Golf Shaft Fitting: How Does 'Transition' Affect Shaft Selection?
The transition is the change in direction of the golf club during the swing that occurs when the backswing ends and the downswing begins. Golfers vary a lot in the speed, force and tempo of their transition from smooth with a gradual acceleration to start the downswing to fast, forceful and very aggressive, to variations in between those two extremes.
The transition move has an important bearing on shaft stiffness fitting because it determines the initial bending force that is applied to the shaft by the golfer. In addition, the difference in how forceful the golfer begins the downswing can be important to determine the best shaft weight and the best swingweight/MOI of the club, i.e. the head weight feel of the club during the swing.
Typically if you have two golfers with the same clubhead speed, the one with a more forceful transition move will do better with a stiffer shaft (higher swing speed rating) than what would be normal for that swing speed, with a 10 to 20g heavier shaft weight and a swingweight in the area of 2 to 3 swingweight points higher than the golfer with a pause at the end of the backswing and a very smooth, gradual transition move to begin the downswing.
Golfers with a strong transition who end up with too light of a total weight and/or too light of a swingweight tend to experience a higher degree of off center hits, more heel side hits, and even the tendency to make a slight outside in path become more outside in.
Tom
Hi Tom, I hope your keeping well. Apologies in advance for digging up an old blog. My question is how can I tell what type of transition I have? I have went to a more old school swing after doing the Bradley Hughes drill series. While trying to hit the ball from and in to out path (the 4.30 approach) I am struggling to keep the driver shaft from coming over the plane. So I went for a heavier shaft Aldila NV 75 and shorter 43.5″. I’m hitting it straighter but lower and losing a bit of distance. I wonder… Read more »
SEAN Words rarely can convey exactly the differences between a smooth, average and forceful transition. References to known golf swings or better yet, different videos would be much better to get this information across. I can tell you that a good example of a forceful transition would be a player like Sergio or Ricky Fowler who both begin the downswing with a much more aggressive faster acceleration of the club. Examples of a smoother transition move would be players like Fred COuples or Ernie Els where you see a definite pause at the end of the backswing and then the… Read more »
Hi Tom, I’ve been having some problems with SW since I decided to increase my iron length. My irons changed to a D6 due to the added 1/4 inch and a low balance point with the project x 6.0 shafts. I am looking to reshaft with Nippon Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X flex…possibly soft stepped once. Are you familiar with that shaft? Will it have a more normal balance point to get the SW down around D4 or does it have a low balance point like the Project X? Also, I average 112 mph with the driver and hit… Read more »
ADAM We just did finish doing the measurements on the Modus 3 shafts for our bend profile software. We find that they are very slightly butt heavy in their balance point design. So the swingweight should drop a little from that, but perhaps not a large amount. You do definitely fall into a typical X flex pattern with your iron distances. No question about that. But as to whether to say soft stepped or what, I can’t possibly tell you that. For high speed players with a late release and a lot of ball striking experience, it is impossible for… Read more »
I was just reading one of your articles on GolfWRX: Part 3: Facts about shafts, and what they do. Your conclusion said: “The flex (overall stiffness) and bend profile (distribution of stiffness over the length of the shaft) are without question an important performance element of the golf club – but only to golfers whose point of release is later in the downswing. In addition, the flex and bend profile of the shaft becomes more of a performance element in the shot as the golfer’s clubhead speed gets higher and their transition and tempo gets more aggressive. So for golfers… Read more »
KENNY I am saying that FROM A PERFORMANCE standpoint, the early to early-mid release player is not going to see any real difference in launch angle, trajectory or spin rate from shafts of different stiffness design. I want to be sure you do not mistake this from the way that a shaft’s stiffness design can affect the impact feel of a shot for ALL GOLFERS most definitely also including early to early mid release players. So rather than think to use any old shaft, it still is best for the early to early mid release player to be fit for… Read more »
Hi Tom,I’ve been having problems with a recent fit and would love to get your opinion on the matter. I was fitted by a very reputable fitting and clubmaking company here in Ireland in the summer of last year. I am a 5 handicap 19 year old 5’11” 185 lbs athletic build. My swing speed ranges from 114-118 mph with the driver and is 96 mph with a 7 iron and I have an aggressive transition. I was fitted for the Grafalloy blue (white version) 60 gram in the driver and 3 wood and x100 SL (109 gram) in the… Read more »
DONN: JUst about everything you told us about with regard to your swing characteristics and your experiences with different clubs with different weight shafts does point to the fact that you need to have a heavier shaft to increase the TOTAL WEIGHT of the clubs to better match to your timing, tempo and preferred sense of feel for the clubs when you swing them. Typically when you have a golfer who is younger and thus probably stronger physically WITH an aggressive transition move and a higher than average clubhead speed, that type of golfer tends to do better with graphite… Read more »
Tom, your reply was very helpful and I really appreciate the level of detail. The fitter has agreed to replace all the shafts with heavier ones at their own expense. Thanks again.
Hi Tom For a long time, I have believed it was ‘me’ and not my tools that was the cause of my swing inconsistencies. I’m troubled to have recently learned (from a new golf coach) that I have invested a huge amount of practice and lessons with irons that aren’t suited to me. I’ve enjoyed learning about shafts through your website forums, and can safely say your final paragraph in your blog entry above describes me to a “T”. I have been playing with NSPro 950s Reg. I’ve been told (and agree) that they are too light and too soft.… Read more »
Tracy I hear what you are saying and based on my many yrs of experience, with your needs with your swing and playing experience and ability to note differences in shafts, you really do need to find a good clubfitter with whom to work to get what you precisely want. I can’t help you as much as you would like because to do that I have to SEE your swing characteristics and know all your impact data. And even then I can’t know what YOUR specific feel likes and dislikes are from this far away. That again is something that… Read more »
Tom I have been playing for more than 30 years holding a handicap of 5 or lowerI have owen many sets of irons Miura Epon Callaway Ping to name a few including few custom fittings I came across some of your replies on a golf forum which made total sense to me regarding club fittings. So few weeks ago I visited a local club fitter and purchased a combo set of 575MMC 3-AW plus PCF Micro SW the look and feel of these heads are second to none and when placed behind the ball they are very pleasing to the… Read more »
AZ It’s good to hear you realize the importance of the weighting of your clubs to your tempo and timing. Typically it is true that the more forceful and abrupt the transition move and faster and more aggressive the overall downswing tempo, the HEAVIER the clubs need to be to help you try to prevent being too quick with your overall tempo. Since you are using the DG shaft, you already have one of the heaviest shafts you can use. So you already have the total weight up there at about as high of a level as is possible. so… Read more »
Tom i have changed irons to a more modern cavity back design from a blade style iron. Hoping new technolgy would bring more consistancy. The new irons are .25 longer with the same swing weight but i know the shafts are about 20 grams lighter. I can not make the new irons preform as good as my older blades. I have read that shaft weight is important for quicker tempos but mine is very smooth and deliberat. Could it be that i just need the heavier shaft to keep my tempo smooth. Thanks, Chris
CHRIS based on more years in this industry than I sometimes now care to remember (!!), I would bet the farm that the reason for your inconsistency with the cavity backs has nothing to do with the head model change (unless the lofts and/or lies are different in the two models) but is coming from something in the shaft weight, total weight and/or swingweight of the new irons not fitting YOU and your sense of feel, your swing timing and tempo. First things first, you need to find out if it is a shaft weight or swingweight issue before you… Read more »