Over the past couple of weeks, we have looked at the importance of getting the correct launch and spin numbers to maximise your distance.
We have spoken about “windows” as the term that is used for a golfer who wants to see a certain flight in their shots. Not getting the right window means he or she isn’t getting the right launch and spin for the shot.
We’ve also looked at the impact of low-spin and high-MOI drivers and explained how each option can optimise that all-important launch and spin window.
The final piece of the puzzle to really dial in the numbers you need to become a highly effective driver of the golf ball lies in whether or not the shaft fits the requirements of delivering your ideal numbers.
We’ll cover the impact of shafts in a similar way to how we looked at low-spin and high-MOI drivers, because there is a shaft profile out there for every player. Choosing the right one can be a little more complex because, like the drivers, there can be some misconceptions that spring up, which skews the decision-making process.
Players can self-diagnose the problems with their ball flight very often, but the steps they take to remedy the issue are where mistakes are made. Want a lower ball flight? Put a lower spinning shaft in your driver.
Seems simple, and it can be, but you have to understand your game a little, and you need to understand how shaft profiles work in order to end up with the right shaft for you.
So, let’s take a closer look at the role shafts play by focusing on five areas:
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Where Golfers Go Wrong With Spin
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What Actually Creates Spin?
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What Is a Low-Spin Shaft?
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Is a Mid-Spin Shaft a Better Option?
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How Custom-Fitting Uncovers The Correct Solution
Where Golfers Go Wrong With Spin
You’re faced with a demanding tee shot. The hole is playing long because it’s straight into the wind.
You make your swing and feel like the strike was pretty good, but you see the ball climb into the wind and appear to stall before it comes tumbling back to the ground, almost leaving a pitch mark where it landed.
You’ve been robbed of distance. After much tweaking with the moveable weights and hosel in your driver, it’s time to replace the shaft.
Getting a low-spin shaft will be like adding a turbo to a small engine; it’ll power your drives to greater distances.
With the new shaft fitted, it’s time to head back to the course.
You’re pleased because initially, you see a ball flight that’s not getting stalled in the air. But you have a new problem.
Now, you struggle to see any sort of trajectory other than the nose-diving variety. Your driver now feels very strange in your hands when you swing it. Strikes become less consistent, and the misses bigger.
All of a sudden, that expensive aftermarket shaft you purchased looks destined for eBay.
The opposite can be said if initially you assessed the ball flight to be too low.
After playing with loft options on the driver head, you opt for a shaft that has “more kick” in it.
Problems can arise because you now suffer from a ball flight reminiscent of the space shuttle taking off, and a tendency to see the ball go left more often (if you are a right-handed golfer).
Both outcomes can lead to an even bigger loss of distance and more inaccuracy simply because you don’t understand your game well enough to know what the solution is.
To help you along the way, let’s now take a look at the factors that affect spin.
What Actually Creates Spin?
You can’t isolate spin down to shaft selection or drive head selection.
There are many ways and metrics we can measure in relation to what generates or reduces spin on golf shots, but we’ll stick to three important swing factors that are the easiest to understand:
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Clubhead Speed
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Angle of Attack
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Dynamic Loft
Clubhead Speed
Spin is affected by factors such as your clubhead speed. Deliver a lot of speed, and you’re likely to generate more spin; less clubhead speed will do the opposite.
Angle of Attack
Hitting up on the ball too much can lower spin. This is very common for golfers who are trying to squeeze more distance out of their drives. They tee the ball high and move it forward in their stance to maximise hitting up on the ball in the belief that this is what the pros do to maximise distance.
Tee the ball too low, and golfers are likely to try to dig into the back of the ball to get it airborne, which creates too much spin.
Dynamic Loft
Dynamic loft refers to how much loft is delivered to the ball at impact. Your driver might have 10 degrees of loft, but at impact, you might close or open the face, which adds/reduces loft, affecting spin.
When we fit golfers for drivers, these are key metrics we’ll look at when considering how to optimise performance.
In the fitting bay, we can also see a lot of inconsistent ball striking, which is another important consideration.
Hit the ball out of the heel, and you’re likely to impart more spin than with a toe strike. Hitting the ball consistently high on the face will impart less spin than a strike that comes lower on the head.
