Last week, I made a comment that every company makes their version of vanilla ice cream. If it’s heads or shafts, balls or grips, bags or shoes, we all try to appeal to certain target groups of consumers. This is OUR lane. We do what we do. Most manufacturers have multiple lanes. Sometimes we switch to a different lane – like trying to make a tour golf ball in a world where there was really only one. HOW are we going to make OUR version of a different version of a tour ball. What will be our Vanilla Ice Cream when it comes to Tour balls? Interesting thought.

When it comes to sitting in your seat, the options become really fun. If you have a player who swings it over the top and slices it – EVERY company makes a driver in that “lane”. Which one you try to use for that player will be how you try to solve a problem for that player. You will stay in the lane of each manufacturers draw biased driver head, or at least one that can move a weight to guard against the right miss. You will continue with shaft selection to dial in the final spec.

When it comes to shaft selection, it’s almost like voodoo. So many choices. It’s dumb luck if you find the right one, right? Or is it??

If I take myself as an example, it’s an interesting study because I can show what I’ve played over the last 9 years. For my golf swing, I know what shafts tend to work best for me. Same for you, and for everyone. If you stay in that lane, you will find many shaft choices that are close or good enough, but you may get lucky enough to find “the one”. When it’s time to change one part (the head, for example, is a pretty big part), you have to get back into your lane and try different complimentary options. When fitting other players – know what “lane” their current gamer is in. Is that the right lane for the player, or have they just learned how to make it work? Can you stay in that lane and make it even better for them? Or, is it worth changing to a different lane?

This is what separates a great fitter from the good ones. The great ones know the “Lanes” from every manufacturer. They know what shafts from what companies are in the same lanes and can find the right lane quickly. Once they find that lane, they stay in that lane and work with the options from several different companies to find the optimal match. To illustrate what I mean here, I’m going to show you my “lane”. I mentioned a bunch of driver shafts that I have personally used, and the heads I used them in. Here is a list for you:

Elyte –> Aretera EC 6 Stiff (humoring you to add this in).

Paradym Smoke –> Fuji Ventus Blue Velocore+ 6X

Paradym –> Graphite Design CQ 6 Stiff

Rogue Max LS –> Fuji Ventus Blue Velocore 6 Stiff

Epic Speed Max LS –> Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 6 Stiff

Mavrik Sub Zero –> Diamana Blue BF 60 Stiff

Epic Flash Sub Zero –> Graphite Design Tour AD-TP 6 Stiff

Rogue Sub Zero –> Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 6 Stiff

Epic –> Diamana Blue 6 Stiff

XR Sub Zero –> Diamana Blue 6 Stiff

Hmmm. Is he a psycho? He tries a new shaft every year… Or, I find one that works the best while staying in my lane. That is 9 years worth of drivers. I used a different shaft every time except one, and that was because the XR Sub Zero came out in August and Epic came out in January. The AD-DI from Epic Flash to Epic Max was a new version… Notice that the manufacturer changes, but not really the shaft? The shaft changes are simply new versions of the same ones I’ve previously played and had success with.

So here is the lesson. Clearly, this is my lane. I know my lane, but what is MY lane? First, know that I add weight to the head – always. I like a heavier head, and I want to be able to feel it in the swing. I like shafts that allow me to do that. Ones that are in the mid 3* torque range. 65-70 gram weight range. I like a softer middle section, a little firmer in the hands, and I tend to leave the tip stiffness up to what the head does to get the flight and trajectory that I want. Mid launch, low spin, mid trajectory. I’m 10 years older, but I still swing it about the same. Each one of these shafts is similar – but slightly different. Each is their own flavor of vanilla ice cream. They might be plain vanilla, vanilla with chocolate chips, vanilla with caramel, etc. – same basic thing but slightly different. Learn these similarities from each company and you’ll be on your way to becoming a great fitter.

Here’s the important piece to understand when it comes to shafts. I used the vanilla ice cream example above. Vanilla ice cream could be the group of shafts that work for me. Chocolate ice cream could be the group of shafts that work for someone else. That group could be Project X Denali Black, Aldila Rogue, Fuji Ventus Black, Mitsubishi Kai’li White, etc. Strawberry ice cream might be Project X Cypher, Mitsubishi Eldio, etc. Make sense? Knowing what is similar to something else is what keeps you on track.

