The Heavier and Stiffer Club Setup – Update

So as I had mentioned in my post last week called “As the swing changes – so do the clubs“, I had decided to counter my increase in swing speed and aggressiveness by going with heavier and stiffer shafts in an experiment to gain stability.  Its natural that many players as they improve increase their swing speed and change their swing style which can be impacted by the clubs or more specifically the shafts they use.  Just to recap over the last year my transition at the top has become more aggressive and I had begun pulling my fairway woods and my irons as well. As an average golfer with a 90mph (or less) swing speed I had always gone with lighter weight Regular flex shafts in all my clubs to maximize distance performance. However my swing has changed and my speed increased, the lightweight R flex shafts have become less stable and harder to time resulting in pulls and pull hooks and occasionally pushs or even slices due to missed timing. Its no doubt that a soft flex can produce maximum feel and distance but it doesn’t always work that way.

I decided to increase the weight and overall stiffness of all the shafts in my bag in order to create more stability by smoothing out my tempo, creating more balance with the added weight and allowing me to feel the clubs more in my hands. The heavier weight would also help counter my occasionally hit thin shots. I began the experiment by shafting up a first generation egg Spoon with a Rombax 7V05 Regular Flex shaft tipped 0.5″.  The Rombax V is already on the stiffer side especially at nearly 70g and tipping it helped the finished club up to 276cpm, making the club considerably heavier and stiffer than what I was used to. The experiment continued with Crazy Black Iron 02 Regular Flex 99 gram shafts going into a set of Burner Forged.  This was an increase from usually 60g range iron shafts for me.  The CB-02 play very close to steel stiffness wise with the CB-02 Stiff Flex CPMing out higher than S200 by over 10CPM.

At first I had several concerns about moving to heavier and stiffer shafts. Firstly that I would lose distance and secondly that heavier shafts and clubs would tire me out more quickly as I am by no means a big guy at 5’4″ and 120 pounds. I headed out last week to Hirakawa Country Club with my regular playing partner Hayashi-san with experimental clubs in tow. Hirakawa is a long course and distance is a big plus but so is accuracy. I am glad to say my worries were for nothing as I felt as if I lost no distance at all because I simply struck the ball better and straighter with the heavier clubs.  As I adjusted to the Rombax 7V05 which is considered a great control shaft,  I found my trajectory lower and more penetrating as well as much straighter and at worst a soft draw or little fade.  As for my irons there was no distance lost as I was able to hit the ball far more pure and very straight.  On the 163y par 3 number 8, you must carry across a pond all the way to the green and the right side of the green is completely shielded by bunkers. The pin location was on the left side of the bunker and while this new iron setup goes pretty much straight, I was able to hit a nice draw just to the right of the pin. I had a very successful round considering it was my first time with these shafts. Needless to say I was pretty happy with the results, especially the control and stability with no time spent in the forest at Hirakawa (which borders every single hole like you see in the picture below).

So as the experiment continues what have I learned so far? We golfers are far to possessed with distance. Yes distance is important and we all want to hit it long and far, but accuracy and control can be far more important. We all would rather be 240y in the center of the fairway than 260y out in the woods. I have found that the heavier shafts have given me more control and allowed me to strike the ball more purely resulting in no distance lost.  So no distance lost but a straighter more consistent ball flight all around.  I will take that any day over an unstable +20 yards off the tee. I was a little more tired than usual at the end of the round but I attribute that to the heat and my need for more conditioning (as pointed out by one of our avid readers, fitness and practicing are just as important which I certainly agree with). So to all you average golfers out there with slower swing speeds like mine. It isn’t always as simple as choosing the R flex shafted club off he shelf. We are all different, swing differently and play differently.  Its certainly not an easy task nor a cheap one but find the clubs and shafts that suit you best and you’ll love the game of golf that much more.