Re: Shaft stiffness

Hi triton,

It does seem odd that with your swing speed you would be fitted for stiff flex. The usual borderline speed for regular versus stiff flex is 95 mph, and you are obviously well below that.

Do you by chance hook or slice the ball? The reason I ask this is that a stiffer shaft would give one better dispersion control, but it would come in your case, I would think with discomfort in the swing action. Why did he have you close your stance, or did he merely correct your stance, which he saw was too open? The fitter gave you the 11.5 degree, no doubt to compensate for your lower club speed to give you a desirable launch angle.

As it turns out, the spin rate and launch angles with the 11.5 could hardly be better. The 5000 rpms with the 10.5 and Diamana seems excessively high, yet you say the launch was lower, which seems contradictory.

I'm mainly puzzled by the stiff flex fitting.

Ted

Re: Shaft stiffness

Ted thanks for your quick reply. I do have a slice it is more of a slice that leaks to the right over the distance of the ball flight not like a bannana slice . He said with the stiff shaft on the downswing the shaft was loading up nicely and he didnt feel a Reg Flex shaft was nessissary.What i meant by him changing my stance is that with my current swing both feet are in line facing the target and the way he set my stance up was he put a piece of tape down in front of me and my left foot was in front of the tape and my right foot was behind the tape and then he narrowed my legs closer together. i always stood shoulder width with my legs. I am 5'11" 260lbs . Thanks for your help. Eric

Re: Shaft stiffness

Basically the fitter attempted to close your stance to get you coming more from the inside. This works for a while unless you keep your shoulders wide open at address.

If your swingspeed is truly 81 MPH then it's safe to assume that, striking the ball well, your ball speed will be about 120 MPH. For this, Trackman normalized data would suggest a carry of 173 yards.

The gigantically high spin on the Diamana could very well be caused by a shot low on the face, with an open face (slice).

Where on the face were you hitting it? It sounds like higher with the 11.5 and a likely negative angle of attack (which is OK, it just decreases your launch angle), compared to lower with the 10.5.

Next time, as for a 14.5 or a 'high launch' with the VooDoo S in it. If you can increase your launch - even through loft - to 15 degrees and hit it like you hit the VooDoo combo, you can pick up 15 more yards carry. Spin will "rocket" up to around 3100 rpm, but that's just fine.

If you're in love with the 11.5/VooDoo combo, switch to a ball with more driver spin (you remember which ball you were hitting at the fitting, right?).

With 400 more rpm (2700) you get 5 more yards carry, if you can get the spin into the 3000's you get almost 10 more yards... without switching the stick.

Re: Shaft stiffness

Hi Eric,

So regarding the stance, he narrowed it to be less than shoulder width for a driver? That seems odd, unless your perception of shoulder width was too much. You could check by holding the grip of the club between your thumb and forefinger and letting it hang from the tips of your shoulders, and that is about where your feet should be, is that right?

He may also have noticed your ball position was not right, and placed the tape to give you a visual of where the ball position should be (even with the heel of the front foot). There was another recent thread which talked about how golfers misalign themselves, and this could result in the ball position being too far back if you align too closed to the target line.

Oh, I just re-read your post and this statement "with my current swing both feet are in line facing the target" . I'm not sure what this means. Please elaborate.

I'm still puzzled about the choice of the stiff shaft.

Are you a strong golfer? Play often?

Ted

Re: Shaft stiffness

what i meant buy both feet facing the target was ligning up my feet toward the middle of the fairway . I am not in love with this combo but it was the setup the fitter suggested for me so I had him order it. The balls i was hitting at the fitting were range balls no name brand on them. I normally hit a Titleist Pro V 1X I play 9 holes 3 and 18 holes once a week I score usually 95 - 100. I found the fitter on the Titleist web page he was in Oklahoma City, OK he was an advanced fitter so I know he had to be legit. Thanks for all of your advice.

Re: Shaft stiffness

Hi Eric,

Regarding the stance issue, as LowPost and I said, the fitter was perhaps trying to correct your slice, by closing the stance.

LowPost, if you were fitting Eric, would you have recommended the stiff shaft? The loft of 11.5 seems reasonable, or as you say he could even have gone higher to increase the launch. It's academic, as Eric has already ordered.

I have a speed of around 85 and I've been hitting a 10 degree senior flex 2008 Big Bertha 460. My ball flight and distance is great with that combo. I also have a 14 degree 460cc head with regular flex Graffalloy ProLite HL shaft, which I assembled, and I get the same flight and distance with that. When I get older, I may swap out the senior shaft into the 14 degree head.

Eric, I hope it works out for you.

Ted

Re: Shaft stiffness

It's a tough thing, shaft fitting. Would I have put an 80 MPH SS player into a VooDoo S? Nope. VooDoo R? Unlikely. If the player likes bending feel and an Alidla shaft the NVS in R would be fine. Personally, I'm kinda like Ben Hogan where I don't like bending feel, so something with tip-stiffness is more up my alley. Granted, I've also got the SS to require less spin (which a tip-stiff shaft provides).

Re: Shaft stiffness

LowPost,

With my 85mph speed, I played for a few years with the Aldila NVS regular, and I loved the feel, and erformance of that set-up. I am a swinger and not a hitter. I am very strong, but my natural swing is of a swinger, rather than a hitter, and I like the soft tip and low bend point.

Ted

Re: Shaft stiffness

LowPost,

I agree with you.

With my 85mph speed, I played for a few years with the Aldila NVS regular, and I loved the feel, and erformance of that set-up. I am a swinger and not a hitter. I am very strong, but my natural swing is of a swinger, rather than a hitter, and I like the soft tip and low bend point.

Ted