This is unbelievable … I was browsing for a 3 wood on ebay and found this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brid...

The shaft is valued at $250!!! is it true? how expensive can they get?

How about $1300US?

Expensive Shafts

Alot of tech goes into shaft technology, not that it matters to the average golfer. Any shaft from the top manufacturers will do just fine

That’s not exactly true! As the shaft is the engine of the club, getting the right shaft is of critical importance!! Get the shaft wrong and no matter how good the head is, the club is not going to be producing good results! Put a substandard head on an great well fitted shaft and you will still produce shots that you can live with.

With so many shafts having so many options: kickpoints, butt stiffness, tip stiffness, flex, torque, spines etc Not just any shaft will do fine!

Some shafts do get expensive but there is a huge difference in quality in an “el cheapo” and a “top market”. Depends what your goals are as to what you are willing to spend that will be the overriding factor on value for money!

Simple math: $250 high quality clubhead on $300 designer fitted shaft with $10 grip ($560) still puts you in front of some OEM’s on the market that have lesser quality “stock” shafts.

Sometimes a good clubfitter is worth their weight in gold!

That’s not exactly true! As the shaft is the engine of the club, getting the right shaft is of critical importance!! Get the shaft wrong and no matter how good the head is, the club is not going to be producing good results! Put a substandard head on an great well fitted shaft and you will still produce shots that you can live with.

With so many shafts having so many options: kickpoints, butt stiffness, tip stiffness, flex, torque, spines etc Not just any shaft will do fine!

Some shafts do get expensive but there is a huge difference in quality in an “el cheapo” and a “top market”. Depends what your goals are as to what you are willing to spend that will be the overriding factor on value for money!

Simple math: $250 high quality clubhead on $300 designer fitted shaft with $10 grip ($560) still puts you in front of some OEM’s on the market that have lesser quality “stock” shafts.

Sometimes a good clubfitter is worth their weight in gold!

That theory is out the window. Read and learn, the head is king, loft is the biggest key in ball flight.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/cl...

This guy is number one in clubfitting.

Alot of tech goes into shaft technology, not that it matters to the average golfer. Any shaft from the top manufacturers will do just fine

PS, I would never cough up and buy new shafts, just pulls or in 2nd hand clubs

I have also seen pros use oem shafts, like in a ping g5 and nike ignite driver, so they cant be that bad.

That’s not exactly true! As the shaft is the engine of the club, getting the right shaft is of critical importance!! Get the shaft wrong and no matter how good the head is, the club is not going to be producing good results! Put a substandard head on an great well fitted shaft and you will still produce shots that you can live with.

With so many shafts having so many options: kickpoints, butt stiffness, tip stiffness, flex, torque, spines etc Not just any shaft will do fine!

Some shafts do get expensive but there is a huge difference in quality in an “el cheapo” and a “top market”. Depends what your goals are as to what you are willing to spend that will be the overriding factor on value for money!

Simple math: $250 high quality clubhead on $300 designer fitted shaft with $10 grip ($560) still puts you in front of some OEM’s on the market that have lesser quality “stock” shafts.

Sometimes a good clubfitter is worth their weight in gold!

That theory is out the window. Read and learn, the head is king, loft is the biggest key in ball flight.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/cl…

This guy is number one in clubfitting.

Watch out typos + poor grammar.

Member number one of IHLWC

Did you actually read the article you just directed me to???

It starts by stating the golfer is the engine and the shaft is the transmission. Okay obviously the one holding the stick is the most important. What would be the next most important thing in a care besides the engine? The transmission?

I didn’t know we had to go back to basics and include the golfer in the equation, I thought this was an equipment thread. Obviously if you play golf like you would be better off playing lawn bowls then this doesn’t apply to you. Where did it exactly say the head was the most important part or more important than the shaft? Is that your opinion or something you made up to make yourself seem more knowledgeable?

Obviously you didnt take it in what was actually written in the article so I will put some quotes in for you so you can review what the article ACTUALLY says:

“The shaft cannot increase the power from the golfer that is delivered to the ball. However, the shaft can decrease that power, which is precisely what happens when the shaft is ill-fit to the size, strength, athletic ability and swing characteristics of the golfer.”

“Use a shaft that is too heavy and the power of the golfer will be reduced to a slower clubhead speed than would be possible with the correct shaft weight for the golfer’s ability. Use a shaft that is too light and the golfer may achieve their maximum clubhead speed, but they will lose control of the club, thus resulting in a higher percentage of off-centre hits for a loss in distance and accuracy.”

