Is it better to have a lighter or heavier driver shaft? (2023)

Should my driver shaft be heavier or lighter?

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.

Let us not forget that lighter shafts are better for many golfers, too. There are two factors that are critical to increasing distance, and lighter shafts can help with both factors. These factors are: The Speed The Club Head Is Travelling At Impact.

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.

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. Iron shafts can be as light as 55 grams in graphite, and 130 grams in steel.

Too light of a shaft encourages an early unhinging of the wrists in the downswing, a swing flaw shown here with an iron known as casting that robs you of speed. Mucklow's data also shows that a heavier shaft improves your swing path.

Remember though, a lighter shaft means the clubhead will feel heavier even though the overall club is lighter. This refers to what clubmakers call swing weight— it's a measurement of how heavy a club feels as you swing it, not how heavy it actually is.

50 gram shafts are among the lightest you will see on the market. They tend to be favoured by golfers who struggle to generate clubhead speed. These shafts are often favored by junior and senior golfers, they can give a nice boost to the driving distance of these groups.

Golfers with faster swing speeds may lose control of a light shaft, giving the tempo of their swing. It will cause the shaft to veer off its swing path, resulting in hooks and slices. Lighter shafts help slower swinging players increase their swing speed, and get the ball up in the air.

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.

Nippon suggested that a player should be able to tell largely by feel. 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.

How heavy of a driver shaft do I need?

This is your average shaft weight, most regular, stiff and x-stiff shafts are 65 grams. Mid to low handicap golfers would use a 65 gram shaft. The 65 gram weight helps players with swing speeds of 90mph to 105mph generate enough speed while still keeping the head under control.

Later in this article we cover the benefits of shaft flex for a golfer who slice the ball. The short message is to go for a regular of senior flex shaft unless your Driver club head speed is above 100mph. The extra shaft flex will really help you square the face at impact.

Heavier shafts also have less torque, which is the resistance to twisting on impact, so a heavier shaft helps prevent slices or hooks and keeps your ball flying straight.

Will a Stiffer Shaft Help a Slice? A stiffer shaft will typically make a slice a bit worse. Most golfers who slice the ball are playing with a shaft that is a bit too stiff. If you want to ensure you can get the distance you need and keep the ball straight, it is best to have a shaft that matches your swing speed.

It's pretty easy to tell when a driver shaft is not stiff enough. It'll feel almost “whippy,” and you'll actually be able to feel the flex in the shaft.

Your fairway wood shafts should be slightly (5 to 15 grams) heavier than your driver shaft. So if you are playing a 65 gram driver shaft (noted by a numeral 6. 65, or some other designation on the shaft decal), your fairway woods should be 70 to 80 grams.

As we reduce the shaft weight (and the shaft length and balance point are the same), then the swingweight will lower. How much? It will vary depending how much lighter the shaft is and the length of the shaft.

Ball speed jumps

Golfers' ability to swing the lighter driver head faster means that clubhead speed isn't the only metric that goes with it: it results in higher ball speed, too. “Everybody gained about six mph, when you average them all together,” Clearwater says.

A shaft that is too light will make you feel like the club is going too fast for your swing. It will feel like you have less control over the club throughout the swing and it will make you feel a little uneasy until you slow everything down, this can be dangerous.

More than 80% of the time, he finds that golfers are creating the best results with a swing weight of D5 with Red Range shafts.

What angle driver goes the farthest?

The low loft of a golf driver is very surprising from the perspective of physics. Everyone in freshman physics learns that the optimal launch angle for a projectile - the angle that makes a ball fly the farthest - is 45 degrees.

The actual swing weight ranges roughly between C-0 and D-8. While C-0 is a swing weight that is recommended for senior women and ladies, D-8 is pretty much the maximum that is played on tour. This swing weight can usually only be achieved with heavy heads, heavy shafts and light grips.

The TaylorMade Stealth Plus driver was the longest on test. The TaylorMade Stealth Plus driver was the longest on test. The TaylorMade Stealth driver was among the 10 longest on test.

But if you make the golf driver head lighter, you will then will impact swing weight and the club will feel extremely light. What that means, is you won't be able to feel where the head is and will likely feel like the club is out of control.

Players who hit their 3- or 5-wood as far or longer than their driver are typically using too little loft with the driver for their clubhead speed. You know, it's a funny thing with the driver and its loft compared to the other clubs in the bag.

As your hips move too much side to side, this can often cause the club to hit the ground before the ball if you do not recenter yourself exactly the same amount. Also, when you stance is too wide, the potential locations the club has to hit the ground increases, which results in more inconsistent strikes.

The heavier the shaft, the slower the club head speed will be at the point of impact, all else being equal. For players with higher swing speeds, this isn't a concern, but for players with low swing speeds, it can have a net deleterious effect on their performance.

80-95 mph swing speeds should use regular shafts. 90-105 mph swing speeds should use stiff shafts.

They weigh in at D4. 5 with Project X Rifle 7.0 shafts and 6.5 in his wedges (Tour pros generally use softer shafts in their wedges for added feel).

What kind of shaft should a high handicapper use?

What Should Most High Handicappers Use? I think that steel is still the best option. You can now get lighter steel shafts like the True Temper Dynamic Gold VSS 95. These are just 95g, which is still more than graphite but getting closer and can give you the benefits of steel with less weight.

Myth #3 – Heavier, stiffer shafts prevent hooks

Busted. Our testers were just as apt to hit shots to the left with a heavy shaft as a light one. Whether we looked at the biggest misses or the overall dispersion, we saw no correlation between shot direction and weight or flex.

But as you get older, your swing speed decreases (unless you're Phil Mickelson who seems to defy aging). This means you need to play shafts that are lighter and easier to swing throughout the round. Otherwise, your ballstriking will suffer. I would say that 90+% of all seniors should be playing graphite shafts.

Grip Is Too Weak

Slices are caused when the clubface stays open (angled outward) through impact, which puts sidespin on the ball. Often, beginners have a weak grip, which leaves the clubface open at impact. Instead, using a stronger grip helps you get the clubface square through the ball.

If you have a good swing but your average distance is short, there is a problem with your shaft flex. If the shaft flex is too stiff, your average distance will remain low.

For players with faster swing speeds, stiff shafts can be a good thing. They enable the highest clubhead speeds and thereby give a boost to the golf ball, making it easier to reach higher speeds and hit the ball farther.

Driver shafts for sale typically weigh somewhere between 45 to 60 grams, although there are heavier driver shafts available. Most shaft weights beneath 50 grams are reserved for ladies' golf shafts.

Your fairway wood shafts should be slightly (5 to 15 grams) heavier than your driver shaft. So if you are playing a 65 gram driver shaft (noted by a numeral 6. 65, or some other designation on the shaft decal), your fairway woods should be 70 to 80 grams.

A three-wood imparts significantly more backspin, which will help with accuracy most of the time, and it also helps with workability control. The ball is teed much closer to the ground with a three-wood, so the variability of turf interaction does come into play.

In most cases, tip trimming a shaft makes it meaningfully stiffer. It also increases torsional stiffness, known as “torque,” which is a shaft's resistance to twisting. On the other end of the shaft is the handle, which is also generally trimmed some amount when building a golf club.