How To Choose The Right Golf Shaft For Your Swing And Tempo

Choosing the proper shaft is critical in golf

May 30, 2024

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Golf can quickly become a minefield of technical information and doubts, especially when it comes to equipment. This is compounded by an industry that loves to promote very complicated-sounding technologies when marketing products. Our equipment experts take a look at any and everything shaft-related, give you the definitive guide to first understanding what the options are when it comes to golf club shafts, and then the expertise to choose which attributes you want in your own club, all in an effort to answer the question you’re asking - “What shaft is right for me?”

Let's take a look at the factors to consider when choosing the right golf shaft for your swing.

Steel or Graphite?

Golf club shafts generally come in two materials: carbon steel and “graphite.” Many modern “graphite” shafts are more exotic materials and metals woven together with graphite, but generally are referred to as graphite if they are not purely steel shafts.

Historically, all clubs were made with extremely light, flexible hickory. Then came heavy, stiff steel, and finally the modern graphite and multi-material composite era is upon us.

In today’s game, the most common setup you will see is graphite shafts in all hybrids, fairway metals, and drivers while using steel shafts in all putters and irons. Having said that, there are other combinations used at all levels of the game!

Pure graphite iron shafts, when they first came out, were necessarily very flexible and lightweight, and they presented an entirely different feel and were marketed mostly to ladies and senior golfers when they first came out, before becoming the material of choice for driver shafts in the mid 1990s.

“Modern” graphite shafts are a completely different animal and are almost always technically a multi-material design, but the term “graphite” is still commonly used to refer casually to the entire category of composite shafts.

Multi material or composite shafts (often advertised as carbon fibers) can contain any number of materials, but commonly use titanium, steel, various types of graphite or carbon fiber materials woven together to produce shafts that can do things that would never be possible with steel - such as being extremely lightweight yet extremely stiff and torque resistant at the same time.

As these technologies progress, companies like LA Golf are successfully getting even tour pros to switch to composite putter shafts and brands like Aerotech Steelfiber and Mitsubishi have tour pros playing composite iron shafts.

Shaft Flex Explained

The traditional wisdom when it comes to shaft flex is very straightforward: the faster you swing, the stiffer of a shaft you need in order to be able to control the club head. We’ll explore this more later, but while it’s a good start, it's been proven that “if you hit it 300 yards you need an extra stiff” isn’t the hard and fast rule we once thought it was.

The flex of the golf shaft you choose can effect your ability to hit different shot shapes, as the club will release through the golf ball differently.

What Golf Shaft Flex Is Right For Me?

Author Using An Extra Stiff Driver Shaft

There are definitely some guidelines for choosing flex, and swing speed is often used as the only guideline. A closer look reveals that while swing speed might be able to get you in the neighborhood, there are lots of personal combinations of release styles and ball flights that can make you match up to a shaft slightly stiffer or softer than your swing speed might suggest.

Extra Stiff (X)

Some guidelines for players who might want to start searching in the range of extra stiff flex are:

Average drive 275 yards or more
Average 7 iron distance 175 yards or more
Average driver swing speed of 105 mph or more

Players whose averages match up with these numbers would fit into extra stiff shafts.

These shafts are mostly favored by players who cannot get a softer flex club to “behave” reliably through impact. Many male TOUR pros play extra stiff clubs, but not all of them do.

Stiff (S)

Some guidelines for players who might want to start searching in the range of stiff flex are:

Average drive 250 yards or more
Average 7 iron distance 155 yards or more
Average driver swing speed of 95-105 mph

Players whose averages match up with these numbers would fit into stiff shafts.

Stiff flex clubs are probably the most commonly used clubs for adult males under age 40.

Regular (R)

Golfer Hitting A Driver With A Regular Flex Shaft

Some guidelines for players who might want to start searching in the range of regular flex are:

Average drive under 250 yards
Average 7 iron under 150 yards
Average driver swing speed 85-95 mph

Players whose averages match up with these numbers would fit into regular shafts.

Senior (A)

Some guidelines for players who might want to start searching in the range of senior flex are:

Average drive under 200 yards
Average 7 iron under 140 yards
Average driver swing speed 75-85 mph

Players whose averages match up with these numbers would fit into regular shafts.

Naturally, these shafts can be used by anyone regardless of age, but their target market is usually slower swing speed players.

Ladies (L)

Some guidelines for players who might want to start searching in the range of ladies flex are:

Average drive under 175 yards
Average 7 iron under 130 yards
Average driver swing speed under 75 mph

Players whose averages match up with these numbers would fit into ladies flex shafts.

Contrary to their name, the vast majority of female golfers will fit into another flex that is stiffer than “ladies flex.”

Despite the label and the idea that "faster swings fit with stiffer shafts," some long drive competitors are now using ladies flex shafts to help them move the club faster!

