How to put a 4 iron shaft in a 9 iron?

[Samps]

Something is wrong with my 9 iron shaft, it just doesn't feel right, definitely out of line with the rest of the iron set. They are Ping i10s with stiff cusion shafts. Possibly the cusion insert came loose or isn't installed correctly? Anyhow, I have a 4 iron from the set that I don't use and it feels fine. So I was thinking about putting the 4 iron shaft in the 9 iron. No trouble with the actual club work, but I'm not sure how to trim the 4 iron shaft. I thought I would simply lay the shafts next to each other and trim them to match. Is it as simple as that? There are steps in the shaft so measuring from the first step to the tip was my first thought, then trim the butt end to length. Or, are all the shafts tipped the same, and I just need to butt trim to length?

 

Thanks!

[jvincent]

The i10 is a taper tip shaft so you can't tip trim the 4i shaft to the correct length. You'll need to buy a replacement shaft.

[Stuart_G]

1) Ping's are taper tip heads - so you'd have to bore out the hosel to .370 in order for any trimmed shaft to possibly fit.

2) Trimming would only work if the tip section (above the taper) is actually a long parallel .370 section. Many taper tip shafts do not have this parallel section (since they are not designed to be trimmed at all). I can't tell you if those have it or not - but you should verify that it does with a set of calipers before doing any trimming.

3) many iron shafts have the tip reinforced to handle the higher stress that occurs above the hosel. Even if the above 2 conditions are met, it doesn't mean that the shaft will be strong enough above the hosel after trimming.

4) many of the taper tip shafts are CW or Ascending weight - which means using the 4 iron shaft instead of the 9 iron shaft will result in the club being lighter. And some of the ping stock shafts are flighted (e.g AWT) so the stiffness profile could be different from the original 9 iron shaft.

 

So it's a lot more complicated than simply matching up the steps.

 

Why don't you just send the club to Ping to be repaired? If the insert has come loose, I would not be surprised at all if Ping would fix that w/o any charge to you.

 

[Samps]

Thanks guys! I had no idea it was that complicated. Glad I asked before taking these clubs apart. I'll have to look into sending the club in for repair vs simply buying a replacement shaft. Can't imagine the shaft costing very much, and not having my 9 iron out of commission for a month might be worth a few bucks.

[Stuart_G]

> @Samps said:

> Thanks guys! I had no idea it was that complicated. Glad I asked before taking these clubs apart. I'll have to look into sending the club in for repair vs simply buying a replacement shaft. Can't imagine the shaft costing very much, and not having my 9 iron out of commission for a month might be worth a few bucks.

 

Unfortunately, if it's a Ping proprietary shaft (e.g. AWT, CFS, etc. or whatever the stock steel shaft happened to be) you might not even have the option of just buying a new shaft. Need to be pretty lucky to find a replacement other than through Ping - and they don't usually sell just shafts.

[Samps]

Ok, I guess I'll take it in to the shop where I bought them. It's been years but I know the guy. Maybe he can inspect/hit it and tell if something's wrong or if it's just in my head.

[toc]

I think you should do it anyway and post the results. I'd be interested to see what that club would do

[95124hacker]

Wouldn’t this be soft stepping 5x?

[Stuart_G]

> @95124hacker said:

> Wouldn’t this be soft stepping 5x?

 

Only if it was installed with only butt trimming and no tip trim. But the OP's asking about the possibility of tip trimming to compensate for the fact that it's the wrong shaft.

[Tommyj]

> @Samps said:

> Thanks guys! I had no idea it was that complicated. Glad I asked before taking these clubs apart. I'll have to look into sending the club in for repair vs simply buying a replacement shaft. Can't imagine the shaft costing very much, and not having my 9 iron out of commission for a month might be worth a few bucks.

 

You may be shocked when you find out what Ping charges you for a single shaft replacement, even though its only steel. Have you thought about pulling the grip and just seeing if you can tap out the cushion insert?

[Samps]

I could try to inspect the insert, but I'm not exactly sure what I'd be looking for. I don't want to remove it because that would almost certainly make that club feel different than the rest. If I could get it out, inspect it, and reinstall it, that might be an option. But once it's out, I'm not sure what it supposed to look like. I guess I'd have to remove one from another club to compare the difference. I don't hear anything rattling around, so it's not completely loose.

[Stuart_G]

By any chance can you be a bit more specific / detailed about how exactly the 9 iron feels different? heavier? lighter? stiffer? softer? impact feels more harsh? impact feel more muffled or muted? ... anything to help pin down what might have changed? Any changes to the ball flight results or is it just feel? Does a visual inspection of the head show anything different? Have you checked for a bent shaft - particularly near the hosel?

 

[Samps]

It feels softer. I hit a slight fade with all of the other irons, but hit a nasty hook with the 9. Fade with 8 and PW, so it's not a length change. It feels like the tip is softer. If I had to describe it, the irons all feel stiff, but the 9 feels like a senior/ladies shaft. The head doesn't show any signs of wear or damage.

[Stuart_G]

That is strange - I haven't used them - so couldn't say for sure but I woudn't think anything about the Cushin inserts would have any effect on the stiffness - particularly with respect to the shafts playing softer. If it shifted and got jammed way down into the tip maybe (in theory) it could stiffen the shaft up, but not soften it.

 

Can you pin down when it started to feel different?

 

Any access to a scale where you can compare the static weight of the 9 iron to the 8 or PW?

 

Anyways I think you're plan to take them into where you bought them might be a good idea to have someone with some building experience check them out first hand. I don't expect this to be something very easy to identfy over the internet - particularly w/o pulling it apart.