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You Are Here » Home : Article - Shaft Spine-Aligning/Balancing


Golf Shaft Spine-Aligning and/or Balancing ....... short video clip link below!

Golf Shaft Spine-Aligning and/or Balancing: By properly orienting and installing a spine-aligned/balanced golf shaft in a clubhead, the maximum performance of that golf club can be obtained! Spine-alignment/balancing the golf shaft has been proven to reduce shaft-induced mis-hits and stabilize torsional stiffness for more distance, accuracy and better feel. In fact, some industry experts (including me) believe that spine-aligning is even more important than frequency matching! Research is showing that haphazard spine placement in clubs (assembling golf shafts in clubheads without being spine-aligned/balanced) within a set can be the primary reason why golfers often have both favorite and least favorite clubs in their bags. I have seen my customers experience between 20 percent and 60 percent improvement in their percentage of on-center hits after spine-aligning/balancing their golf shafts!

Spine-Aligning? I say 'spine' since we, as people, have spines and that is where we want to flex (bend) naturally right? Yep..... We can bend in a forward direction just fine and perfect, right? Yep. But we cant bend as much (and it doesnt feel good) side to side as well as backwards. Golf shafts have the same characteristics and will want to flex naturally on their spines! (or really at their point of inconsistencies in wall thickness, straightness, roundness and material). So ultimately we want to find a shaft's spine so that we know exactly where the shaft is going to flex naturally! Why is this so important? Well, if we don't find the spine of a shaft, then we just ram in a shaft in a club head and hope for the best!..... Now I'm are not saying that a club won't perform if I assemble a club this way, but I am saying that it is best if we take this variable out - and find the spine - so that I can install the shaft in a club head in a squared or neutral position so we know, without a shadow-of-a-doubt, that the shaft will want to flex properly left-and-right (as we swing a club) and NOT up-and-down! Why would we want a shaft to flex up-and-down when we are trying to swing it left-to-right or right-to-left?

Balancing? Don't get the 'spine' explanation... Then think about it this way.... What is the first thing that happens after you purchase a set of tires for your car? The tires get BALANCED! The tires would still work if they weren't but they perform much better if they are BALANCED. Your car wont ride down the street going 'wobble' 'wobble' 'wobble' .... 'shimmy' 'shimmy' 'shimmy' ... if the tires are BALANCED! It doesn't matter if you spent $20 per tire or $400 per tire they all get BALANCED! The same can go for golf shafts!

How do I find the spine/balance point of a golf shaft? I first use a device that simply helps initially to find a starting point and then I attach an industry standard 205 gram perfectly milled and round weight to the tip of the shaft and use a custom engineered laser system which tells me exactly how the golf shaft is flexing! My system flexes and tests the golf shaft going up and down.

SEE IT IN ACTION! In this movie you are going to see the SAME SHAFT - in this case an OEM shaft out of a well known manufacturer's driver... first as it would have been installed directly from the factory and then second as I have found the spine/balance point. (no, I am not knocking the manufacturer, just using them as a reference - and as I stated above this really needs to be done with all golf shafts to find the maximum performance of your golf club).

Did you see the last part with the shaft flexing straight up and down.. Thats what we want!!! That shafts spine while flexing is directly on the top of the shaft - like a clock in the 12:00 o'clock position. I then mark that 12:00 o'clock position and will align that shaft in the clubhead with that marked like in a neutral, parallel, or squared position with the clubhead. Meaning that when we would look down the shaft and club once it has been assembled, the marked line would now be at a 9:00 o'clock position for right-handed clubs and in a 3:00 o'clock position for left-handed clubs. That shaft is going to want to - and will only - flex naturally on that marked line! Now its flexing properly in a left-to-right manner! Just how we are swinging the club! Think about how the first part of the movie showed the shaft going round and round!! Why in the world would we want the shaft to do that in our golf swing?

Can I get my shafts spine-aligned/balanced in my set that I already play with?: YES! I can take your clubs apart, clean them and prep them for re-assembly. I'll then take the shafts and find their spine/balance point and re-assemble them! Please note that if you have graphite shafts with graphics on them that once were on the top of the shaft or underneath the shaft, they will in all probability be re-arrainged so dont be alarmed.. its ok... I'm not going for cosmetics like the major manufacturers are.. I am going for performance! Also, unless you opt for a re-gripping, your grips will be turned as well.

You may ultimately see that it may not be that cost-affective for you as you may be able to even get one of my signature series irons for less money than it would cost for you to get all of your shafts taken apart and spined.



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