8 iron shaft in a wedge....

[mrlongball]

This is really an awesome thread. I have been debating new wedge shafts this off season but have not pulled the trigger. I play C-Taper Stiff...so tell me if I have it correct:

 

I would play C-Taper X-Stiff 8 iron to produce the same characteristics on full wedge shots but give me more feeling on partial and chip shots?

Would the same apply if i used a KBS Tour S+ 8 iron...so same idea but going outside the iron wedge family. I only say this because of how many people told me to avoid C-Tapers in wedges.

 

Thank you!

 

Why did they say to avoid the C Tapers? I am looking at them to help flatten out my trajectories im just debating now if I should maybe go with them but try an 8i tiger stepped and tipped....

[ChipNRun]

They call it "Tiger" Stepping on Tour as he was one of the first to do it. ...

 

News flash: In Golf My Way, published circa 1974, Jack Nicklaus talks about a softer shaft for his SW for smoother partial swings. Clubfitters generally tie the 8i-tipped shaft* in wedges back to Nicklaus, although there's no guarantee he invented it.

 

The softer flex allows more spin and more loft in close (the opposite of the driving one-hoppers many modern pros favor).

 

Nicklaus said he initially preferred X-flex shafts in his wedges, but later went the other way to get more feel. (HowardJones, above, talks about using heavier shafts).

 

In other treads here and there, some golfers talk about having a slightly heavier wedge shaft than in their irons, but with the softer flex. This supposedly encourages, again, a smoother swing in close.

-------------------

* Clubfitters would rate the 8i shaft in a wedge head as a double softstep.

[Howard_Jones]

This is really an awesome thread. I have been debating new wedge shafts this off season but have not pulled the trigger. I play C-Taper Stiff...so tell me if I have it correct:

 

I would play C-Taper X-Stiff 8 iron to produce the same characteristics on full wedge shots but give me more feeling on partial and chip shots?

Would the same apply if i used a KBS Tour S+ 8 iron...so same idea but going outside the iron wedge family. I only say this because of how many people told me to avoid C-Tapers in wedges.

 

Thank you!

 

Why did they say to avoid the C Tapers? I am looking at them to help flatten out my trajectories im just debating now if I should maybe go with them but try an 8i tiger stepped and tipped....

 

The confusion is large, very large, even if ive done my best for years to explain this over and over....

 

In wedges, most players benefit from a slightly higher uncut shaft weight for the simple reason we loose weight into wedges, so if we use the same shaft as in irons, CUT weight goes DOWN into wedges and we want to prevent that if possible. Thats why a combo of X100 130 grams combined with S400 132 grams for wedges i common, it all start with weight

 

Next is a question of how we play them. Most of us play a GW to full swing, so its really a #11 iron for most of us, so we should use a shaft that fits that, a #11 iron, its that simple really, but the issue is, that shaft most likely dont exist in the model we use for irons.What do we do then?

 

TIGER STEPPING is Tip trimming a taper tip shaft so it becomes stronger, just like tip trim on a parallel tip shaft, so as a example Dynamic Gold where the shortest and stiffest shaft on the marked is the #9 iron, we can Tiger step a #9 iron shaft with 3/8" to 4/8" tip trim depending on how much the hosel accept before we need a ream job. Tiger stepping is "hard stepping a taper tip shaft by tip trim"

 

This method is also used for full setts, where we want to prevent the weight gain equal of 0.5 inch of shaft that follows with hard stepping x 1 who on DG is about 1.7 to 1.8 grams or as we went from S300 to S400 in shaft weight.

 

So, option #1 for our GW or #11 iron is a Tiger stepped #9 iron for a DG player, and then he is at SS1 instead of SS2 on that club.

 

Another option is using THE #8 IRON SPINNER TRICK.

This shaft is as over all flex stronger than a Tiger stepped #9 iron shaft, but the crazy thing about it is, it dont feel like that....

its ONLY in cases there is a option of a #8 iorn 1 full flex or 10 CPM stronger than we play in irons we can get there, so this is for the S300 player, who can use X100 #8 iron shaft for wedge.

 

Since we are into wedges and high lofts already, we are at the point where SPIN LOFT might come above 45* and then launch get higher but spin drops.

When we use the #8 iron spinner trick, we take advantage of the stiffer over all shaft profile, who reduces forward shaft bending and added dynamic loft to keep SPIN LOFT as low as possible, and this way we can both lower launch angle on both full and partials, and ADD spin at the same time.

Thats why its called the "8 iron SPINNER trick", and thats got NOTHING to do with Tiger stepping, we cant get there by tip trim.

 

About a thousand times the question comes up from KBS players, "If i play Tour S in irons, can i use #8 S+"

Off-cause you can, but then you dont get a "SPINNER" like this, because that shaft is not stiff enough overall to prevent the added dynamic loft, but yes, we go in that direction but only "half the way" and that should be clear for anyone even before they ask.

