Breakdown of Golf Shafts Used by Top 100 PGA Tour Players
| GOLF SHAFT MANUFACTURER | DRIVER | WOODS + HYBRIDS | IRONS | WEDGES |
| Accra | 2% | 1% | – | – |
| Aerotech | – | – | 1% | 0.5% |
| Aldila | 10% | 10.6% | – | – |
| Fujikura | 28% | 21.8% | – | – |
Full Answer
What driver shafts do PGA Tour players use?
There are players on the PGA Tour using lighter driver shafts with swing speeds upwards of 115-120 mph. This is another area of getting fit for the right driver that will require a little bit of testing to see what feels most comfortable to the player, and the kinds of results it yields.
What hybrid shafts do the PGA pros use?
For the pros that do however once again, we found a large variety of golf shafts being used. We found 28 different hybrid shaft models being used by the top 100 PGA Tour players with Graphite Design being the most popular hybrid shaft manufacturer and 7 players using them.
Why do PGA Tour players tip their driver shafts?
PGA Tour players swing the club fast. To help keep their driver shafts stable and the golf ball in play off the tee, many of them “tip,” or trim, their golf shafts to make them less flexible.
What are the most popular wedge shafts used by the PGA Tour?
The Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 is the next most popular and True Temper shafts account for over 70% of the wedge shafts used by this elite group. Although far behind Nippon Shafts are the next most common wedge shafts with just over 10% of the wedges used by the top 100 PGA Tour players having them.
What golf shafts do most pros use?
Fujikura driver shafts are the most used by the top 100 PGA Tour players with 28 players using them including Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Louis Oosthuizen. The Ventus Blue 6X and Ventus Black 6X shafts are the most popular individual driver shafts.
What shaft flex do PGA players use?
90% of the top 100 PGA Tour pros use extra stiff or Tour extra stiff flex shafts in their driver. As a whole pro players of woods, hybrids and utility irons again use extra stiff or Tour extra stiff shafts with stiff and stiff+ flex shafts only being more used in irons and wedges.
Which shafts do pros use?
In total 100% of the top 100 PGA Tour pros use graphite shafts in their drivers, fairway woods and hybrid clubs. 14 out of the top 100 use graphite shafts in their utility irons while 21 pros use steel.
What steel shafts do pros use?
True Temper's Dynamic Golf steel shaft has been the most popular shaft on the PGA Tour, and according to the True Temper website, 90 percent of golfers in any particular tournament play True Temper shafts.
What shaft does Tiger woods use?
Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 60 TXTiger has a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 60 TX shaft fitted to his driver.
Do any pros play with regular flex?
Kramer's 2006 “Golf Magazine” article cites a survey showing that just 2 percent of PGA Tour players and 10 percent of PGA Champions Tour players used regular flex shafts in their irons. He also notes that PGA Tour swing speeds average 110 mph, so the players favor a stiffer shaft to better control the club.
Do pros use stiff shafts?
Most PGA Tour pros will use stiff or extra stiff in their shafts. It is rare to find someone swinging a regular shaft with the amount of swing speed those guys have.
What shaft does Justin Thomas use?
Thomas has his fit with a UST Elements Chrome shaft. The available lofts are 13.5, 15 and 18 degrees and you can choose from Aldila Rogue Black 80, Mitsubishi Diamana D+ White 80 or a Mitsubishi Diamana S+ Blue 70 shaft.
Do any PGA golfers use graphite shafts?
Graphite iron shafts have been used by PGA TOUR professionals for decades including FedExCup Champion Brandt Snedeker and US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau. There's also a third option in iron shafts which may eventually fall into the “best of both worlds” category.
What kind of shafts does Rory McIlroy use?
Known as a superior driver of the ball, McIlroy ranks second in driving distance this season at an eye-catching 320.1 yards with his TaylorMade SIM driver with a Mitsubishi KuroKage 70 XTS shaft.
What iron shaft does Dustin Johnson use?
The rest of his irons, from 3-iron to pitching wedge, are P730 DJ Proto irons. These are fitted with True Temper X100 shafts - a shaft he has used in his irons ever since his junior days.
