Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from Zigzog, who is a long-time golfer searching for the best methods for dealing with joint tiredness and aching elbow pain during/following his rounds. Zigzog has been considering moving to a lighter shaft to reduce the pain, and our members have been sharing their tips and tricks on the subject.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

• Galanga: “Passenger in the same boat. I believe lighter weight and shock absorption is the ticket — many stories to of it working on this site. I second the prior poster’s suggestion to not go down in weight too quickly. For me, the graphite shaft selection effort has been a rabbit hole. Probably best to go to a fitter w lots of options and expertise.”
• KensingtonPark: “I am in a similar position as you. I am experimenting with tour weighted graphite shafts in my irons. It definitely seems to help, as vibration more than weight is the source of my joint fatigue. That and a lack of stretching…”
• rwc356: “I’ve been playing 50+ years and started feeling my age about 10 years ago. While I never had a plus handicap, I did play to a single digit handicap until my early 50’s. Arthritis and other health issue started creating havoc with my game, and I made the transition to graphite and more forgiving clubs. I was afraid to leave what I knew, and so I converted a few clubs (5 iron and 7 iron) to graphite and tried them for a number of rounds. It wasn’t long before I realized that I could play them as well as steel shafts and so I added the rest of short irons. Been playing 3 seasons with graphite and not sure I could go back. I love old blades and have a number of sets which I sneak back to every so often – result is always the same, shaft too heavy and body too sore. Good luck with finding a solution that fits your game best.”
• jjfcpa: “I’m 72 years old and didn’t start playing golf till I was 67, so I have no memory of what it was like to play steel shafts or have a fast swing speed. I find that playing lighter shafts (in my case graphite) to be much easier on the joints. I also found that doing strength training at the gym doing the offseason really makes it much easier to maintain your performance level during the golf season.”

Entire Thread: “Lighter shaft for dealing with joint tiredness?”