Golf Shaft Flex Chart By Swing Speed And Carry Distance

Below is a chart showing suggestions for shaft flex based on your club head speed and carry distance of your driver:

swing speed	carry distance	suggested flex
105+ MPH	275+ Yards	X-Stiff
95-105 MPH	230-275 Yards	Stiff
85-95 MPH	190-230 Yards	Regular
75-85 MPH	165-190 Yards	Senior
Below 75 MPH	Below 165 Yards	Ladies

Weight

Women in golf tend to use lighter shafts than men

The trend is for physically stronger players to swing heavier shafts, with around 130 grams being a number that is in a lot of PGA TOUR players’ wedge shafts. Light-weight iron shafts for men might come down closer to 100 grams, and driver shafts could be 65 or 75 grams, while “ultralight” models for seniors or players seeking maximum speed could be as low as 40-50 grams for a driver shaft.

The flip-side of lightening the shaft for more speed is that the club can become harder to control, or too easy to manipulate, as well as issues balancing weight between the grip end and the clubhead. It’s also very difficult - and expensive - to make lightweight shafts that are truly stiff in flex, so many players end up finding a balance in weight that affords a fast club head while still being able to feel it and control it.

Length

Choking down on the club to make it shorter

Length is probably the variable that should be nailed down first when it comes to picking a shaft for your golf club. Once again we see the trade off of speed versus control at play - longer shafts create more speed, shorter shafts favor more consistency and control. There are even golf club brands now using single length technology!

Traditionally, static fitting charts and wrist-to-floor measurements have been used as a starting point in a club fitting session, but an experienced club fitter will note that club length makes a lot bigger difference throughout the swing than just the physics of speed versus control.

Shaft Profile

You can see with the help of the lines drawn the place where the shaft "kicks" or bends, adding loft to the club

Shaft profile is also referred to in terms of “kick point.” And generally you will see high, low, and mid kick points advertised. High kick point means the shaft bends more toward the handle of the club and low kick point, the shaft bends more owards the clubhead.

Each shaft can be stiffer or softer near the handle or the tip - giving the shaft a “profile.” These shaft profiles are used by expert club fitters to fine-tune little tendencies of high/low/heel/toe strike locations and spin rates in players who have an extremely repeatable swing to begin with, or in other cases to add speed and height to a low speed player. The latter is done through lowering the kick point.

Swing Speed

Swing speed is traditionally the #1 factor in determining shaft flex. The general rule is - the faster the swing, the stiffer a flex you need. For a long time it was in fact common for faster swinging players to naturally use stiffer and heavier steel shafts, and this is by far the common logic in the golf world.

However, the nature of steel shafts has almost dictated this be the case - because in order to make a steel shaft stiffer, you basically have to make it heavier. With multi-material composite shafts, club fitters can come up with all kinds of exotic combinations, and some extremely powerful tour players have begun to favor shafts that are more flexible than most would imagine, even though they swing it as fast as anyone on the planet. Some World Long Drive competitors even use ladies flex shafts now!

Swing Tempo

Just as important as speed might be tempo. The tempo - specifically the tempo in transition - can have as much effect on a shaft as the outright speed. A player can have a very fast swing with a very smooth transition, and not need to play with an extra stiff shaft

The key with tempo and flex is that you want the golf club to flex and unflex exactly on time in the swing. A golf club that is too soft could load and then dramatically unload too early, causing wild or random impact conditions, but it could also just flex and never release, leaving the face wide open through impact. Likewise, a club could be too stiff to flex properly and then rob the player of the distance created by having that stored power unleash through the bottom of the swing.

Because of this, players with a very fast, abrupt, kind of more violent or more jerky transition move will need stiffer flex shafts, and players with more flowing swings will tend to be able to use more flex to their advantage.

Trajectory

Generally speaking, the stiffer a shaft, the sooner it will start to release flex in the downswing, and the softer the shaft, the longer it will stay flexed before releasing.

In this scenario where everything is kept the same in a properly sequenced swing, a softer shaft can promote less dynamic loft and a lower ball flight.

This can get complicated, however, because a softer shaft can also create more speed (possibly) and promote a higher-face strike, both of which definitely launch the ball higher.

To make matters even more murky, with amateurs who have manipulations in their swing, and inconsistent timing, a too-soft shaft flex combined with an early release is very common and can indeed add a lot of loft at impact and cause a completely ballooned shot.

Ball Flight Tendencies (Hook, Slice, Etc.)

In the same vein as the trajectory, ball flight tendencies can very much be affected by the shaft, and specifically the shaft flex.

There are some common “rules of thumb” here that modern data is making a bit more complicated. Again, the best thing to learn is “what are the consequences of shaft flex and release at impact” and you can have a more holistic understanding of troubleshooting your swing and/or equipment.

When a shaft is softer, it will flex more, which de-lofts the club head and opens the face. Soft shafts promote more flex which takes longer to unload (all else being equal) so the face will tend to be held open and de-lofted, encouraging a cut or slice pattern.