“A shaft that is the right weight, but too stiff or too flexible for the swing characteristics of the golfer, won’t drop the clubhead speed below the golfer’s potential, but it can affect the launch angle and swing timing to cause a loss of distance along with a loss of impact consistency and possible loss of accuracy too.”

“Whenever the shaft bends forward, the clubhead arrives at impact with more “dynamic loft” than the actual “static loft” of the head as measured in a clubhead specification gauge. Here again, the more flexible the shaft in relation to the golfer’s downswing strength, the higher the loft of the head will be at impact. The stiffer the shaft, the lower will be the dynamic loft. More dynamic loft means a higher launch angle with more backspin, while less dynamic loft means a lower launch with a little less spin.”

“This is why golfers with a late release can see visible height differences between shafts while golfers with an early release tend to hit the ball the same height with any shaft they use. This is also why trying to use the shaft as a factor in fitting to change shot height only works for golfers with a later release.”

“From a pure fitting standpoint, the shaft can only affect the following parameters of performance:

The Weight of the Shaft Controls the Total Weight of the Club
The Torsional Stiffness
Overall Flex + the Bend Profile Design of the Shaft”

I swing the club with a very aggressive transition and employ a late release! From this article that you provided as “evidence” it seems that this of great importance to me. I am sure I am not the only one.

There are also many amateurs that have an aggressive loading pattern and late releases. Are you suggesting that they should not be concerned with shaft fitting? I think this is hard to comprehend for you Nigel as you don’t know what a real golfer is capable of doing to a shaft and how the wrong shaft can make one hell of a difference to ball flight and therefore overall distance. Yes I agree the rule does not apply to everyone but to some people it does. If you don’t go and see a clubfitter how do you know?

Those of you that don’t care about your shaft profiles obviously aren’t at a level where it will truly make a difference to you performance, so yes for you go and get any shaft! Some of us like to and do take our performance to the endth degree. I am not saying go to the top of the range because they are the best, I am saying if your performance is suspect go and see someone and find out whether a better fit will aid your game.

Alot of tech goes into shaft technology, not that it matters to the average golfer. Any shaft from the top manufacturers will do just fine

very true. I am an average golfer and dont find the expensive shafts to perform any better then your average $80-$100 shafts. I have exotic shafts from diamanas to matrix altus, to the normal aldilas, v2’s etc

PS, I would never cough up and buy new shafts, just pulls or in 2nd hand clubs

I have also seen pros use oem shafts, like in a ping g5 and nike ignite driver, so they cant be that bad.

Obviously you are not someone that it is going to effect. That’s great some of us at the other end of the scale where a tweak here and there makes the world of difference.

Do you seriously think top line pros/amateurs are using the OEM shafts you buy off the rack?

In my golfing time I found a really odd thing…i have been fitted and unhappy with the results from custom designed shafts

I have found the stock shafts in my last 3 drivers to have been great

that said if you do get a good one, its helpful

That is definitely the key here Dave.

I am not talking about the “hobbyists” on here that like to think of themselves as club fitting experts because they can read books and articles on it. I am talking about guys that are true geniuses in what they do with fitting. The guys who fit professionals (and amateurs) with equipment are in totally different profession than the guys for example who work in big chain golf shops who claim to be “fitting” clubs to golfers.

There are guys out there that can laser plane and balance clubheads and face, guys that have 20+ years in the industry not 5 minutes, guys that are on the forefront of club science and can tune a club like a musician can tune an instrument. These are the guys I refer to when I say “clubfitter”

Excellent point you raise though and I am in total agreement.

I read a book on space travel once, does that mean I can call myself an astronaut?? ;-)

Are you naturally moronic or is it something you have to work at?

AB, come on, can’t you disagree with Nigel without this sort of thing?

Are you naturally moronic or is it something you have to work at?

AB, come on, can’t you disagree with Nigel without this sort of thing?

Reverse every natural instinct you have and do just the opposite of what you are inclined to do and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing. – BEN HOGAN, POWER GOLF

Yeah I probably could Muntz so point definitely taken. So I will therefore retract my statement.

Cheers

i have that shaft on my titelist 5 wood an it dosnt work :(

What shaft is it TTM? Maybe you can get it reshafted?

