Shafts Too Light?

Hey Andy!

I hope you had a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Sorry about the long post.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma. I have two sets of irons. The TM Burner 2.0's and the Callaway Tour Authentic X-Prototypes. My HI is 13.2. I'm 55 years old and my swing speed hovers around 90 mph with the driver. I'm 6'5" with relatively short arms.

I had an extensive fitting and the 2.0's were what we came up with. We decided to go with graphite because of some elbow problems I've been having. I got them in regular flex. I like the 2.0's but have been having problems controlling my shots. I've had the irons about a month.

I've always thought the prettiest irons I've ever seen were the X-Proto's but was told they were way above my pay grade. I saw a set that matched my specs a couple of weeks ago and decided what the heck. When I received them I took them immediately to the golf course and without even going to the range went straight to the first tee and proceeded to hit them better then I ever hit any game improvement irons previously (which have had graphite shafts). They came with the KBS Tour shafts in stiff flex.

I've now had five range sessions comparing the two sets (I haven't been able to play due to snow on ground). Each time I go to the range I expect to hit the 2.0's better but such is not the case. I hit the ball more solidly and the dispersion is much tighter with the X-Protos.

My misses with the 2.0's are hooks, pulls, pushes, and shots off the toe. With the X-Proto's my misses are just hooks. The shafts on the 2.0's weigh approximately 65 grams and the X-Proto's weigh approximately 133 grams. I load the shaft pretty well and have an aggressive transition into the ball.

The ball flight with the X-Proto's is by and large high and straight. I will admit though that at +1-inch the irons approach E-1 in swingweight and after a while I can feel the heaviness.

I any case when I swing the 2.0's they feel too light...like I have no control over the club. Based on the aforementioned do you think it could be an issue of the 2.0's being too light? I don't want to give up on them as I think they could serve me very well. I love the feel of the X-Proto's but think that E-1 is a bit too heavy, and by the time I get to the 15th hole I may be pretty tired.

What do you think Andy? And if you think it's a shaft issue what would you recommend?

Thank you!

cheers --Sean

I assume that the shafts in the X-Protos are steel. You generate enough club head speed and I am concerned about the gram weight here. Why did you go with the 65 gram? I think they are available in 85 gram as well. There is such thing as too light. I try and fit guys swinging with decent club head speed into a the heavier of the graphite unless they are needing to add club head speed. Sounds to me like you have enough and when a shaft is too light we loose track of where the club head is during the swing as a big problem. The other thing I see when the club is too light is a player tends to over power the shaft, not meaning swinging harder, but due to the lighter feel the swing is more aggressive and the shaft doesn't hold up.

See if this makes sense. If you go with a heavier shaft go slightly weaker in the flex. By the same token if you are going lighter, you need to go slightly stiffer in the flex.

That makes sense. Thanks for your response Andy.

From someone that has gone through this once already that is great advice Andy. I actually think of the two possible problems the worst is not having any feel for the club head in the swing. In fact, it feels like you have lost track of the club in its entirety. You can have a little bit to say about overpowering the club. If you can't feel the club you are truly lost and any good contact you make is more a matter of luck than talent.

And in golf, luck is good, but you can't count on it!

I'm curious - in case where you are losing the ability to track the head of the club like this, how much is the shaft's fault, and how much is the head's fault?
I have this problem with using my brother's G10s... I have no idea where the head is compared to when I use my SZs.

Most iron heads (give or take) are similar gram weights, and the difference in the shafts does make a difference in the your ability to feel the club head during the swing. Are his stock ping shafts and what are in your SZ'z?

Andy thanks for taking time to answer this question. I found a similar issue when demoing the 2.0s. When I switched to the KBS Tour Stiff my dispersion was much better. I actually gained a bit of distance as well. The description of losing the club head is right on.

amollerud said:

Most iron heads (give or take) are similar gram weights, and the difference in the shafts does make a difference in the your ability to feel the club head during the swing. Are his stock ping shafts and what are in your SZ'z?

Click to expand...

I have N.S.Pro 1030H Regular flexes in my SZs (stock shafts), and he has Ping AWT Regular flexes.

The AWT are an ultralight steel. That would make sense. The NS should weigh in at about 110-120 grams.