Patent ID: 7415867

Claim:
An apparatus for rapidly determining and marking the point of least resistance to bending, “Neutral Flex Point”, within a golf shaft and club, the apparatus comprising: a first trough positioned near the butt end of the shaft for the shaft to sit within for maintaining an accurate reference point when working with shafts of different lengths; a second trough positioned near the tip end of the shaft for the shaft to sit within; a plurality of interchangeable trough trays of pre-defined trough widths based on varying shaft tip diameters, whereby a single trough tray is located within said second trough for the shaft tip to sit within; a reproducible tip reference locator with extending and retracting tip reference positioner for establishing a pre-defined shaft tip location to ensure consistent and reproducible measurements of flex weight force; a butt positioning device for moving the shaft to a pre-defined location so that the tip of the shaft rests at a uniform and pre-defined tip reference point, ensuring the flex weight measurement is obtained from the exact same point on the tip of a shaft regardless of shaft overall length; an adjustable force regulator and trough assembly for exerting pressure against the golf shaft at the butt area in a counter balancing effort against the moveable base to simulate a golfer's grip during a golf swing, whereby said adjustable force regulator adjusts pressure exerted on the golf shaft for the to compensate for humidity and temperature changes to the environment; an actuator to exert a measurable force upon the tip of the shaft over a pre-defined distance of deflection of the shaft; and a retractable print assembly for permanently affixing a “Neutral Flex Point” mark, unique flex weight and identification characteristics on said golf shaft at its neutral flex point location.