 Right welcome back to the average golfers channel and today we're going to be looking at driver shafts and we're going to see is it a myth? Do they actually make a difference? One is 60 grams stiff the other is 45 grams lady shaft. How much difference is there going to be in terms of performance? Right so the first question is what are the differences with these drivers apart from the weight? Well the major difference is the length of the shaft. There's an inch difference between the ladies and the men's driver shaft. There's also a slight difference in terms of the kick point but we're not going to get into all that kind of detail. But the important thing is what does it mean in terms of results? What will it mean in terms of clubhead speed? What will it mean in terms of ball speed? And then what will it mean in terms of dispersion and control of that driver head? Now the first thing is is I want input from you. What are you expecting to see? Because I know there's a large majority of people who think there's a myth behind the shaft and how much part it plays in terms of our performance. I'm of the opinion that driver shaft. Shaft club in general makes a massive difference to your performance and is the key element in my opinion of custom fit. But that's just my opinion. I want to know what yours is. Right so we're going to back all this up with data obviously and we're going to start with the lightest shaft. Don't forget 45 grams shorter shaft than the head we're going to use is the the big birth of b21 driver head which I found really kind of user friendly this year. And here's a couple of balls we've got a fairway set up at Paris International because we're going to do first of all maybe not all out in terms of pace but if I've got to find a fairway off the tee and we're going to get more control with this shorter shaft so it's all about whether or not we can find a slight dog leg left to right and see if we can hit a fairway first of all. I'll also tell you what I notice as soon as I've got this shaft in my hand. I think that should be over the corner of there. That's a pretty solid drive to be fair. Is it going to carry? Well it's over. We've got kind of a look at the numbers on this one later but I think that's about that's 220 odd carry. Pretty much what I'd expect. We'll just make a slight alteration with our aim and see if we can get that one finding the kind of middle. I'd certainly take what we've just uh what we've just hit there that's further down the left. So that's down the left hand side if anything there's just a bit of left to right on the ball flight bang in the middle of a fairway. The first thing I will tell you is this putting this shaft in hand club in hand it feels incredibly light and it just encourages I don't know I always think this is a weird thing is it encourages a more slower rhythmical swing as odd as that may sound it just encourages you. I mean if you see the sort of flex in this shaft oh you can pick that up it looks like I mean I lent on it earlier I thought I was going to snap it in half and it sort of like I said it gets you to slow down but what I've not seen yet and we'll get to it later is a real drop off in clubbed speed even though I feel like I'm swinging a whole lot slower. Right I've just changed the shaft um and just to let you know 10 and a half degree drive ahead obviously that's not changing uh stated loft neutral in terms of the settings there's no changes there whatsoever but yeah first thing that's a massive noticeable difference and certainly from changing from one to the other is the actual weight of the club itself. I always get confused with this because 15 grams difference seems very minimal in terms of a shaft weight or an additional weight but it makes a massive difference and the biggest difference in the swing for me is that when you're at that top of the swing you just seem to a whole lot more effort is required to get that clubbed back down to the starting position and try to square it up with impact but that's just straight from one to the other. Same fairway see what we can do in terms of finding it with this shaft. A solid strike again slightly down the right hand side it's almost identical to the first shot that we played there with the lighter shaft. I don't think it would be a great deal to split them whatsoever. I don't know the carry distance but there's yards to split them. We're going to make that same sort of uh adjustment clearly but you can slightly down the right see if we can find the middle. That better or we're then almost like a replay of each other in terms of the first two shots. Do you know what I don't think there will literally be a yard or two separating those two but the one noticeable thing is and I'm almost out of breath is what you don't realise is how much more effort is required with that 60 gram shaft so straight away I would think that kind of from a tempo perspective it loses it slightly so whereas again go back to the first club that I hit or the first shaft I hit that 45 gram shaft I feel really in charge of the clubbed I feel as I'm swinging nice and easy whereas with this shaft it's the one noticeable difference in hitting the ball is that extra bit of effort required and I don't know whether that's good or bad I don't know whether again it slightly forces you a little bit. Right so I've gone ahead and collected data with both clubs and that one overriding thing that keeps coming back to me is the amount of effort that's required into swinging both the clubs and you know honestly collecting 10 shots with that heaviest shaft it just means that extra effort was required