Steel or Graphite?

[fixyurdivot 10,610]

I'm curious how many are playing steel vs. graphite shafts on their irons/hybrids?  I've never considered graphite and my most recent fittings (fitters) never mentioned that as an option.  One of the guys in our group just purchased a set of G410's with graphite shafts.  He's 62, in great shape, roughly a 30 handicap, and generates high club head speed.  I asked why he got the graphite shafts and he said that was what the fitter recommended.  What are the key reasons for choosing one vs. the other?  

[Dopds 14]

I switched to graphite over a year ago for my irons. I was needing a a higher launch and I was struggling with golfers elbow from hit the ground so much. I picked up 10 extra yards per club and have less joint pain. I play 80 plus rounds a year and I am at the range 4 days a week.


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[fixyurdivot 10,610]

15 minutes ago, Dopds said:

I switched to graphite over a year ago for my irons. I was needing a a higher launch and I was struggling with golfers elbow from hit the ground so much. I picked up 10 extra yards per club and have less joint pain. I play 80 plus rounds a year and I am at the range 4 days a week.


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Well, I can see that the choice isn't tailored for higher handicaps . Actually, this is something I've heard bantered about - graphite is for senior guys with higher handicaps.  It would be great if I was able to also add age of the poll responses to see if there is correlation.

[PlaidJacket 7,725]

I've been playing AeroTech SteelFiber i80-R shafts for about 4.5 years. These are the first and only graphite (actually a graphite/steel hybrid) shafts I've ever played. Love them and honestly I'm not sure why. The reason I say this is because my clubs were custom fit and built. I have nothing to compare them too besides older poorly-fit irons. My fitter suggested them and I said sure, why not. I don't have any aliments where perhaps a graphite shaft might help so I can't comment on that. Some people claim they experience more distance and higher ball flights. I didn't (maybe a couple of yards) gain distance but I wasn't looking for that when I was fit. My sole focus at the time was accuracy-consistency and... a tighter shot dispersion. Which I believe by fitter/builder provided. These irons I'm playing have been the best performing irons I've ever played. They have great feel for all reasons. Aside from the fit I believe perhaps more importantly is the fact that my fitter hand builds each club to exacting tolerances and specs. 

I'm sure if had gone into my fitting asking for a higher ball flight he could have enabled that. Same with distance. However, all my irons are all set to traditional lofts. ie... not strengthened for distance like most irons today.  Anyway... I like AeroTech shafts and they're an option you can consider.

BTW.. I'm now 64 with a 5 hcp.

[PING Apologist #9 4,564]

Great post!

I'm 50 and have a fairly severe service-connected injury to my left hand & wrist that I've dealt with for the past 30+ years. Nerve damage has left my index & middle fingers without feeling and the range-of-motion with my wrist is not 100%. Arthritis in it means I'm a fairly decent predictor of barometric pressure changes and really should take on a side job with the local weathermen... Anyhow when I first got the bug to dive into golf, my first set of irons had reg-flex steel shafts and playing with those just beat the Hell out of me. The part of my hand where it connects to the wrist behind the pinky would just be super sore and swell up into a knot. Anything more than a small bucket followed by a round of 18 would just destroy me.

Not too long after I saw this trend, I began researching graphite shafts to see if their properties could possibly alleviate my issue a bit. Ultimately I decided to sell off the steel-shafted irons and got a set with r-flex graphite's from top to bottom after reading on here and other sources. Right away I noticed a positive difference and no longer came home from rounds wondering if I should just have the damn thing chopped off and replaced with some sort of claw. Since then I've upgraded my shafts to stiff graphite and even with their less-flexible characteristics, I still no longer get beat up during practice or during a round like I did before.

With today's technology which many of these shaft manufacturers continue to develop and expand upon, I can see many other benefits to graphite over steel besides my needed "softness(?)". They can do so much more within the structure of a graphite shaft to morph its properties to obtain optimum "everything" that would (at least to me) make having graphite seem like a no-brainer and I wonder why we don't see the some of the younger Pro's embrace that. I suppose that has more to do with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" principle, but I bet we start seeing some up-and-comers start playing graphite more & more often sometime soon. I'm actually surprised that Bryson hasn't tinkered with his. The tech involved is right up his alley I would think...

[Bosox04 134]

I play steel, but I am seriously considering switching to graphite. I play a lot, and have some arthritis in my hands. A friend of mine that is a Titleist fitter recommended graphite just to reduce the stress on my body. I tried graphite about four years ago, and wasn't crazy about it. I guess I'll just have to stick with it, and adjust.

[RoverRick 1,566]

I bought a set of Ben Hogan CFT’s with graphite shafts in 2004 (or so) but didn’t really like them. That was sort of the start of my experimenting with shafts. Probably over 100 different combos of head types and shafts but had pretty much stuck with 5 iron and below steel and graphite above.

 

I switched to graphite in all my irons this year because of a severe elbow injury last year. After I was finally able to make full swings (8 months later) I noticed that after the round, the impact with the ground would cause swelling for a couple of days.

 

I’ve had Project X PXv 6.0 in my Mizzy MP FLI HI 3&4 irons for quite some time and would have to say they were my favorites based on launch, spin, control, etc., so, I install these in all my irons several weeks ago. They had the added benefit of being cheap because the are “old”.

 

I am happy with the graphite iron shafts.

