Driver shafts for 2023: all you need to know

Driver shafts are vital to any
golfer—however they’ll additionally pose a number of questions, a lot of that are finest
answered by an skilled.

Matt Johnson from AFGolfStore, an unbiased golf retailer and becoming specialist, is aware of a factor or two about driver shafts. Right here, he takes us by means of the becoming course of for a brand new driver, and what driver shafts are at present in the marketplace.

Driver shafts: all it’s essential know

At AFGolfStore, we’ve no model bias and solely enable our clients to buy golf equipment that provide true efficiency positive aspects. I match for Callaway, Cobra, Mizuno, Ping, Titleist and TaylorMade, and I’ve been a fitter for seven years, together with 5 with Titleist. 

When becoming for a brand new driver, we’ll
begin by how somebody swings the membership for a information on their shaft
flex. Usually talking, anybody swinging the membership below 95mph would match right into a
common shaft, 95-105mph could be stiff, and 105 mph-plus could be additional stiff.

However you additionally want to contemplate that some gamers will swing it shortly however not aggressively, with extra clean and pure energy, so they won’t fall into the best flex. Then, we’ll mess around with the load. A fast and clean participant might not load an additional stiff shaft significantly properly—as a substitute, a heavy stiff could also be a greater match, however it is a good place to begin.

Then, we’ll take a look at ball flight. You
received’t usually change the shaft based mostly on somebody’s launch—as a substitute, you’d
change the loft, as that can do extra. Many individuals obsess a couple of excessive or
low-launching shaft. Sure, this works on a robotic, however people can override that, or
the centre of gravity location of the motive force head will change launch and spin.
And, after all, in case you inform somebody that it’s excessive or low, they’ll change their
swing accordingly, so it’s not a real illustration.

Subsequent, we’ll take a look at whether or not they’re lacking it left and proper. If a participant is struggling to launch the top, we’ll go for one thing that’s extra counter-balanced the place the load is predominantly within the deal with, which helps the clubhead to launch simpler, which is nice for these gamers with a little bit of a minimize or slice.

Driver shafts in the marketplace in 2023

When it comes to driver shafts out there at present, TaylorMade has 6-7 inventory choices, as does Ping and Titleist, whereas Callaway and Cobra supply a bit much less. That is typically effective, however the odd individual would possibly often need one thing that’s not there.

The Mitsubishi Tensei is a highly regarded shaft, the black and blue mannequin particularly. The Mitsubishi Kai’li is a brand new vary which has, in a way, changed the Diamana—they’ve three colors: pink (excessive launch, mid spin), white (low launch, low spin) and blue (mid launch, mid spin), which has been gaining some nice traction on tour. 

The True Mood Mission X is one other very strong shaft. It’s fairly agency, so if a participant is kind of aggressive, that may usually be shaft to go along with. It’s value noting there isn’t a tour model of the Mission X, so all of the shafts are the identical.

There are additionally some glorious choices from Mission X with HZRDUS, that are in just about everybody’s inventory possibility. 

The Fujikura Ventus has been a sizzling shaft for just a few years now—there are two sorts of Ventus shaft, one for retail and one for tour stage. TaylorMade gives the Ventus shaft within the Stealth and Stealth 2, however it’s value noting that the tour providing has VeloCore patented know-how. That’s what makes it so ridiculously good but additionally costlier.

The know-how primarily means the top twists much less, so that you get much less gear impact and fewer curvature within the ball flight, which ends up in very straight photographs. We provide the VeloCore choices in pink and blue at AFGolfStore, which might match into any head for testing.

Some individuals know all the things about driver
shafts earlier than they arrive to us for a becoming, whereas others simply need one thing
that works, and so they received’t actually ask in regards to the shaft—relatively simply in regards to the
flex. There’s plenty of knowledge and knowledge on the market which might be each useful
and complicated on the identical time. 

Put merely, it comes all the way down to a mixture of launch and spin. If somebody hits six levels up on a driver, they in all probability don’t need an excessive amount of loft. For instance, Justin Thomas hits three levels up, and makes use of a 9.25˚ driver. We use loft for ball flight, and we’ll typically optimise the flight by way of launch, peak top and spin. Somebody swinging the membership at 80mph or 120mph can use the identical lofts so long as they’re producing that very same touchdown angle—we’re attempting to get that round 35-37˚ for the motive force.

Drivers in the marketplace in 2023

This 12 months, we’ve seen plenty of new drivers come out, and the Ping G430 is ridiculously good, tremendous steady and tremendous fast. You wouldn’t typically consider a Ping driver for distance, extra for forgiveness, however the G430 is superb for any normal of golfer.

There was plenty of buzz for the Callaway Paradym driver, too, whereas TaylorMade repeatedly brings out good drivers. The hype hasn’t been fairly as excessive as when the Stealth got here out, although, and we’ve seen a refined change with the carbon crown with the Stealth 2 this 12 months, however it nonetheless performs very properly. 

Titleist gives totally different heads, which makes becoming simple, and the brand new TSR3, specifically, is phenomenal—you’d wrestle to seek out something faster than that. While you take a look at what the non-contracted gamers are utilizing, that’s usually barometer, and the TSR and the earlier TSi are each highly regarded.

These days, choices are glorious for a brand new driver with a inventory shaft. Usually, you’ll be able to match somebody in 30 photographs which is nice, as individuals get uninterested in hitting plenty of drivers, and if individuals take heed to you correctly, you’ll be able to simply do it in that quantity of photographs.

Many because of Matt for his time and perception!

About AFGolfStore

AFGolfStore was created from a small professional store in Cambridge in 2019 and contains three golf superstores in Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Peterborough. Operated by PGA professionals, the workforce isn’t commissioned or centered on promoting particular manufacturers or merchandise, which ensures them discovering the best resolution for the buyer. AFGolfStore can be on Twitter at @AFGolfStores.

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