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Senior Golfer and slow club speed

Nippon Shafts
FeMan

FeMan

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Aug 31, 2020
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Location
Kingwood TX
At 74 , time has added some maladies including a knee meniscus tear from which I am recovering. As a result driver swing speed is in the 73-75 mph range. Verified at a recent session with my club pro
My question is : Would be worth experimenting with a ladies flex shaft but at a mans length? I’m 5’10 so pretty normal in terms of height
OR just stick with a senior shaft on my driver?
 
That is about my swing speed. My clubs have L or LL flex graphite shafts.
Longest carry I've seen is hitting a tree 150 yards away directly behind a green with a 4 iron.
The majority of my clubs now have black Helium graphite shafts.
I mostly buy my clubs used one at a time. Try them out before buying another one.

An inexpensive experiment would be to try a standard 44-1/2 inch ladies flex shaft and add lead tape until you can accurately control the club face.
Most players find that a slightly shorter club improves accuracy.

The Executive course I play is rather punishing if you hit long, so I put away the driver and
learned course management in my first season of play. Figured out a bunch of techniques to reduce the number of balls lost.
 
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I’d be open to anything. Graphite vs. steel, and flex. But if your prognosis is a recovery to normal, I’d be hesitant to make a wholesale change.
 
I prefer experienced to senior…
 
hackitup said:
I’d be open to anything. Graphite vs. steel, and flex. But if your prognosis is a recovery to normal, I’d be hesitant to make a wholesale change.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. My dad lost some speed prior to his second knee replacement at 66, but once that was completed and he recovered, the speed came back. Then he wrecked his shoulder and gave away his clubs at 71, but that's another story.
 
I'm 65 and my iron swing speed is 76. I have "A" flex graphite in my irons and they feel too light; no sense of the club head. Going to switch to regular flex in steel.

I have a Tensei CK Blue "A" flex shaft in my Callaway Rogue driver and love it.
 
Such a tough question to answer in a vacuum since all senior flex shafts aren't created equally and can vary radically from one to another. So much more to a shaft then the labelled flex. You got torque, tip bend, mid point bend, all kinds of crazy specs.

I am NOT one of those guys around here who yells "GET FIT" from the rooftops, but I really think you sound like a prime candidate for it. It sounds like you've been playing golf a long time, you have gone through quite a few clubs, you've been using more of a try them and swap them type mentality, and I really feel like the value of what a good fitting would give you here.

I do agree with hackitup to a certain extent though. What is the recovery time? Do you think you'll be back to a 100%? The input there would matter a bit, I'd hate for you to radically alter your bag and then regret it cause your at a 100% 3 months later.
 
I'm 69 with a slower swing speed than what I had decades ago. I've lost about 25-30 yards off my driver, and fairway clubs. 20 yards off my irons.

I'm still using metal shafts, with regular flex. I could probably do with a change in shaft flex, (senior or womens) but at this point, it is a "why bother" type issue for me. My game is still well.above average.

I am messing around with a 14*, 460cc, regular flex driver, that might just replace my 10.5.
 
if you are a smooth swinger, I don't think a downside exists. I've play a stiff shaft in my irons and regular in my drivers and FW wood; yet I can hit my fathers senior shafts at least in the irons that I have tried great.
 
I've been thinking about making the switch myself. Played a lot in my 20's & 30's, but life got in the way. Took the game back up about 3 years ago, turning 70 this month. Swing speed is mid 70's. I'm looking at either a ladies flex or trying the new Epic Max with the 30gm shaft, but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about it.
 
Kevin1951 said:
I've been thinking about making the switch myself. Played a lot in my 20's & 30's, but life got in the way. Took the game back up about 3 years ago, turning 70 this month. Swing speed is mid 70's. I'm looking at either a ladies flex or trying the new Epic Max with the 30gm shaft, but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about it.
Click to expand...
Yep, kind of where I am. Thinking about getting a knock off with ladies shaft and men’s length and trying it out
Thanks for feedback
 
Just changed to a A flex from a regular (stiff side) in new irons. I regret it now. But, hope to grow into them as I am 62 y.o. Anyone else in this situation? What's a good tip to adapt to these lighter more flexible shafts? Swing slower or smoother?
 
