Do lighter golf shafts increase swing speed?
In theory, a golfer should be able to swing a lighter shaft faster than he or she can swing a heavier shaft. But some golfers will not increase their swing speed with a lighter shaft. While it seems to go against the laws of physics, giving a golfer a lighter shaft can actually cause his or her speed to decrease.
What happens if your golf shaft is too light?
On the other hand, if your golf shaft is too light you might see the following: All shafts flex under the stress exerted by the golf swing and it affects your distance and direction. This varies depending on the strength and swing speed of every golfer.
Is light weight better for golf drivers?
In our driver testing, we saw very clearly that light weight worked well for some golfers but not for others. Only two golfers registered their highest ball speed with the lightest shaft; six posted their high with the heaviest shaft.
Why are lighter golf clubs better?
And secondly, the light weight leads to more speed which creates a Wow! factor when they first hit the clubs. The lighter the club the faster you can swing it. You also, however, relinquish a measure of control over the clubhead and a feel for the club.
Is a lighter golf driver better?
Usually, lighter clubs produce higher spin rates. And with spin rates that are too high, you might actually lose distance. Second, a lighter club is sometimes more difficult to control and can wreak havoc on your ability to make a smooth, rhythmic swing that accelerates through the ball.
How can I make my driver feel heavier?
Placing weight more toward the rear portion of the head will make it higher spinning, higher launching and more forgiving. To simply add weight to the head, place lead tape directly in the center of the sole; this will slightly lower overall CG, as well, which can be beneficial for most golfers.
Is it better to have a heavier or lighter driver shaft?
Weight in the shaft is linked to your preference for feel and swing speed. Fast swing speed will benefit from a heavier shaft to provide more control without losing distance. Slow swing speed and tempo will benefit most from a lightweight shaft.
How heavy should your driver be?
In general, golfers with slower swing speed and tempo can and should play a lighter shaft. Golfers with very fast speeds and tempo should play heavier shafts. Driver shafts typically weigh 55-60 grams for men and 45-50 grams for ladies.
Does losing weight affect golf swing?
There's no doubt that losing that extra weight (particularly in the mid-section) can help improve your swing, while becoming stronger can inject more power into your drive.
Do heavier drivers hit the ball farther?
Conclusion of Heavier vs Lighter Driver Heads In Golf It is clear that a heavier driver head can help you to achieve longer distances, however you need to be able to generate sufficient clubhead and ball speed. Lighter driver heads can help you to get the ball airborne and provide consistent carry.
What happens if my driver shaft is too light?
A shaft that's too heavy will cause a “labored golf swing.” A shaft that's too light will hurt your ability to make solid contact. When you find the right shaft weight, you'll experience a “high energy swing” with uniform contact.
Is a 70 gram driver shaft too heavy?
A 70-gram driver shaft is considered to be pretty heavy but not the heaviest. It falls into the middle but is still on the heavier side when you consider you could go with 50 or 60 grams instead.
What happens if driver shaft is too heavy?
The heavier a shaft is, the more likely it is that your golf ball will fly low and with less spin. If it's lighter, the ball will tend to fly higher and spin more. As Briand explains, the weight of a shaft has less impact on swing speed than golfers think, but that lighter shafts could increase the rate of closure.
What is the lightest driver head?
Sooolong 168 Gram World's Lightest, Longest Non-Conforming Golf Driver HeadSize9.5*ColorWhiteHand OrientationRightMaterialBeta Titanium
Does swing weight affect distance?
How Much Does Swing Weight Affect Distance? Both swing weight and the total weight of the club are going to affect distance. In order to hit the ball far, you must be swinging at a high rate of speed, and the ball has to be hit in the center of the clubface.
Does lead tape add distance?
For decades, this stuff has helped golfers and other athletes make adjustments quickly when they need a little extra help. It can help impact, distance, shot shape, and ball flight, depending on the location of the tape itself.
What factors affect the amount of spin in a golf club?
The amount of spin generated by a club is affected by a few factors such as loft, club length, flexibility, and the weight of the club including the shaft. Heavy shafts tend to produce lower spin than a lightweight shaft. This assertion assumes that both are stuck in the sweet spot of the clubface.
What is the debate around golf shafts?
The debate around shafts is related to heavier vs lighter golf shaft and the pros, cons, and benefits of each. In general the weight of the club will determine how fast you can swing ...
What are golf shafts made of?
Shafts are manufactured from steel, graphite, multi-material, titanium, and nanofuse shafts. Heavier shafts are generally made from steel and lighter shafts from graphite. Manufacturers add the most commonly used shafts as standard, but there is an aftermarket shaft available to suit your swing down to a tee.
How much shorter is a driver shaft than a fairway shaft?
Most stock shafts from manufacturers use the same weight of shaft in fairway woods as their driver models. Fairway woods have shafts that are between 1 and 3 inches shorter than your driver shaft.
How does swing speed affect the quality of the strike?
The effect of your swing speed. Your swing speed exerts forces on the shaft and makes it bend. The faster your swing speed the more bend you will get in the shaft. When there is too much bend in the shaft it will affect the quality of the strike, control, and ball trajectory will be affected.
How heavy is a driver shaft?
Driver shaft weight can vary from 65g to 130g.
What is the difference between a slow swing and a heavy swing?
Heavy shafts tend to produce more distance , accuracy , and lower ball trajectory for a golfer with faster swing speeds.
