The flex in a golf shaft -- the shaft is the part of the club between the grip and the clubhead itself -- is a measure of the amount of bend in the shaft. Players with fast and powerful swings, such as Tiger Woods and Fred Couples, who generate clubhead speeds of over 100 mph, need a shaft with little flexibility to give them a maximum amount of control. Beginners or those with slower swings want a club with more flexibility to maximize the distance they hit the ball.
Importance
Flex is the most important factor in a golf shaft. According to Golf-Information, if the flex doesn't match the speed of your swing, the clubface will be misaligned to the target when you strike the ball. In short, "your flex will impact how straight you hit the ball, how high or low it goes and how long or short it travels." If your flex is too stiff, a right-handed golfer will tend to hit the ball with the clubface open, facing to the right, and the shots will slice or fade. If your flex is too whippy, you will tend to hit with a closed clubface facing left and your shots will hook.
Types
There are five types of swing flex. The most rigid shaft is described as extra stiff. Only a professional or a strong and talented amateur will find extra stiff shafts comfortable. The other types of shafts are stiff, regular, senior and ladies. The categories are somewhat misleading. An older golfer with a slow swing might be better off with a ladies shaft. A professional woman golfer who routinely drives the ball 275 yards or more is likely to require clubs with stiff or extra stiff shafts.
Basic Club Fitting
Determining the appropriate shafts with the proper flex for your swing is a critical part of club fitting. For golfers at the beginning stages, you can roughly figure out an appropriate flex by using easy-to-find charts. At the Learning About Golf website, swing speeds are matched to shaft flexes. If your swing speed is 60 to 75 mph and you hit your driver 180 to 210 yards, you are suited to a senior shaft. If your swing speed is over 93 mph and you drive the ball over 260 yards, you should be in the market for clubs with extra stiff shafts.
Custom Club Fitting
Custom club fitting is a high-tech method of precisely measuring the best clubs for you. A golf professional will observe and analyze your swing speed with the help of a launch monitor that tracks on a computer screen the distance, direction and trajectory of your shots. Once reserved almost exclusively for the pros, such precise fitting of clubs and shafts is now widely available to any golfer with the time and money to ensure his clubs fit.
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