Choosing the right gear for golf gives you an upper edge in producing the best possible result. While selecting the opposite clubs is necessary, you need to be mindful of whether the clubs are too stiff or too flexible. As a professional or an amateur, you wouldn’t want to waste your potential by opting for either of these.
In this article, we’ll show you what happens when your golf shaft is too flexible. In the meantime, if you’re not certain about the nature of your club shaft, you can follow along to find out as well.
What Happens If the Golf Shaft Is Too Flexible?
Here are some of the outcomes that you may face if your golf club shaft is too flexible. These symptoms also work to find out whether your golf shaft is too flexible or not.
Higher Ball Flight
Too flexible club shaft causes the ball to fly higher than required. While this may seem like a positive consequence, it causes the golfer to lose his control over the ball and ultimately decreases the distance.
Therefore if you see that your golf ball is flying higher for faster swing speed, it’s most likely that your shaft is too flexible. On the contrary, if you don’t see enough launch on your shots then the club shaft is most probably too stiff.
Change in Estimated Distance
When the golfer’s golf shaft is excessively flexible, the possibility of abrupt change in estimated distance increases a lot. If you’re aiming for a proper loft angle of fewer than 10 degrees, then a flexible shaft may give you a distance lower than your potential distance. If you’re an amateur, its all the more so. Therefore, it’s something you’d have to work on later.
On the other hand, if your club shaft is stiff, the maximum average distance will be lower. You’ll feel like you’re having a good swing, but the distance will be short. You’ll also face trouble while slicing as the stiff club shafts don’t allow you to do so easily.
Over recent years, dramatic development has occurred regarding golf clubs. Professional golfers are opting for 3-wood and 5-wood clubs that typically have a higher loft angle. Using a driver or 3-wood having a flexible shaft gives them the optimized result. The trajectory allows them to cover more distance in this case.
Inconsistent Shot Pattern
Another indication that you’re using a highly flexible drive shaft is that your shot pattern from the tee will become wild. If this is the case that happens from time to time, you don’t need to worry as it’s perfectly normal and inevitable. However, if your shots are varying hugely in each of your swings, then you can assume your club shaft is too flexible.
Your club shaft will be flexing too much and the face will reach the ball much faster. The saddening part is that even if you change your technique, it won’t be of much help. The dynamics of your swing will go disarray and the cluttering will give anyone a hard time as to where the ball is going to end up.
Miscalculated Draws
At the impact on the golf ball, the shaft which is too flexible bends forward. This causes the flight path of the ball or draws, to be misdirected. For a right-handed golfer, the draw tends to curve to the left. For a left-handed golfer, it’s the reverse. A flexible shaft may cause the face to be a bit closed, which results in the golf ball to go off course.
One way to address this issue is to fade or slice the golf ball. This requires experience and skill. A professional golfer can reduce the misdirection tendency to a minimum by doing so.
Solid and Faster Hit
Having a flexible shaft gives a golfer more power over his/her shot. Upon impact, the vibrations transmitted through the shaft and the bend gives a more solid feel and increases the ball’s potential distance. A little increase in launch angle combined with a low spin allows more room for a longer golf drive.
Moreover, the driver shaft becomes more prone to flexing and the face reaches the golf ball faster than normal. As a result, you get an unexpectedly faster hit.
Awkward Feel
As far as the tour players are concerned, they’ll be hitting drivers well thanks to their exceptional techniques and skills even with flexible shafts. But for the amateur players, maintaining the tempo of the shot and impact timing becomes much harder. The flexible shaft in this case can be regarded as detrimental to the game.
Closed Face
One of the most problematic issues with the flexible shaft is that it aggravates the face to shut quickly which leaves little for controlling the trajectory. The reason this happens is due to the downswing concerning the path.
But it is speculated that if you want to develop accuracy and power, you should opt for the most flexible shaft that you could continuously have good control over.
Epilogue
The crux of the matter is that you must make sure that the club flex is just about well-matched for your swing. Getting help from a pro can prove to be beneficial as they’ll find you the right shaft for your driver or wood. Having more flexibility in your shaft is always a safe choice instead of having a shaft with too much stiffness.
If you have followed along, you can see that some of the possibilities discussed above can be used to a golfer’s advantage as well. You should choose a shaft that is compatible with your natural swing aptitudes. You’ll be doing more harm than good if you have a swing speed lower than 100 mph and you settle for a stiffer club shaft.
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