Why don't golfers notice the weight of their golf clubs?
and in some cases they don't notice the weight of the club because we've been able to preserve the swingweight. It's a situation where because it's a swinging type of motion they are feeling the resistance to that rotational input, rather than feeling the weight of holding it as if they were weighing something.
Does driver swing separate itself from other clubs?
There's also a new school of thought about the swing that the driver swing is starting to separate itself from the other clubs in your bag. Teeing it up higher than any club automatically separates it, and then there's a much more forward ball position and even a swinging up on the ball.
What happens when a golf club shaft is lighter?
When a shaft is lighter, it reduces what’s known as the total weight of a golf club, which is the weight of all components: the head, the shaft, the grip, and the things that hold them together such as the tip, tape, and epoxy. When the total weight of a club is reduced, it allows some golfers to swing faster.
How to increase distance on golf clubs?
There are two factors that are critical to increasing distance, and lighter shafts can help with both factors. These factors are: 1 The Speed The Club Head Is Travelling At Impact 2 The Mass Of The Club Head
Why use lighter shafts?
Using a lighter shaft allows more weight to be placed in the clubhead through adjustable weights, hotmelt, etc. without increasing the total weight of the club. This “redistribution” of shaft weight into the clubhead can be one of the last tweaks in a fitting that unlocks more distance off the tee.
Why is the weight of a golf club head important?
This is because, at impact, the transfer of energy is related almost entirely to the weight of the clubhead.
Can a lighter race car beat a heavier race car?
If all other factors are the same, a lighter race car will beat a heavier race car to the finish line every time. This is how it’s possible for a weaker golfer to achieve the same clubhead speed as a stronger golfer if the stronger golfer is using a shaft that’s too heavy for him or her.
Do two golfers need the same shaft?
Two golfers of the same size, strength, and speed can find themselves needing shafts of different weights to play their best. An in-person club fitting is the only way to know for sure that a golfer has the best shaft for them. For that reason, the purpose of this article is not to help golfers “fit themselves.”.
Can a lighter shaft cause speed to decrease?
While it seems to go against the laws of physics, giving a golfer a lighter shaft can actually cause his or her speed to decrease. This is no rare occurrence. Club fitters see it happen nearly every day.
How Much Difference Can 10 Grams Make?
The average golfer has no regard for shaft weight. They’ll buy a new driver without once considering if the new shaft is markedly heavier or lighter than their current one and how that may help or hurt their game. “It’s just a few grams,” they’ll say, “how much difference can it make?”
How We Tested
For this test, we brought together ten golfers. Each player went through two different testing sessions – one with a driver, one with an iron. For the driver test, they hit seven drives each with a 50, 60, and 70 gram shaft, all using the same head.
The Results
Whether you put a premium on distance or accuracy, getting fit for the proper shaft weight is essential to making a golf club perform for you.
Conclusion
It’s my hope that this data has inspired you to think carefully about the shafts that are in your clubs. As you can see, it’s not unreasonable to think that you can be longer, straighter, and more consistent in 2017 simply by dropping (or gaining) a little weight.
Why are lighter shafts better for golf?
In theory, lighter shafts allow golfers to swing faster with the same effort, and a faster-moving club head means more distance.
Who changed Scotty Cameron putters?
Justin Thomas is in action across the pond this week at the Scottish Open and has changed Scotty Cameron putters as he bids to halt a poor run of form on the greens.
How many grams of shafts does a golfer have?
As a note, both of these golfers disliked the feel of the lightweight shafts and preferred the confidence and stability the heavier weights gave them – one actually has an 80-gram shaft in his gamer driver. There are golfers out there, however, who will get great results from ultra-lightweight driver shafts.
Why are 70 gram shafts losing distance?
If there was any bias in this test, it was likely in favor of the lighter shafts, as the 70-gram models were losing distance because of launch angles and spin rates that were too low. The heavier shafts’ general outperformance of the lighter weight shafts despite that handicap was impressive and very telling.
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.
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 ...
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 ...
Can you tell the difference between Peter Luger's shafts?
Such is the case with shafts. The quality of the product will affect your ability to strike a golf ball properly.
Do you need a softer shaft for a golf swing?
Conversely, a player that extends early in their swing (most recreational golfers) would require a shaft with a softer tip. Getting this right is extremely important, and it’s often not discussed at all when people talk about choosing shafts (it’s mostly just about flex), which leads us to our next point.
What to do if your golf swing is too loose?
If you find your swing is too "loose," you probably need to grip harder. And if you're struggling to finish the swing with the club wrapped around your neck, you probably need to relax the grip a little. But most importantly, keep the pressure constant.
How to get better grip on golf club?
But most importantly, keep the pressure constant. When you're back in the gym, perform exercises with dumbbells or kettlebells whenever you have the option. This will help strengthen your grip and let you really control the clubface through impact -- especially when you hit shots out of the rough. Ron Kaspriske is the fitness editor of Golf Digest.
Can you squeeze harder with a light grip?
Even if you try to maintain light grip pressure, you really can't as the club reaches the top of the backswing. As soon as you start to swing down with a light grip, you'll immediately squeeze harder, studies have shown.
Should you grip a golf club too lightly?
Don't grip the club too lightly. Conventional wisdom in golf instruction is that your grip pressure should start light and stay light when you swing. But some instructors think gripping the club harder when you swing is not only OK, it's inevitable. Even if you try to maintain light grip pressure, you really can't as the club reaches the top ...
