golf club shaft review
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Shaft Fitting Guide
Ball
Speed

170 mph
160 mph
150 mph
140 mph
130 mph
120 mph
110 mph
100 mph
Shaft
Flex

X-Stiff
Stiff/X
Stiff
Reg/Stiff
Reg
A/Reg
A
Ladies
Vertical
Launch

11° - 12°
12° - 13.5°
12.5° - 14°
13° - 15°
14° - 16°
15° - 17°
15.5°- 17.5°
16° - 18.5°
      Ball
      RPM
3000 - 3200
3200 - 3400
3400 - 3600
3600 - 3800
3800 - 4000
4000 - 4200
4200 - 4400
4400 - 4800
Shaft
Weight

85g +
70 - 84g
65 - 80g
65 - 80g
55 - 65g
55 - 65g
45 - 55g
45 - 55g
Shaft
Torque

2.0° - 3.5°
2.5° - 3.5°
3.0° - 3.8°
3.5° - 4.4°
3.5° - 5.0°
4.5° & up
4.5° & up
4.5° & up
To ascertain exactly what shafts are best suited to your swing it would be ideal to have your swing measured by a professional club fitter at a swing monitoring facility or pro shop. There are also numerous personal swing analyzers available to buy.
When a swing speed device is not available, the chart below may be used to approximate swing speed based on driver carry distance or the club used to approach the green from 150 yards. (Based on average club lengths and lofts.)
Swing Speed Conversion Chart
Shaft
Flex

Extra-Stiff
Stiff
Regular
Flexible (A-Flex)
Ladies
Driver Swing Speed MPH
105 + 
90-105
80-95
70-85
Less than 70
Driver Carry Distance Yards
 260 +
 240-260
 210-240
 180-210
 Less than 180
Club From
150 Yards

8 or 9-iron
6 or 7-iron
5 or 6-iron
4-iron
3-iron/lofted wood
EI Profiling
EI is a term used by shaft engineers regarding flexural rigidity and stiffness of a beam. The term is not typically used in marketing of golf clubs. In 2009 Bridgestone Sports filed a patent regarding EI.

EI=length of a segment 3 (cubed)  X 
Load applied to shaft
                       48                                 Strain applied to load

 
E refers to Young's Modulus which is the ratio of stress to strain. I refers to 'inertia'.
  
Russ Ryden developed a machine that determines EI value with a 3 point bending test. Basically the shaft is placed horizontally on supports while a load is placed vertically at a central point. The shaft is marked in inches and precisely weighted. When the weight is dropped on the shaft, the deflection is noted and the process is repeated 36 times. They put the numbers into an Excel spreadsheet to determine the overall stiffness. His machines were developed to understand shaft bend profiles because he believes it is essential to the fitting process. They allow you to predict what to expect and are used to help individual needs during fitting.
 
High quality shafts will have similar EI profiles. It is all about consistency in the shaft.
 
R,S,X refer to shaft stiffness.
  
There is a diagram also shown on Mitsubishi website that he recommends where the
horizontal axis indicates tip to butt and the vertical axis indicates flexural rigidity-EI in kg of force (soft to stiff). The diagram shows that better quality shafts will have cleaner lines, but lower quality shafts will have wobbly lines.
The EI profiling also helps to compare shafts which he believes will help predict if it will behave the same, i.e. give a player swing
consistency.  
 
Bottom line is that knowing the EI profile of a shaft will help with swing consistency and assists in the club fitting process.
Picture
Russ Ryden's EI Profiling Machine
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