I see a lot of videos and photos posted with radical shaft bend. My local golf shop has even posted pictures of professional golfers hitting shots with the shaft tip bending forward 4″ at impact. They are using these photos to justify putting people into stiffer shafts. The problem is, that bend is not real. If the shaft and club head in the photo is not blurred then it’s likely it was shot with a digital camera that uses a vertical scan or rolling shutter method for catching the image. Anything moving will be distorted even though it is in focus. This video compares two cameras shot simultaneously at my golf swing. The club is a Cobra 3 wood, stiff Aldila shaft. My driver swing speed is 105 mph. I turn the camera sideways in the video to demonstrate that the rolling shutter will create distortion when the club is moving across the screen but not when it is moving up and down the screen. Some cameras have a rolling shutter that moves across instead of down. Those will distort the club when it is horizontal. Thus showing a true image at impact, if you get lucky and catch one of the frames at impact.
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@Miura36328 I removed my own comments from Lin4say’s video, something isn’t right there. I don’t know what his real motives are, he could be a “cannibal troll”. I don’t want to get drawn into an argument with him. I’ll end up looking like an idiot, and I hate it when that happens!
@Miura36328 Thanks for the kind words! I made the video because I wanted to help people who were confused by what they saw in their own videos. I know I was confused the first time I saw the problem.
I chatted with a guy that kept buying stiffer shafts because of this. He is now using the stiffest and heaviest shaft he could get. He said it got better with the last shaft, but I think the heavy shaft just slowed his swing speed. Slower swing = less “skew”.
Thanks for making this useful video. I see your point about the misinformation that can result from the rolling shutter effect. Lin4say’s video comes to mind (I see your comments are removed from that video, I wonder why lol.)
The cheaper the camera, the slower the rolling shutter, the greater the distortion. Helicopter blades in full flight can seem to bend.
When someone derives conclusions like “controlling the frequency of the shaft” (in other videos),: the mistake is further compounded.
For all future viewers: Thanks for watching! Please comment.
This video is about camera distortion, not shaft theory.
I do not have the backing of any shaft manufacturers.
I do not fit clubs for anyone, even myself.
I use a PGA Pro for fitting and instruction. I do not pay him handsomely, he’s very affordable, affable and an all around great guy. He sometimes uses a video camera for instruction, never for fitting.
Let’s have a conversation, but civil, like we’re in the same room.
Its your comment section that you state your idea of a perfect impact position being with shaft lag, when the industry standard is the opposite
And video is a fantastic fitting tool. People hit it straight and pay me handsomely for my skills. I could help you too…I know you’d enjoy it. You seem to have a thirst for info!
It bends past straight with his hands at 7 o’clock. I know the video well. I’m responding via phone without looking at it.
@markspencergolf I have made no claim in my video that the shaft does not, or cannot, bend forward. You have made up that claim about the video, but it is not there.
This video shows Tiger’s swing shot with a camera meant for tracking military ordinance:
*youtube* /watch?v=nESDTgMck0U
Note Tiger’s club is well fitted, it has returned to straight at impact. The kick is halted by impact with a solid object before the shaft can bend past straight.
@markspencergolf I have reviewed my video again to see where you are getting the idea that I do not believe the shaft bends or flexes. There is nothing in my video that would lead you to believe that I am stating this. I believe I made my point, shafts do flex, but that flex cannot be captured with ordinary cameras. It’s been proven since I posted this video that the Casio camera also cannot accurately capture shaft flex. Better used as a teaching tool than a selling tool.
You state incorrectly that it doesn’t bend forward. I am merely trying to correct this theory. I have the backing of every shaft manufacturer, plus I fit the current money leader on the world long drive circuit. The shaft bends forward upon release of the wrist hinge. Period.
@markspencergolf It was not the intention of the video to state that the shaft does not bend. Everyone knows they bend.
The “small time club builder” has 4 large stores and is the largest club retailer in this state.
If you are using video to sell golfers on shafts, you had better be using a camera without a rolling shutter. Otherwise, you are misleading your customers.
While I agree that rolling shutter technology keeps the images from being accurate, forward bend is real. All shaft companies know this forward bend to be fact. Is why more flex helps u draw, more stiff helps fade the ball and lower.
@bogushavis no prob! I will not defend an exaggeration of a small time club builder, but the shaft companies i refer to all agree on the fact a shaft bends forward upon release of the hands.
I am aware of rolling shutter and it’s effect on perception. My opinion (and those of all golf shaft manufacturers) is that the distortion is an exaggeration, and not a fictitious occurrence. The shaft bends forward upon release of the wrist hinge. This varies player to player. Flex causes the ball to hook. Stiffness causes low cuts. Explain why given your set of assumptions.
@markspencergolf I’m missing something, when you wrote: “UST, Fujikura, et al all know this.” Did you mean that these companies know that cameras distort the image of the shaft? I have no knowledge of any claims made by these companies and make no statement about it in my video.
I’m concerned that individual club sellers are trying to sell clubs using these images. My local shop has these images pinned to the wall as a selling tool. The images are not real.
@markspencergolf You cannot hope to discern the bend of the shaft with a rolling shutter. Rolling shutter can make straight/backward bent shafts appear to bend forward. I hit a cut because the face of my 3 wood was open to the head’s swing path. That’s the shot I have practiced with that club. Ideally the shaft should still be bent slightly backward at impact. If it’s bent forward then the head would be decelerating and unstable. Pros hitting X flex would not have 2″ of forward bend at impact.
if you search for Landon Gentry on you tube, i have some video shot on a Casio at 420 fps. It shows the slight bend forward that always happens to a golf shaft through impact. UST, Fujikura, et al all know this. Your point that rolling shutter image capture is accurate. But it only exaggerates the forward bend, not manufacture it on its own. You hit a cut b/c your shaft released too soon, then retreated during impact, ie: rolling back open. Causing cut spin.