Every seasoned golfer knows that choosing the right kind of golf equipment is very important if you want to unleash your best performance on the course. Unfortunately, one minor detail that some golfers fail to take into consideration when purchasing their golf equipment is shaft flexibility.
What's A Club's Flex & How It Affects Your Game
Simply put, a golf club’s flex is the degree to which its shaft will bend during a swing. More flexible shafts have the potential to produce longer-ranged shots. However, it’s not a simple matter of choosing the most flexible shaft available on the market since more flexible shafts may mean diminished accuracy as they also tend to twist more.
Obviously, choosing the right flex for you can improve your swing performance, so if possible, you might want a professional assess which flex suits you best. They will evaluate your swing and speed to recommend the perfect flex for you.
Shaft Flex - The Different Categories Available
Golf equipment manufacturers rate their shafts in terms of their degree of flexibility, which is simply referred to as flex in golf lingo. Usually, there are five different categories a shaft might belong to such as:
However, some professional golfers prefer to use shafts rated XX, which means that they are stiffer than shafts with extra stiff flex (X) and definitely not recommended for most players.
How To Determine Your Flex
The simplest way to know your correct shaft flex is to visit a golf equipment store and have your swing evaluated. Another method is to choose your shaft’s flex depending on your swing speed and carry distance.
Senior flex vs Regular flex – A comparison
Regular flex and senior flex golf clubs are among the most popular golf clubs in terms of flexibility. For this reason, one of the most commonly asked questions among golfers is whether they should buy a regular flex club or a club with senior flex. Keep in mind that these two different types of clubs are geared for different types of golfers so neither is necessarily better than the other – each has its own set requirements to maximize your game performance.
Remember, senior flex clubs only refer to the club’s flexibility and not the player’s age. If your distance and swing speed fit the requirements of a senior flex club, then it might be the best-suited senior flex for you even if you are not yet sixty years old. Of course, you can also opt to have your swing speed evaluated by a professional and ask him to recommend the right flex for you.
Do You Need To Change Shaft Flex As You Age?
Let’s face reality for a moment and accept that older players are not as spry and energetic compared to their younger selves. As we grow older, changes in our bodies result in our strength declining by a bit and our bodies not as flexible as before. Unfortunately, these changes will inevitably affect our golf performance.
A time may soon come that your swing speeds and carry distance will not be as amazing as before. To offset these changes, a change in shaft flex becomes a necessity. However, there is no rule as to when you need to shift because some players have the amazing ability to maintain their bodies’ performance at its peak longer than others.
One Last Thing – It’s How You Play The Game
In life, there are always trade offs when you make a decision and that also applies in golf equipment as well. When it comes to choosing a club’s flex, the tradeoff is between distance and accuracy.
When choosing a senior flex golf club, you may achieve greater clubhead speed due to its flexibility resulting in a greater distance. However, you need to also consider that choosing such a shaft might result in a loss of accuracy given the excessive torque.
On the other hand, a regular flex club might give you better control and accuracy but at the cost of a reduced distance. If you really want to maximize your performance, you need to experiment a little bit to determine which flex is best-suited for a particular swing. It might even be necessary for you to use multiple clubs with different flexibilities throughout the game to come out on top.
