Choosing the right golf shaft is crucial for maintaining consistency and achieving the correct length. If you’re uncertain about your choice, crucial attributes and primary components, fear not because we got your back.
We have an objective, detailed, and informative review of the best driver shafts.
But first, let us look at evaluation criteria factors:
1. The Feel
Feel and response are important aspects for golfers. The best driver shafts should allow a comfortable feel to make sure the desired club swing is achieved. You should be able to evaluate how the shaft feels on the downswing -either slow or fast.
And you should also determine if the feel affects the quality of a shot. These are things you test on a new club to ensure that the wrong feel doesn’t undermine your efforts.
The bottom line is, if the shaft doesn’t feel right, don’t fear rejecting it and changing till you find the right one.
2. Speed
One of the commonly overlooked things when it comes to finding the right driver shafts is understanding how weight affects the swing speed. Depending on the direction you choose, a slight difference in weight can cause a significant clubhead speed difference.
If you are an amateur, older, or a slower golfer, you should go for the lighter shafts. With this, you can maintain the maximum swing speed to your peak and reduce fallout from losing strength. However, if you are a professional and experienced golfer, the weight has less influence on the speed.
3. Consistency
When looking for a driver shaft, you want one that is exceptionally durable, consistent, and reliable. While regular golfing reduces the consistency of a shaft, but this shouldn’t happen a short duration after purchasing.
That said, you can measure a shaft’s consistency by determining how every shot comes from the face and if there’s a pattern developed that you can rely on. Gauging this reliability can take some time on your part but it’s a worthwhile venture if you want to enjoy and excel in the game.
4. Response
A spectator may not note the difference a new shaft can bring on the response during an impact or a swing.
But a golfer can reject a driver shaft if it doesn’t feel right especially during a backswing. You may experience either too rigid or too soft a response when the club comes back to square. This will affect your confidence and motivation.
A driver can fix this by replacing the iron or driver set. With it, you’ll have a shaft that responds well to swing to build your confidence to play the game.
5. Driver Shafts Distance
Even when you get a consistent, responsive, and speed shaft, it doesn’t always translate to longer shots.
And the sad thing is that everything may look perfect on the surface only for you to realize the performance isn’t as great as you’d anticipated.
All these underscore the need to understand the driver shafts’ design of different brands to make an informed decision. Look for brands that are most successful and have proved records of shafts that guarantee great performance.
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Best Golf Shafts
1. UST Proforce V2 HL Golf Shaft
The UST Proforce V2 HL Golf Shaft was featured as among the best driver shafts in 2020 for beginners. It’s made from graphite, loud, and designed to be a race car. With it, you can enjoy the game and add exceptional yards to your drives.
This shaft has a stiffer tip for more control during impact with the ball.
Key Features and Benefits
- Made with amazing flex to allow the ball to get off the club face with angle and speed
- A great option for beginners who are looking for a well-made golf shaft
- Among the most affordable shaft in the market
- Terrific consistency with a stable response and feel especially from downswing to impact
- Excellent shaft with numerous backspin for great distance and length
2. Dynamic Gold True Temper Shaft
If you are looking for excellent and dependable steel shafts for your iron, you will find the Dynamic Gold True Temper is an incredible choice.
As among the most reliable and best golf shafts in the industry, it will offer you a low ball flight for a controlled and steady finish for the iron play.
Main Features and Benefits
- Designed for better compression at impact, thanks to its strong flexibility and consistency
- Made with variable wall technology for an exceptional feel and response
- You can easily customize it to suit your particular needs with just a few adjustments
- Provides several iron options and various weights for a heavier feel
Key Features and Benefits
- Can generate more club speed, thanks to its moderate weight
- As a 46 inch edition, it allows enough space to modify and customize
- Combined with the trusted driver head, this softer flex shaft can allow terrific distance
- It has a mid-level shot height that gives more control and the ball won’t go too high above the tee box
3. Matrix HD Radix S White Shaft
The Matrix HD Radix S White shaft is a tough shaft with a solid feel and guarantees great distance on a consistent basis.
It’s a 46” graphite shaft that allows the driver to customize it to suit individual circumstances or needs.
