The fascination with investing in the latest golf clubs is evident all the time but people often forget about other pivotal components that affect your swing and performance on the course – like your shaft.
eGolf Megastore’s technical expert Jason Ashley explains the importance of having the correct shaft that has been specifically fitted to suit your swing and delves into the impact a shaft has on your swing speed, trajectory and ball-striking.
Importance of shafts
There are a variety of different opinions when it comes to golf shafts. Some people believe they are important and make a huge difference but some golfers don’t think they are as important as made out.
I believe that shafts are incredibly important. Over the years that I’ve been custom-fitting I’ve seen the differences that shafts make to a player’s ball flight, spin and dispersion. Time and time again I see the value of shafts and finding the right shaft for a player is crucial.
I remember once reading an article that used an analogy showing the shaft’s function at impact by picturing a truck having a head-on collision. Basically, it explained that the shaft would be like the aerial of a truck at impact to prove that the shaft has no affect at the moment of impact.
Although I agree in some respects, the analogy falls short because if there were no shaft there would be no impact. Hence it might be better to picture the shaft as the wheels on the truck, delivering the truck to its collision.
Functionality
The shaft plays a role in how you get the clubhead back to the ball from a horizontal and vertical perspective. Your face angle is affected by the shaft and the loft and angle of attack is influenced by the shaft. Each shaft has its own unique profile – that’s why you’ll see so many different brands in eGolf Megastore.
From an engineering viewpoint, this is called an EI Profile and many manufacturers give you this information in charts so you can see that, or in terms of kick-points to help understand a complex topic.
When we swing a golf club one of the most important areas when trying to find out what shaft suits you is the transition of your swing. Your changeover from backswing to downswing is going to influence what pressure you put on the shaft or how you load it (store energy or lose energy).
Whatever type of transition you have, whether it’s a cast, aggressive pull down with the arms or aggressive body transition, there are certain types of shaft profiles that will work better for you. The shaft moves in so many different ways so we have to find the right shaft that allows the player to be consistent in delivering the clubhead at impact both vertically and horizontally.
Aftermarket shafts – why are they so expensive?
The quality of materials used in a shaft are crucial and are the major difference between cheap and expensive. In a high quality premium shaft, you’ll find that the strands of graphite are much thinner, lighter and stronger, with less resin used, giving a better feel, consistency and energy transfer.
Many people don’t realise that not all shafts are round, because of the process used when making them. They are made by roll-wrapping the shaft around a steel mandrel. The radial consistency will be much better on most aftermarket shafts. This will help in the way the shaft performs because of the rotation of the club throughout a swing, which effects dispersion and ball-striking consistency.
Torque and hoop stiffness are most often the difference between the premium shafts and the budget shafts. The lower cost heavier fibres used in the budget shafts create similar profiles. But there are not enough layers of prepreg in the thicker sheets to allow for adequate bias and hoop plies to create adequate torque and hoop strength.
Don’t forget about the grips
A shaft would not be complete without a grip. eGolf stock all the major brands like GolfPride, Lamkin and Winn as well as some more unique options like Iomic and Pure grips. We have a variety of different grips sizes, textures and colours so there are options that will appeal to all types of golfers
What we stock at eGolf Megastore
We stock all the major and premium brands like: Project X (True Temper), Fujikura, Mitsubishi Chemical, Graphite Design, Accra, Oban, TPT Golf, Veylix, UST Mamiya Aldila, Graffaloy (that is just our wood and hybrid offerings) to give our customers the complete choice.
We also stock a variety of different weights, flexes and profiles in order to get the perfect match for each individual. Each player has a unique swing in terms of transition and tempo which influences what they do to the shaft. It’s integral they are fitted properly for the right shaft to match their unique swing characteristics to improve consistency in their game.
If you’re still unsure about shafts or want to find out more before visiting eGolf Megastore, I’d recommend browsing on the website www.golfshaftreviews.info because that delves into the engineering aspects of a shaft in more detail to understand its importance.
