The Clubhead And The Shaft

Here’s a great way to look at any golf club when you are either analyzing your own game or buying new clubs. Always think of the shaft and the head as two separate independent entities when hitting a golf ball. Each has a job to do. The shafts job is to bring the clubhead into impact the same way every single time with your given swing. The head’s job is to impact the golf ball and send it on its way with the desired trajectory, direction and best distance.

Use MPF Shaft Playability Ratings to find the right shaft for you.

At impact, the clubhead can actually be considered a free wheeling object. It reacts on its own mass and dimensional qualities. For example, on an off center toe hit the clubhead rotates slightly open and about its own center of gravity. It does not rotate around the shaft. The clubheads mass moving at a certain swing speed imparts the energy at impact to move the ball forward. This is what makes the design parameters of the head such as center of gravity location, weight and moment of inertia so important regarding playability.

The golf shaft is bending and twisting during the swing because it is basically a flexible hollow rod. As the golfer swings the club there is a point where the wrists release coming into impact. When this occurs the clubhead is traveling faster than any point along the shaft. This causes the shaft to bend in a forward direction with the clubhead ahead of the shaft as it approaches impact. This forward bending causes the clubhead loft at impact to be increased and the clubhead face angle at impact to be closed slightly. Also, because the clubhead’s center of gravity is not located in line with the axis of the shaft, centrifugal force acting on the shaft causes it to also bend downward thus flattening the lie angle. Oddly enough all this shaft bending action in multiple directions actually causes the clubs length to be shortened.

This is why a club that played just ok can play so much better if the proper golf shaft is fitted to the golfer. Finding the correct combination of clubhead and shaft is very rewarding. Take a look in the shaft section of the GolfWorks catalog and you will be able to find a number of choices in shafts that fit your swing by using the MPF Shaft Playability Ratings. Hundreds of shafts are listed, so simply use the 5 simple steps in the catalog to guide you. Any manufacturer’s clubheads can be selected by playability using the Maltby Playability Factor for Irons guide which is listed on this website. The Maltby Playability Factor for Irons book is also available for the enthusiast who really wants to get into all the playability differences of many of the most popular irons and learn why these differences exist.

So, always think of the shaft and the clubhead as two separate entities in hitting a golf ball. If you look at it this way it will make it much easier to learn how to fit shafts, find the best shaft for you and also select the proper clubhead for your game.

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  • 5:57PM - Jun 29, 2010RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    If i understand your article correctly, then much of the marketing info on shafts, esp expensive graphite shafts, is just hype. The shaft does not play a significant role in spin, or energy. Is this correct? Just launch angle, control and speed to a certain extent?

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  • 2:49PM - Nov 20, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    mike167, it is usually measured at face center.

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  • 4:35PM - Nov 19, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    Mr. Maltby: Can you please tell me at which point on the sole of an iron the sole width is measured. As the sole generally tapers from narrow at the heel and wider at the toe. Are your listings taken in the center? Thanks mike167

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  • 9:44AM - Nov 8, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    bkstacy, all I can say is that personally, I like 4 degrees between each iron in the set. The 5 and 6 degree thing makes no sense to me.

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  • 10:46AM - Nov 2, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    Ralph,

    Why in most iron sets do the short irons have 4 degrees of loft between them and the longer irons have only 3? Furthermore many sets I look at have between 5 and 6 degrees between the 7 and the 6 irons? My own thinking is that it would make more sense to have larger gaps between the longer irons because they are harder to hit as consistently thus giving you better distance gaps on average?

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  • 3:25PM - Oct 5, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    Mr. Maltby, Thanks for your quick response.

    Yes, it is a quandary as to why I am fitted to “X”. The fitting scale is a bit broad as to group the pw, 9 and 8 to the distance of 150. Even though I hit the 8i to 150, if I select 7i to 150, then it still puts me at 4B3H, which then specifies Dynalite Gold, Dynalite Gold SL, all at the S300 stiffness designation. I find it odder that the FST 115 was initially recommended for the 5B3H and not the FST 125.

