new iron/shaft issues

Hello. I'm sure this is a tale as old as time but will look for some general advice anyway.

I recently started playing again after a couple of years of not playing much. I had a pretty junky set of beginner Wilson Reflex irons that I long suspected were too short for me and were falling apart. Still could coax decent distance out of the set but decided it was time for something better.

After a trip to Golf Galaxy (i know, here we go) and trying some thing I settled on a Callaway Steelhead XR set 5-Gap. The guy recommended on the KBS Tour 90 Stiff shafts, and add a 1/2 inch. (I'm 6ft 3) I was pretty content in the store, but had to order them online as they were on clearance. They seemed pretty nice and I liked the price point.

I get them adjusted at the store with the additional 1/2 inch and new grips. Hit on the lie board, they were in the center. Played for the first time with them that weekend and felt I came up short on some shots, but chalked it up to getting used to a new set, a little longer and not finding the center of the clubface.

A week later I stopped in at a local Golfcave, basically indoor Trackman equipped sims you can rent hourly. After having some shots come up short on the course I was super curious about my swing speed and the stiff shafts.

I found my driver swing speed was anywhere from 95-100mph. With something like a 6 and 7 iron I could be about 77-82mph. Ball Speed (and smash factor) were decent with the irons but i dont recall some specific numbers because why would jot any of this down.

Getting to the point, i'm still finding this new set to be absurdly short. 5i going 145 6i going 130 and so on. This was all based on the trackman numbers from yesterday. I blamed myself for not catching the center but after some work with some impact tape i started to really find the center of the clubface, make good contact, see good swing speed and ball speed numbers and then get a yardage that was super short. Towards the end of the session I was hitting some 8i that were going like 110y and i noticed an absurdly high spin rate, in excess of 10k. A cruise around the internet suggests 1000xclub number for your spin rate, but im not sure how valid that is. I regret not making note of the launch angle numbers.

So my question is other then the obvious (you got golf Galaxy'd, and I think i have found a clubfitter at nice course near me who I am planning on visiting for a look at all of this) does anyone have general thoughts on what I might be seeing? Is this indicative of shafts that are too stiff or is there something else going on? Again taking a look around the internet too stiff of shaft would seem to indicate too low of a launch and I dont feel I'm seeing that, the ball is getting up in the air fine. Could this set be no good for me based on launching it too high or spinning too much? I am going to call to try to get in with this clubfitter to try and decide what to do, but if anyone has any thoughts or experience (other than dont go to Golf Galaxy thanks that lesson has been learned) I would appreciate the discussion.

-Drewski

Your swing speeds are a little faster than mine.

5 iron going 145 is 30 yards shorter than me!

Are the XR’s flying shorter than your old Reflex irons?

The XR’s are a pretty strong lofted iron.

The KBS Tour 90 shaft should not be too stiff for your swing speed.

But, that shaft has a low bend point. That may not be a good fit for you.

High launch, high spin.

Another issue could be the clubhead. I have tried some irons with a very low center of gravity, and the ball just spins too much.

A good fitter will help you out.

Yeah Im pretty much set on going to get a 2nd opinion. But i appreciate the insight anyway. They are carrying significantly shorter than the Reflex clubs which have some uniflex shaft and feel like a toy in my hands haha. And also forgot to mention that is with no roll at all pretty much the total was about a yard longer than the carry on the higher lofted clubs. As if its spinning straight up and coming straight down. It wasnt until the end of my practice session yesterday that I noticed the spin rate and said ok something must be going on here. I wont act like the worlds greatest golfer but maybe theres something in this particular design game improvement wise that doesnt agree with me.

> @drewski18 said:

> Yeah Im pretty much set on going to get a 2nd opinion. But i appreciate the insight anyway. They are carrying significantly shorter than the Reflex clubs which have some uniflex shaft and feel like a toy in my hands haha. And also forgot to mention that is with no roll at all pretty much the total was about a yard longer than the carry on the higher lofted clubs. As if its spinning straight up and coming straight down. It wasnt until the end of my practice session yesterday that I noticed the spin rate and said ok something must be going on here. I wont act like the worlds greatest golfer but maybe theres something in this particular design game improvement wise that doesnt agree with me.

No shaft in the world is going to make you spin the ball at 10,000 RPMs. Something is going on with the swing and you are adding a stupid amount of dynamic loft (delivered loft at impact). Did you hit them side by side? I don't care if you went from a 40g junior flex iron shaft to an X7 (134g XX flex, basically), there is no reason for an iron (especially something with a cup face, and is strong lofted) to be 30 yards short of an iron from more than 10 years ago, and a junky beginners set at that. I've been fitting for over 15 years and I have never seen this happen without some very out of the ordinary swing issue with the player happening from club A to club B.

I wouldnt rule it out and would like to hit them side by side ASAP. Will see what i find.

That is definitely a weird issue. I played the Steelheads for over a year, and one of the things that attracted me to them is the progressively higher cog in the scoring irons, because at the time I had a tendency to over spin and balloon short iron shots. The Steelhead XR's really helped with this until I straightened out my swing issues. As for distance the Steelhead XRs are still one of the longest irons I have played, and the short irons generally spin quite a bit less than other irons. So IMO if you are spinning any of the Steelhead irons other than the wedges higher than 10k rpm, then I would have to guess that is going to be more about the swing than the equipment.