Do pros use steel or graphite?
Over the past decade, graphite has become the material of choice on the PGA TOUR for shafts in drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, as pros have shifted away from steel and into lighter composites that increased swing speed and distance.
What is the most important thing about a driver shaft?
One of the most important things about shafts is how they handle the force that a player’s swing will apply. Generally speaking, there are two extremes. Some players apply a late load to their swing, which would require a stiffer tip of the driver shaft. Conversely, a player that extends early in their swing (most recreational golfers) ...
How much weight should a golf shaft be?
Weight. Getting the correct weight of your shaft is an important factor to consider as well. Shafts can range anywhere from 40 to 135 grams. Typically the rule of thumb is that a golfer with a slower swing speed will benefit from using a lighter shaft, and you would add weight as swing speed increases. As you might expect at this point, there are ...
What is the difference between stock shafts and aftermarket shafts?
The difference between stock shafts and aftermarket shafts is usually found in quality control. Many times the bigger OEMs will strip off the paint of last year’s model and give them a new exterior. The graphics look attractive, but you really have no idea what is beneath it.
What is the biggest misconception about golf shafts?
One of the biggest misconceptions about shafts is that there are standards out there that manufacturers adhere to. Most golfers assume that a shaft marked regular or stiff will be the same across the board, no matter who they buy it from.
Why didn't Nick Price find a stiff shaft?
Regardless of the similarity in their swing speeds, Nick Price couldn’t find a shaft stiff enough for his swing because he would apply such an enormous amount of force, whereas Couples didn’t need as stiff of a shaft because of his smooth tempo.
Why is shaft profile important?
Getting the right shaft profile for your swing is very important. It will greatly affect your ability to hit quality shots on the course . There is a lot of confusion in the golf shaft industry. With no standards for performance, the quality greatly varies, and often you get what you pay for. We hope that we have cleared up some ...
Is the shaft of a truck the same as the transmission?
It absolutely has an effect on how well you can play. The shaft is similar to the transmission of a car. While it’s not the engine, it’s still extremely important. If you are driving a truck you want a transmission that can handle its particular demands.
What shaft does Jason Day use?
Jason Day currently uses Accra’s TZP prototype driver shaft. The prototype has been making noise on Tour over the last few months and counts Jason Day as its most high-profile convert. That’s in addition to Martin Kaymer, Pat Perez and a handful of other names. Cameron Champ even gave it a spin during the Tour’s stop in Las Vegas.
Who are the players on the Fujikura shaft?
Fujikura’s newest shaft went through a soft launch during the wraparound portion of the Tour schedule — starting at the Safeway Open — and saw just a couple of players (Andrew Landry and Cody Gribble) give it a shot. Fujikura Tour rep Pat McCoy noted the slow start was due in part to having just a few events to showcase the shaft.
Did Tiger Woods add a shaft to his driver?
But getting Tiger Woods back on board — he added the shaft to his driver, 3-wood and 5-wood during the playoffs — after a brief hiatus is the kind of bump that’s worth watching. Woods’ win at the Tour Championship came so late in the year that it was all but impossible to track a potential bump in usage on Tour.
Is driver shaft usage unpredictable?
Driver shaft usage on Tour can be a bit unpredictable. With some players testing different shafts on a semi-regular basis, it’s not uncommon for a particular shaft to go from being a relative unknown to a trend in a matter of weeks if a player or two catch fire. You may also like. In an effort to pinpoint what’s trending on Tour in ...
Why do players need a shaft that can keep up?
When a shaft is more stiff, it takes less time for the transference of energy to occur, which is why players with faster swings need a shaft that can ‘keep up.’. On the other hand, when a shaft has more flex, it takes more time for the transference of energy to occur.
Why are golf shafts stiff?
This is because these shafts are usually custom engineered to a player’s swing.
How to determine how stiff a shaft should be?
One of the most important factors in determining how stiff a shaft should be is a player’s swing speed. There’s a popular line of thought that golf professionals use stiff shafts in their game. This is mostly true, but it comes down to swing speed.
Why Do Pros Use Steel Shafts?
