Re: more flexable short shafts (opinions)

Yep. For a while, I played rifle 5.5's in my irons, and 4.5 spinners in my wedges. I like the idea of having a softer shaft for clubs where I don't take many full swings, but do take a lot of half swings.

The other consideration may be swingweight. Your wedges may be swingweighting higher than your irons, and you may be taking a slower swing with them because of the increased swingweight. Just a thought.

Re: more flexable short shafts (opinions)

LP42, i am not very knowledgable i the equipment relm.... what is a rifle 5.5 and 4.5 spinner?

that is a good thought my SW is the only iron shaft i have but the rest are graphite so i don't think other than SW it is about weight or speed of tempo.

but i am definatley thinking about getting some more flexable PW-LW shafts..... but since it is all about feel you can't use a chart for distances to determine shaft. so i would have to go to a golfsmith or aplace with a testing palce and test out a flexable or ladies shaft.

as far as the SW, i need to dig through the sand...... would you recomend anything more flexable than regular for SW? or could i get away with not breaking a ladies or senior?

Re: more flexable short shafts (opinions)

If I get this right, your SW is steel shafted, and your other clubs are graphite, yes?

Then your SW is almost certainly heavier than your other clubs and swingweights more as well.

As for your 9i PW gap, I assume they're the same model (ie Callaway X16s or SMT 303's) - have you had the lofts checked to make sure they're in line? It seesm as though your PW is weak to be going that short, esp. with your 9 going almost 150. In fact, I'd almost have to say your PW may be mis-labelled.

As for 5.5 and 4.5; 5.5 is the rifle standard for 'S' flex. So I was playing S flex irons and R flex wedges. All the spinner meant was that the shaft was softer tipped to help get the ball in the air.

Before I spent money on more shafts, though, I'd get the loft on your PW checked.

Finally, the shorter clubs shouldn't be any harder to load if they've been properly flex matched. Yes, stiffer shafts go into shorter irons, but only because the heads weigh more.

Re: more flexable short shafts (opinions)

thanks for the clarification.

yes the SW is steel..... but would you recomend a flexable graphite SW, or would that break to easily with all the sand that you dig into?

i am not the strongest person, i know a heavier head would make a shaft easier to flex (if you are strong enough to handle it), that is why i can hit it well if i go all out on it, but it takes too much energy out of me to to that with my clubs. i have no problem with my other irons i have a big BS to laod up with, but with the shorter irons i can't seem to bend them with the shorter BS.

but i could go get my loft checked out..... i just find it hard to believe that all my club lofts are good except for my PW SW and LW....... but the shorter shafts being the culprit makes sence.

Re: more flexable short shafts (opinions)

Quick clubmaking lesson:

The reason that shafts are tip trimmed is because the head weights increase as the stamped number goes up. So a 4 iron head weighs more than a 3, a 5 more than a 4, and so on. The only deviation is that a SW is generally the heaviest head, and the LW is lighter than the SW. Probably because of the whole sand/digging thing. But I digress.

So if we simply slap shafts in and butt cut to length, the shafts will play progressively softer (assuming that they were all the same flex).

So, to counteract this increasing headweight, we take tip off. This stiffens up the club, so that the shaft bends like the shaft before it. The one thing I've noticed in my club building, is that if you tip trim according to standard charts (add another 1/2" of tip trim for every successive club), when you butt cut them to length, the amount you take off the butt is the same for every club. So the 1/2" step in clublength is actually created by the tipping.

It seems odd that your wedges would be out of whack with the rest of your clubs, but you should still get them checked out. You can always get them bent to shorten the gap.