Darren Clarke : Iron Shafts
 

Interesting:

Darren Clarke, who is playing in this week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, rediscovered some of his old form on his recent sortie to the States, along with something just as significant. Namely, that for the past three years, he has been fitting his irons with the wrong shafts.

"You would think," he said humorously, "that I would have been smart enough to work out what was going on a bit sooner, but no."

After seven somewhat abbreviated events in which he missed the half-way cut, Clarke had four rounds at the recent Buick in which to think about what he was doing. Suddenly, it hit him that while his drives were bisecting fairways, his irons were going right and left and way too high.

advertisementHe had the clubs checked by Malcolm Clark, an expert in that field, on his return and Clark told him that he was using stiff shafts as opposed to the extra stiff he thought he had in place. It was all down to the different measuring system used in America and Europe. "My fault entirely," stressed the golfer. "I should have checked."

He hit two shots with the re-shafted implements and that was entirely enough to tell him that he was back on track. "The difference," he said, "was massive."

See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mai.../sgmair112.xml for full story

I read that on the news today and thought it was a bit strange. You of thought that will all the testing and measuring equipment available on Tour and at Taylor Made's facilties that the problem would of been spotted sooner.
But hey Darren is starting to play some good golf so its all good.
Alex

Very Strange
 

I found it strange as well. Surely the shafts come from the same factory whether you order them from USA or Europe.

More goods news for Darren his 2 shot penalty was rescinded by the referee which turned his 1st round 73 into a 71.

Agreed. Shafts would have the same flex whether it came from the US or Europe but then again the method used to measure the flex of the shaft might not have been calibrated properly.
Good news about the penalty as I wasn't sure why one webpage showed him having a 71 and another had 73 against his name.
Alex

Nice 67 from big D
 

Nice 67 today with 6 birdes and an eagle. It would be nice to see big D get his game back:salut: