The
Relationship Between Shaft and Club Head
This
article was written as an answer to questions raised by a competing
long drive professional. It is published here to share with all
who may have an interest in these issues.
Shaft
Behavior
Lighter weight shafts in general are more active than heavier
shafts. All things being equal a lighter shaft will give you longer
distance on center hits. It will be off more on off-center hits.
Therefore, the selection criteria one should consider is how stable
one's swing are. The more stable and accurate you swing and swing
path is, the lighter the shaft you should consider using. The
more load you apply to the shaft at the last quarter of the swing,
the lower the torque and heavier the shaft need to be considered.
Shaft
Selection (for long drive professionals)
For someone with excellent control, he could consider using Pro
2.5 FL Lite. Pro 2.5 FL Lite remains the lightest low torque long
drive shaft out there. For someone with less stable swing and
swing path, Pro 2.5 Ti Tip is an excellent choice. For a low launch
angle, Pro 1.4 Low Launch is an excellent choice. For someone
who loads the shaft a lot at late stage of the swing, Pro 2.5
Xtra, renamed Pro 2.5 Long Drive, is the one.
Head
Size and Loft
Prior to the emergence of the super jumbo head with volume exceeding
360 cc most long drive heads were 320cc or less. Their weight
is commonly between 195g and 200g. Occasionally, some one may
add weight to the head to bring it up to 205g. Rarely did I encounter
anyone who went beyond that. Regarding the most popular loft use,
naturally everyone has his own preferences. The most common loft
among elite long drivers that we have worked with is between 4
and 6 degree.
Thin
Face
Please do watch out for drivers with a super thin face. Our experience
is it may not add to your distance. Everything is relative. If
the face is too thin really depends on the load you apply to it.
A quick rule of thumb is to listen to impact sound is dull like
hitting a soda can, more than likely you will find the distance
to be unsatisfactory.
High
Moment of Inertia
Do bear in mind that the longer the shaft, the bigger the head,
or the heavier the club head, the higher the moment of inertia.
The higher the moment of inertia, the higher the torsional load
will be apply to the shaft. Therefore, if you should choose to
use a super jumbo head or an extra long shaft, you need to consider
using lower torque shaft to compensate for the extra load applied
to the shaft.
Newton's
Second Law
Newton's second law is one of the laws of physics that apply to
golf. The following equations are presented here for public consumption.
F = m a
I = m r2
T = (m r2 ) A
F=force,
m=mass, A=rotational acceleration, a=linear acceleration, r=radius,
I=inertia, T=torque