However if this same soft shafted club were overloaded, and had a large, whippy “rebound” type of action before impact, a too-soft shaft would have the face adding loft and shutting down too quickly before impact - but also add a lot of speed. The result would be a high, hard hook.

It’s because of this that the conventional wisdom for the average golfer is that soft shafts cause hooks. However, many PGA TOUR-level players will soften their shaft flex slightly in order to encourage a held-off baby cut without changing their swing, for example.

It sounds like completely conflicting information, but if you understand what flex does to the face, it makes sense that a player could either get into big trouble with a softer-than-normal shaft, or they could use it to fine-tune an advantage.

Distance Control

Professional golfers also favor stiffer shafts because they get less “surprises” - like the club head overloading and causing the high, hard hook mentioned above. Different players may also have different shaft flex preferences in their wedges that change their feel on chipping and pitching. Knowing how the club will deliver to the ball on these shots is extremely important!

High level players might also favor a stiffer shaft because they are not concerned about maximum distance, but are happy to take a little bit of the “life” out of the shaft in favor of being able to get more precise distance control.

Final Thoughts

When picking out a shaft, there is a lot that can be done. From using simple common-sense guidelines and static fitting charts to full-blown radar-assisted club fitting with an expert, the technology is out there to get the perfect shaft for your swing. While there are thousands of options and combinations on the market, the most important variables that will make up most of your shaft’s performance are: length, weight, and flex.

With or without the help of a club fitter, most players learn to understand their preferences in these three categories - short vs long, heavy vs light, and stiff vs soft. Most golfers can then pick up a club off of the shelf and understand pretty much what to expect from it, although there can definitely be variations from year-to-year and from manufacturer-to-manufacturer when it comes to shaft flex definitions.

Whether you want to “DIY” it, just understand your off-the-shelf options better, or want to be able to have a functional conversation with a golf pro when you go in for a club fitting, we hope the information we have provided will be a great foundation for understanding not just the basics, but some of the tweaks that can come with different torque ratings, kick points, and other exotic new technologies as well.

FAQs

What Is The Kick Point Of A Golf Shaft and How Does That Impact My Selection?

The kick point refers to how high or low on the shaft the flex occurs. Golf shafts are not uniform - most have taper to them and can change thicknesses and materials throughout the length of the shaft, creating a “bend profile” that doesn’t always bend the easiest directly in the middle of the club.

Shafts that have a high kick point reach their peak flex closer to the handle end of the club, and create a longer, smoother-feeling and more uniform-feeling loading and unloading of the flex. Since they unload essentially for a longer time period these shafts tend to delay the release and keep the ball flight lower, and tend to be favored by faster speed, lower handicap players.

Low kick point shafts are the opposite - they are very stiff through the handle and middle, but can do the bulk of their flexing and unloading in the bottom third of the club shaft. This creates a more rapid kick at the bottom that can be harder to manage in a faster swing, but can provide a ton of extra pop and height for a smooth swinger.

What Is Golf Shaft Torque?

Torque is the “hidden” variable when it comes to golf shafts. Much talked about at the highest-levels, it is completely overshadowed by shaft flex for the general consumer.

Torque in a golf shaft refers to its ability to resist twisting rather than flexing. There is a lot of force on the toe of the club in a golf downswing and having a shaft that either doesn’t torque much or torques and untorques in an extremely reliable way is probably more important than having your flex just right.

The catch is, while a graphite shaft as stiff as rebar and and still lightweight, it takes some serious effort to make a golf shaft that can flex some and still resists the torque that would twist the club face open or let it rebound shut.

It’s this resistance to torque that really drives the high-end performance shafts that go for hundreds of dollars - and making shafts that can provide flex but not torque is the real challenge that the engineers demand big bucks for.

What happens if your shaft is too flexible?

A too flexible shaft will over-load or over-flex very easily. From here, anything can happen - it can stay over-loaded through the strike and produce wipey shots, or it can wildly unload early through impact and produce dramatic hooks. Or worst of all - it can randomly do both.

What happens if your shaft is too stiff?

If the golf shaft is too stiff, it will never load (flex) enough during the swing. This mostly robs the player of getting the speed and distance that they would with a shaft that properly loads and unloads through the swing, and can also cause directional and height issues due to the shaft releasing sooner. Having the proper flex in your shaft can play a major role in lowering your scores.

What Is The Difference Between A High Kick Point And Low Kick Point Shaft?

High kick point shafts flex closer to the handle and typically are intended to lower the ball flights and are commonly used by high level players.

Low kick point shafts flex closer to the head of the club and typically are intended to add height and possibly speed to a player’s normal shot.

What Driver Shaft Do I Need?

You need a driver shaft that helps you accomplish three things: set up properly to the club, swing the club on an appropriate plane, and load/unload the club efficiently. As a baseline for choosing, you want to match three key variables in the shaft: length, weight, and flex.

In order to understand how to match up these variables to your swing, use resources such as the ones provided in this article, and/or a local club fitter.