Video summary
Most golfers immediately assume that lightweight driver shafts are unstable, lack control, and are only suitable for senior players or those with slow swing speeds. However, the video challenges these long-held beliefs by testing one of the world's lightest shafts to see if it is actually a breakthrough for average golfers rather than a gimmick. The core theory behind using such a lightweight shaft is that it allows players to generate more club head speed and ball speed with less physical effort. By reducing the weight, the golfer can swing faster without straining their muscles or losing tempo, which ultimately leads to higher launch angles and increased distance down the fairway.
The testing process yielded impressive results that contradicted common assumptions about stability and control. On the very first drive using a 36-gram shaft from the Japanese brand Zexio, the golfer achieved a carry of 231 yards with an club head speed of nearly 98 mph, which was higher than what they were generating earlier in the morning despite feeling like they were swinging easier. As confidence grew and the mindset shifted to trust the lighter equipment, subsequent shots produced even better numbers, including a final drive that reached 239 yards with a ball speed of 142 mph. This specific shaft also maintained remarkable accuracy; although there was slight leftward deviation due to alignment issues rather than the shaft itself, the ball flight remained straight and consistent without any unwanted twisting or loss of control during the swing.
The video concludes that these findings highlight how deeply ingrained misconceptions in golf can prevent average players from optimizing their performance. Many golfers are fitted with heavy stiff shafts around 60 grams because they believe weight equals stability, yet this often limits their ability to generate speed and square up the club face effectively. The presenter notes that even experienced fitters should consider offering options at opposite ends of the spectrum during custom fittings rather than sticking strictly to traditional norms. While the creator maintains a consistent bag setup for consistency's sake, they admit that after testing such concepts on behalf of viewers, this lightweight shaft warrants serious consideration as it offers significant potential benefits without requiring players to abandon their usual equipment entirely.
Read the full video transcript
You know, when most golfers hear
lightweight driver shaft, well, they
immediately think the same thing. They
must be too light. They'll feel
unstable. I'll lose control. And they're
only for senior golfers. But what if
almost everything we assume about
lightweight shafts is actually wrong?
Have we been misled by the golf
industry? And are we actually giving up
on ball speed and longer drives? Today,
we're putting one of the lightest driver
shafts in the world to test to find out
whether it's a breakthrough for average
golfers or whether those assumptions are
actually true. You see, most average
golfers assume a heavier shaft means
more stability, means more control, and
means more distance down that fairway.
But I'm not sure that's always the case.
You see, the thing is, if that shaft is
too heavy for your swing speed, you're
going to struggle to generate club head
speed. And maybe more importantly,
you're really going to struggle to
square up that club face, which
ultimately means harder to hit good
drives. So, what if in today's video, we
test the world's lightest golf shaft in
a driver? So, the theory behind a
lighter shaft is quite simple. Can it
help you generate more club head speed
with less effort? And if that is the
case, does it mean we're going to
generate more ball speed, hit longer
drives, or does something else happen?
But on the basis of the first drive,
there's a lot to consider. So, shot
number one, 231 yds carry. More than
happy with that. And we got a 137 ball
speed. But if I scroll down the screen a
little bit, maybe the interesting number
is 98.2 mph club head speed. Now, I
thought I was swinging easy because I
had the lighter shaft when actually I've
just increased my club head speed by 3
mph on the club that I was testing
earlier this morning. So, already it's
interesting that club head speed has
gone up even though I feel like I'm
swinging slower.
Oh, well, first of all, the tempo felt
superb. There's a right to left ball
shape. And uh well, we'll have a look at
the numbers very soon. But it's
important to note what is the weight of
this shaft and why does it work so well?
