Regular Vs Senior Flex Shafts For Irons – Which One Should You Be Using?

One of your biggest enemies in golf is your ego. From trying to hit a club less just so you can tell your friends or playing a stiffer shaft than you should, we golfers are bad for this.

There comes a time when we need to take stock and check if our equipment is actually helping us.

Today we are looking at iron shafts and we want you to consider if you are using the right ones. Having the wrong shafts can make your golf much harder than it needs to be, is it time for you to make a change?

 

What Regular Vs Senior Flex Is All About

Like “ladies tees”, senior flex is one of those phrases in golf that I hate.

The shaft is the engine room of your golf club and you want it firing for you to maximize your potential.

Flex is how much the shaft bends when you swing the club. You want a flex that is suited to your swing speed so that the club doesn’t bend too much or too little when you swing it.

Regular flex, as the name would suggest is the flex that suits most golfers, senior flex is a little less stiff and better suits slower swing speeds.

 

How Important Is Flex In Irons?

Getting the flex wrong can cause you all sorts of issues.

A shaft that is too stiff will be hard to get off the ground and you can often have a lot of misses right.

A shaft that flexes too much will often spin too much and fly extra-high as well as going left a lot.

 

How Does It Effect Performance?

As you can probably imagine, all of these problems above will cause you to lose accuracy.

You will also have issues with distance control and consistency.

This list of problems just results in a golf game that is more difficult than it has to be. Isn’t our sport already hard enough?!

 

How To Know If You Need Regular Or Senior Flex In Your Irons?

The answer here is all about swing speed, Do you know how fast you swing you driver?

That information can be a great start to making sure you have the correct flex, here is a guide to help.

A driver swing speed between 84-96 mph requires regular, 72-83 mph requires senior flex.

 

Swing Speed And Flex Table

From the article in the last paragraph, here is the table from True Spec Golf to help you quickly get an idea of what shaft flex should work best for you.

 

What Swing Speed Should Use Regular Flex?

If you swing your driver with a speed between 84-96 mph then you should be playing regular flex through your bag.

Importantly, this means your normal on-course swing, not getting onto a launch monitor and swinging as hard as you can to get as high a number as you can.

 

What Swing Speed Should Use Stiff Flex?

Golfers who swing their driver with a clubhead speed of between

97-104 mph should be using stiff flex in their clubs.

This flex will give you more control to help tame that extra speed you have. There are other important factors in shaft selection but speed is a fundamental.

 

How Will The Shaft Flex Affect Distance And Accuracy?

Using the wrong shaft can cause you to lose both distance and accuracy. A shaft that flexes too much will cause to

o much spin and a ball flight that stalls. You can also lose the ball to the fade side (right for right handers and left for lefties), it can be hard to control the ball.

If you are using a shaft that is too stiff for you then you will really struggle to lift the ball into the air. This will cause the ball to hit the ground faster and kill distance.

You are also more likely to miss to the draw side (right for left handers and left for righties).

Should You Use Steel Or Graphite Iron Shafts?

Steel is a great material that gives you feedback on your shots as you feel the vibrations in your hands, graphite doesn’t give such a benefit.

Another difference is that steel is a lot heavier so some prefer the lightness of the graphite. This lightness can be great for older golfers.

 

Steel Senior Flex Vs. Graphite Regular Flex

This is an interesting one, a lighter shaft will help you develop a higher clubhead speed and so, sometimes it can mean you can use a stiffer shaft.

This is a personal choice though and you can only really answer it by trying both to see what’s best for your game.

 

What Other Flex Types Are Available?

As you can see from the table above, there are a number of different shaft flex options.

We have discussed regular and senior a lot but there is also ladies flex which is the most flexing shaft.

Above regular you have stiff, extra-stiff and tour extra-stiff which is the stiffest available.

 

How Can I Tell My Swing Speed?

The best way is to get on a launch monitor and properly measure it.

