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These are Ping i3 blade graphite shaft (regular flex).
I am not sure these pictures are real.
Would it affect anything ?
When I make contact it usually feels solid.

Thoughts ?
I have an eBay auction for another set of regular graphite shafts ... maybe this is a bad idea. I hit my driver say 250-270.

This is probably an 8 iron.

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I think the shaft bends are real.
On a few swings here I swung slower.
and the shaft bending went away.
And the driver had the biggest bend.

I'd swear that the driver shaft is a Taylor Made R5 stiff shaft firm tip.

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graphite.shaft.flex.slow.and.fast.swings.jpg (187.4 KB, 19 views)

I have been told it's some type of illusion caused by the camera.

I wondered that, but it's likely not that.

Someone mentioned this:

Actually if you look at the November 2009 Golf Digest under the 'these guys are good' article all 8 pictures show similar shaft bend at impact. In fact even YE Yang's shaft is bent like that at impact. It was actually something in all my years of looking at golf magazines never noticed before. So my summation is that I guess it is normal.

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As well, "club lead at impact" is an established phenomena.
The picture shows an example of early (or lead) deflection. The magnitude of lead deflection at impact increases as shaft stiffness decreases. The magnitude of lead deflection at impact also increases as swing speed increases.

The main question is ... can it hurt my game !

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Well, yes. Like the picture says, it can effect accuracy and it can also affect trajectory. That's why you should have a fitter look at your swing and suggest a shaft to fit your strength...my guess is that you're a pretty strong guy with quick hands. I'm guessing, without really knowing, mind you, that you're too strong and quick for a regular flex...but there are other factors like torque and kickpoint to consider as well. You might want a fitter to take a looksee.

Shade

I'd think that if you are hitting 250-270 with your driver, as regular flex graphite shaft in your irons, might be too soft. And as we all know, some R flex shafts are more like senior flex compared to others. I'd recommned you try this photo think again with some S flex shaft irons, and see what you get. Some bending is what you want, but I think you have too much with the R flex graphites you're using. That much bending is goig to be real hard to control. Distance will vary as will ball flight.

the pictures speak for themselves the shaft you use is too flexible for your swing speed and release. Ideally the shaft should bend or load during the downswing and this bend can be quite significant but the perfect position to optimize speed and control would be for the shaft to return to basically straight at impact. This would indicate that the shaft is in mid recovery and the club head is in a similar position as address. When the shaft bend recovery is this early club head speed may actually be increased slightly but some control is lost. The most rare is a club head that lags behind the hands at impact and can be attributed to a fairly late release. These type of players will generally slice a shaft that is too weak as opposed to most of us who will hook a weak shaft. It is not a photo trick, the golf shaft bends much more than we think it does. I really like the slow motion we see on tour now the impact of the ball has a marked reaction to the shaft and it immediately begins a rapid oscillation due to impact.

OK, here is a good read on this subject at another forum.

Trevor Immelman's driver forward flex... good or bad? - GolfWRX.com

Awesome link ... THANKS !!
Super informative.

I don't think this is real. I believe that the pictures do not represent the same instant in time. I do not know whether the reason is mechanical (shutter mechanism) or digital, but I believe that the images are effectively constructed (horizontal) line by line, and that the image of your head was taken earlier that the image of your feet. Think of this as moving a piece of paper on the photo-copier while the scan is taking place.

It's not real. Most of it must be artifact.

(1) at the start of the downswing (club pointing upwards) (club at it's slowest) there is significant artifact. Where at the "halfway down" (club parallel to ground), there is little distortion.

Clearly there should be more bend as the club travels faster.

The digital images are created by the sensor working top to bottom, left to right.

If you think of the pictures being drawn top to bottom, left to right, you can appreciate why the club looks as it does !

Said another way ....

Photo spread in this month's Golf Digest. They all have the exact same odd flex at impact.



The majority of the curve is artifact.
If you picture the image being drawn from top to bottom, left to right, you can see how when the club is pointing upwards it draws the clubhead first then the shaft (that's why the clubhead is behind the shaft) and when the club is pointing downwards (impact) the clubhead is drawn last, that is why it is head of the shaft !

Makes sense !

They must be hurting financially at Golf Digest! I would have thought that they would have splurged on a camera suitable for the job!

You guys obviously don't understand shaft "loading" and "unloading"...google it, you will be enlightened. Here is a page that explains it pretty well (no, I'm not spamming )...lots of others sites with similar info. Also, look at this well publicized TW commercial shot with very high speed camera...stop it where you like.

YouTube Video

Shaft unloading is real, fellas, not just a camera trick or "artifact"...it's not so pronounced with Tiger but that's because he's good and he is using the best equipment fitted to him...but even the best has some shaft unload, i.e. forward flex. You want it under control but your distance would suffer significantly without it. It's more pronounced with the driver and fairway woods because the shafts are longer and there's more mass at the end of them...irons have shorter shafts and less mass at the head and are more about controlling distance, not maximizing it, hence less shaft unload.

Shade

In post #1 S&T mentions that he hit the ball solidly. I just cannot imagine that that would be the case if the shaft is bent the way it appears to be in picture #3 (impact)!

And I am not sure that other websites aren't making the same mistake!

Also note that Tiger does not only have better golf-equipment, he had better camera equipment also (but it may still not have been fast enough!).

I wonder if S&T is up for taking another video with the camera upside down: That might prove or disprove the various theories!