Do Lighter Shafts Give More Club Head Speed?

 

What Effect does Shaft Weight have on Clubhead Speed?

Earlier in the year we did some testing on the effect of shaft weight on clubhead speed in a driver. The common belief is that lighter shafts mean more speed. Is this true?

We tested 4 shaft weights, 45, 55, 65 and 75 grams. The 4 shafts were Accra golf shafts, all in stiff flex and a playing length of 45 inches in the driver. The same head, a PXG 0811 X 10.5 degrees, was used with all the shafts.

 

 

The testing was done on an April day, about 14 degrees Celsius and a slight breeze approx 5mph against. The golfer performed a warm-up before the testing. The ball used in the test was the Titleist ProV1. The methodology of the test was to hit 3 shots with the 45 gram, then 3 shots with the 55, 65, 75, returning to the 45 and following the same procedure until 12 shots were hit with each.

 

 

Results

 

Shaft Weight	Club Speed MPH	Ball Speed MPH	Carry Yards	Total Distance Yards
45	101.4	148.5	229.1	252.5
55	101.7	148.8	230.8	253.2
65	101.5	148.9	229.8	251.6
75	102.1	149.7	235.2	258
	Dispersion Feet	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Height Feet
45	29.7	11.1	2792	80
55	26.725	11.0	3010	83
65	28.6	10.5	2975	81
75	40.7	11.5	2699	86

We were mainly looking to see which shaft gave the most speed and it was the 75 gram shaft at 102.1 mph, next was the 55 at 101.7, the 65 at 101.5 and finally the 45 at 101.4. As you would expect the fastest club head speed also gave the fastest ball speed, carry and overall distance at 149.7, 235.2 and 258.

The three other weights were very similar in ball speed, carry and total distance. The most accurate was the 55 gram at an average of 26.725 feet from the target line and the 75 was the worst at 40.7 feet. Launch angles were quite similar , spin was the lowest with the 75 and peak heights were similar too.

 

 

Shaft Weight	Attack Angle	Club Path	Face to Path
45	-1.2	-1.9	0.1
55	-1.1	-2.1	0.1
65	-1.1	-2.4	-0.2
75	-0.2	-1.4	-0.2

 

 

Even though we were mainly looking at club head speed it was no harm to check if the the swing was affected by the shaft weight. Again the impact factors were quite similar with just the 75 having a slightly more up attack angle compared to the others.

 

Analysis

 

The fastest speed was not with the lightest shaft. For this golfer the fastest speed was with the heaviest shaft. And the slowest speed was with the lightest shaft. This is not unusual, in the fittings we do with golfers rarely does the lightest shaft give the fastest speed.

The percentage breakdown in the fastest speeds is as follows.

Weight

 

45 grams 3.6%

55 grams 37.3%

65 grams 45.8%

75 grams 13.3%

 

What happens is the golfer moves the weight that they can feel, if you can't feel a light weight it becomes difficult to move it fast. Then when it becomes too heavy then the player loses speed.

What else can weight effect? 

It can have an effect on spin, as shafts get heavier there is more material in them and as a result they can also get stiffer. heavier shafts generally have lower spin and we can see for this golfer, the heaviest shaft gave the lowest spin.  

Also it can effect accuracy, generally heavier can also mean more accurate but for this golfer the heaviest was the least accurate.

 

Conclusion

 

Lighter does not mean faster, rarely will the lightest shaft be the fastest. Ultimately what the test shows is the importance of testing for each golfer. If we say to a golfer that a 65 gram shaft is what they should use to get the most speed, for 45.8% of golfers who come to Drive Golf Performance we would be right but we would also not be right for the other 54.2%. 

Any questions and comments are welcome.