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What Is 'Spining"? Question: What Is "Spining"? Answer: It is almost impossible to manufacture shafts that have precisely the same stiffness in all possible directions of bending. To do so would require so many time-consuming manufacturing procedures that the price of shafts would well more than double. While the top-quality shaft makers do manufacture shafts with very high accuracy and consistency, there are shafts in the golf industry that possess a variation in the consistency of the stiffness about their circumference. If severe enough, these inconsistencies can cause mis-direction problems when the shaft is installed in such a way that those inconsistencies get in the way of the required bending of the shaft. When shafts are identified to be inconsistent in their stiffness, they are said to have a "spine." Therefore, the practice of "spining" is offered by some custom clubmakers. Spining involves, first, locating the most consistent bending position of the shaft; and second, installing (or re-installing in already finished clubs) the shaft so that its most consistent bending position is pointing directly toward or directly away from the target line. Today, many shaft makers pre-test their shafts to locate a consistent plane of bending in the shaft, and only then paint and apply the name/logo to the shafts. Thus, with the vast majority of quality shafts made today, there is little need to have the shafts checked for spine location and re-installed in the clubheads. What Effect Does Trimming the Shaft Have on Flex? Question: What Effect Does Trimming the Shaft Have on Flex? Answer: When shafts are manufactured and shipped to clubmakers and clubmaking companies, they are in what is called a "raw, uncut form." From this form, the clubmakers have to cut the shaft, often from both the tip and grip ends, to properly install it into each clubhead. Because all shafts are larger at the grip end and taper down to be smaller at the head end, that means the tip end is the weakest side and the grip end is the strongest side of the shaft. Therefore, cutting more of the tip will have the effect of getting rid of some of the weaker end of the shaft which, in turn, makes the shaft play and feel more stiff. Cutting more of the grip end will still stiffen the shaft a little bit, but only because in doing so you make the shaft shorter, and not nearly as much as when trimming more from the tip end. How much any increment of additional trimming changes the flex of the shaft is completely individual and determined by the original design of the shaft. There are some shafts in which trimming an additional one inch from the tip will change the stiffness barely at all, while in other shaft designs a 1-inch additional cut from the tip end will increase the stiffness quite noticeably. Will Heat Or Cold Damage My Graphite Shafts? Question: Will Heat Or Cold Damage My Graphite Shafts? Answer: No. Never. But excessive heat built up in the trunk of the car in areas where the temperatures get very hot can possibly affect the bond of the shaft to the clubhead. Shafts are secured to clubheads with special high-strength epoxy glues. If the heat in the trunk of the car builds up day after day to a temperature approaching 200-degrees Fahrenheit, over time it is possible that the epoxy bond holding the shaft to the clubhead may start to break down and eventually cause the head to come flying off the shaft when a ball is struck. So the best advice is that if you live in super-hot climate areas, take the clubs out of the trunk and store them in the garage where the temperature never approaches 200F.