It's All About the Shaft?

It's quite common to hear that a good club is all about the shaft. Once you get the shaft right you don't really need to worry much about the head. Recently I decided to put this to the test. I took three Callaway heads, Razr Fit Xtreme, X Hot Pro and X Hot and hit some drives with the same Grafalloy Pro Launch Red shaft in each head.

X-Hot, X-Hot Pro, Razr Fit Xtreme

X-Hot, X-Hot Pro, Razr Fit Xtreme

Grafalloy Pro Launch Red

I hit 12 balls, Pro V1 2011 model, with each driver and recorded the results on a Trackman 111 launch monitor. It was a calm summer's evening with no wind to speak of and temperatures around 20 degrees C. The club and ball numbers that are of interest are Club head speed, ball speed, carry, total distance, distance from target line, launch angle, spin rate, height, club path, face to path.

Club Specifications

The specifications of each club were as follows

Club	Length	Loft	Flex(cpm)	Head weight(g)	Swing Weight
X-Hot	45.875	9.5	258	187.5	D2
X-Hot Pro	45.875	9.5	256	188.6	D3
Razr Fit Xtreme	45.875	9.5	252	194.7	D6

Note, the X Hot driver was the 10.5 degree model but the Opti Fit hosel was set to O to bring the loft to 9.5 degrees.

It can be seen that the head makes a difference to the shaft. The exact same shaft was fitted in each club but the clubs come out with different flexes. The heavier heads Razr Fit and X Hot Pro make the shaft flex a little softer than the X Hot, 6 cpms difference between Razr Fit and X Hot which is the equivalent of half a flex.

Results

Club	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Launch Angle	Carry	Total Distance	Spin Rate	Distance from Target Line	Height	Club Path	Face to Path
X Hot	107.6	155.9	8.3	242.1	265.8	2827	67.1	73.3	1.6	-4.7
X Hot Pro	105.7	153.4	11.4	242.3	265.5	2393	28.97	84.6	-1.4	0.4
Razr Fit	104.7	152.9	10.9	242	260.8	2818	32.89	86.5	-1.4	0.3

 
We can see different results with each of the heads.

The main similarity is the carries were all around 242 yards on average.

Noteworthy is the extra speed with the X Hot which is slightly lighter than the others leading to the extra club speed. The face to path is 4.7 degrees to the left, again this is not surprising as the X Hot has a weight bias in the heel to promote a right to left trajectory. All the shots with the X Hot went left and averaged 67.1 feet left of target. It had a lower than expected average height, 73.3 feet, this was due to the low hooking flight caused by the heel weight bias.

The X Hot Pro has a club head weighting designed to lower spin and promote a left to right flight. We can see from the results the spin is the lowest. The dispersion of the shots were mainly to the right of the target going from 19 feet left to 74.5 feet right with only two shots to the left of the target. Very different to the X Hot, where all shots were to the left. Also the total distance from the X Hot Pro is almost identical to the X Hot, 265.5 to 265.8, despite the higher ball speed from the X Hot. The X Hot Pro's lower spin (2393) encourages more roll.

The Razr Fit Xtreme created much more neutral results then the other two drivers with equal number of drives missing right and left of the target from 59.7 left to 64.6 right averaging 32.89 feet from target. It also had more drives (4) within 10 feet of the target. Ball and club speed are down due to the slightly heavier head reducing speed. It still produced a good carry but overall distance was down due to slightly higher spin rates producing a higher landing angle and less run.

Conclusion

We can see different heads produce different results. Different heads can even alter the playing characteristic of a shaft. For the 3 Callaway heads, the X-Hot gives higher balls speed while also promoting a right to left flight. The X Hot Pro gives high ball speeds, more penetrating flights while also promoting a left to right flight. The Razr Fit Xtreme gives more adjustability in the head and excellent accuracy with good ball speeds.

So not only is the shaft important, the head and head design is just as important. Next time you hear, 'It's all about the shaft', what they should say is it's all about the complete club with neither the head nor the shaft being more important than the other. So if you like the feel of a shaft you should still try it in a few heads to see how they perform with it. Try before you buy!! Even better get fitted before you buy!!

Any questions or comments are welcome.

Can a Tee Make a Difference?

Earlier in the year at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando there was quite a few companies displaying tees promising extra distance and better dispersion. I picked up a selection of the tees just to see how effective they might be.

Here's a selection of some of the tees. In order to test the tees I kept a few of the variables constant. I used the same golf ball, Titleist Pro V1 2011 version, for all shots. Used the same driver Titleist 913 D3 9.5 degrees of loft and a Graphite Design Tour AD Di-7 S-Flex 45 inch shaft and kept the tee height constant with all shots.

The shots were hit on the evening of the 9th of June with little wind and a temperature of around 19 degrees celsius. Excellent conditions for testing.

