Shaft 'feel' descriptions

[ssp]

Curious how you describe the 'feel' of your driver shaft.

 

I would like to know your opinions on some of the more recent shafts and how you would describe their 'feel'.

 

Example:

 

Diamana D+ & Oban Devo - 'muted/heavy' type of feel versus 'crisp/light' feel.

Diamana original BB - light/crisp feel.

 

 

I prefer the original BB feel. I am curious which of the new shafts 'feel' this way. I can ready about performance characteristics but not necessarily the 'feel'.

 

Thoughts?

[Hot Rod 71]

I think you'll find that there are as many different descriptions of any given shaft as there are members on the forum.

Feel is subjective, and one man's "smooth and stable" is another man's "stout like rebar".

[Stillboard]

I played ProLaunch Red in a HiBoreXL for a few years. I prefer the feeling of it but can only describe it as solid and unboardy

[Lord Helmet]

About the only thing we can't quantify. Feel. The matrix black tie feels quite nice to me, but to others, they would just as well use it as rebar pouring a concrete pad.

[BMC]

"Lively" is word I like. Opposite of boardy.

[dunn]

Everyone gonna interpret this different, you surely can't base anything off other people's opinion.....

[ssp]

for those that provided an opinion - thank you.

I understand it is subjective.... but am interested in those opinions.

[Vintage1976]

I wind up comparing everything to either a

V2 - stable, tight, strong
Blueboard - smooth, but with a kick
HD6 - super smooth, still stable with a very dynamic feeling kick

Mostly because they have made the biggest impressions on me from a feel perspective. Most of the shafts wind up sort of mentally on a scale somewhere between these, unless I feel like it's too stiff for my swing and I don't load it at all or it feels far too flexible and I wouldn't consider playing it for that reason.

[jmilt13]

Reminds me of the documentary Somm, and all the absurd descriptors they use for wine.. This shaft feels like a distressed wire coat hanger from a cheap motel... its from the "Made for" region of China.

[mistercoffee1]

I don't know what smooth is, and I keep hearing it.
Is it soft, or muted, or lack of kick, or the opposite of harsh? Is it bendy, or lack of it?

I know what too stiff feels like, too soft, too heavy, too light. I can feel a kick. I know the feel of a forged blade or persimmon on a balata ball.

So what is smooth?

[KrazyTrain18]

AD-DI 6S - Smooth & in control
UST VTS Red 65S - Loose

[TomWishon]

[quote name='Lord Helmet' timestamp='1423946436' post='10953353']
About the only thing we can't quantify. Feel. The matrix black tie feels quite nice to me, but to others, they would just as well use it as rebar pouring a concrete pad.
[/quote]

When it comes purely to the bending feel of a shaft, it is possible to quantify that using various forms of stiffness measurement done from butt to tip. If you've seen any of the bend profile graphs and data that I have posted at times when someone wants a more definitive comparison of one shaft to another, that is a form of quantifying shaft stiffness measurements in an apples to apples standpoint that most certainly has been used by many clubmakers to quantify bending feel in a shaft for a particular player. Other entities/groups in the business have recently embarked on their own versions of the same thing we've been doing with this bend profile software data base.

Of course, what feels stiff and boardy to one golfer won't necessarily be the same for another. But if you are talking about ONE GOLFER AT A TIME, then the data in such bend profile stiffness comparisons can most definitely help to quantify what each individual golfer considers to be too stiff, too flexible, just right, etc. Works like this, or rather, this is how we and the clubmakers who have and use the software do it. . . . . .

They can ask the golfer to provide the names of specific shafts they have used in the past which feel good to the golfer as well as names of shafts that have not for whatever individual reason the golfer has from his play and perceptions. If they are in the data base, those shafts that feel good to the golfer can be brought up and the data measurements for stiffness from butt to tip can be observed and studied to look for similarities. More times than not, such similarities in the stiffness measurements over the full length of the shafts can be seen quite easily in the numbers. Same for those shafts that the golfer says did not feel good for whatever esoteric/subjective reasons in his perception.

And many times from this the clubmaker then can look at the bend profile numbers for any shaft(s) the golfer may be interested in and be able to make a valid conclusion as to whether the golfer is going to like the shaft(s) or not by looking at the stiffness measurement numbers of the shafts to each other. it's been done a whole lot of times by more serious analytical clubmakers who have the software and its data base.

[Lord Helmet]

Thanks Tom. We are lucky to have you here.