Shafts and grips: flex, length and the rules that bind them.

Materials

According to Wikipedia, the earliest shafts were made of woods such as ash, then hickory from the mid-19th century, and modern shafts are usually either steel or carbon-fibre composite, which golfers call graphite. Retailer TGW describes stepped steel shafts, which narrow in a series of steps, as the most common type, and "rifle" steel shafts as smoothly tapered. TGW says graphite is lighter and can add swing speed for slower swingers; that is a retailer's general description, not a test result.

Wikipedia gives shafts a range of roughly 34 to 48 inches in length and about 45 to 150 grams in weight, with some graphite driver shafts under 50 grams.

Flex, kick point and torque

Shafts are sold with flex labels. Wikipedia lists the common labels as L (ladies), A or senior, R (regular), S (stiff) and X (extra stiff), and notes that some makers add a stiff-regular or "firm" flex. We found no independent standard for these labels, so one brand's regular may not match another's.

Wikipedia describes the kick point as the shaft's point of greatest flexibility: a low kick point tends to launch the ball higher, and a high kick point gives a firmer feel and a lower flight. Torque is how much the shaft lets the head twist.

The swing-speed charts disagree

Flex charts match flex to driver swing speed, but the two charts we found give different bands:

A golfer swinging the driver at 82 mph would be a regular flex on Wikipedia's chart and a senior flex on TGW's. Treat any chart as a starting point for a fitting, not a rule.

Manufacturers pair flex with weight and launch. PING's driver shaft list, for example, offers one 50-gram-class shaft in soft regular, regular and stiff at 49 to 55 grams, described as "high to mid-high" launch, and a 65-gram-class shaft in stiff and X-stiff, described as "low" launch. Those launch descriptions are the maker's.

What the Equipment Rules require of a shaft

• Straight. The shaft must be straight from the top of the grip to a point no more than 5 inches (127 mm) above the sole.
• Same in every direction. It must bend the same way whatever its rotation about its axis, and twist the same amount both ways. Small manufacturing spines are tolerated.
• Attachment. On woods and irons the shaft attaches at the heel, directly or through a single plain neck or socket no longer than 5 inches. A putter's shaft may attach anywhere on the head.
• Angle. Seen from the toe-heel plane, the shaft must lean at least 10 degrees from vertical (up to 25 degrees where the club could be used near-vertically). In the plane of the line of play it may lean no more than 20 degrees forward or 10 degrees back.

Club length

Part 2 sets a minimum length of 18 inches (0.457 m) for every club and a maximum of 48 inches (1.219 m) for every club except the putter, which has no maximum. Woods and irons are measured lying on a flat surface with the sole set against a 60-degree plane, from where the two planes meet to the top of the grip. Putters are measured from the top of the grip along the shaft axis to the sole. A Committee may allow longer clubs where there is evidence of a medical or physical need.

Model Local Rule G-10: 46 inches, only when adopted

The R&A and USGA announced Model Local Rule G-10 on 12 October 2021, available from 1 January 2022. It lets a Committee limit clubs other than putters to 46 inches, with a measurement tolerance of 0.20 inches. It applies only when a Committee adopts it, it is recommended only for professional and elite amateur competitions, and the governing bodies said it is not a Rule of Golf, so recreational golfers do not have to follow it. Where it is in force, a stroke with a longer club means disqualification, carrying one is not penalised, and the physical-need exception is not available.

In September 2026 Golf.com reported a proposal for an elite-level Model Local Rule with a length limit below 46 inches, with no figure given. That is a proposal under consultation, not an adopted rule; see the ball testing change.

Players with disabilities

Part 7 of the Equipment Rules lets a player who needs clubs longer than 48 inches use them with the Committee's authorisation, provided the shortest club (putter excluded) is no more than 10 inches shorter than the longest (putter excluded). See players with disabilities.

Grips

• A grip must be at least 7 inches (177.8 mm) long.
• On woods and irons the cross-section must be circular, apart from a slightly raised continuous rib, often called a reminder rib, and the grip must share the shaft's axis. Woods and irons may have only one grip.
• No grip may be more than 1.75 inches (44.45 mm) across in any direction.
• Putter grips have extra freedom; see putters.

Part 7 allows a player with a physical limitation affecting the hands to use non-conforming grips if the Committee finds no undue advantage, provided the grips are commercially available, unmodified and not training grips. During a round, Rule 4.3a of the 2023 Rules of Golf, in effect from 1 January 2023, allows a towel or handkerchief wrapped around the grip.

Nothing on this page says a particular shaft or grip conforms. If you build or alter clubs, check the Equipment Rules and the R&A's equipment database.