Find the Right Shaft Flex Profile for Your Game – FORGET about the Letters on the Shafts!
A few weeks ago a golfer was talking with me about the new "super duper" fairway wood that he just bought – you know, one of those ones with the well advertised names. He said "well, I have always played an S flex in my wood shafts." I watched him hit golf balls on the range for awhile, and it was not clear that he was getting good performance with this club. But he kept hitting balls, hoping he would find a way to hit good shots.
Golf shaft fitting has progressed a lot since I started as a clubfitter about 6 years ago. One of the most important "new" knowledge over that time is the importance of the Shaft Flex Profile, and not just the Butt Flex of a shaft. The Butt Flex is the flex that the "letter" on the shaft is based on, even though there is no standard for what these letters on shafts mean.
Jerry Hoefling, one of the Master AGCP clubfitters, developed the "BMT" driver and fairway wood shaft profiling and fitting system somewhere around 5 years ago. It is based on the theory that fitting shafts by a combination of swing speed, overall tempo, and when a player releases his wrist cock can be correlated with measured flexes throughout the length of a golf shaft. Many clubfitters are using this system, or an approach similar to this system – and bottom line It Works.
For You – FORGET about the Letter on the Golf Shaft – Find Shafts for Your Driver and Fairway Woods based on Performance Testing. (And hey, shooting lower scores is more important than saying "I have always played S flex shafts" – no?)
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony