Shaft Fitting for Fast-Swinging Seniors

The conventional wisdom in fitting senior golfers has always been one that focuses on addressing the issue of slower swing speed. As a result, a popular shaft recommendation for a 60 year old senior is frequently a super light weight shaft, 50 to 60 grams in weight, 5 to 6 degree in torque, 235-245 cpm in frequency and with a low kick point to get the ball up in the air.

This combination is the main stream today. If you buy a driver off the rack for a senior, this is what you will most likely get. However, observations made from fitting thousands of senior golfers paint a rather different picture. The percentage of seniors with swing speeds of 85 mph or more is much higher than the percentage of seniors with slower swing speeds. Many seniors have difficulty completing a full swing. In its place, we typically see a 9 oÕclock to 6 oÕclock swing. This half swing is then combined with excessive hip and leg movements to produce a swing speed averaging 88 to 93 mph.

For fast-swinging seniors, a shaft recommendation based on the conventional wisdom will likely produce unsatisfactory results. A half swing generating a 90-mph speed has twice the acceleration of a full swing that generates the same speed. A senior-flex shaft will likely produce excessive hooks and slices.

To compound the problem, the 90-mph speed is frequently generated with excessive foundation movement, which introduces a high degree of instability into the swing. A scenario that is clearly beyond a 5 to 6 degree torque and 50 to 60 grams shaftÕs ability to handle.

Improving accuracy is essential to improving a senior golferÕs distance. A low torque, stiff flex shafts tend to produce more satisfying results. Knowing that this shaft will play much stiffer than a softer and lighter shaft, we typically asked senior golfers what is more important to them: softer feel or accuracy? Rarely has a senior golfer chosen softer feel over accuracy.

We have observed over numerous fitting sessions that the Pro 2.5 Titanium with its low torque and tight dispersion property significantly improves accuracy, and as a result achieves longer distance for senior golfers.

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