Cuz I can assure you without seeing
those numbers, that ball is pretty much
perfect. So this shaft is 36 g and it's
from the company called Zexio. Japanese
brand pretty much focus on making the
game as easy as possible. And part of
that is by they generally have a lot of
loft on the drivers, but more
importantly, they use very lightweight
shafts. And maybe even more importantly,
you'll often see these very much
prominent in the ladies game. And the
sooner we realize that we swing at a
tempo more like that, then it might
start to improve our game a little. So
36 g shaft just produced a 234 yard
carry, 11.2 to launch a ball speed of
139
and a club head speed of 97.5 mph.
And the interesting thing is with that
shot is once again it felt like minimal
effort. But somehow my club head speed
is right up at my optimum when I'm
swinging aggressively with a much
heavier shaft. So some jaw-dropping
numbers from a 36 g driver shaft. And
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it becomes very much a no-brainer.
This is unbelievable. It's like a stripe
show.
have it. Three balls on top of one
another. And it's really interesting is
as each one has progressed, that was a
straighter ball flight. I hope it shows.
It didn't deviate whatsoever.
As those three swings have gone from one
to three, my confidence has grown even
in that short space of time. Because on
the first swing, I felt like I was
swinging slower. By the third swing, all
I was concentrating on was an even tempo
and having faith that the shaft was
going to help me generate the club at
speed and ultimately the ball speed. And
that's a huge change in mindset that
would no doubt benefit a lot of average
golfers. I'm a bit taken a back. This
was an experiment. Um, and obviously we
don't know the outcome until we start
balls. And I did something similar a few
years ago and I was amazed then and I
still didn't take note of my own
findings and I'm amazed right now. I'm
going to go to the bottom of the screen
first of all and look at club head
speed. We've gone to 101.8
nearly 102 mph club head speed that I
haven't generated for about 10 years. So
yeah, take from it what you will. 239
carry, which again, if I get a ball out
at 240 carry, then we're really hitting
numbers and a ball speed of 142 with a
launch of 11.4.
That ball flight is showing left of
center, which is basically to do with
our alignment on flight scope because
trust me, that is exactly where I was
aiming. There's no deviation in ball
flight. So, we've got a number of things
that have gone on there. We've got an
increase in club head speed. We've got
an increase in ball speed. We've got an
increase in distance. And we've got the
control of hitting a ball straight. It's
also worth noting this is 36 g regular
flex. So, it goes against the grain of
sort of almost everything we know on the
basis of most drivers that I'm fitted
into would be 60 g in weight and they'd
be stiff in terms of flex. And honestly,
I wouldn't go anywhere near this driver
because of that. mentality,
the sort of what I'm familiar with, what
I always associate my driver with. And
that's half the problem with golf. So,
you've got to ask yourself if you're
struggling to generate club head speed,
or maybe if you're not, maybe if you're
slowing down a tad, or maybe if you're
not, I still think that the whole point
of the videos that we've done over the
last few months is about being
open-minded and trying different things.
And maybe more importantly, club fitters
also need to give plenty of options when
someone goes in for custom fit. Try
opposite ends of the scale because I'm
amazed at what we've just produced with
a shaft that honestly I wouldn't even go
near. I can honestly say I've never hit
a driver this far on this whole portal.
Amazing. But what I did just say to
Hannah off camera and I thought she'd
repeat it on is I'm as sort of stupid as
every other golfer out there in the
sense that I remember a few years ago
when I first tried this concept. I hit
the ball fantastically well then. Played
with it for a number of rounds. I think
most of a season and then I had the odd
one or two bad rounds with it and of
course what did I do? I blamed the
lightweight driver shaft and I went back
to what I was more familiar with. We're
just great as golfers, aren't we? Yeah.
So, don't get me wrong. People ask me,
"That's good."
That's very good. People ask me, "Is it
going in your bag?" And well, let's be
honest. I trial everything. I'm very
open-minded. I test them on behalf of
you. And I when I say test them, test
concepts. It doesn't mean that
everything makes its way into my bag cuz
I try and keep things nice and
consistent in my own setup. But I can
assure you this is a club and a shaft
that I need to give some serious
consideration