shaft weights for woods/hybrids?

[bbbrisco]

I was just wondering how others have come to settle on particular shaft weights for woods and hybrids?

My swing speed goes from 105-113 or so (lower in the spring after a winter layoff, highest in mid-summer after I get up to speed). I have a medium-fast tempo (0.89 secs on the SSR with tempo timer) and a bit of a jerk from the top.

Over the years, I've noticed a preference for about 70-75 grams for the driver, 75-85 grams for the fairway woods and somewhat higher for the hybrids. My favorite in the hybrids so far is 80+ gram JavelinFX Stiff in Adams Idea Pro Gold, but haven't been able to try too many heavier and suspect that I'd prefer something like the Wishon Tour Black Hybrid at 95-100gr, which would be about half way between my fairways and iron shafts.

I noticed 3Jack, who has similar swing speeds to me (no idea about lag/tempo etc) going with a bit lighter driver shaft at 65gr. I've only tried a few (Wishon Black 65gr Stiff, few OEM shafts) but I've always felt that those lighter shafts had me having to work harder to keep a consistent tempo.

I also have TEE 4w with a 70gr Aldila RIP that feels way too light and whippy, like the head is flopping around on me during the swing. Not sure if that's more to do with tip stiffness or overall weight. Too bad, because I love the head. May try tipping it 1/2" or reshafting it.

Currently, I'm playing an Adams 9015d with a Fubuki X 73gr, Wishon 949MC 4w and 7w, both with Diamana Blue 83x shafts.

What have others arrived at for preferred shaft weights, and how much experimenting did you do to get there?

Also, do you find a stiffer flex to help with using a lighter shaft? I'm normally between an S and X flex for most shafts, and feel that I can use a slightly softer shaft if it's heavier, but don't have much data to back that up (ie it may just be something I talked myself into).

Sadly, not too many places around here to try decent shafts, so I'm mostly stuck reading vicariously and trying to draw conclusions instead of being able to actually experiment.

[cloran]

The heavier the better... Short, x-stiff, and HEAVY.

[Richie3Jack]

For me, I go:

65 g in the driver (X-stiff) at 45-1/8" long
79 g in the 3-wood (X-Stiff) at 43" long
85 g in the hybrid (18*) stiff at 40-3/4" long

Generally, you want to have an increase in shaft weight from driver to 3-wood to hybrid. This is because they are at different lengths, which alters both the static weight and the MOI.

I know I've cut off 1/4" off the butt end of a steel shaft before and it altered the MOI by 60 kg/cm^2. So it doesn't take much of a different in length to alter the MOI, greatly.

I wouldn't worry too much about what the shaft flex on the label says. At best, you may get a good ballpark, but that's it. I would worry more about the shaft bend profile.

The type of shaft for you depends really upon the acceleration profile of your swing. That's why I look at clubhead speed and where the butt-end of the club is at p6.



The closer the butt end is torwards the target, like Sergio or Hogan...the stiffer and heavier their shafts should be. Further away the butt-end of the grip is, the softer and lighter the shafts should be.

Of course, there's a certain balance between what the club is doing at p6 and the clubhead speed. If you have the butt-end of the club more forward at p6, but generate a relatively low amount of clubhead speed (say, 95 mph with the driver), you'll probably want a soft butt section of the shaft with a tip-stiff and tip-heavy shaft.

That's why you sometimes see guys who hit the ball a mile play with only stiff shafts. They generate a lot of clubhead speed, but it's not done thru a large amount of last second acceleration.

I think you probably have a decent idea of what shaft you need, particularly from a bend profile standpoint. I just think you need to find the right MOI.

It gets a bit tricky because a lot of this depends on the length of the shaft in each club and the clubhead. I had an Adams 9064LS with a Talamonti PD-70 X-stiff shaft at 45 inches and that came out to an MOI of 2,860 (which is too heavy for me). I then had an Adams SuperFast F11 cut to 42.5" with a Talamonti PD-80 shaft and that came out to an MOI of 2,650 which is way too light.

I wouldn't get too much into 'this is a good shaft and this is a bad shaft.' I've seen quite a few times where some $250+ shafts are practically the same exact shaft as a $50 model made from a different company.







3JACK