Iron Shaft Advice

[TC]

Hey Andy,

I have some questions about shafts, specifically for my irons. I'm kind of simple minded when it comes to shafts and am learning more and more everyday just b/c of THP.

Last year I was fitted for a set of X-22's. I love the clubs and the fitting was enjoyable, but at the time me, nor the guy who did the fitting, discussed anything about shafts. My 22's have the uniflex shaft, which seem to be great. I was playing with my brother Friday and he kept mentioning how high I hit the ball. Even if i put the ball back a little bit, it just flies high. I guess I was wondering if there might be a shaft out there that i should consider plugging into the 22's to help lower that ball flight. Just so you know, my clubs are 1'' longer, 2 degrees upright. My avg. swing speed with a 6 iron is around 92-94 mph, and i hit my 8 iron 155 on avg.

Thanks for all of your help, advice, and input,

TC

 

[amollerud]

That is a great question. There are a couple of routes for you to go with. Option 1 is to go with a shaft that weighs more than your current shaft. That would be just about anything out there like a S300 or something along those lines. Now if ball height is a real big issue for you going to something like a project-x flighted shaft will help you get control over the max height of your shots. Getting fit for a shaft should be part of the fitting process. With that type of club head speed getting something heavier and a bit stiffer will help a ton in bringing down the ball flight.

 

[JPsuff]

Hey Andy,

I have some questions about shafts, specifically for my irons. I'm kind of simple minded when it comes to shafts and am learning more and more everyday just b/c of THP.

Last year I was fitted for a set of X-22's. I love the clubs and the fitting was enjoyable, but at the time me, nor the guy who did the fitting, discussed anything about shafts. My 22's have the uniflex shaft, which seem to be great. I was playing with my brother Friday and he kept mentioning how high I hit the ball. Even if i put the ball back a little bit, it just flies high. I guess I was wondering if there might be a shaft out there that i should consider plugging into the 22's to help lower that ball flight. Just so you know, my clubs are 1'' longer, 2 degrees upright. My avg. swing speed with a 6 iron is around 92-94 mph, and i hit my 8 iron 155 on avg.

Thanks for all of your help, advice, and input,

TC

Your numbers and mine are virtually identical and I went to X-100's for similar reasons and everything worked well. So I would either recommend doing that, or perhaps "hardstepping" a set of S-300's or hardstepping your Uniflex's.

That's my 2 /100 of a dollar.


-JP

 

[TC]

thanks andy and jp, i appreciate the input. my concern is that i'm not sure there's anywhere around here that could help me out with a shaft fitting process. i'm pretty sure something needs to be done b/c i hit an incredibly high ball. i guess i'm just not sure what to do next.

 

[TC]

Andy-i visited True Temper's website where they offer a "shaft-fit". I was as honest as I could be with my answers and they recommended a Rifle 6.0 shaft. I think it's best that i have one club shafted with this and then just take it out and try it. Does this seem logical to you? or would you recommend another path?

thanks,

TC

 

[i-Guy]

Andy-i visited True Temper's website where they offer a "shaft-fit". I was as honest as I could be with my answers and they recommended a Rifle 6.0 shaft. I think it's best that i have one club shafted with this and then just take it out and try it. Does this seem logical to you? or would you recommend another path?

I am not Andy but I know something about shafts and fitting and that is one way to see if you like that shaft and its characteristics...but I wanted to mention that hitting the ball high is not necessarily a bad thing...especially with today’s grooves as it can help with the ball landing softly on the green.

I also often hear very good players say it is much harder to teach someone to hit the ball high then it is to teach them to hit it low. When you say you hit the ball high are you talking about just height but with a good penetrating ball flight or are you talking about the ball ballooning off the club? There is a difference...and if it is not ballooning then it comes down (in my humble opinion) of what you want your ball flight to look like (high, low or something in-between).

I admit with your numbers that you maybe could benefit from a stiffer shaft and possibly heavier but how is your dispersion…do you spray the ball with these shafts? If not then again they may work with your swing as long as you can comfortable with the height.

