Actually, I was talking with an established clubmaker in MI some 5 yrs back, before everyone else knew about spining, and he used the word 'spline'. And I have seen it a few times since and have used it myself. So I would say the spline is an acceptable term and can be used interchangeably with spine.
I was told yesterday by a local clubmaker that spine aligning is overrated. It is worth it when installing new shafts because they are already out but not worth it to pull and reinstall shafts. His theory was this: He viced a shatft and put a weight on the end of it, pulled the weight and released it. The first movement the shaft made was straight back and forth. Then after a couple of oscillations it began to rotate. He said the in the golf swing you only get one flex of the shaft which is always straight back and forth (tendency of the shaft itself). If you flexed the shaft and let it go more than a few times spine alignment would make more sense but because the shaft is only loaded and released once before impact it doesnt make much difference.
I was told yesterday by a local clubmaker that spine aligning is overrated. It is worth it when installing new shafts because they are already out but not worth it to pull and reinstall shafts. His theory was this: He viced a shatft and put a weight on the end of it, pulled the weight and released it. The first movement the shaft made was straight back and forth. Then after a couple of oscillations it began to rotate. He said the in the golf swing you only get one flex of the shaft which is always straight back and forth (tendency of the shaft itself). If you flexed the shaft and let it go more than a few times spine alignment would make more sense but because the shaft is only loaded and released once before impact it doesnt make much difference.
for the average golfer, the clubmaker is right, not worth taking out the shafts, especially steel shafts, most golfers have a hard time flexing a steel shaft anyhow, which most of the flexing is done at impact, unless you get into the senior and ladies flex.
graphite can be a different story, if the clubs shafted with graphite (irons included) are performing well, leave them alone, but if you have a club that fade or draws and the rest doesn't, now you may have a shaft alignment problem. i have a Titleist 980f 4 wood that had a ys-7 stiff in that i and a friend that was a pro, could not stop drawing, almost hooking, took the shaft out and spined it, the draw was gone. there can be some isolated problems on occassion, but they don't occur very often. i spine everything i put together just to eliminate any occurences.
Actually, I was talking with an established clubmaker in MI some 5 yrs back, before everyone else knew about spining, and he used the word 'spline'. And I have seen it a few times since and have used it myself. So I would say the spline is an acceptable term and can be used interchangeably with spine.
...I know a lot of people use it interchangeably...but Webster defines "spline" as a strip of metal or wood used in contruction. Since you are bending the shaft to find it's favored flex point or 'backbone', "spine" makes more sense. I know in fly rod construction, a lot of people use also the word "spline" for "spine", but, a "spline" is one of several milled bamboo strips that are glued together to form a rod section. You flex the rod section to locate its "backbone" or "spine" to determine the correct placement of line guides on the rod blank. But people will continue to use the other term. That's just the way it is, I guess.
What was posted about only loading the shaft one time, tends to make sense, but I also read of a test the was done using one of those swing robots. What they found was that when they installed a driver with a factory shaft, Not spline aligned, that when they started hitting balls, they had to re-adjust the alignment of the ball to get the club to impact the ball in the center of the clubface. But, when they installed a driver, which had a shaft that was spline aligned, they didn't have to re-adjust the ball position at all. So, it would seem, that even with one swing, which is what a robot does, it matters a good bit. You are also forgetting about how the flex of the shaft can vary, depending on how the shaft is installed. Since most of us are still using steel shafts in our irons, and you want them all to be the same flex, I'd think spline aligning all of them so they flex the same, would be worth it. When the flex of a set of iron shafts can vary as much as two flex ratings, depending on what direction the spine is in relation to the direction the shaft is being bent, I'd think you'd want all your shafts aligned. Is it worth the price for a set of clubs that are already assembled? That would depend on a few things. First, how good is the golfer. Second, how good or how bad are the shafts in the clubs. And third, the cost of having the work done. Let's face it, some golfers are happy to spend $500 on a new driver, just in the hope of gaining a few more yards off the tee. How doest that compare to getting your irons adjusted so that all the shafts are the same flex? How much would that be worth to a good golfer? Hard to say, but I'd be willing to bet, that a good golfer could see the difference real fast, and it could cut a few strokes off his score. Can you say the same thing for the last driver you puchased?
November 8th, 2006, 02:30 AM
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