The Best Driver Shafts for Your Swing Speed and Budget in 2024

Driver heads almost sell themselves with all of the great technology you can clearly see. The driver shaft, however, is critically undervalued in how it influences your driver performance. If you're not playing the best driver shaft for your swing speed and ball flight, then you're not getting the most out of your driver. 

In my days as a club fitter, I made a living matching players’ swings to the optimal shafts and club heads for them, and I’d like to help you do just that. So let's discuss what features you should consider in a driver shaft and check out some of the best driver shafts available today, including budget-friendly shafts.

The Project X EvenFlow Blue driver shaft by True Temper is an easy choice for best overall driver shaft because it fits a wide range of players while producing big results on tee shots.

For the most part, the EvenFlow Blue is right down the middle on most categories, which is why it's so widely used. It has a mid-launch and mid-spin profile, so players looking for a shaft that doesn't go to the extreme in either category will find this model to be a great fit. The EvenFlow Blue rewards moderate swing speeds with a smooth feel, but players with a slower or faster tempo can easily hit bombs with it.

Whether your backswing is quick or slow, and no matter what your transition pace is, this shaft accommodates and puts your clubface at the best possible impact zone. Pairing the Project X EvenFlow Blue with the right driver head will yield big results for many amateurs.

One way to increase swing speed without using a shaft that’s too light for your swing is to play a counter-balanced shaft. At GolfLink, we have a lot of experience with the Tensei Orange driver shaft from Mitsubishi, and it’s our favorite counterbalanced shaft.

The Tensei Orange shaft has weight strategically placed in the handle, which offsets – or counterbalances – the weight of the club head, and helps increase club head speed.

The Tensei Orange has a low-launch and low-spin profile, which can really help churn out bombs off the tee, especially if you have a faster swing speed. 

At around $250, Tensei Orange is not a cheap shaft, but if you’re lucky, it might be a stock option with some new drivers. If you already have a driver you love but want to upgrade to a counterbalanced shaft to optimize your swing speed, launch, and spin, this Mitsubishi Tensei Orange is our top recommendation.

If you need a new driver shaft to fit your existing clubhead, the Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue is a solid choice. At around $60, the investment is minimal compared to many aftermarket shafts that run $250 or more.

While some golfers might not consider the price a budget, it's significantly less expensive than replacing the entire driver.

The Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue has Micro-Mesh Tip Technology, which is designed to keep your clubhead square at impact. With the exception of exceptionally fast swing speeds, most players fit into this shaft. It produces an ideal launch with Vertical Launch Technology, which varies the shaft flex based on the person swinging, instead of the player having to adapt to the shaft.

Whether you're looking to try something new, or simply need a replacement to pair with your existing driver head, the Grafallow ProLaunch Blue is a great choice if you don't want to spend $100 or more for a shaft.

If budget is no issue, you might want to check out the Autoflex shaft. These shafts are a horse of a different color, so to speak, and we partially mean that literally. Aside from Autoflex’s trademark pink shaft (they’re now available in other colors too), these shafts aren’t labeled on the standard Senior-through-Extra scale of stiffness, although autoFlex does indicate the optimal swing speeds for the flex rating it gives each shaft. 

AutoFlex shafts are lightweight and have “Korean Hidden Technology (KHT)” baked in, all of course, with the promise of more distance and accuracy.

When Project X debuted the HZRDUS Smoke model in late 2018 it was in response to its equally successful counterpart, the original HZRDUS Black shaft. The original was intended for fast swing speeds and produced huge distance, but was certainly an aim-small-miss-small type of shaft with little room for error. That original HZRDUS is still a fantastic choice for fast swing speed and low single-digit handicap players who are accurate with driver.

The HZRDUS Smoke is a much friendlier and accommodating shaft, but doesn't stray from its family of fast swing speeds. This shaft produces a low launch and mid spin to give some room for error. Scratch players will likely find the Smoke model to be a bit too pedestrian, but mid-handicap players with fast swing speeds will find this shaft to be just what they want, producing huge distance gains while keeping it tight in the fairway.

If you're a senior player looking for a light driver shaft that will help you rediscover your former spot in the fairway, the Graphite Design MAD driver shaft should be in your wheelhouse. This shaft is available all the way up to a 75 gram, staff flex option, but the senior flex version (A flex) is super-light at 45 grams.

The Graphite Design MAD is built to get the ball up in the air quickly, meaning seniors who game this shaft may be able to delay purchasing a higher-lofted driver head. As we’ll touch on shortly, the ideal launch angle for your driver is between 12 and 15 degrees. This shaft can deliver those numbers with ease, but players with a moderate swing speed or faster may lose distance because the ball will launch too high.

"MAD" stands for Maximum Accuracy and Distance, and this shaft delivers on all. For slower swing speeds it keeps the clubhead square in transition and at impact, while allowing the ball to work to the center line. The gain in distance will cost you, as the Graphite Design MAD costs $129.99. The results you'll see on the course, however, will make you forget about the price tag.