Good luck with whatever you decide…eace2:

 

[TC]

i-guy, i don't spray balls much at all and would say that i pretty much hit a straight ball. of course i'll pull or push the ball a little but not much. i still have decent yardage gaps between my clubs and wouldn't necessarily say that the ball balloons but it's definitely high. i never really thought about it much til last friday. the breeze was up a little and no matter how hard i tried the ball just launches high. i always thought it was a good thing but i can't help but wonder if i'm sacrificing a bit of distance b/c of this ball flight. on the range, guys are always saying that they wished they could hit the ball that high but i think i'd like to have a more penetrating flight.

like i mentioned in a previous post. TT's website recommended the Rifle 6.0 shaft but i'm not sure what the hell that shaft is or does.

 

[i-Guy]

i-guy, i don't spray balls much at all and would say that i pretty much hit a straight ball. of course i'll pull or push the ball a little but not much. i still have decent yardage gaps between my clubs and wouldn't necessarily say that the ball balloons but it's definitely high. i never really thought about it much til last friday. the breeze was up a little and no matter how hard i tried the ball just launches high. i always thought it was a good thing but i can't help but wonder if i'm sacrificing a bit of distance b/c of this ball flight. on the range, guys are always saying that they wished they could hit the ball that high but i think i'd like to have a more penetrating flight.

like i mentioned in a previous post. TT's website recommended the Rifle 6.0 shaft but i'm not sure what the hell that shaft is or does.

Good info... it is really hard for me to trouble shoot without seeing your swing as there are a few different factors that could play into a higher then normal ball flight as follows:


The clubs you have (X22) have a low Center of Gravity (CG) to help get the ball in the air...that is why most Pro's play blades or what is called a players iron as the CG is higher on the face so with a lot of these clubs it produces a lower ball flight (regardless of shaft). However, many pros are turning to GI irons as with the new groove rule they want a higher ball flight as I mentioned earlier

You could be releasing the club too soon (if you are loosing distance) which causes you to add loft to the club as well and therefore, causing it to have a higher ball flight.

As I mentioned before it comes down to what you want your ball flight to look like and what you want your ball flight to do for you in your game...for example if you are hitting your 7 iron the distances you think you should and are consistent at that distance then I would not change anything.

Now on the projects X shafts…they are expensive shafts to do trial and error…I would maybe try a DG S300 (a little cheaper) and stick it in your 6 iron to try so you can see dispersion as well as ball flight and if you don’t think you will like heavier shafts you may even try DG SL300 as they have the same high kickpoint as the heavier DG S300 but weigh about 20 grams less…you may also want to hit on a launch monitor with your 6 iron prior to changing shafts to record your average ball flight height and then compare after you change shafts.
eace2:

 

[TC]

nice info i-guy. i think the thing for me to do would be to go somewhere that has the time and resources to help me with the right decision. i appreciate your input and we'll see where this goes.

 

[i-Guy]

nice info i-guy. i think the thing for me to do would be to go somewhere that has the time and resources to help me with the right decision. i appreciate your input and we'll see where this goes.

Great idea and if you can find a retailer (EW) that has the new Mizuno fitting club it is pretty darn accurate...how it works is they have this club with a measuring device on the shaft...you make three swings and after each swing they enter your data into a computer and after the three swings are all done it tells you which shaft would work best for you...I know very good players that know equipment and they used this tool and where impressed that it nailed it for what shaft they play...it worked for me also...
eace2:

 

[TC]

Great idea and if you can find a retailer (EW) that has the new Mizuno fitting club it is pretty darn accurate...how it works is they have this club with a measuring device on the shaft...you make three swings and after each swing they enter your data into a computer and after the three swings are all done it tells you which shaft would work best for you...I know very good players that know equipment and they used this tool and where impressed that it nailed it for what shaft they play...it worked for me also...
eace2:

thanks a lot. i'm somewhat familiar with the mizuno shaft fitting so i'll seek out a retailer that has that capability.

i really appreciate all the input here, you've been extremely helpful.