I was wondering if anyone knows how the flex of older (<1985) Hogan Apex 4 shafts compares to modern TT Dynamic Gold shaft flex. Maybe if anyone has actually measured the frequency of the Hogans…
They are more similar than not. The good news is that you don’t really have to worry about shaft flex nearly as much as most who are CF dumping into the ball, and trying to “time” the straightening or longitudinal whip crack. As a holder of shaft flex, the only difference is you will feel impact slightly farther into your rotation, the looser the flex the more it will feel as if impact is happening as your hands are cutting left.
Frequency matching, spining, all that lovely stuff is much more critical for swingers using a momentum strike rather than a force strike.
It certainly doesn’t hurt to have finely tuned clubs, but we all have much bigger fish to fry until we get to world class level where fractional deviations can attribute to fractional decimals in the stroke average over an entire season.
You would be much better the wrap your mind around the concept that you can hit anything, rather than you can only play good with some perfectly vibratory set that came from the MIT lab.
Flat, stiff and heavy are much better concepts to work with than how your shafts are vibrating on a frequency board. Don’t underestimate your own brain’s ability to sense the shaft, weight and feel of a club with just a couple of firm waggles, or a brisk practice swing into PV5.
I like the Hogan 4 shafts… I like the 5 shafts even better.
I invested in some Hogan PC’s a while back that had an Apex “4-D” shaft in them. The shaft label was silver in color rather than the red Apex label I was used to. I have always liked the Apex shafts.
I was curious as to the difference and what the “D” meant so I contacted Ben Hogan Golf. Their response was that in the early 80’s, Royal Precision (who makes the Apex shafts) tried to design a shaft that more closely duplicated the very popular TT Dynamic Gold shaft that most golfers were playing then. The “4D” plays a little heavier and a little stiffer than the Apex 4, so I suppose you could infer that the Apex 4 plays a little lighter and a littler softer than an S300.
These PC’s are my current playing set and I have really gotten to like them. I just snagged another set that have the standard Apex 4’s in them… can’t wait to give them a spin.
Thanks for the replies guys. I asked the question because I seem to hit the '69 Dynas with TT DG S300 shafts better than the Hogan PCs with the Apex 4 shafts. I am thinking now that it may be largely due to the difference in length between the two sets (Hogan PCs are longer but the Dynas are still heavier). I thought I would adapt to the difference but I guess I was just hoping.