Pro-Launch Shaft

djb85

At the moment I have a 10.5 degree G5 with a Blue Pro-Launch shaft. Shaft and club suit me but hitting the ball far too high.

Seems like the Blue pro-launch isn't available in the newer drivers.
Anyone any idea on what other shaft is similar to this as I'm going to go for a 8.5/9 degree head.

Thanks!

ShriekingSheet

djb85 wrote: »

At the moment I have a 10.5 degree G5 with a Blue Pro-Launch shaft. Shaft and club suit me but hitting the ball far too high.

Seems like the Blue pro-launch isn't available in the newer drivers.
Anyone any idea on what other shaft is similar to this as I'm going to go for a 8.5/9 degree head.

Thanks!

If you're hitting the ball far too high why are you looking to get the same shaft in your new driver? In itself, geting 1.5 degrees less loft isn't going to bring your flight down all that much.

I use the G10 in 9* with ProLaunch Red shaft. I also have always hit a high ball but find this a very controllable club. The ProLaunch Red is less cumbersome feeling than the Blue which I've tried lots of times in different heads.

For me, I find the G10 with PL Red better than anything I've hit before, especially in terms of trajectory.

djb85

I don't know a whole lot about shafts but I have hit a 9* with the Prolaunch Blue shaft and found it much better.

Are the Blue and Red fairly similar?

ShriekingSheet

djb85 wrote: »

I don't know a whole lot about shafts but I have hit a 9* with the Prolaunch Blue shaft and found it much better.

Are the Blue and Red fairly similar?

Depends what exact ProLaunch Blue you have but ProLaunch Red weighs less and flies lower than pretty much all of the ProLaunch Blues (models are: 45,55,65,75).

Conveniently, there's only one kind of ProLanch Red.

Personally I don't like the Blue in terms of feel. It just feels a bit cumbersome to me. The Red just has that bit more life in it.

Browse through the shafts with the top bar on the site and each shaft shows a handy chart for weight and trajectory.
http://grafalloy.com/grafalloy/prolaunchred.asp

In a nutshell, PL Blue is a high trajectory shaft you can get in various weights. PL Red is a low trajectory shaft that comes in one medium weight.

Sionnachster

I may as well ask the stupid question as It's been bugging me. What's the story with shafts these days? I seem to have completely missed this phenomenan, even when I was down in Foregolf they seemed happy enough with the shafts in my woods even though they vary.

I've looked at Sheet's link and it suggests you can make considerable changes to trajectory etc.

Do you make the purchase of the shaft prior to the club purchase i.e. buy a head and then buy the shaft that suits you? Or do you retrofit and get rid of the shaft that comes with the club. I presume this method elimiantes the vast differences in shafts by manufacturer?

ShriekingSheet

Sionnachster wrote: »

I may as well ask the stupid question as It's been bugging me. What's the story with shafts these days? I seem to have completely missed this phenomenan, even when I was down in Foregolf they seemed happy enough with the shafts in my woods even though they vary.

I've looked at Sheet's link and it suggests you can make considerable changes to trajectory etc.

Do you make the purchase of the shaft prior to the club purchase i.e. buy a head and then buy the shaft that suits you? Or do you retrofit and get rid of the shaft that comes with the club. I presume this method elimiantes the vast differences in shafts by manufacturer?

It's really not that big a deal. IMO tweaks like having the right shaft will make your good shots better, but if you're spraying it all over the shop, don't expect a shaft change to fix your slice! Personally, I hit it really high. It's not a fault, it's a natural thing that my pro is pretty happy with. But having a shaft that fires the ball out more than up really makes a difference to me. Others might like a shaft that gets the ball higher.

Anyway, you do have it a bit a*seways in terms of buying the shaft first etc Nearly all decent manufacturers offer their clubs as standard with a variety of shafts. You don't pay extra, you just need to know what to ask for. Of course, many people don't know/care so they take what's on the shelf - usually the high-flying shafts which suit the bulk of people.

Problems can arise in such cases as our friend djb85 here. He's complaining of hitting the ball too high and going to reduce the loft of his driver. Truth is, he unwittingly has a shaft in that driver designed to get the ball high!

Solution?
Decide what head you like (whether buying irons or woods), then look on the manuf site to see what shafts come in that head and choose a trajectory to suit yourself.

Take the Ping G10 driver for example. Two or three clicks into the site, you are presented with 4 shaft options - one "optimal", two "low" and one "high" option.
http://www.ping.com/shafts/drivershafts.aspx?id=34

No extra cost, just a bit of thought.

That's all there is to it really.

Sionnachster

Thanks Sheet, makes sense now. Hiding the woods well consistently recently so no changes going to happen until they change and I need to blame something other than myself. It's an area I completely missed out on but will inevitable spunk a fortune on shafts someday just to lose the extra .4!!