Best Graphite Golf Shaft for a high swing speed player?

Question

I am a 6 handicapper and i have a high swing speed 115 mph + hitting the ball on the 300yd mark average. I was wondering what is a good graphite shaft that is extra stiff with a high kick (low trajectory) since i hit it on the high side. I am looking for the $30-80 range. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I am assuming that you are asking about a driver shaft, since you mention hitting 300yds.

Shaft brand is much less important than getting the right kick-point for your swing.  Shaft fitting can add significant distance to your drives.  Golf Digest did a experiment where they took like 100 club champions (in other words, good amateur golfers) and helped fit them for new shafts.  Simply by changing the shafts, they increased the drives for these club champions by an average of 17 yards.

The basics that you should be fit for are flex and kick-point.  With a swing speed of 115mph, you are on the cusp between stiff and x-stiff.  I recommend going to a golf shop and getting fit using a swing analyzer.  Try both stiff and x-stiff shafts in the exact same club and see which one goes farther.

The kickpoint is also **critical** in selecting the right shaft.  A swing analyzer will also help with this, but the basics are:  a low kick-point shaft will produce a higher ball flight, and a high kick-point shaft will produce a lower ball flight.  If you tend to hit your drives really high, then you probably need a shaft that will produce a low trajectory (high kick point).  If you are not sure what your normal trajectory is, definitely check it out on a swing analyzer.

Trajectory is very important in maximizing distance.  If the ball flight is not high enough, then you obviously lose distance.  If the ball flight is too high, you also lose distance because the ball's decent will be too steep and you will get no roll.  If your drives tend to hit the fairway and stop (you often see the ball's pitch mark or divot next to your ball in the fairway), then you know that you are hitting the ball too high.  The perfect decent angle is around 30 degrees.  The perfect launch angle is around 12 degrees.  Again, an advanced swing analyzer will be able to tell you all of this.

Putting the right shaft on my driver added 30 yards to my drives, but my original shaft was the absolute opposite of what I needed.

Answer 2

Taylor Made Golf- R7 Draw Rescue Hybrid Graphite

Answer 3

Contact a club repairer or club maker who is familiar with various graphite shaft flexes and get his opinion. It is enlightening to see so many future tour players on Yahoo who hit the ball 300 yards plus ( on average yet)!!