I recognise that and what I mean by that it's not an energy thing it's not like you're struggling with this club like I said I don't exaggerate this is 15 grams worth of difference in the shaft weight but it's noticeable about how much effort was required to get that club head through. I go back to the initial question people say that club shaft rather just play not a great part in in this whole process and I would say it's a massive difference my question is to me on a personal level is what do I want to feel like on that first tee do I want to feel like I've got to go after a ball in terms of the shaft that I've got in or do I want to feel like I can just stroke the ball away and take it nice and easy and then I think later on in the round the only other thing I'd be questioning is reversing that and when I'm warmed up and when I'm three four five holes in you want to really go after a drive and you feel like you know you're swinging the club well you're hitting drive well it's at that time you want to just try and really go after one would that light shaft make such a difference then and that's a question I'm still not sure of now this video is all about people who've got a an open mind and a b like to be data led because this is where it gets really interesting and it certainly tells a tale and one that shocked me a little bit I'll be honest with you I think for me I said the sort of 60 gram stiff shaft is something that I was perhaps using maybe two or three years ago my swing speed has definitely altered slightly my current driver shaft is 50 gram regular and again I made that change simply because of well what's happening this data and it's a real sort of well it's an eye opener to say the least but let's have a look at the first of all start with that 60 gram stiff shaft which if I'm honest with you was a little heavy for me did struggle with it and it's more to do with showing the difference between the two they're almost extreme so look at that 93 mile an hour clubbed speed don't forget this was the inch longer shaft 93 mile an hour clubbed speed ball speed 135 spinning 3000 revs and average of 217 yards which was really low indeed and a peak height 84 feet which was again it was a fairly low ball flight very quickly switch over to that light 45 gram lady shaft which was one inch short of the normal club head speed became one mile an hour faster and that again defies logic to me because we've got the longest shaft in theory we should be generating more clubbed speed well it didn't happen we generated more with that lighter shaft so that's the first telltale sign ball speeds 140 ball speed on average compared to 135.9 now apart from the fact that we were generating a little bit more clubbed speed it suggests we are finding the middle of that club face a little bit more often as well to gain as much as five mile an hour then you got that spin rate 3147 almost similar again if you go across the averages you could pick pick holes in any of that but it's very very similar indeed but in that carry distance of 225 again not the longest driver I've ever hit but don't forget this is swinging very much within yourself about finding fairways trying to be accurate remain controlled but at 225 look at the list of what is it one to nine there they're almost identical in terms of the carry distance launching at 14.4 very similar but at peak height of 98 again slightly higher spinning on this on average then I want to finish off with this one which is the dispersion chart the red dots that you're looking at now are again with the ladies 45 gram shaft and the blue dots are that of the 60 gram stiff and you see that on all ends up in performance in terms of ball speeds in performance in terms of carry then in terms of control and dispersion the ladies 45 gram shaft was by far the better performing shaft and for me it shows a couple of things is one that shaft makes a huge difference in your performance and the club that you use the drive that you choose it cannot be any more black and white the differences are massive there but it also doesn't matter what your perception is of what your swing speed is what your kind of like always used to play in in my case for years I always use the stiff driver shaft and clearly again whether things have changed over the years I don't know but it's just about being open to the fact that there are other options in there that may prove more beneficial for you and that's that thing about if you go and get custom fit I can't stand this idea of anybody who starts off directing you towards a shaft type based on your swing speed with your current drive that you have in the bag and that's a no-no for me wherever it starts from yes start there but be very open and ask to try a number of different shafts at either end of the spectrum to make sure you're definitely getting the best custom fit for you big eye opener like I said I wasn't quite expecting those results I swung the club like I said nice and easy I hit the ball reasonably well today as well in terms of finding fairways fairly straight more than happy with performance and I think that was a fair assessment of those two driver shafts and like I said a real shock and hopefully opens the eyes to what you're going to maybe try next time you go and get custom fit that's me finished nice and easy that one no more I can go it's not complicated with you very simple and straightforward data led as I said right hit that like button comments down below would like to know your findings if similar or if totally different either way put them in the comments I love to hear from you and I'll see you all soon