What, exactly, do you do with this information? Simple, remember the job of each part of the golf club. The head is what hits the golf ball and should correct for the biggest misses. If he’s a slicer, the draw biased head should get the ball flying relatively straight. Use the shaft to further fine tune. This will have the single biggest influence on the resulting shot. Bar none. Once you get pretty close with a head and shaft combination, try other shafts in that lane. Look for smaller misses, and a more consistent starting line. THIS is what will help the player drive it better or play better with whatever club you are fitting him for.

The clubhead will have 10x more influence on the result than the shaft. Don’t believe me? Play an imaginary game with me. Hit a few shots with your driver (in your mind). You can picture the shot? Great. Now, if you were able to take your driver shaft and put it in your pitching wedge, what would happen to the shot? Yep. Picture a 45 3/4″ PW with 43* of loft. Same shot or different? Clearly, it would go higher and shorter, right? It would have more spin. But this is a low launching, low spin shaft. LOL – the HEAD makes it do that. The SHAFT properties are relative to other shafts, NOT overall golf clubs. This example is simply easier to visualize than two different driver heads as the results will be more subtle. The job of the shaft is twofold – it is giving feel to the player, and it returns the head to the ball at impact (hopefully squarely). If you look at the shafts I’ve used, ALL of them return the clubhead to square at impact FOR ME similarly. THIS is what puts them all in the same LANE.

The shaft doesn’t make the ball go significantly higher or lower, spin significantly more or less, it simply feels different, and it returns the head to the golf ball slightly differently. You want to hit it higher? Add loft. Don’t try to find a softer tip shaft – you won’t get enough of a difference, and you’ll notice the player can’t square the face. You want to reduce spin? Reduce the loft. Look at the golf swing data and estimate how much spin is added by attack angle, path and face, and hit location. Each of these will have a significantly bigger influence on the spin of the shot than the shaft will.

Don’t believe me? I saw a video of a player being fit into a driver. The player was trying Ventus Blue, and it was a good combination. The fitter liked Ventus for the player, but he wanted to reduce spin, so he tried Ventus Black. The launch, height and spin went UP. So, he tried Ventus Red to check a box before he went back to Blue. The launch and spin went DOWN. The fitter was surprised. How is that possible? Remember, Black is a low launching, low spinning shaft, and Red is a high launching, mid spinning shaft? How is it possible?? Simple, there wasn’t enough torque on the shaft for the player, so the face stayed open with the Black. The resulting fade flew higher and added 700 RPM of Spin. With the Red, the higher torque allowed the player to close the face and hit a tiny little draw. With this type of shot, both the spin and the launch were lower. Not what you would have expected? The Ventus Black is NOT in this players lane, while the Ventus Red IS. What other shafts could this fitter try to get similar results? Diamana Blue? Hrzdus Silver? The new Tensei Blue? Graphite Design CQ? Yes, yes, yes, and yes!! These are all in the same lane. All of them has a VERY good chance of working well for this player.

Case in point. Look at my shaft list above. Suppose I was hitting the Diamana blue well, but I wanted to tinker with something different – it makes no sense to go to a Diamana White. Diamana White is for a different player. I am a Diamana BLUE PLAYER, NOT A DIAMANA PLAYER (or even a Mitsubishi shaft player (meaning trying Tensei won’t make much sense either)). The options are with other companies, NOT other shafts within the same company. Going to AD-DI or Ventus Blue make sense. Chances are much better that you will find a better match in this arena than any other.

Understanding how the golf swing can also influence the results is what separates an elite fitter from everyone else. Every year, a new crop of shafts emerges. Spend the time with each of them and learn how they react. Find the lane that each of them belongs in. Once you learn that, you’re on your way to becoming an elyte fitter. Get it? Haha.

Like the ice cream analogy? This is a club fitting in and ice cream shop world. The first thing they have to decide is do they want dinner, desert, drinks or something else (this is WHAT they want to get new in their golf bag). They decided on Ice cream (to buy a new driver), and the person comes into your ice cream shop. Now they have to decide on what they want – cone, sundae, bar, yogurt… (this is the head they need). Say it’s a cone – what kind of ice cream do we want in there (this is your shaft)? Whipped cream, sprinkles, a cherry? (this is your small details – fine-tuned settings on the head, grip, etc.). Give ’em a spoon and let ’em go enjoy!! You like that?? Back to reality.

Happy Fitting!!!

Jim Yeager, PGA