Abstract: The invention comprises a set of golf clubs designed to suit a particular swing, each golf cluf of the set having an effective length and a total weight, wherein the product of the effective length and total weight is substantially the same for each club in the set, and wherein the clubs of the set each have a shaft incorporating a stiffness factor differing from club to club and functionally related to the speed of the swing of the club. The invention also includes the method and apparatus for manufacturing the golf clubs of which the set of clubs is constituted.

Abstract: A problem in golf club manufacture is the very large number of different shafts required to make sets of clubs with different shaft flex characteristics. The invention teaches how it is possible to greatly reduce the number of different shafts used in a set by defining the shaft flex characteristics in terms of the EI value of the shaft. Recognizing that the EI value at a section, that is, at a distance from a selected datum, controls the amount of deflection and hence flex characteristics the invention teaches how it is then possible to use a single member shaft throughout a set and by altering the distance from the datum, and hence altering the EI value, a second and a third set and so on, having flex characteristics different from the first set can be produced from identical master shafts or shaft blanks.