Stiff shaft for a beginner?

While I do believe buying the stiff shafts wouldn't be totally wrong, there's a couple of good reasons to look for regular shafts.

Like Tom Wishon (who I think knows a thing or two about shafts) said:

From a pure shaft performance standpoint, 90 percent of you are goingto be better off with a shaft that is more flexible than what you think youneed.

There's 3 problems that come with shafts that are too stiff, that will negatively affect you (generally, but especially as a beginner):

Shorter flight - most beginners don't hit it too far anyway, so an additional distance loss hurts even more
Lower flight - a ball flight that's too high typically isn't a problem for beginners, not being able to hold the green is
Fade tendency - with a fade/slice being the typical beginner problem, increasing that tendency doesn't help

And here are the downsides of a shaft that's too flexible:

Higher (and possibly farther) ball flight - I haven't seen a beginner that struggles with ballooning balls, yet...
Draw tendency - if you're not already fighting a hook/strong draw, this shot shape bias may actually be welcome.

Let me sum up the two options by quoting Mr. Wishon again:

Of the two, choosing thesecond choice is a no brainer.