How to Read a Flex Gauge Printout

The spec ticket handed out at the end of a session looks simple on purpose — a handful of labeled rows, each tied to a specific measurement taken during your visit. Golfers who've never seen one before often assume it's a marketing summary. It isn't. Every line traces back to a physical reading taken either on the deflection board or during your swing capture.

Tip, Mid, and Butt Deflection

These three numbers describe how far the shaft bends at three different points along its length when a fixed weight is applied at the tip. A shaft can measure stiff at the butt and noticeably softer at the tip, or the reverse — a single flex letter has no way to capture that, but these three rows do.

Tempo Ratio

This is the ratio between how long your backswing takes and how long your downswing takes, logged during the swing-capture portion of your session. A 3:1 ratio means the backswing runs three times longer than the downswing — a fairly common tour-average range, though plenty of good players sit outside it.

Kick Zone

Kick zone describes where along the shaft the most bending occurs under load — low, mid, or high. It's related to tip deflection but isn't identical to it, since two shafts can have similar tip numbers while bending at different points relative to the clubhead.

A low kick zone tends to launch the ball higher at the same flex rating as a mid or high kick zone shaft — useful context when two options measure similarly on paper but feel different in hand.

Recommended Flex Band

This is the conclusion, not the starting point — a flex band range (for example, "Stiff–R300") derived from combining your deflection readings with your logged tempo ratio and swing speed. It's meant as a starting range for shaft selection, not a single rigid answer, since feel and shot shape preferences still play a role in the final pick.

Why We Print It At All

Handing over the actual numbers, rather than a verbal recommendation, means you can compare notes with another fitter, revisit the reading years later if your swing changes, or simply understand why a specific shaft got picked over another that measured close on paper.