The S+ would be a option to Tiger stepping, a slightly stiffer shaft for GW, but not a full shaft stiffer like the #8 iron spinner trick

 

A DG player could, if he wanted actual flex progression included GW/ #11 build s set up like this

 

#8 - DG S300 - #8 iron

#9 - DG S300 - #9 iron

PW - DG S300 - #9 iron TIGER STEPPED - (tip trim 3/8-4/8)

GW - DG X100 #8 iron shaft.

 

KBS has a #9 iron of 37.50 as the shortest and stiffest, while DG is #37 as #9 iron

 

Use what ever you like, its a question of how many times the club actually becomes soft stepped, and many shaft models has a dedicated PW, and then "standard" for GW is only SS1 but that could be put changed by Tiger stepping a PW shaft for the GW, but for DG and KBS its like ive described above, they dont have a dedicated PW but we have options.

[williaza]

This is really an awesome thread. I have been debating new wedge shafts this off season but have not pulled the trigger. I play C-Taper Stiff...so tell me if I have it correct:

 

I would play C-Taper X-Stiff 8 iron to produce the same characteristics on full wedge shots but give me more feeling on partial and chip shots?

Would the same apply if i used a KBS Tour S+ 8 iron...so same idea but going outside the iron wedge family. I only say this because of how many people told me to avoid C-Tapers in wedges.

 

Thank you!

 

Why did they say to avoid the C Tapers? I am looking at them to help flatten out my trajectories im just debating now if I should maybe go with them but try an 8i tiger stepped and tipped....

 

Because they are so low spinning

 

This is really an awesome thread. I have been debating new wedge shafts this off season but have not pulled the trigger. I play C-Taper Stiff...so tell me if I have it correct:

 

I would play C-Taper X-Stiff 8 iron to produce the same characteristics on full wedge shots but give me more feeling on partial and chip shots?

Would the same apply if i used a KBS Tour S+ 8 iron...so same idea but going outside the iron wedge family. I only say this because of how many people told me to avoid C-Tapers in wedges.

 

Thank you!

 

Why did they say to avoid the C Tapers? I am looking at them to help flatten out my trajectories im just debating now if I should maybe go with them but try an 8i tiger stepped and tipped....

 

The confusion is large, very large, even if ive done my best for years to explain this over and over....

 

In wedges, most players benefit from a slightly higher uncut shaft weight for the simple reason we loose weight into wedges, so if we use the same shaft as in irons, CUT weight goes DOWN into wedges and we want to prevent that if possible. Thats why a combo of X100 130 grams combined with S400 132 grams for wedges i common, it all start with weight

 

Next is a question of how we play them. Most of us play a GW to full swing, so its really a #11 iron for most of us, so we should use a shaft that fits that, a #11 iron, its that simple really, but the issue is, that shaft most likely dont exist in the model we use for irons.What do we do then?

 

TIGER STEPPING is Tip trimming a taper tip shaft so it becomes stronger, just like tip trim on a parallel tip shaft, so as a example Dynamic Gold where the shortest and stiffest shaft on the marked is the #9 iron, we can Tiger step a #9 iron shaft with 3/8" to 4/8" tip trim depending on how much the hosel accept before we need a ream job. Tiger stepping is "hard stepping a taper tip shaft by tip trim"

 

This method is also used for full setts, where we want to prevent the weight gain equal of 0.5 inch of shaft that follows with hard stepping x 1 who on DG is about 1.7 to 1.8 grams or as we went from S300 to S400 in shaft weight.

 

So, option #1 for our GW or #11 iron is a Tiger stepped #9 iron for a DG player, and then he is at SS1 instead of SS2 on that club.

 

Another option is using THE #8 IRON SPINNER TRICK.

This shaft is as over all flex stronger than a Tiger stepped #9 iron shaft, but the crazy thing about it is, it dont feel like that....

its ONLY in cases there is a option of a #8 iorn 1 full flex or 10 CPM stronger than we play in irons we can get there, so this is for the S300 player, who can use X100 #8 iron shaft for wedge.

 

Since we are into wedges and high lofts already, we are at the point where SPIN LOFT might come above 45* and then launch get higher but spin drops.

When we use the #8 iron spinner trick, we take advantage of the stiffer over all shaft profile, who reduces forward shaft bending and added dynamic loft to keep SPIN LOFT as low as possible, and this way we can both lower launch angle on both full and partials, and ADD spin at the same time.

Thats why its called the "8 iron SPINNER trick", and thats got NOTHING to do with Tiger stepping, we cant get there by tip trim.

