Shaft Selection

Love the new clubs. Irons are great and the re-shafted driver with the MRC Whiteboard is awesome. Have gone from a 5 to a 2.3 index. -Todd T., Ft. Worth, TX

Our BGF Fitting System is the only fitting system that recommends shaft length, weight, flex, tip and butt profile, and swing weight.  This is based upon both your static measurements and your dynamic swing information.  This information allows us to make more accurate recommendations in our fitting sessions and shorten the time to dial our customers in to the best shaft that optimizes consistency, accuracy and distance.

 

D’Lance Golf is one of a few companies selected by True Temper, Fujikura, UST Mamiya, ACCRA, MCC MATRIX, and Mitsubishi Rayon Golf (MRC) to install their premium shaft lines. See the new MCC OZIK, XCON, TPHD , Project X graphite, Fujikura Motore Speeder and Motore F3, ACCRA DyMATCH , and MRC Diamana, ‘ilima, Kai’ Li, ‘ahina and Fubuki only at D’Lance Golf Performance Center and on our Fitting Trailer.

We have the largest selection of MATRIX OZIK and MATRIX Studio series shafts for demo in the country. Try all of the great shafts from MATRIX, including the OZIK TPHD, HD, Altus, F7M2, XCON and Code series.

 

When we test the shaft characteristics of off-the-rack clubs, the tolerances and quality of the shafts are designed for the average golfer. Most company’s use shafts that are very soft flex and light weight in their entry-level clubs so that the golfer has a better feeling club and the club gets the ball in the air. The problem is that these shafts do not promote a consistent, accurate ball flight. For better players choosing muscleback or higher performance heads the opposite is true. Shafts are usually way too stiff resulting in lost distance, lower ball flight, and a feeling that you have to “work” to get the shaft to perform. The only way to guarantee consistent perfomance is by putting the correct shafts in your clubs with consistent weights, flexes, swing weights, and tip profiles that match YOUR unique swing.

 

How Does That Shaft Feel to You?

Of all the thousands of fittings I have done, I always tell my customers that there are three things that only they can do: See what appeals to their eye, hear what sound they like of the ball coming off the club, and feel what is a good feel of the club in their hands and going through the ball.  That is what makes fitting fun but sometimes a challenge.  Everyone is different.  We are not robots so robot testing means little to me in a fitting.

Last year I wrote an article about the “feel” factor in fitting where I talked about swing weight, static weight, butt stiffness and tip stiffness of the shaft.  A couple of new things are now being added to this list.

The first is torque.  Torque is the amount of twisting a shaft does about the center axis of the shaft when a certain amount of weight is applied at a certain distance from the tip of the shaft.  This is measured in degrees so a 4.0 torque shaft will twist 4 degrees from center when the static weight is applied to the shaft.  Most golfers believe that this rating determines accuracy and think a low torque shaft will be more accurate and potentially produce a lower ball flight.  Not so!  Callaway did an extensive study years ago that said torque had nothing to do with accuracy, distance or ball flight.  I agree!  In the past two years, the shaft designers at True Temper have been increasing the torque of their shafts to promote a better feeling shaft with great success.  The Project X graphite shafts are a prime example.  Low torque means a harsher feel at impact.  High torque means a softer, maybe even mushier feel at impact.  What appeals to you can increase your confidence and ability to swing your clubs more consistently.  The ultimate torque fitting system is the new VTS (Variable Torque System) from UST Mamiya.  The wood shafts in this system are identical in terms of ball flight and shaft bend profiles.  The ONLY difference is torque.  In our testing, when a player finds their optimal feel, they tend to settle in and hit more consistent shots and even increase swing speed slightly.

The second feel factor is the shaft profile in the middle of the shaft. This actually varies quite a lot from shaft to shaft.  For example, while the Graphite Design DI shaft and the Project X Black shaft have very similar tip profiles, the DI has a softer  mid section which, for me anyway, gives it a softer feel at impact.  Miyazaki has developed an international flex scale that measures four different areas in the shaft profile to help us understand more reliably what a golfer is feeling and relate it to a particular shaft profile.

We measure every shaft in our system, over 800 of them, and can dial you in to a shaft that performs well and gives you the best feel.  All this while increasing distance and accuracy!  So don’t suffer with equipment that just does not feel right.  Come in for a high tech clubfitting and get that lovin’ feeling!