Golf club heads get a lot of credit in golfing circles – perhaps disproportionately much. Space-age materials, shifting, adjustable weights, and other extraordinarily high-tech features rule the roost. Producers are consistently looking to up the performance-enhancing features of their club heads.
If you’re one of the gear-junkies that gets hyped up when you see some new technology hit the scene from Callaway or Ping, make sure you take a step back and temper your excitement with some appreciation for the corresponding advance in golf shaft technology.
After all, the shaft is the “engine” that drives the club head.
The Importance of Practicing with the Right Golf Shafts
Now, let’s be very clear about one thing at the outset. A golf shaft is not going to radically alter your abilities on its own. It’s not some secret sauce for performance that you simply haven’t discovered yet. Chances are that you have discovered it – you just might be practicing with a shaft that’s not well suited to your abilities.
Practice is the first key to success. Without training consistently with your equipment, you’ll never develop proper form or cultivate the experience that will serve as the foundation for your skills.
All the same, it’s best to play with a golf shaft of the proper length for your measurements, that’s properly weighted for your swing, and well-aligned in terms of shaft flex with your swing speed.
Playing with the wrong golf shaft can encourage you to adopt or “learn” bad habits that will only have to be unlearned later.
Let’s consider some of the ways that a custom golf shaft may be able to help you cultivate the proper skills and encourage your strengths the first time around.
Weight, Length, and Flex
First up, let’s talk about shaft length, which is arguably the easiest factor to control in a golf shaft. All you need to know are your measurements and you can choose a custom golf shaft that fits them.
Golf shafts that are too long or too short can cause significant errors with your swings, such as fat and thin shots – as well as others.
A shaft that is not properly weighted for your skillset can be frustrating to use; some golfers find that heavier shafts adversely affect their swing speed, frustrating range, and accuracy.
Most important is shaft flex. While experienced players may prefer stiffer, more responsive golf shafts, some players with slower swing speeds find it difficult to use them. More flexible shafts can accommodate the needs of players with slower swing speeds, enabling them to exact greater control through the swing, and loading more energy into it as well. In a word, they are more forgiving.
Kick Point and Torque
Related to shaft flex are two attributes known as kick point and torque. Torque refers to the degree by which a shaft rotates around an axis through its center (lengthwise) and kick point refers to how far up the shaft it “seems” to bend during the swing.
More flexible shafts tend to have higher torque ratings and lower kick points, whereas stiffer shafts usually have lower torque ratings and high kick points. A shaft with a higher kick point will also feel like it is “one-piece” during a swing, whereas a lower kick point gives a shaft the feeling of bending or flexing.
Visit Dallas Golf for Fitting Services to a Custom Golf Shaft!
The ultimate point here is that playing with golf shafts that are not well aligned in form and function with your needs as a player will only serve you a course in frustration. Players with high swing speeds will be annoyed by the whippy feeling of flexible shafts with high torque ratings and low kick points, whereas other players with slower swing speeds may feel as though they can’t fulfill their potential with shafts that are too stiff for them.
However, the only way to be certain you are playing with the best possible driver shafts for your abilities is to work with a professional for club fitting. Check out Dallas Golf at DallasGolf.com and then visit them at their location in Dallas, Texas.
There, you’ll be able to work directly with an experienced professional that will interview you, observe your swing, take your measurements, and then recommend custom golf shafts that will help you get the most out of each and every day on the golf course.
