Here’s why this manufacturer WANTS you to measure your golf shaft

Spinning the shaft – or cutting a shaft into the end of the club head before installing it – is a bit of an internet taboo.

Most of the time, the discussion centers around internet forum users who turn their shafts because they feel like they have to, which usually isn’t the case. It’s also a standard on the PGA Tour, with guys like Gary Woodland and Neal Shipley tipping their drivers up to two inches. If they tip on tour, then surely we should tip at home, right?

The answer: kind of. The tip itself is a hot topic because there is a lot of confusion about what it actually does to the performance of a golf shaft. But that’s not what we’re talking about today; we will test the performance in more detail soon. Today I am talking about the moments when ANY The golfer should sharpen his golf shaft – and it is actually recommended by the manufacturer. It all centers around the weight of the head.

The way a golf shaft is measured and the way it behaves when driven are all calculated using a standard driver head weight. When building a golf club, the weight of the head will affect the profile of the golf shaft. When you add more head weight, the club will produce more drop and the shaft will bend more due to this extra weight. This changes the perceived feel and measured frequency (a way to measure flex) of the golf shaft. To combat that difference in flex and feel, the manufacturer suggests canceling the shaft.

If you search for the golf shaft you are building on the manufacturer’s website, in this case, a Mitsubishi Diamana RByou can find the proper tip guidelines they recommend to properly build the golf club. In this case, if we’re building a 5-wood for example, you’d want to turn this shaft 0.75″ per Mitsubishi’s recommendation.

What does it actually fix?

There are several things at play here.

The first is the overall flex measured after the club is built, which has a significant impact. If you take your driver and add 20 grams of weight to the clubhead, you’ll notice quite a difference in feel. The shaft would play much smoother and possibly lose its ability to time itself with your swing. This is equivalent to throwing over 5-wood head. But by turning the shaft, you’re taking some weight off the material at the tip, which often has the heaviest material weight in the first place, and you’re putting the balance point and the point of impact of the shaft back to “where it was” in the driver build.

Moving the balance point and pivot point to where it “should be” based on the profile design is really the key. By bending the shaft, you are making the shaft play closer to the original frequency (bend) that the shaft would have been if it had been installed in a driver structure. You’re also keeping more of the grip section in play with the fairway wood construction, which is a big component of making the shaft “feel” the same in the hands.

What if you are a player tipping the driver?

Always start with YOUR standard tip. If you turn your driver 1.00″ then I would suggest you turn the shaft 1.00″ and then advise from there. So in this case the 5-wood will be 1.75″ tip total and not just 0.75″. I do want this to come with a caveat though, because sometimes turning an axle too far will adversely affect the profile in the same way that not turning it back enough would, so make sure you have an authorized dealer or fitter, such as my friends at True Spechelp you and make sure it’s built right for your performance needs.

Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana RB Wood Shaft

The Diamana™ RB (Red Board) – the third profile in the latest generation – is designed with all the traditional branding that made Diamana so beloved – including a return to the original 53/63/73/83 weight class designations – and all the engineering prowess and material innovation that made the brand dominant on tour. Offering a slightly higher launch angle than the BB, the Diamana™ RB is designed to promote ease of launch while also maintaining control on the ground. The Diamana RB is a classic “Red Board” profile — unavailable since the 2nd Generation Diamana — that features an active tip section while retaining the same material technology package and low-torque control characteristics as its lower-end counterparts.

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