Can you use existing irons to make a single length set?

I assume the answer is a resounding no, but I don’t understand why and haven’t been able to find an understandable explanation in a Google search. if anyone is willing to provide a basic answer I would be grateful.

I suspect I’m pushing the limits of the saying that there is no such thing as a dumb question. ?

The simple answer is no becausethe weighting of the clubheads is different with OL irons. The heads of the long irons will be heavier than a traditional iron and the heads of the short irons are usually lighter to compensate for the the longer or shorter shafts of traditional length irons.

But this has to be done correctly and proportionately to get correct gapping. Just throwing weight anywhere on a club will not work because moving the weight around can change the flight characteristics.

I'm far from an expert, but I believe it comes down to the heads. In a SL set, the manufacturers have to manipulate the weight, COG, etc to get ideal launch and spins numbers.

In other words, say for example Cobra, they don't just cut all the shafts the same length and use the same heads. There are 2 different heads for the regular and the SL.

Hopefully someone will be along shortly that is more knowledgeable.

Edit: See above, haha I'm too slow

Got it. Thanks for the explanation

Head weight is the main consideration.

I do my own club building and my most recent set utilizes MP -18 MMC 5-PW and other off the shelf L-S-G wedges

My L-S-G-PW are SL at 36.25”. I had to drill out the hosels in my L and S to reduce head weight to get my desired SW.

I then go in 1/4” increments in my 9, 8, 7 with my 7 being at 37.0”. These swing weighted fine with typical shaft weights.

My 6, 5, 4 are SL at 37.25” which has the 5 with a max 10g tip weight. I wanted to go shorter on the 6, 5, 4 all at 37.0” but didn’t want to resort to lead tape.

Also, different shafts have different SW consequences, so you don’t know what you can achieve until you start. Head weights also have much more variance than the expected 7g per head.

No, you can't turn a VL set into an SL set. However, you can easily adjust a VL set to have a single MOI.

You also need to consider lie angle. Variable length has different lies. Single length all should have the same lie.

Really appreciate you all weighing in. Thanks

Someone else mentioned 1/4 progression which is something you may want to try. It's not OL but sort of a hybrid of VL and OL. My current irons are 1/4 inch progression from the 6 iron down as I just like to stand taller when I swing. I am using MP 18s which I could bend for loft and lie adjustments. Would not do this with a cast club.

Also went with a hard stepped NS Pro shaft as it has more counter balance, which worked well in the short irons and kept weights in line. 4-7 however required adding some more head weight to balance out with that same shaft. Suppose I could have used two different shafts for this but shaft tip weights and lead tape worked fine too as I don't mind the look of lead tape.

Unless you want a season-long science project, no.

I have tried a couple of Cobra SL iron sets. Even though the iron heads are designed to mesh with single-length shafts, the 4-5-6 iron bunched up on yardage - not much of a gap. And, the wedges felt uncomfortable - as in too long a shaft.Note: Some SL players have a second SL for wedges, such as playing all wedges at a more traditional 35.5".

Conceptually I can see the set-up benefit in not having such a range in iron shaft lengths. I just can't adjust physically. Thus, I would suggest that current beginners who start with SL clubs will expand the market size for SLs.

I made a nice SL set 5-GW using Wishon 752 heads. Added weight to the lower lofts and drilled out weight from the 9 & wedges. Lie adjustment was no problem. The set performed great.

If starting with complete clubs, the shafts would not be “all 7 irons.”

A good cheap way to try SL would be from Gigagolf.com

That sounds really interesting. Thank you. Questions …

If I want to try and do this myself where is a good source to purchase the necessary equipment and supplies? I’m thinking about this because I think it might be fun to learn a new skill. I have no idea if it will be more or less expensive than having someone else do it, although I hope it’s not terribly more expensive. I assume there are some good online sources to learn about club specifications, but any that can be recommended would be helpful. By this I mean, if I were to take a set of stock iron heads and some KBS shafts I would need help figuring out how to set the lie and loft and weighting for each club if I were doing 1/4 inch increments…Other insights?

I buy a lot of my stuff at this point from Golfworks. They have a good selection of everything you would need. As far as what you would need to do this, it really all comes down to how much of this you plan on doing, how much you want to spend, and how much space you have. You can honestly do most club repair work with a bench vise, a utility knife with roofing (hooked) blades and straight blades, a torch, a hacksaw to cut graphite shafts, a metal pipe cutter for steel shafts, a 48 inch ruler, some sand paper and small wire brushes for hosel cleaning, and a hand drill. From here you can get faster, bigger, and more expensive depending on what you are doing but this will give you the basic tools. Then you just need the bits and pieces; epoxy, grip tape, ferrules, shaft tip weights (for this project), grip solvent (or mineral spirits etc).

For a project like this you would also want a gram scale to measure component weights, and the splurge would be a swing weight scale if you wanted that info.

As far as where to get component info, you can look at OEM websites, Golfworks again has many specs for their own heads which can be a useful guide to apply to whatever iron heads. There are also some good 3rd party shaft info sites like golfshaftreviews.com. And of course this forum has numerous really smart people who can answer most any question you have.

I also have a youtube channel if you're interested, the Mobile Clubmaker. I am always adding new videos on there, but it has videos covering all the basic club building elements. I try and keep it simple and cover what I think is important with some tips etc. I would suggest take a look and see if it seems like something you want to dive into.

WARNING- it becomes addictive!

Adam C .... Fantastic. Big thank you.

Valuegolf.com has Pinhawk SL in components (they are great, very spec on with good quality). I also believe DiamondTour.com has SL components and Gigagolf has SL, but in club set, no components.

I'm personally modifying my SW to 9 iron to have 8 iron shaft lengths and am taking into account the head weight, etc. with my limited clubmaking equipment. I Maybe later I will get a 2 length iron set but I believe this will be a good start for now.