AB you made good points here
yes shaft is indeed the transmission
a lousy one stuffs up the shot even with a good head

i can really sense and see your passion in this sport LD
and to a lesser extend the game of golf on the course…

keep this up…you are acting like the ‘transmission’ here
good on ya

“golfers with an early release tend to hit the ball the same height with any shaft they use”

valid point ??

KYC:

Thank you mate. Look it is guys like yourself (and the vast majority on ISG) that keep me here. Have thought a number of times “is this all worth it?”

You are right, I love LD with a passion. I get criticised for my love of this, but this comes from people who have never experienced it for themselves. LD is a buzz and heaps of fun, you don’t have to hit it a mile to enjoy it. The challenge is hitting it further than you ever have. Like Golf, you play to beat your own personal best. If someone told you, you had to shoot par to enter any golf competition, would most even bother playing? This is what sh*ts me about people’s perception of LD. Yeah there is always someone out there that can hit it further, but isn’t the thrill in launching one further than you ever have?

I also love golf mate, I came from a pure golf background many years ago, where i got very serious about it and lost the fun in it. LD for me was a reinvigoration to be associated with golf in a more fun, less score orientated setting!

“golfers with an early release tend to hit the ball the same height with any shaft they use”

This quote came from a Tom Wishon article on ISG (which Nigel provided me “as evidence” that the shaft doesn’t matter, which is not what the article states). This is purely Tom Wishon’s point of view who is a master clubfitter. I don’t necessarily agree with it totally, but who am I to argue with someone of his standing..

What shaft is it TTM? Maybe you can get it reshafted?

fujikura speeder s flex .

What is the problem you are having with your ball flight? Have you been to see a “reputable” clubfitter near where you live?

Alot of tech goes into shaft technology, not that it matters to the average golfer. Any shaft from the top manufacturers will do just fine

very true. I am an average golfer and dont find the expensive shafts to perform any better then your average $80-$100 shafts. I have exotic shafts from diamanas to matrix altus, to the normal aldilas, v2’s etc

PS, I would never cough up and buy new shafts, just pulls or in 2nd hand clubs

I have also seen pros use oem shafts, like in a ping g5 and nike ignite driver, so they cant be that bad.

Obviously you are not someone that it is going to effect. That’s great some of us at the other end of the scale where a tweak here and there makes the world of difference.

Do you seriously think top line pros/amateurs are using the OEM shafts you buy off the rack?

Heaps of them do actually. They pick a club based on how it feels & because they can “hit it” it really doesn’t matter to them.

So they just walk into the local Drummonds and pull one off the rack and say “this will do”???

They don’t pick their weights, the don’t dial in their cpms, they don’t have them pured, etc???

AB,

Your point is all good and well, but ask yourself the question.

What has the biggest factor on ball flight.

If you had a head that fitted you perfecty for loft and all the specs c.o.g face angle etc… but a shaft that fitted to you poorly, example in your case a L flex shaft.

Or a club with a perfectly matched shaft xx flex with a head with a 20deg loft with a open face of 6 degs heaps of rearward c.o.g.

Which one would you hit the best.

The head will always be number one in ball flight.

The shaft will never bend pass the c.o.g. of the club head. So in thoery never more than a couple of degs. Or in the case of some LD lads it may lag a little through impact.

The understanding of the shafts factor in the club has moved on a bit in the last couple of years, The biggest factor the shaft has is in feel.

Also note that the shaft never buggy whips as well that is a myth, that has been done to death.

There is a difference in thinking you know what you are talking about and clear hard facts, I live my life in physic and maths. There is a great book called common sence clubfitting, it would be a great place start for you.

Don’t belive the hype. Read the facts, really learn how the golf club works. The golfer is the engine, not the shaft.

All the best Nigel.

go on kiss & make up you two…....................................

Fair enough Nigel, I got a different message from Tom Wishon’s article but thats cool, we must comprehend things differently.

To be honest I would rather hit neither! I am yet to see a clubhead come from a manufacturer that I order from be 6 degrees open. 1-2 at most.

That being the case I would rather have the shaft! With my swing the ball is going nowhere with a L, you might find different but this is not coming from ads mate, it is coming from hitting drivers of all set ups

As Tom Wishon said (your evidence) The golfer is the engine, the shaft is the transmission.

Is a car with a great engine and no transmission going to work???

Funny he didn’t mention the importance of the clubhead in that statement.

I’ll agree to disagree with you and leave it at that!