All shots were recorded using the Trackman 111 launch monitor. I hit 12 drives with each, the reason being balls are normally sold by the dozen and in a standard round of golf you might expect to hit 12 drives, taking away 4 par 3's and a couple of holes where a fairway wood might be used.

The Trackman figures that are of interest are Club Head Speed, Ball Speed, Spin Rate, Launch Angle, Carry, Total Distance and distance from target. An average was taken of the parameters and compared to see if there would be a difference between the various tees.

Testing

The first tee tested was the traditional 2 3/4 inch wooden tee. It would be also used as the control to compare the tees to.

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance from Target (feet)
Wooden	103.1	152.4	11.8	2332	243.7	269.7	25.95

The second tee tested was the Epoch tee by Evolve Golf. www.evolvegolf.com

From the website.

'The Epoch is the only performance tee with radius posts that span the width of a golf ball dimple. This unique feature creates the lowest coefficient of friction of any tee, eliminating deflection at impact and increasing ball speed and control off the tee.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Epoch	103.4	151.1	11.7	2421	242.9	267.7	25.58

The third tee was the Zarma Fly Tee Pro from Champ. http://champspikes.com/products/golf/accessories/fly-tees/zarma-flyteepro/

From the website

'The new CHAMP FLYteePro is a well-engineered high performance golf tee with a soft shock absorbing color tip on a low friction 6 prong head. With exceptional distance and accuracy golfers of any caliber will see improvement in their game. Designed with a virtually indestructible polymer this is the last golf tee you will ever need.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Fly Tee	103.4	152.4	11.3	2337	245.7	273.7	16.16

The fourth tee was the Totem Tee, www.totemtee.com

From the website

Totem Tees offer the following benefits:

• Legendary distance due to significantly reduced spin rate
• Unparalleled accuracy as a result of a tighter dispersion pattern...even in strong winds
• Less club head deflection
• More accurate ball strike
• Promotes a better angle of attack
• 
  
   
  
  

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Totem	102.7	152.2	11.7	2375	246.3	272.5	22.47

The fifth tee was the Firecracker Tee from Kiwi Golf. kiwigolf.com

From the website

'Straighter and Longer with maximum smash factor.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Firecracker	103.3	153.1	11.4	2499	248	273.7	30.04

The sixth and final tee in this test was the Flex Head Tee, http://www.flex-head.com/

From the Website

'Consistent Heights, Flexible, Unbreakable for Life.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Flex Head	103.1	153.2	11.2	2570	247.2	272.2	36.74

Collated Results

 

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Wooden	103.1	152.4	11.8	2332	243.7	269.7	25.95
Fly Tee	103.4	152.4	11.3	2337	245.7	273.7	16.16
Firecracker	103.3	153.1	11.4	2499	248	273.7	30.04
Totem	102.7	152.2	11.7	2375	246.3	272.5	22.47
Flex Head	103.1	153.2	11.2	2570	247.2	272.2	36.74
Epoch	103.4	151.1	11.7	2421	242.9	267.7	25.58

With the results collated into one table above we can compare easily. The club head speeds are very consistent with only a variance of 0.68% between the top speed and bottom speed, this would give an indication that a similar swing was put on all the shots.

The tees do give a slight variance in results.

The Fly Tee and the Firecracker were the longest, giving a total distance of 273.7 yards, 6 yards longer than the Epoch. The Firecracker gave the longest carry of 248 yards, 5.1 yards longer than the Epoch.

The highest ball speed came from the Flex Head tee 153.2 mph, 2.1 mph faster than the Epoch.

The lowest spinning tee was the traditional wooden tee with 2332 rpms, 238 rpms less than the Flex Head.

The Fly Tee had the best dispersion averaging only 16.16 feet from the target line and 20.58 feet closer to the target than the Flex Head.

Conclusion

The question which needs to be asked is how much of the differences in results are down to the tees and how much are down to the striking of the player? You might surmise that hitting 12 shots with each driver would deliver a consistency to the results but with a small sample size this mightn't be the case.

Also the last tee tested was the Flex Head which had the worst dispersion results, this could be attributed to the test subject tiring, having had hit close to 100 drives at over 100mph at that stage.

One of the advantages of the Epoch, Fly Tee, Flex Head tees are their durability, lasting much longer than the wooden and Totem tees. The Firecracker didn't seem to that durable at the start with a couple breaking easily but the third tee lasted easily for the rest of the test.

The Firecracker Tee, which has the ball sitting in a nice cradle, seems to invite the player to launch the ball and did give the longest carry.

The best performing tee was the Zarma Fly Tee Pro with excellent distance results and even better dispersion results. Even with potential test inconsistencies isn't it worth trying a simple piece of equipment that would give a yard or two more distance and a yard or two more accuracy!!

Any questions or comments are always welcome.