For those my age and older, there are certain mainstays in life that you had come to expect, but are slowly disappearing. In some cases, it is all not that bad to see change, or more aptly put – progress. Take for example the pay phone. Once you would find one dotted almost anywhere from street corners, restaurant lobbies and "service" stations. Now try finding one that is operational as the cell phone has replaced the need for the pay phone. The way people communicated via e-mail or paying bills electronically has greatly reduced the need for a stamp. Transformation is happening as we speak with the push to change the simple light bulb to the newer environmentally greener compact fluorescent light bulbs. In golf, a similar change is beginning to occur.

In this day and age of custom club fitting employing portable launch monitors and computers, we can finally rely on empirical data rather than descriptive terminology to describe shafts. One of the more archaic parameters in shaft fitting has been the usage of the terms bend point and kick point. These refer to a specific area of the shaft where the maximum bending occurs and is traditional been used to tell the customer the potential ball flight they might expect. I am probably as guilty as anyone throwing these terms after all these years – until today! At some time we all have to realize what is the easiest for the consumer to understand.

The average golfer doesn't understand the principles behind a high, mid or low kick point shaft, let alone someone who is trying to start this great game. But ask a golfer if they understand a high trajectory or ball flight from low, and they will almost certain understand the concept. This year's Hireko catalog, we listed the shafts relative to their ball flight. You are also seeing similar terminology from shafts manufacturers, such as Aldila and Grafalloy, who have dropped the bend/kick point terms, in favor of ball flight or launch angle.

Maybe this won't produce the same benefit of switching to the compact fluorescent light bulbs, but it is a start to simplify one concept concerning shaft selection.

by Jeff Summitt
Hireko Technical Director
jsummitt@hirekogolf.com
04-25-07