 

 

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[Kenny B 25,103]

I started out playing golf in the early 1990's playing steel shafts because graphite was just showing up but wasn't very good yet.  Our pro in 2008 went to graphite for awhile but he had problems with distance control.  He's hit a bunch of good shots, then for some reason a shot would fly the green.  He went back to steel.

I finally made the switch to graphite in 2012 with a set of Ping i20's.  Still have them; still like them, but in 2017 I bought a set of Bridgestone JGR Forged Hybrid irons with Nippon Zelos 8 regular flex steel shafts.  These shafts are 84g which is extremely light for steel.  I like these shafts a lot.  I have arthritis in my wrists, but I don't notice any difference in feel between the steel in the Bridgestones and the graphite in the Pings.  I also reshafted my SCOR wedges with the Nippon shaft to match.

[Sluggo42 6,049]

First Aerotech steel fibers in stiff, now recoil 760 smacwrap in regular flex. I play 4-5 times a week and they’ve saved my elbows and knuckles

[fixyurdivot 10,610]

 

8 hours ago, PING Apologist #9 said:

Right away I noticed a positive difference and no longer came home from rounds wondering if I should just have the damn thing chopped off and replaced with some sort of claw. Since then I've upgraded my shafts to stiff graphite and even with their less-flexible characteristics, I still no longer get beat up during practice or during a round like I did before.

That is an interesting aspect/benefit of graphite.  I've hit some clunkers over the years that resonated all the way into my fillings .  

 

1 hour ago, Sluggo42 said:

First Aerotech steel fibers in stiff, now recoil 760 smacwrap in regular flex. I play 4-5 times a week and they’ve saved my elbows and knuckles

Improved distance?  Any tradeoff in accuracy?  I've hit a few of my friends graphite shafts and they don't seem that different - certainly much lighter. What I've read thus far suggests most can gain 2-6 mph in clubhead speed and the corresponding increased distance.  The issue can often be increased shot dispersion.  

Today I hit the G410 with the stock graphite, AWT, and Project X 5.5 LZ shafts.  I really didn't find a whole lot of difference between them in feel.  The LM data was really close for all of them - the AWT's yielding a few yards more carry and slightly lower spin.  So far, nothing is leading me away from steel.

[ole gray 16,605]

I FINALLY made the move to graphite this past week and I LOVE the feel it provides me!   I'll never go back to steel, ever. 

[Sluggo42 6,049]

27 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

 

That is an interesting aspect/benefit of graphite.  I've hit some clunkers over the years that resonated all the way into my fillings .  

 

Improved distance?  Any tradeoff in accuracy?  I've hit a few of my friends graphite shafts and they don't seem that different - certainly much lighter. What I've read thus far suggests most can gain 2-6 mph in clubhead speed and the corresponding increased distance.  The issue can often be increased shot dispersion.  

Today I hit the G410 with the stock graphite, AWT, and Project X 5.5 LZ shafts.  I really didn't find a whole lot of difference between them in feel.  The LM data was really close for all of them - the AWT's yielding a few yards more carry and slightly lower spin.  So far, nothing is leading me away from steel.

Completely different clubs, so I can’t say about distance. When I’m locked in on the range, disbursing is fine.

main benefit is joint pain, or helping getting relief from it. 

[PING Apologist #9 4,564]

37 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

 

That is an interesting aspect/benefit of graphite.  I've hit some clunkers over the years that resonated all the way into my fillings . 

I've heard this before, but luckily have never experienced it myself to be honest... The SteelFibers and such folks like @PlaidJacket & @Sluggo42 have mentioned above have intrigued me for a while, but I simply have not had a chance to try anything with them yet, though I sometimes see set with them for sale every once and again. They are quite expensive too from many of the channels I see.

I'm simply sold on the irons with graphite shafts concept...100% in even in the future.

[russtopherb 6,240]

I voted steel since that's what I have in the D300s, but I prefer the feel of graphite. That's what I had in the D200s as well as by Cleveland 588s. It's just a smoother feel for me, and as a slower swinger I like the extra height that graphites have always given me. 

[00sportsman 2,376]

I had an elbow surgery several years ago and when I started to play more regularly, I noticed my elbow would start to get sore about 12 holes in.  That was with a set of Ping i20's with stiff steel shafts.  Went to C200's with Aldila Rogue shafts, and don't experience the soreness anymore.  

[fozcycle 12,491]

I have played graphite for the past 16 years as my left wrist was shattered in 1998 and I have limited range of motion. The graphite absorbs most of the vibration when I hi5 the ground, or ball. Currently, I game the UST Mamiya Recoil 460 graphite shafts and love the performance.

 

BTW, I am 68.

 

 

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[MattF 10,453]

I switched to graphite when I rebuilt my Maltbys in 2016 because I wanted and prefer a lighter shaft. I'm using a Recoil 760 F4 and love them. When I got the Bridgestones I was lucky enough to have those as a choice of shafts, so I got them.

[edingc 8,368]

Currently playing steel, though my goal is to give graphite a serious look with my next set of irons.

[Wedgie 5,050]

I voted steel but my wife got me the same clubs I game in graphite.  Taking them to Florida this week so may change my vote when I get back.

[CarlH 5,281]

My current set that is getting replaced has graphite.  I was leaning toward lightweight steel or maybe the steel fiber shafts, but testing out different shafts on Trackman convinced me to stay with graphite.  New sticks in production with KBS Tour Graphite 70 shafts.