kick point
• The ball will slice right since most golfers since the clubface will be open at impact
• With inaccurate trajectory and direction, the ball will not travel as far

Most golfers pick a shaft flex that is too stiff for their swing. When in doubt, err on the side of flexibility.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 12:38 pm and is filed under shafts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.