 

About a thousand times the question comes up from KBS players, "If i play Tour S in irons, can i use #8 S+"

Off-cause you can, but then you dont get a "SPINNER" like this, because that shaft is not stiff enough overall to prevent the added dynamic loft, but yes, we go in that direction but only "half the way" and that should be clear for anyone even before they ask.

The S+ would be a option to Tiger stepping, a slightly stiffer shaft for GW, but not a full shaft stiffer like the #8 iron spinner trick

 

A DG player could, if he wanted actual flex progression included GW/ #11 build s set up like this

 

#8 - DG S300 - #8 iron

#9 - DG S300 - #9 iron

PW - DG S300 - #9 iron TIGER STEPPED - (tip trim 3/8-4/8)

GW - DG X100 #8 iron shaft.

 

KBS has a #9 iron of 37.50 as the shortest and stiffest, while DG is #37 as #9 iron

 

Use what ever you like, its a question of how many times the club actually becomes soft stepped, and many shaft models has a dedicated PW, and then "standard" for GW is only SS1 but that could be put changed by Tiger stepping a PW shaft for the GW, but for DG and KBS its like ive described above, they dont have a dedicated PW but we have options.

 

So could a KBS player just use the X-Flex and not S+ to achieve a spinner shaft?

[rybo]

So could a KBS player just use the X-Flex and not S+ to achieve a spinner shaft?

 

Go to 4:40

 

 

Not an exact answer but the video is a wealth of knowledge!

[williaza]

So could a KBS player just use the X-Flex and not S+ to achieve a spinner shaft?

 

Go to 4:40

 

 

Not an exact answer but the video is a wealth of knowledge!

 

I have actually seen this a few times. Great video. I still am undecided on which way to go. Last season I played TT DG S200s and liked the full swing performance but and touch chips or around the green shots I didn't love the feel so I have been contemplating wedge shaft changes. Thought this 8 iron trick might be the answer

[Howard_Jones]

So could a KBS player just use the X-Flex and not S+ to achieve a spinner shaft?

 

Go to 4:40

 

 

Not an exact answer but the video is a wealth of knowledge!

 

I have actually seen this a few times. Great video. I still am undecided on which way to go. Last season I played TT DG S200s and liked the full swing performance but and touch chips or around the green shots I didn't love the feel so I have been contemplating wedge shaft changes. Thought this 8 iron trick might be the answer

 

It is, go X100 #8 iron shaft, it has a weight very close to S200,X100 is about 128 grams at SS1 vs 127 in S200, but a "different feel", IMO "better feel", but feel is subjective, and full swing perfomance as LOW launch shaft is better than S200 #9 in wedge.

[williaza]

So could a KBS player just use the X-Flex and not S+ to achieve a spinner shaft?

 

Go to 4:40

 

 

Not an exact answer but the video is a wealth of knowledge!

 

I have actually seen this a few times. Great video. I still am undecided on which way to go. Last season I played TT DG S200s and liked the full swing performance but and touch chips or around the green shots I didn't love the feel so I have been contemplating wedge shaft changes. Thought this 8 iron trick might be the answer

 

It is, go X100 #8 iron shaft, it has a weight very close to S200,X100 is about 128 grams at SS1 vs 127 in S200, but a "different feel", IMO "better feel", but feel is subjective, and full swing perfomance as LOW launch shaft is better than S200 #9 in wedge.

 

So, you would recommend the x100 8 iron shaft in the 52 56 60 over anything within the KBS line for what i have described? Thank you so much!

[Jagpilotohio]

So could a KBS player just use the X-Flex and not S+ to achieve a spinner shaft?

 

Go to 4:40

 

 

Not an exact answer but the video is a wealth of knowledge!

 

I have actually seen this a few times. Great video. I still am undecided on which way to go. Last season I played TT DG S200s and liked the full swing performance but and touch chips or around the green shots I didn't love the feel so I have been contemplating wedge shaft changes. Thought this 8 iron trick might be the answer

 

It is, go X100 #8 iron shaft, it has a weight very close to S200,X100 is about 128 grams at SS1 vs 127 in S200, but a "different feel", IMO "better feel", but feel is subjective, and full swing perfomance as LOW launch shaft is better than S200 #9 in wedge.

 

So, you would recommend the x100 8 iron shaft in the 52 56 60 over anything within the KBS line for what i have described? Thank you so much!

 

Try a KBS 610. It’s specifically a wedge shaft. Lower launch, mid-low spin. Good feel.

 

I’m known for being a bit blunt around here, but I will say this as nicely as I can. I really mean you no offense, but you are worrying about something you shouldn’t be worried about at your skill level.

 

Until you are a low single digit or scratch and know exactly what you want to change or accomplish with specific shafts, and until you have the skill and consistency to even notice such small changes in performance, just play a recommended wedge shaft in the correct flex for you. I was a professional fitter and instructor many moons ago. You’re making things too complicated....I promise.