The Significance of The Flex Rating Specified On A Golf Club

Most golfers look for the length and the weight when looking for a golf club to purchase; but very seldom spare a thought to another very important property of the shaft of the club called the flex. After testing for all the other specifications over and over again, it is only after a long time that some golfers realize that the reason why they couldn’t place especially their long shots accurately all the time had been due to the ill-matched shaft flex rating with which they had been playing. The flex rating as specified on a club has a big bearing on the deflection of the path of the ball to the left or right from your intended target. 

There is an almost unnoticeable bending back of the club shaft when you swing hard. It is called the flex and it is a lot more prominent in graphite clubs. The flex is almost totally absent in steel clubs that are made of stiff shafts. The flex value of a club is generally specified by the manufacturer on the shaft as a rating and these ratings are mostly given as (XS) Extra Stiff, (S) Stiff,  (R) Regular, (A) Senior and (L) Ladies. If you never took a golf club’s flex rating into serious consideration as a possible factor that could affect your game adversely, please be informed that it really does. The effect that the flex has on your swing is of sending the ball at an angle to the left or right from the intended direction; depending on the flex rating specified for the club.

When you strike a golf ball using a club with too flexible a shaft, there is a strong tendency to send the ball flying way to the left from the intended target. The same can happen if your swinging style is too fast for the specified flex rating of the shaft. The remedy for this is to use a club with a stiff shaft such as a steel shaft if your tendency is to swing fast. Similarly your shots will tend to veer more to the right when you play with a less flexible or a stiff shafted club; and also if the swinging action of yours were slower. It will be clear to you now that the flex is also a major factor that you should take into reckoning just as much as a club’s length and weight for the selection of a club to suit your traits and preferences.

One method of determining what category of flex rating would match with your traits and preferences is to get out on the course and strike the ball as hard as you can; and take readings of the average distance traversed in respect of a reasonable number of shots to ensure that you don’t take a reading of a freak shot or make any biased conclusions. If the distance covered is fewer than 200 yards, you may stick with a Ladies category flex rating.

Similarly you may adopt a Senior flex rating for a distance of 200 to 230 yards, Regular Rating for a distance of 230 to 250 yards and a Stiff flex rating for anything over 250 yards. Shafts with the Extra Stiff rating would most likely be used only by professionals possessing a good knowledge on how to use clubs with this rating to best advantage. It should be emphasized here that the flex rating is also a major factor that you should give serious consideration to prior to purchase of a matching club for your playing style. You might be able to clarify any further confusion that you entertain on this topic by further discussing any relevant issues and obtaining the opinions of more senior players and experts/professionals known to you.