Anyone gone from Stiff to XS?

[davidp]

Hmmmm... interesting thread title.

Firstly, greetings from Uruguay. Cold, windy and wet winter. Good looking women, very friendly people, expensive cars & electronics, bureaucracy gone mad, free golf on Mondays. Nothing else you need to know. Come and visit sometime. :)

Anyway, I've recently gone from a stiff shaft in my driver to an extra-stiff. I was really worried as to how I would handle it, whether my arms were going to fall off, or whether I was going to be able to get the ball off the ground.

But, surprisingly, I've been able to really straighten out my drives. I used to have a fade, but now hit it dead straight or with a bit of a draw. Admittedly, on a really bad swing, I'll cut it right, but these are now about once per round. I would have thought going from a stiff (about 255 CPM) to x-stiff (275 CPM) (SK Fiber Lite Rev II and Graman Limey to Fuji E-50 and a Fuji Speeder 669), I would have hit it further right.

So, I ended up reshafting my 3-wood to an XS as well, and have managed to straighten out the ball flight on that club too.

I'm now waiting on a set of forged CBs from the States with Rifle 6.0s in them, and am hopeful of getting them before spring. (Customs are on strike here). I'm curious to see how they will stack up against my Nippon 950GHs which are a stiff, but feel more like a firm.

Interested in other people's experiences.

[markTHEblake]

Good one Dave

I have Rifle Lite 6.5's in my irons. They are a high bend firm tip, so i get a fairly low ball flight. I dont know what they were tipped/trimmed to but I expect they had to be softened, either that or the Lites are not the same as normal Rifles.

In any case I think I might go the other direction to you. Get a softer shaft with firm tip, or same flex softer tip. Cos I am wondering if my tendency to flip, is a result of correctin the X stiff and firm tip shaft.

On the other hand I probably have been flipping before that and thats why he set me up that way.

[BrisVegas]

I've thought about trying XS at some point. Every time I do those clubfit things they always suggest X100's for irons and X flex graphite for driver. I have never actually tried a set of X's though.

I have noticed a better dispersion with a stiffer shaft in my driver, but it could be the difference in shaft profile between a UST V2 and Grafalloy Blue (both marked 'S', but the Blue is 10cpm stiffer).

[Webster]

I have been everywhere from R300 all the way to Rifle Project X 7.0 (and back), but have now come back to PING Microtaper stiff (more like firm though). I found the stiffer shafts do compensate for the dreaded "flip" that Blake is talking about, but after a while I tended to form bad swing habits because if you don't flip those extra stiffies then it can be hard to get the clubface on plane thru the ball.

So I had a lesson, learnt to hit the ball properly through impact, stopped flipping and went back to a softer shaft and my iron play has improved significantly.

Good luck.

Jack.

[sms316]

I went to X100 a couple of years ago. Ball flight went a little lower, had slightly less spin, and a straighter ball flight.

No noticable distance change, but a much better reaction.

[goughy]

I have an X in my 3 wood. I love it.

[Moe Norman]

goughy, if thats the 3-wood you got off me, its the softest X ever - thats why i sold it!

[goughy]

I still claim it's an X!!!! ;)

[Flowergirl]

I still claim it's an X!!!! ;)

Typical male ego;)

[v205]

SMS316, did you find that you have to change your wedge shafts to X100 also?

I just found out the X100 is lighter than S300 by 3 grams.


I went to X100 a couple of years ago. Ball flight went a little lower, had slightly less spin, and a straighter ball flight.

No noticable distance change, but a much better reaction.

[markTHEblake]

I just found out the X100 is lighter than S300 by 3 grams.

Yeah that one has always confused me, that for the same model shaft, stiffness is determined by the weight. Surely there is something else that makes me less bendy like cooking em longer or something amazing like that :?

[v205]

And also that the pros mostly use X100 instead of X200 or X300.



Yeah that one has always confused me, that for the same model shaft, stiffness is determined by the weight. Surely there is something else that makes me less bendy like cooking em longer or something amazing like that :?

[Moe Norman]

SMS316, did you find that you have to change your wedge shafts to X100 also?

I just found out the X100 is lighter than S300 by 3 grams.I play X100's in my irons and when I got some new wedges I put X100's in them too.

I hated the wedges and now I just play normal wedge flex shafts in them and seem to hit them much better.

No explanation for this though.

[davidp]

Yeah that one has always confused me, that for the same model shaft, stiffness is determined by the weight. Surely there is something else that makes me less bendy like cooking em longer or something amazing like that :?

Blakey, being a bit of an equipment novice, I would have naturally assumed that TT (Rifle, Nippon etc...) would make the walls of the shaft a little thicker as the shaft got stiffer.

However, the X100 vs S300 specs blows that theory out of the water.

So, I've got no idea. :?

Moe, I recently picked up a Ping wedge with a Rifle 5.5. For some reason, it just feels really good to me. It will be interesting to see how it goes with the new set with Rifle 6.0s.

[goonie]

Parallel DGs X flex have a shorter tip section and a longer butt section but the same step pattern as the S flex.
Taper X flex has a different step pattern.

But the TT site lists the X100 flex as heavier, in both parrallel and taper, than S or R flex.
http://www.truetemper.com/golf/dynamicgold.asp