Question: I always hear that the shaft is the “engine” of the club. Is that true?
Answer: This is one of the great clichés in golf equipment. It’s also mostly inaccurate.
The shaft is important for many reasons, but to call it the “engine” is a misnomer. The player is the engine. A shaft doesn’t “kick” or “spring” or “unload” into the ball at impact, as some people say. It doesn’t add clubhead speed by snapping like a whip at impact.
Club-fitters know the difference.
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“The design of the clubhead has the most impact on ball flight and launch conditions,” says Ben Giunta, owner of The Tour Van in Portland, Oregon. “The shaft can certainly impact all launch conditions, but typically it is much more subtle.”
Sticking with the car analogy, the shaft might be better described as the “transmission” because it is one of the elements that can transfer the golfer’s power to the ball. For those still not willing to give up on the shaft-as-engine mantra, Jason Fryia, co-founder of The Golf Exchange offers a theory that clarifies things.
“I can give you a modern clubhead with a shaft from 40 years ago, and your performance will likely be much better than a modern shaft in a clubhead from 40 years ago,” Fryia says.
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Club Champion founder Nick Sherburne takes the car analogy a step further. “Calling it the transmission might be better,” he says. “Without the correct shaft, the odds of being the fastest and most consistent you can be are slim to none. However, once you have that, the head will drive a lot of the forgiveness, launch and spin.
“I prefer to say the shaft is the transmission that drives the head, which is the engine. They work together. You can’t have one without the other to make the car – or in this case, the ball – go.”