You could easily experience all those strikes in one round of golf, which makes it easier to understand why your driving is problematic and the results inconsistent.
When it comes to equipment, being in the wrong head profile is a common issue. Low-spin heads are designed for faster players who generate too much spin, while high-MOI drivers are designed for golfers who need more stability and forgiveness on off-centre hits.
Each head profile, like shafts, is designed to manage spin but in different ways.
Now that we understand the factors that affect spin, let’s take a closer look at how shafts play their part.
What Is a Low-Spin Shaft?
Low-spin shafts are designed to help keep launch and spin under control, producing a flatter, more penetrating ball flight. They are often suited to players who naturally generate too much spin, deliver the club aggressively, or present too much dynamic loft at impact.
For these golfers, the right low-spin shaft can help tighten dispersion, reduce ballooning, and create a stronger flight that carries efficiently before releasing after landing.
However, low spin is only useful when the player can still generate enough launch and ball speed to keep the shot in the air. If the shaft is too stiff, too tip-stable, too heavy, or simply a poor match for your swing characteristics, the result can be a flight that looks powerful at first but falls out of the sky too early - the classic “nose-diving” trajectory. Instead of gaining distance, you’re likely to lose carry, height and forgiveness, not an ideal combination for consistently good driving.
Is a Mid-Spin Shaft a Better Option?
Mid-spin shafts sit in the middle of the performance spectrum. Think of them like the base driver model, which can cover a wide variety of players. They are not designed to force launch and spin dramatically up or down, but instead aim to create a more balanced flight window.
For many golfers, that makes them a reliable option because they can offer enough spin to keep the ball in the air without creating the weaker, ballooning flight that comes from excessive spin.
The main benefit of a mid-spin shaft is predictability. When matched correctly, it can help produce more consistent carry distances, a stable ball flight, and a better blend of control and forgiveness when the strike is less than perfect.
For golfers who do not sit at the extremes, either very high spin or very low spin, a mid-spin shaft is often the most sensible starting point in a fitting environment for the majority of players.
How Custom-Fitting Uncovers The Correct Solution
We’ve touched on some fitting elements so far, but let’s put the fitting experience into perspective and explain why it is crucial to making you a consistently better driver of the golf ball.
At Nine By Nine Golf, we combine cutting-edge launch monitor technology with experienced fitting staff to help golfers of all playing abilities get more out of their driving.
The launch monitor gives us accurate data that the naked eye can’t measure. Using your existing driver setup as a foundation, the launch monitor will create a data set that the fitter can scrutinise, looking for areas where improvements can be made.
The fitter will also want to understand what problems crop up on the course and what the bad shots look like. What ball flight do you experience in different wind conditions, where do you tend to miss most shots on the face, and what do you want to improve?
You don’t have to be a tour player to provide answers to those questions, because it’s something we all have to deal with on the course.
With a good data set and areas to improve identified, the fitter can start to build different driver setups to measure signs of improvement.
Knowing the numbers means the right head can be selected and optimised through features such as moveable weights or adjustable hosels to dial in the ideal flight and shape characteristics.
Choosing the right shaft will help dial in more consistent distance and accuracy. OEMs such as Fujikura, KBS, Graphite Design, and Mitsubishi Chemical not only offer different shaft profiles in their ranges, but they also go deeper with different weights and flexes, which help further tune the launch and spin to consistently hit your ideal window.
Different shaft profiles, like different head profiles, create more choice for every golfer. We’re not against choice, but you need to know exactly what you need to understand how you can improve your game through your equipment.
Finding the right combination of driver head and shaft for your game through custom fitting instils confidence on the course. You’re not always going to put a good swing on your driver; not even the tour pros do that in every round, but when your swing feels a little off, your equipment should help you manage your misses, which can help your scoring opportunities.
If you know you need a change and are not sure what you’re looking for, book a custom fitting driver session at Nine By Nine Golf, and our expert fitters will help you uncover the shaft that will create more consistent drives by optimising the launch and spin window for your game.
If you feel confident in your ability to choose what’s best for you because you already know your numbers, you can browse the Nine By Nine Golf website, where you can search through all the major OEMs and use our configurator to build the perfect shaft spec for your driver.