FeMan said:
At 74 , time has added some maladies including a knee meniscus tear from which I am recovering. As a result driver swing speed is in the 73-75 mph range. Verified at a recent session with my club pro
My question is : Would be worth experimenting with a ladies flex shaft but at a mans length? I’m 5’10 so pretty normal in terms of height
OR just stick with a senior shaft on my driver?
Click to expand...

I'm a few years junior to your age, understand that even a few years could make significant difference in golf performance.
I guess, each golfer has a different situation, even when they were much younger, the separation from individual physical ability will be quite noticeable.

In view of a driver re-fitted for your situation, definitely could try out a lady's driver. For one, I believe the length has a lot to do with how the golfer deliver the club head to the golf ball. One has to power at a faster speed with the body and hands if the driver is longer in length. Think of swinging a stick. The longer the stick the more demand of strength to keep the tip of the stick traveling at the same speed.
Lady's driver is typically about 1" shorter than the std. men's driver length; which in this alone would give you more club head speed and control. However, I would not step down on the flex so quickly.
If there is a shaft that could play your current flex/frequency at a shorter length ?
Trim down your current driver shaft will make it slightly stiffer no matter if you trim from the tip or from the butt. Think of trimming a stick shorter; same stick would be stiffer at a shorter length.
The easiest way to experiment is to borrow/ tryout a lady's driver and/or to trim your current driver 1" to start.
Unfortunately, there is no standard for shaft flex designation from the OEM, not even with the same OEM with different model years.

Did you notice any change of distance in your iron play ? Usually, that's the first place to notice the change over. I still use S/X in my diver, but stepped down to S flex in fairway / hybrids, and gone R flex to my irons.
With the adjustable hosel in woods, I have multiple shafts for my driver, playing from 44" ( 73 gm ) -46" ( 59 gm ) in different weight. The difference of distance between them are less than 15 yards, not as noticeable as the younger me swinging them. However, the shorter set up is much easier to control and I would feel less tiresome after the round.
 
I would suggest practicing with a 7 or 8 iron rather than the long irons if you just got a new set of A flex clubs.
I believe in target practice, learning to get the ball to hit a target rather than speed or distance. If you can't reach a target chose a closer one.
I also avoid making "corrections." If the ball goes to the left I try to fix the swing instead of aiming to the right.
 
It has been so long I can't remember when I switched from steel to graphite, maybe in the mid-1990s? Always been a R flex until I got fit at ECPC during the 2018 #TheGrandaddy. I was fit for "senior" flex and don't have any issues. Maybe the brand and model (UST Mamiya Recoil) has something to do with that. I still play with "R" flex in my woods; the why is a story I won't get into. They say to play the lightest flex you can control, don't they? Worth the experiment.
 
CTRosarian said:
I would suggest practicing with a 7 or 8 iron rather than the long irons if you just got a new set of A flex clubs.
I believe in target practice, learning to get the ball to hit a target rather than speed or distance. If you can't reach a target chose a closer one.
I also avoid making "corrections." If the ball goes to the left I try to fix the swing instead of aiming to the right.
Click to expand...
With the lofts as strong as they are these days, the first iron in my bag is a 7, which has the loft of my old 5-iron. Some 5-irons are 21º...an old 3-iron...and I don't have the club head speed to get something with that loft airborne. I carry three fairway woods: 17º/21º/25º.
 
As another data point, my driver swing speed is approximately 79 mph (ball speed is 110) and I've moved to senior flex in my Driver but still use regular in everything else. In September 2020 was fitted for Ping G710 irons with regular flex shafts, in my case Recoil 80 F3. After the fitting, but before I placed the order, my fitter let me try G700s with Alta senior flex shafts and frankly I found that there wasn't a huge difference between the two, however the regular flex clubs had slightly less dispersion.
 
I'm 72 now and have lost 100 yards off of my drives. I used to hit over 300 yard drives but now a good one is 200. Much of it is age but some is due to the 3 back surgeries I've had and almost constant problems with my knees and hips. I've got arthritis in most of my joints and have lost a lot of flexibility. I was ready to give up golf but switched to senior shafts in my woods and light weight R-flex shafts in my irons and found that it's fun again to play golf. The best thing I did was to get a XXIO Prime 9 driver. I have a pretty smooth swing and that driver was made for my swing. I regained 20-25 yards with the XXIO. It's R-flex but with XXIO that's like L-flex in most brands of drivers. If your swing is smooth, get yourself a XXIO Prime driver. They're costly new but if you search online you can find a pretty good deal sometimes. My driver was $849 new but I found one for $269 a couple years ago. I've been looking online for more used XXIO clubs since I got my driver (which looked almost new when I got it). I don't think I could play a club that looks kind of beat up.
 