If you don’t have this option then you can also get a very rough idea of your swing speed by measuring how far you hit a ball.

Your distance is a result of your swing speed and how well you strike the ball.

This is certainly not an ideal way to measure your swing speed but it does give you a rough idea.

This article gives you a rough idea of what distance a certain swing speed can produce. As I say, this is not an exact science but it may help give you a rough idea.

 

Do I Need The Same Flex On All Clubs?

This is an interesting question, it is now quite common to find wedges with “wedge flex” shafts in them.

This tends to be a stiffer shaft and even golfers who use regular shafts use this flex in their wedges. You may also find it useful to add a bit more stiffness to your long irons.

Only through a comprehensive fitting session with an expert can you make this decision. We are talking here about real fine-tuning of your equipment and you cannot do this through guesswork.

Ask your fitting technician this question and see what they recommend for you specifically.

 

What Will Happen If My Shaft Is Too Stiff?

A shaft that is too stiff will not efficiently generate clubhead speed.

This will result in a low ball flight which will hit the ground sooner and can vastly reduce your distance.

You may also find that you start to miss more as you will struggle to deliver a square face at impact.

Shafts that are too stiff may feel “dead” in your hands during the swing because the shaft isn’t being loaded properly. A shaft that is being used correctly will feel almost like a whip as it goes through the ball and accelerate the club through impact.

 

What Will Happen If My Shaft Is Too Flexible?

See that whip-like feel I just mentioned? If that feels excessive or even then that can be a symptom of a shaft that is too flexible. In this case you may also be hitting the ball really high which will kill your distance.

A shaft that is too whiny just feels like it could break at any moment during your swing. There is no security in the feel as it cannot keep up with your golf swing. Getting checked on a launch monitor with an expert can confirm if this is the case or not.

 

Does Weight Affect Flex And Performance?

The team at MyGolfSpy have done a real deep-dive into this subject.

A change in shaft weight is something that even many novices will be able to feel. Added weight can slow your swing down and act as a pseudo-flex to help fine tune your fitting recommendations.

It is thought that more weight can often add control thanks to this tendency to slow your swing down. Also, changes to weight distribution like counterbalancing the shaft can really help add accuracy to your clubs and is something people could consider.

 

Can I Get New Shafts On My Clubs Or Do I Need New Clubs?

Thankfully, it should be easy enough to pull old shafts out of your irons and replace them with new shafts.

Your club pro should be able to do this for you and it can save you the expense of buying a whole new set.

 

Is Choice Of Club Or Shaft More Important?

Both work together really, especially in drivers.

For irons, your shaft can make a huge difference so getting this right is probably more important.

You should always undergo a custom fitting session to ensure that you have the set that best matches your golf swing.

 

Best Irons For Senior Players

 

TaylorMade P790 TI Irons

These clubs are miracle workers. As time goes by and we lose distance, golf can get harder.

However, the TaylorMade P790 Ti irons will have you rolling back the years and in disbelief at how far they go.

Your friends will be in awe, they also look absolutely stunning, but are quite expensive.

Overall Score: 94/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

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A cheaper set to look at would be the Sim 2 Irons.

 

Best Irons For Regular Players

 

Titleist T300 Irons

Titleist have recently retaken all of their crowns in the golfing world and their current iron line-up is just incredible.

The beautiful T300 irons feel great, go miles and give you a fair amount of control for cavity back irons.

These clubs will bring huge benefits to almost any golfer who tries them.

Another nice set to check out would be the Ping G425’s.

Overall Score: 95/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

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Conclusion

With so much equipment on the market these days, trying to choose what is best for you can be a minefield.

If you aren’t interested in equipment then this can be even harder, you just want the best clubs for your game and that’s it.

This is where custom fitting comes in handy.

The difference between graphite and steel shafts is huge and you must get the flex right.

This decision is best left to a professional club fitter so book yourself some time with an expert technician and be amazed by the difference it will bring to your golf game.