Shaft Question, Slight upgrade to something a little stiffer?

Currently play a D2 910 Titleist driver with a regular Kaili 65 Mid shaft.

I have improved my swing a lot and I am happy with the connection, ball flight, etc, but I am sure I can find a little more.

I was fitted for a driver last year when I did a full bag fitting where I ended up buying new irons. On the driver fitting we tried a few combinations of heads and shafts but in the fitters wisdom he said I would be better of going for a lesson first rather than him trying to sell me something that is or was no better than I was playing.

Now that I have improved I am think why not try a slightly stiffer shaft than the one I have. I am happy to tinker or play around for a bit until I go back for a new fitting and a new driver sometime this year when the piggy bank is full.

So does anyone have a recommendation for a slightly stiffer (possibly the next step up for this particular Titleist shaft I am using), happy to go the eBay route so its just plug and play and fairly cheap.

TBH I've no idea why I picked or want a slightly stiffer shaft apart from my swing speed has increased (5+ mph) and people all say move up a flex, however I believe that you should use the softest flex shaft you can control as it will help you near the end of the round when you are tired as it would be easier to hit. Hence the idea that something a little bit stiff might work in my case

Cheers

When you were fit previously, do you know what any of those numbers were?

If you can control the regular, I don't really see the need to go up personally unless the difference in swing speed has caused a drastic difference in dispersion. I wish I could play stiff instead of X in my driver, but I can't control stiff because I can't be confident with them for some reason. When my swing is slower at the beginning of the round if I haven't fully warmed up, I definitely feel that I am losing a bit of distance by not being able to fully load the X.

JB said:

When you were fit previously, do you know what any of those numbers were?

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Sorry no, I have the iron specs from my fitting and that's about that, no angle or attack or swing speeds etc from then. As I paid for a full bag fitting and did not buy a driver or 3 wood from him I still have the option to go back and get refitted for those at no cost. Its my plan do do that later this year. The fitter keeps everything on his system so when I do go back he can compare.

For now I was just looking for some thoughts and possible recommendations so I can play around and get a little bit more insight.

cbaker2882 said:

If you can control the regular, I don't really see the need to go up personally unless the difference in swing speed has caused a drastic difference in dispersion. I wish I could play stiff instead of X in my driver, but I can't control stiff because I can't be confident with them for some reason. When my swing is slower at the beginning of the round if I haven't fully warmed up, I definitely feel that I am losing a bit of distance by not being able to fully load the X.

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I can control it just fine bu now I have a bit more speed in the swing it feels as if I am losing a little bit of distance because of that regular shaft. I was just thinking if I step it up to a slightly stiffer shaft then this could work. I wasn't looking for anything dramatic, just a little adjustment in stiffness. I was even wondering if a little weight (lead tape) on the head would produce similar results, but not being an expert I've no idea.

I've just come back from the range and I was playing around with the settings on the driver, something I've not done for a while as once I was happy with it I left it. Just moved it from D4 to D2 which is less loft and more upright and I was happy with that, good ball flight and more rollout than I am used too.

Thanks again.

Hard to give just a guess, since you are hitting your club well now. Best solution might be to come on out to the THP Event in your state in the coming months and lets hop on teh FlightScope outside on the range and see what works best.

You should look on the Titleist website to see what they offer. It sounds like if you want a stiff flex shaft, you should try one that is in the 55-60 gram area with a low kick point and low torque.

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JB said:

Hard to give just a guess, since you are hitting your club well now. Best solution might be to come on out to the THP Event in your state in the coming months and lets hop on teh FlightScope outside on the range and see what works best.

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If that is the one May 14/15th then that is the day I get back from my trip to Australia, pity as it sounds like fun.

HeadinSouth said:

You should look on the Titleist website to see what they offer. It sounds like if you want a stiff flex shaft, you should try one that is in the 55-60 gram area with a low kick point and low torque.

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Thanks for the info HeadinSouth and for pointing me in a right direction.

If you are happy with your existing shaft performance then why change?
Flex is arbitrary designated by the shaft manufacturer.
Sure you can try the "same" shaft in a different flex to see how it performs and feels.
If not the same shaft (spec-wise) then it won't be a valid comparison.

smschulz said:

If you are happy with your existing shaft performance then why change?
Flex is arbitrary designated by the shaft manufacturer.
Sure you can try the "same" shaft in a different flex to see how it performs and feels.
If not the same shaft (spec-wise) then it won't be a valid comparison.

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Like I have said I am going for a driver fitting again sometime this year and will go with whatever my fitter suggests until then I want to tinker and play around. I may also be able to get the same shaft but with a low kick point instead of mid, which I think would make it slightly stiffer hence my request for a recommendation for the next shaft up or similar.

I want to be able to feel the difference between what I have and something slightly stiffer (I may even try something softer too) and to see if that difference is good or bad. As I have a shaft in a driver that is easy to change & swap out and I can pick a shaft up for well under $100, I thought why not. It only betters my understanding going forward.

I do it with balls now and again, I'm happy with my ProV1, but sometimes I buy 3 and play with those just to have an idea of whats out there, its how I got to the Prov1. This method is probably getting me to change to the Bridgestone 330RX when my current collection of Prov's run out soon.

Shaft Update

Shaft Update

Well just a little update.

I managed to get a second hand shaft for my current D2 910 Titleist driver with a regular Kaili 65 Mid shaft from eBay.

I bought a Stiff Kaili 75 for $80 and the good thing was it was the a whole club not just the shaft so I now have a stiff Kaili 75 D3 910 to play around with.

So this weekend I tested the new club on the range before going out on the course, range testing took a little to get used the the feel of the club but I decided to put it in play and boy what a difference in outcome compared to my normal play and driver.

I hit 78% of fairways I used this new club on (tried it 12 times), and not only hit in the fairway but split the fairway. I also managed to hit my driver further with a lot of my drives ending up well past my 220/235 yardage range all without what seemed very little effort.

I've got to be happy with that right! I didn't think I could move up a shaft but it looks like I can and that, I think, is all down to the slow improvement of my swing.

Now as I mentioned before this is just me testing some things out for a bit of fun and for collecting some facts about what things do when you change things around. I now have to test the old shaft in the new head, new head with the old shaft and so on to find what works best, but so far so good.

This gives me a lot more info for when I go and have my driver fitting sometime later this year

I had nearly the same experience with the same drivers. Bought a 910 D2 because it was the loft I wanted and it had the ahina in an X flex. I've always played S - swing speed just below 100 - so not close to the advertised X range....but for whatever reason it really works for me. I bought a D3 head just to get the ahina in S, but the X still worked better.

Personally I believe flex is over rated as a contributor in terms of if you swing this fast you need that flex, etc. If it's working, enjoy!

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