Steel shafts were introduced many years ago and have undergone continuous improvement to deliver the qualities and specifications suited to modern player swing speeds. Steel shafts used to have steps in the length, and now seamless steel shafts are in everyday use. Steel shafts offer stability and less torque and flex through impact.
What are Steel Shafts Made Of?
Steel shafts are made from special steel and lately, ultra-lightweight steel is used to enhance clubhead speed through the ball. Steel is more durable, stable, stronger, and less costly than graphite. Carbon steel is another very lightweight shaft.
What are Composite Shafts?
A composite shaft is manufactured from a mixture of carbon fiber and steel and is lighter than standard steel shafts. These shafts are manufactured for specific performance characteristics demanded by the top players. They can be made for a specific golfer in terms of weight, flex, and length.
Do Pros Use Graphite Shafts in the Driver?
The driver shafts today are predominantly graphite, but specifications vary from one manufacturer to another. The shafts can be as light as 40grams, which equates to a faster clubhead speed through impact. The flex will be X-stiff or XX-stiff for the strong pros who hit the ball a mile.
Who Should Use Graphite Shafts In Irons?
Senior pros and the top players on the LPGA use graphite shafts through the bag. They are lighter than steel and allow them to generate increased swing speed to increase or maintain the distance required to overcome some of the courses they play on the Tour.
Which Pros Use Graphite Shaft Irons?
Every pro golfer wants the very best performance from the shaft they fit to their clubs. It would be reasonable to believe that most of the top players have experimented with graphite shafts in some form or another, just to ensure they are not missing out on some technology that would give them an edge over their fellow competitors.
How many degrees are pitching wedges?
The next thing you know pitching wedges are all the way down to 43 degrees.”. Bob Vokey, one of the world’s foremost wedge designers. For example DeChambeau’s ‘gap wedge’ has a degree loft of 47 degrees which is same as my pitching wedge.
How many yard gaps does a female golfer have?
Female and junior golfers will have 5 to 10 yard gaps by comparison. When it comes to the top 100 pros on the PGA Tour however they are far more precise than amateurs and can often go down to as much as a 1/4 of a degree when it comes to their wedges to ensure their wedge distance gapping is as dialed in as possible.
Can Phil Mickelson use a 5th wedge?
Players, such as Phil Mickelson, can very occasionally a 5th wedge to give them even more options for shots inside 125 yards, but that is a rare occurrence compared to the increasing trend for the best pros to choose a specialty wedge in place of the standard pitching wedge which comes as part of their iron set.
Do wedges matter?
The point is that in the world of wedges today it doesn’t really matter what they are called and the key important factor is that the various lofts of wedges any golfer carries covers a good degree of loft and therefore distances.
What does it mean to tip a golf shaft?
To help keep their driver shafts stable and the golf ball in play off the tee, many of them “tip,” or trim, their golf shafts to make them less flexible. Tipping a shaft basically means cutting anywhere from 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches (sometimes more) off of the end of a golf shaft ...
How to fight a slice in golf?
If you’re fighting a slice, try closing down the face by increasing the loft on the adjustable loft sleeve of your driver. Similarly, making the lie angle more upright on any club will generally make it more draw-biased. 3. Lead tape or hot melt.
Do you need a stiffer shaft for golf?
This usually leads to a stiffer feeling shaft that produces a more penetrating, lower-spinning ball flight. Most amateurs don’t swing it hard enough to need a stiffer shaft, but if your golf ball is ballooning (flying too high and spinning too much), then maybe seek out professional advice on tipping a shaft.
Is PGA Tour good?
PGA Tour players are really good at golf. They also have access to the best golf equipment and the best club builders in the business. They’re able to get prototype golf equipment made special for them, and everything in their bags is custom built to their exact specs. Compared to an amateur golfer who buys retail equipment, ...
Do PGA Tour players use wedges?
When it comes to wedges, many PGA Tour players use heads with custom grinds on their soles. Inside the Tour vans, club builders grind the soles of player’s wedges for their exact needs. Some amateurs, on the other hand, may not even know what grind they’re using or know how important the sole is to performance of a wedge.
