I wondered for the shafts listed on golfworks.com, in regards to torque and trajectory, and even flex… Do you list what the manufacturer says the measurement is or do you list what you independently measure instead? And I know that Jim used to make up a list of all the shaft measurements… do you still keep that updated? And would it be possible to get a copy of that? Or possibly buy a copy of it? Thanks.
We use the torque listing the shaft manufacturer publishes. There are differences in the way many of he manufacturers measure the torque, but the variances between the different methods are not that much. The torque changes if the tip is cut and / or the shaft is installed anyway. The number does give us a comparative measurement of how torsionally stiff the shaft is compared to others. This is more of a factor with regards to comparing the feel of the shaft than any performance metric. Lower torque shafts can feel stiffer than higher torque shafts within the same flex ranges and similar profiles. Lower torsional stiffness shafts in general will feel firmer, but 1 degree difference would be very difficult for most to notice. We did measure for a while but the variances were not significant and by publishing what they publish, there is no confusion with consumers that see one number on the shaft companies data vs our data.
As far as our database that Jim keeps and updates, it is not something we send out. We do have all the shafts we carry listed in a worksheet that is on our website that has all the published specs. it does not have all the data we measure, but is still a good reference tool. You can download it and sort it anyway you want, by weight, torque, price, etc. The link is below to the article and if you scroll to the bottom you can access all the worksheets for wood shafts, iron shafts, etc. If you have questions about specific shafts you want to compare and you feel the published data does not give you enough information, you can contact me or Jim and we can dig out the data we have and see if there is something that is useful to add to the comparison.
https://www.golfworks.com/choosing-the-best-shaft-for-your-game/a/1650/
Britt Lindsey
Jim did say that he did give a spreadsheet to Advance Shaft attendees that asked for it. It doesn’t have torque on it. He did measure it for a while but because of discrepancies and again, the confusion it could cause with the shaft manufacturer data, he dropped it from the data. I know he has been working on updating it. This year has given him a chance to get it caught up with the new shafts. Hopefully we can get back to having the schools in 2022.
Britt Lindsey
Thanks Britt. I just know that there’s no industry standard for how different OEMs measure bend point or torque, so it can be difficult or misleading to compare them apples to apples. If Golfworks measured everything with the same methodology, that would be helpful for getting a more clear picture of how different shafts compare to others.
I recall that Jim said he gave out a spreadsheet to students who took the Advanced Shaft Technology course, but since it’s not offered this year or last I was hoping there was another way to get it. Thanks.