Abstract: An apparatus for locating the spine of a golf club shaft and performing dynamic stiffness measurements on the golf club shaft includes a clamp assembly and a flexing assembly. Both assemblies are mounted on a common frame and distanced from each other to allow the clamp assembly to operate on one end of the golf club shaft and the flexing assembly to operate on the other end. The clamp assembly includes two collets having six pins per collet to clamp the shaft. A mechanism to rotate the clamped shaft about its axis is provided. The flexing assembly includes a robotic hand to deflect and release the free end of the shaft. A force gage is provided to measure. the force required to deflect the shaft. A photo eye is included in the flexing assembly to measure the oscillation frequency of a shaft that has been deflected and released.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a plurality of club shafts for an individually matched set of golf clubs is provided herein. The method includes using a specifically designed and separate mandrel for each club shaft of the matched set. Further, the method includes sequentially wrapping a specifically designed and separate group of patterns around each mandrel for each club shaft of the matched set. This procedure allows the manufacturer to specifically design each club shaft of the set of golf clubs. The resulting individually matched set of golf clubs has more consistent feel, flexure, frequency, weighting and torque characteristics. Additionally, the club shafts provided herein have improved swing weight characteristics for lighter heads.