Golf Monthly UK – August 2019

ASK OUR

EXPERTS

The impact of shaft

flex on performance

T

heshaftisoftendescribedas

theengineofthegolfclub.But

inreality,howimportantisit–

specificallytheflex–andwhat

effectdodifferentflexeshaveon

performance?ThisissomethingI

wantedtofindout–I havealwaysbeen

abelieverthattheclubheadset-up

playsmoreofapartasitismaking

contactwiththeball,althoughI admit

theshafthasarole in determining how

itgetsthere.

Inarecentexperiment,wetestedthe

TaylorMadeM6driverwith9°ofloftin

threedifferentstockoptions–the

MitsubishiTenseiOrangeinregular,the

FujikuraAtmosinstiffandtheProjectX

HzrdusSmokeinx-stiff.Interestingly,

withourswingspeedhoveringaround

the 110mph mark, the difference in

JOEL TADMAN ON...

performancewasverysmallindeed.

TheHzrdusSmokespunjustunder

100rpmlessthantheregularTensei

Orange.Itdidgivemealowerlaunch

andflight,butthedifferenceswere

definitelynotasbigasI wasexpecting!

Alower-swing-speedtesterdidsee

biggerdifferencesinthenumbers,but

thedispersionshockedus–thex-stiff

HzrdusSmokeactuallymissedmoreto

theleft.Thisfliesagainstthetheory

thataclubwithasoftershaftiseasier

tosquareupandshouldultimatelygo

moretotheleftthanastiffershaft.

Insummary,theinfluenceoftheshaft

isn’tasprominentasyoumightthink.

Thequalityofshaftsonofferasstock

optionsintoday’sdrivershasimproved

immeasurably,andit’sacontributing

factortotheextraperformancewesee,

aswellastheincreasingprices.Getting

therightshaft,itseems,ispartofthe

fine-tuningprocess.Perhapsmore

importantly,thisexperiencehastaught

menevertogointoafittingwith

preconceptionsaboutwhichshaft

mightberight.Everygolferdeliversthe

clubinaslightlydifferentway,soitis

hardtotellwhichisrightbeforeyou hit

them all and see the results!

Whatarethe

advantagesand

disadvantagesof

one-lengthironsas

usedbyBryson

DeChambeau?

@AsDankasEver, Twitter

One-lengthironsallow

youtostandtotheballin

thesamewayregardless

oftheironyou’reusing, in

theoryhelpingwith

consistencyofstrikeand

clubspeed.Negatives

comewhenchippingand

pitchingaroundthe

greenwithalobwedgein

a7-ironlength–itfeels

strangetosaythe least! I

wouldsaythe

advantagesoutweighthe

disadvantagesanditis

certainlyworthtrying,

butitrequirespatience

and perseverance.

Howdoyougap

hybridscorrectly?

Lee Wise, Twitter

Goodquestion,asI

wouldn’trecommend

goingforthesame

numberhybridasa

long-iron,evenifthelofts

arethesame.Mytesting

hasshownahybridcan

goanythingfromfourto

tenyardsfurther(and

higher)onaverage.So

findouthowfaryour

longestirongoes,then

workinthehybrids

evenlygappedinterms

ofcarrydistanceupto

yourfairwaywood.Be

suretousealaunch

monitor to check!

TEST CENTRE

Theresults

shocked us