    While I really do enjoy the TFR 5.5, would you then:

    1. suggest the TFR 6.0 or the FST 125 (pro?). I enjoy feeling the club flex in my swing and am worried the stiffer shaft may cause some loss of feel.

    2. will I lose any distance/control going to the FST 125 with the soft tip?

    Best, Dan

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  • 10:36AM - Oct 4, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    dannytmc, the 5.5 Tour Flighted Rifles you were playing have a weaker tip flex than the Project X flighted 5.0’s you now have. Yes, the FST 115’s will have about the same tip stiffness, but if you need more trajectory, you could go with the heavier FST 125’s with a soft tip.

    The perplexing thing here is that you have fitted yourself into an “X” flex shaft using the shaft MPF guide meaning you can hit your wedge around 150 yards. If this is the case, the 5.5 and 5.0 shafts are too weak for your game as they are both around “Medium or R flex”.

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  • 12:18PM - Oct 3, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    Hi Mr. Maltby,

    Some long winded history:

    I unwittingly purchased a set of MacGregor Pro C’s shafted with TFR 5.5’s. It actually helped drop my index by 3 to just under 10. I thought that a little forgiveness would help and got some Titleist AP2’s with PX Flighted 5.0. Based on the MPF, I thought it would be helpful. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The heads felt heavy and despite the flighted PX shafts, I had very low trajectory across all irons.

    On your web iron fitting, I came out with 5B3H. I hit my 8i to 150 reliably. I understand that club head weight can affect shaft characteristics.

    My point is which shaft can most reliably match the swing weight of the Macs with TFR 5.5 with… the MMBs?

    Will the FST Stepless 115 (recommended by web) correctly fit the MMB’s? I would like to get the shafts and heads at Golfworks and figured why not go to the source? I’m not sure if I should trust these things to Golfsmith (no offense to them).

    Regards, Dan

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  • 9:51AM - Sep 18, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    Zac, I really liked your question because as you explained it you are doing everything right and helping golfer’s play better. Congratulations!!!!

    Below is an excerpt out of my new fitting book which should answer your question with a little extra thrown in. The book will come out next year;

    “If you are going to shorten a driver keep the following in mind; for every ½” shorter you will lose 3 swingweights. This means that if the swingweight was good for the golfer before shortening that you need to add weight to the clubhead to bring the swingweight back to where it was (this will almost always be the case). Since 3 swingweight points is equal to 6 grams of weight, you will need to add weight to the weight port, or change the installed weight screws or add lead tape depending on the driver model. It will take approximately 14 to 15 inches of ½” wide lead tape to add back the 3 swingweights or 6 grams in this example. Note also that the shaft will feel approximately 1/3 stiffer in flex, but this is usually not a problem to consider with a ½” shorter driver length. Consider it more when you shorten a driver by 1” (2/3rds stiffer shaft flex) or by 1 ½” shorter (1 full shaft flex stiffer). I have often found that many if not most golfers like the stiffer flex at a shorter length because they are now hitting the ball closer to the center of the face (more solid) with less clubhead twisting from previous off-center hits and also straighter because of the stiffer flex. So, the stiffer flex works in their favor instead of against them. Remember, in general, that the stiffer shaft a golfer can handle, the more accurate the directional control. Of course, they still need a good trajectory to maintain good overall distance”.

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  • 7:45PM - Sep 17, 2009RE: The Clubhead And The Shaft

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    • Zac

    • Zac
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    Mr. Maltby,

    I work at Dicks Sporting Goods as a PGA Apprentice and club fitter/ technician. Most of the customers that I work with are average to below average players. 90% of the drivers that I sell I shorten to the length the customer needs based on the customer’s ball striking ability. Then I frequency match the shaft to their swing speed, and then put a new grip on. I know that the shaft gets stiffer the more that I cut off and the ball flight will lower also, but when I shorten, for example a 2007 Taylormade Burner with a low bend point to 44 inches from 46 inches, how much does the bend point move up on the shaft when doing that?

    Thanks, Zac Burill

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