Main Features and Benefits
- A tough shaft that provides incredible consistency and length
- Maintains a reliable response during the swing and at impact
- Offers a solid feel
- Designed to promote high launch for a tall ball flight
- Enhances a softer landing, making it amazing for fairway woods
4. Fujikura Vista Pro 60 Shaft
The Fujikura Vista Pro 60 shaft is among the best driver shafts as it has been manufactured by a reputable company known for its excellence in designing different types of shafts. But something noteworthy, it that it’s an upgrade of the old TaylorMade model.
It’s a graphite shaft that comes with thin walls but with the company’s patented ‘cage’ it feels rigid without the experience of extra weight.
Main Features and Benefits
- The shaft boosts swing speeds several MPH thus creating distance with ease
- Works perfectly for those seeking to upgrade their older TaylorMade model that has lost its snap
- Maintains consistency, thanks to its launch angle
- Designed to the standard length – take out of the box and use
- It has excellent grip and feel
- Come with amazing instructions even for newbies to use
5. Project X HZRDUS T800 Green 65 Driver Shaft
As one of the best golf shafts in the market, the Project X Hzrdus T800 Green 65 shaft is designed with different adapters making it versatile for driver heads.
Even though it’s this versatile, it is moderately weighted and solid throughout the body. This allows extraordinary distance, moderate control, and mid-level spin output.
It’s known as among the strongest and stiff shaft that is equipped with a Golf pride grip and you are ready to go, straight from the box and ready for use.
Key Features and Benefits
- It has a Golf Pride grip for immediate use of the shaft without modification.
- For dependable distance and a slow feel, this shaft has low flex and remarkable strength throughout the swing
- Versatile and exceptionally rigorous, thanks to its tons of different adapters
- Made with a mid-launch setting to promote repeatable distance with consistent launch angle on each drive
6. Project X Even Flow Blue Shaft
This is the driver shaft to go for if you are looking for high-speed swings.
Designed to be flashy and attractive, it’s carefully made to be a top performer in offering an immediate response, amazing feel, and extraordinary distance. It also comes with a 46” uncut mold that allows the golfer enough length to customize to the desired length.
Key Features and Benefits
- Immediate response and firm grip for inspiring distance from the tee
- A flashy and sharp appearance that works well with various driver heads
- Offers an exceptional explosion into the golf ball, thanks to the mid-point kick
- Comes with uncut mold, allowing customization to the right length
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What makes the best driver shafts?
What makes the right driver shaft varies from one golfer to another. A beginner or a pro player would look for different things. But the bottom line is, the shaft should feel right, provide a firm grip, have exceptional distance, consistent swing speed, and swing with ease. Take your time to do your homework to determine what you want to achieve, how often you want to use it, and your budget.
Are expensive golf shafts worth it?
Yes and no. What brands sell are features and also prestige. There are some driver shafts that are too expensive but won’t deliver the desired outcome, say high swing speeds. So the price is not always proportional to quality.
And to answer your question, expensive shafts are worth it sometimes and not others.
What Determines the Shaft’s Swing Speed?
Weight and feel are the primary two things that affect swing speed. You should select the shaft that is lightweight if you are a beginner or elderly. But for experts, weight doesn’t have such a significant impact on the swing speeds.
What are the major types of Golf Shafts?
- The steel shafts. These are common among professional players who want accuracy, precision, and forceful impact over distance. They are rare among beginners. Most of them are made from carbon steel, though some brands use stainless steel.
- Graphite Shafts. These are the common types of shafts and because of their weight, manufacturers can modify the length at the expense of accuracy. They are less durable and more expensive than steel shafts as they can be used among amateurs, intermediate and professional players.
- Multi-material shafts. These are the new entrants in the market that you are likely to find in modern stores. Manufacturers use both graphite and steel to make this shaft that utilizes benefits from both materials. That is better accuracy, precision, speed, and distance. With this, golfers have more control over than would be possible on a graphite shaft. However, they are still new in the market and not as popular as graphite shafts.
What is the meaning of the Kick point?
The kick point is the height at which the shaft bends, thus determining the trajectory of the ball at each shot. If the kick point is low, it will result in a high trajectory and a high kick point triggers a golf ball trajectory.
You can also view the kick point as the highest point that your shaft bends during the downswing.
Golfers with a smooth transition and tempo are best suited for a high kick point as the shaft releases smoothly and the ball projects with a medium to low trajectory.
On the other hand, golfers with fast transitions and quick tempos are best suited for low to medium kick point. The low kick point releases the shaft speedily letting it fly long and high.
