Shaft and loft recommendations please

[foureyedbuzzard]

Hi,
I am building a component driver(Bang-o-matic) and would welcome everyones input on shaft selection and clubhead loft.

I currently play a MacGregor v-foil 410cc, 9*, with the stock Graphite Design 55 gram shaft in S flex. Carry distance is 235 - 245 yards, medium to high trajectory, straight to slight draw shape, with rollout to about 260 - 265. To be honest the shaft feels a bit too stiff - "boardy" is a term I see used here a lot. I tend to have to force the release to square up the face at impact. My typical 7 iron carry is 155 yards. 48 years old (40 years golfing!) Handicap is 7.5

I am considering the following shafts installed in a 9* or 10.5* Bang-o-Matic head. (Overall length will start at 46" - I may shorten to 45" or less as necessary):

Accuflex Icon v3; Penly ETA 55; Pro Force 65 ATR; Fujikura Vista Pro 60; Harrison Striper J / J70 -- considering all these in R or F flex.

All thoughts and recommendations are most welcome. Thanks!

Len

[natgolfer]

Hi,
I am building a component driver(Bang-o-matic) and would welcome everyones input on shaft selection and clubhead loft.

I currently play a MacGregor v-foil 410cc, 9*, with the stock Graphite Design 55 gram shaft in S flex. Carry distance is 235 - 245 yards, medium to high trajectory, straight to slight draw shape, with rollout to about 260 - 265. To be honest the shaft feels a bit too stiff - "boardy" is a term I see used here a lot. I tend to have to force the release to square up the face at impact. My typical 7 iron carry is 155 yards. 48 years old (40 years golfing!) Handicap is 7.5

I am considering the following shafts installed in a 9* or 10.5* Bang-o-Matic head. (Overall length will start at 46" - I may shorten to 45" or less as necessary):

Accuflex Icon v3; Penly ETA 55; Pro Force 65 ATR; Fujikura Vista Pro 60; Harrison Striper J / J70 -- considering all these in R or F flex.

All thoughts and recommendations are most welcome. Thanks!

Len

You have an excellent list of replacement shafts and the Graphite Design shafts also have a good reputation.

Among others, here are two things to consider. One, while all shafts obviously look the same, if the tip area is stiffer/thicker, the shaft will feel boardy and the ball flight will be a little lower. A softer tip with a comparable or slightly lower frequency might eliminate this harsh feel. Example: Both the SK Fiber Lite Revolution and Pure Energy "S" shafts are recommended for swing speeds of 100 mph and over, and they frequency about the same, and yet the LR has a stiff tip while the PE has a softer one. The PE feels great to a smooth swinger while the LR has the feeling that you describe.

Two, if possible, have you existing driver's frequency measured, and then when installing the new one, have it cut at about 10 cpm's less than what your current driver is. This is probably best done though, with the same brand of shaft but at the next lower flex. I am sure that you know that one shaft companies "R" is not the same as another's, so going from a GD "S" to an Accuflex "R" may not give you satisfactory results. I hate to confuse the issue even more but one driver's 9 degree loft may not perform the same as another with the same number.

Also, have the shaft spined if possible before frequencied as quite frequently, the CPM's in one location are very different from another. The other day I did an Aldila iron shaft that was 279 cpm in the flexible plane and 287, ninety degrees away. That is almost a full flex difference.

If you want to get some information on shafts go to dynacraftgolf.com, Technical Resources, Shaft Info and then scroll down the page to the "Chapter 2" at the bottom.