I am a club ho', so I use graphite shafts through the PW and a driver that is within 3 yr of its introduction. 66 yr old, soon to be 67.

Up through August, I was swinging 87 mph. Then I went on a program to get faster. Started fixing my obnoxious backswing by simply relaxing and not attempting a bigger turn than I needed. I was body driven to positions and said "Screw that" and began flinging my arms with a shallow swing to bring up the speed. Found out if I relaxed, I get to those positions. At the same time, started the Stack System. Speed is now 95-97 on Trackman, Stack says my current potential is 100. My goal is 105.

So if you want to increase speed and not give in to age, the above is my formula.

If you want to say with your current status of letting age get to you, or you don't have time, then a lighter shaft may, I say "may" work. Nothing wrong with a 40g lite flex (women's shaft). Had that for my 12 yr old son and when I hit it on the range it was easy. On the course, no. I was tempted when my swing was slower. It may work for you - it's very easy to hit straight and you might go longer shafted if you are slower - like 45.5 inches. You can always cut it down or grip down.
 
Fellow senior guy with a lot of golf equipment experience. The fact is there is no industry standard for shafts when it comes to labels such as: stiff, regular, and senior flex. So shaft to shaft there is no way of knowing what you are going to get in terms of flex and other performance characteristics--much less how the performance of that shaft will relate to another shaft such as in the two categories you mentioned.

What I'd suggest is a fitting by a really good brand-agnostic fitter. You may drop a couple hundred dollars to do this, but you can easily burn that with the trial and error route of buying and trying shafts. The time you save and the optimal result you'll get is in my opinion more than worth it. At our age, time is both a commodity and a limited one. Would you rather spend years with a sub-optimal shaft that may never get right, or spend those years playing with equipment fitted to your swing?
 
Also, if you haven't already found it, check out "The 60 and over Thread". We talk about a lot of issues like this that are particular to our stage of life.
 
You could get on Ebay and buy a used older Ladys Taylormade Driver. You would get more loft and pretty darn cheap even in this crazy used market. My wife still has her Ti Burner Bubble and for giggles I take it to the Range once in a while, it goes forever-then it goes left. :) I see them on Ebay for less than $40 shipped.
 
Bob M said:
As another data point, my driver swing speed is approximately 79 mph (ball speed is 110) and I've moved to senior flex in my Driver but still use regular in everything else. In September 2020 was fitted for Ping G710 irons with regular flex shafts, in my case Recoil 80 F3. After the fitting, but before I placed the order, my fitter let me try G700s with Alta senior flex shafts and frankly I found that there wasn't a huge difference between the two, however the regular flex clubs had slightly less dispersion.
Click to expand...
...and in irons minimum dispersion is what is most important.
 
mulegolf said:
I'm 72 now and have lost 100 yards off of my drives. I used to hit over 300 yard drives but now a good one is 200. Much of it is age but some is due to the 3 back surgeries I've had and almost constant problems with my knees and hips. I've got arthritis in most of my joints and have lost a lot of flexibility. I was ready to give up golf but switched to senior shafts in my woods and light weight R-flex shafts in my irons and found that it's fun again to play golf. The best thing I did was to get a XXIO Prime 9 driver. I have a pretty smooth swing and that driver was made for my swing. I regained 20-25 yards with the XXIO. It's R-flex but with XXIO that's like L-flex in most brands of drivers. If your swing is smooth, get yourself a XXIO Prime driver. They're costly new but if you search online you can find a pretty good deal sometimes. My driver was $849 new but I found one for $269 a couple years ago. I've been looking online for more used XXIO clubs since I got my driver (which looked almost new when I got it). I don't think I could play a club that looks kind of beat up.
Click to expand...
Looks like you had injury in most the body parts used for a golf swing.
Wounded warriors keep ticking .
You're right about the comparable softer Shaft flex from Japanese brands. A few of the seniors in our group also converted to the XXIO. It will not bring all the glory back, but improvement for those who really have difficulty accelerating through the golf ball.
we have a local specialty store carrying this brand with less than MSRP price tag.
 
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