Question

1.18K viewsJune 26, 2023

Bill 146 June 25, 2023 0 Comments

A fellow fitter gave me a large amount of graphite stiff shafts. The brand Aldila, and their lower economy shaft. They are very old. Britt was kind enough to dig up some trim instructions for me. The stiff shafts are iron shafts, 100 gram.
I’ve tried them myself with a TE forged set up and I don’t notice a lot of difference between Nippon regular steel and the Aldila stiff with an average swing speed.
I’d think a borderline swing speed might be able to handle them. I don’t notice a lot of different hits on a lie board. Best to let the customer try one.
With the advent of lighter steel, and better graphite it’s a confusing question. Older information indicates stiff graphite flexes similar to regular steel in economy brands. I’d like to read a few opinions. Many thanks.
-Bill

Britt Lindsey Answered question June 26, 2023

1 Answer

Answer 1 · 2023-06-26T11:16:02+00:00

We do not see that graphite stiff flexes are like steel regular flexes when we analyze shafts for our database. Even older ones. Of course there are ranges and manufacturers vary in what they call a stiff, regular, etc. The observation in early graphite shafts, that were usually lighter than steel, was that they were more flexible. Very early ones might have been until they figured out the torsional stiffness part of it, but I’m talking very early graphite, not the older Aldila ones you are describing. It could be that the ones you have are softer, but again, generally speaking, graphite shafts as a category do not have more flexible profiles than steel. I believe that the material difference and the way it transmits vibration, for some players, may make them feel more flexible, but the profile may not actually be more flexible. Before the really lightweight steel options became available and someone would compare a lightweight graphite to a standard weight steel shaft, players would say the graphite felt more flexible. Most of the time in those cases it was the weight and material difference and not the actual flex.

Graphite shaft flex ranges today mirror those of steel in most cases. Of course there can be models that may actually be slightly softer, or stiffer. Only way to know is to actually measure the shafts.

Britt Lindsey