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Online now: 1 member: TABLE SETTER 11; 134 anonymousDiscussion: Bat Flex
| Posted | Discussion |
| Dec. 10, 2014 DCPete 409 posts | Bat Flex So is the amount of bat flex a good thing, a bad thing or just a personal preference (like balanced vs end-loaded) when it comes to a bats performance, durability or anything else? |
| Dec. 10, 2014 DieselDan Men's 75 602 posts | Had a talk with a Major player who knows bats and when he gets a new one, he lays it on a hard surface and rolls it back and forth with one foot while putting weight on the handle. Have no idea if this makes the bat better. |
| Dec. 10, 2014 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | I remember the flex the Demarini Geezer had. You really had to slow down your swing to get it to work. I compare the flex of softball bats to golf club shafts. The harder your swing the more need for a stiff staff/bat. You should pick the flex to complement your swing. I wish bat manufacturers would measure handle flex and indicate that on the bat. I also think they should mark bats with swing weights.:) |
| Dec. 10, 2014 DCPete 409 posts | So what happens if you swing a bat with too much or too little flex? In golf the shaft flex mostly affects how straight or crooked the ball flies but not so much distance or height. Do you want the bat to flex at all when it makes ball contact or would that mean the bat has too much flex? |
| Dec. 11, 2014 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | The problem that I see is when someone with a fast bat speed uses a bat with more flex is that the barrel lags behind the hands at impact. Imo that batter needs to slow his arms down to let the barrel's max speed coincide with the wrists. DCPete, are you thinking that the mass of the golf ball makes the shaft flex? I believe a slice occurs when the club head is left open (for many reasons) or the swing path is incorrect. Most of this doesn't apply to a batted ball. |
| Dec. 11, 2014 DCPete 409 posts | Bruce; no, the golf ball itself nothing to do with the shaft flex. The shaft flex is a product of the swing & as a rule a shaft that's too stiff tends to cause a slice or block to the right (for a RH golfer) while a too flexible shaft creates hooks or pulls to the left. This link explains it much better: http://golf.about.com/cs/tipslessons/a/shaftflex.htm Softball's a lot different since the bats are way shorter & thicker than any golf club & the ball is bigger & heavier. And unlike golf, we don't really care if the softball hooks or slices a little so the question is what impact does bat flex have on your swing & the flight of the ball? |
| Dec. 11, 2014 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | to me DC..it would affect your timing per say.....if there is flex you are hitting the ball to late unless you compensate...kind of like the golfers 85% swing......softballers tend to gorilla swing....they aren't looking to place the ball most times.....i personally like the stiff handle in a bat as i swing hard.and have had the flex in the handle mess me up till i slow my swing down a bit.....now if a batter gets the right swing with the bat handle flex he/she can have good results....like the golfer who slows down their swing....just like a golf club.....with a bat ya want the kick point to be as your hitting the ball so as to snap thru........ |
| Dec. 11, 2014 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Flex for barrel or handle? Barrel you get the trampoline effect of the ball off bat. Handle for two piece bats adds to the wrist motion in the swing. The combo could work against you as mentioned above in the timing when ball meets bat in swing motion. Barrel flex imo, too much might lessen the longevity of bat just as much as a stiffer flex, but it all comes down to the user and his power of lack of. |
| Dec. 11, 2014 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | DC, I just wanted to make sure you didn't think the mass of the ball affected club face. mad dog probably explained it better that I. ;) |
| Dec. 12, 2014 DCPete 409 posts | Thanx Bruce; if you ever watch golf on TV you'll see the pros club shafts bend an amazing amount on their downswing (in super-slo motion) before they hit the ball. Wonder how easy it would be to see bats flex in slo-motion? |
| Dec. 12, 2014 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | Every once in a while I will see a youtube video in slow motion. It's surprising how much bats flex! |
| Dec. 12, 2014 TexasTransplant Men's 70 516 posts | Somebody in this year's World Series hit a home run and, in the slow motion replay, you could see the WOODEN bat flex. It appeared to almost ripple down the length of the bat in sort of an "S" pattern. |
| Dec. 14, 2014 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | Interesting discussion. I actually emailed Curt Hollis a few years ago because I felt my new Melee flexed too much for me and it lagged, especially when I went to the opposite field. I guess it is hard to tell for sure, but I do use stiffer bats now, as I have a reasonably quick bat. |
| Dec. 18, 2014 c.hollis 7 posts | Interesting topic guys. With softball bats, as long as the flex is close to what we are used to it generally goes unnoticed. If it changes one way or the other from what we are use to we generally don't like it. However, my experience is it is easy to overcome as long as you hit it enough to make it feel normal. With a golf club the flex can change the approach of the club face (too early of late) which is not an issue with a softball bat. The Melee Legend has more flex in the handle than your average senior bat at the time it was introduced (remember everyone was swinging a Ultra 2 back then) but not near as much flex as the original Demarini Geezer had when it came out. Back during the testing on the Melee Legend I noticed the flex right away but was told not to mention it to others I had testing the bat to see if they noticed it. Amazingly only about 10% of the testers mentioned the extra flex in the handle. I happened to test some bats for another company that added a stiff handle to the Geezer barrel and it's performance was unreal as the stiffer handle allowed much more barrel flex over the stock model. As a side note, we recorded more swings out of this modified design before barrel failure than with did with the original model design, which surprised me. I remember awhile back I think it was Easton that offered the same barrel on their USSSA bat as their ASA bat with the only difference being the ASA bat's handle had much more flex which toned the bat down to pass ASA's testing. Matter of fact, they called it the "Flex". Back in the day I remember some guys would shave their bat handles believing the increased handle flex would increase the performance of the bat when I think they just ruined a good bat. The bats produced today match the compression characteristics of the barrel together with the flex characteristics of the handle to produce a top of the line product. |
| Dec. 19, 2014 PJ3P Men's 50 94 posts | The dramtic levels of flex you see from TV and some cameras is an optical illusion created by the camera lens. This video should put all of that to rest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dToMXNNpbrM |
| Dec. 19, 2014 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | Interesting, maybe we should video this way! |
| Dec. 19, 2014 tattooball 774 posts | Tex Tran, what you were seeing is bending modes. There are 4 in a bat and everyone has been trying to eliminate at least 1 for over 20 years now. Someone has figured it out. |
| Jan. 5, 2015 playr25 15 posts | There was a write up if bats flex or not on another board. When you see bats flex in a photo or in slow motion it depends on the shutter speed of the camera. Someone stated, that Chris Larsen from DeMarini did a test on flexing of a bat. He stated something like, the strongest player can not get the bat to flex. I've stated that is bull. I would swear I could feel the bat flex at the handle. That is why I stick with one piece bats. Just couldn't get use to the handle flex. The conversation went back and forth to yes and no of the handle flexing. Finally I came to Chris Larsens conclusion when someone posted a picture of an airplane propeller. In my opinion the bat handle does not flex. The person who posted the picture stated it depends on the shutter speed of a camera. The propeller blades were bent in the picture. |
