I am currently playing a Cobra 460 SZ 9.0 R Flex driver. I have always suffered from an inconsistent driver off the tee, although the Cobra has been the best for me. I am a high ball hitter, with a launch angle of 14-17 degrees with the 9.0 driver and R Flex shaft, swing speed of 90-94 mph (average drive around 225). I went t o golfsmith and hit a number of drivers and narrowed it down the TM R7 460. What really surprised me was that the Stiff shafted (stock fujikura REAX) was as long as the Regular flex, but launch angle was too high with R Flex. It got me to wondering, will a stiff shafted driver provide slightly lower launch angle and better ball dispersion than the R Flex. I am thinking although I have average swing speed, might I benefit from the stiffer shaft? Any help is appreciated.

adb67,
The answer to your question is yes.
Your swing speed in on the border between r and s. Actually, your swing speed may go up a little with a stiff shaft. It may be that the r shaft is lagging a little and not getting that "kick" you should get as a shaft unloads in the impact area.

Perhaps I would benefit from a shaft change to stiff rather than chucking the cobra and going with a new driver?

adb67,
I would say yes, if you like the Cobra driver. It would be good to find someone who knows about shaft fitting and have them help you get the right stiff shaft.

I spoke with cobra and they had a recommendation to match the shaft but in a stiff flex. You cant get that shaft as it isnt available, but based upon what they told me and the specs it seems the aldila nvs 55 would be the most comparable.

Good,
My guess is you'll hit the ball much straighter and gain a little distance.
What else is there?

When you were at Golfsmith hitting balls on the launch monitor, did you perhaps notice what the backspin rates were for both the R and S flex shafts? If you got the same backspin, and higher launch angle with the R flex shaft, my bet would be you would get more distance also. As for the recommedation for the NVS 55 shaft, I'd be carefull about that. The NVS 55 has more torque (4.4) compared to the 65 (3.8), so you can expect more club head twisting with the 55, and that could give you some problems in term of accuracy. I have an NVS 65 R flex shaft in my MP-001 10.5* driver, and it's really nice. With the 55 and that much torque, it would drive me nuts, no pun intended. You also should know that the bend point for those shafts are different, the 65 is mid and the 55 mid/low. Again, you would get different ball flights from those two shafts, with the 55 giving you a higher ball flight. If you can, try to demo a driver with what ever shaft is recommended to you before you pull the shaft out of your Cobra and have a new one installed. It gets kind of expensive is you have to do it more than once to get the correct shaft. You should be able to find the shaft you need already installed in a driver at a good golf shop. And don't bet your pay check that you will get more accuracy from a S shaft than a R shaft. If you are "over loading" the R flex shaft, then yes, you should. But if you can't load that S flex shaft enough, it could be a lot worse. How much you load the shaft is more important than how fast your clubhead speed is. For what it's worth, and it may not be much, my clubhead speed tops out around 105 on a good day, and when I was tested for loading a shaft, I came in at the bottom end of the R flex catagory. So much for going by swing speed alone. Good luck with this.