I'm officially done with stiff shafts in the irons

[Fellaheen51]

If one takes credence in what Howard Jones postulates, getting one's preferred shaft weight nailed down, is the first and most important step in the whole shaft selection process. And by extension the overall club heft that one feels while swinging. And it's not the same as SW. But you already know that. I've lived with D4/5 forever, the range my irons typically come in at. One of the reasons why I've begun to utilize 3/8" steps between clubs on my builds, working off the 9 iron. Makes the longer irons a little less long. Thus a bit easier to wield affectively. In the perfect world of perfect swings.

[TimK1]

As far as Graphite, all I know is that I played for 2 weeks with them and they performed and felt great. I don't curve the ball at all. My ball goes dead straight. If it doesn't I made a bad swing. My miss is a pull, period. No matter what clubs I use. The pull is not a horrible off the golf course pull. It is maybe a 5-yard dump it in the bunker or hit it a little wide of the wide green

I get a little twisty once and awhile with my shoulders. I know right away when I have done it. I never slice it or fade it. Hitting it dead straight has never hindered me from playing good golf. I have no issue aiming to a part of the green I need to.

Mostly I play to the fat side of every green. I don't take risks. I hardly ever go for a par five in two unless I'm within 200 yards. Nothing worse than hitting it in the woods or OB. Name of the game is keep it in play. It keeps me at a 2 handicap. So without concern for working the ball, any club or shaft that gives me a straight ball I'm good with.

I'm not going to get better unless I make more putts. End of that story.

[BIG STU]

> @Fellaheen51 said:

> If one takes credence in what Howard Jones postulates, getting one's preferred shaft weight nailed down, is the first and most important step in the whole shaft selection process. And by extension the overall club heft that one feels while swinging. And it's not the same as SW. But you already know that. I've lived with D4/5 forever, the range my irons typically come in at. One of the reasons why I've begun to utilize 3/8" steps between clubs on my builds, working off the 9 iron. Makes the longer irons a little less long. Thus a bit easier to wield affectively. In the perfect world of perfect swings.

 

Yep I usually go along with what Howard says--- And I have known for years that Swing Weight is NOT where it is at--- I have a SW machine but do not use it on my stuff. I do all my stuff by feel. And I have been doing the 3/8" thing going on 4 years now from my 4 iron to my 1 iron. Funny thing you brought up SW. I just got off the phone with my buddy Bear explaining to him about that. He recently had fitted and purchased a set of Ping G-400 or 410 irons and he was looking at the build sheet and was concerned they were at C-7. He is a club hoe in an extreme sense. He just had a set of PXG 0711s fitted and built for him. I basically told him he needed to go back to his 1988 PGA Armour blades or the 925s I gave him. He is a little older than I am and has a distance complex thing going where I do not. He still wants to be able to hit a 7 or 8 iron 150 at sea level. Me it does not bother me at all to pull the 6 iron with traditional loft at that distance. He is also one of those people that do not need a loft and lie machine he loves to jack lofts. Does not understand the offset and bounce thing when jacking lofts. I remember he gave me a set of MP 68s he bought in a pawn shop said he could dig to China with them. I could look at them bare eyed and tell he had jacked the lofts and he had by 5* ! I set them to spec and he hit them and replied well they do not go anywhere and gave them back to me. I built him a set of KZGs with graphite shafts he bought for them--- Those clubs were dead on spec when I gave them back to him. He claimed they were the ugliest clubs he had ever seen and gave them to me. Now those I could not eyeball and I knew the lofts and lies on them because stock they are basically the same lofts as any of my Mac irons. I never re checked them before playing them. I knew when I airmailed a green from 150 with the 6 iron because I do not hit a 6 iron that far. Checked them that night and they were jacked 3*. The only reason he got away with it was because they do not have a butter knife leading edge and rounded soles. I rolled them back. He asked why? I told him with my scoring clubs I do not need a 8 iron at 36* and a PW at 43*. The only blade clubs I have jacked are my 2 irons and most of the time I hit them off a tee so digging is not an issue.

[raggal62]

45+ years of taking divots combined with a career in landscaping took it's toll on my elbows. 40+ years of running/jogging took it's toll on my hips and knees, but that's another story.

 

Started using sensicore inserts and it helped some. But it's quite obvious to me switching to graphite in my irons have extended my playing years. I'd like to think that sans the joint issues I would still be playing steel, albeit a softer flex. But it's been about 8 years (65 now) since I made the switch and since day one I never had a problem with the drastic reduction in overall weight. For whatever reason it was an easy transition. Perhaps I'm not as sensitive in that regard. Perhaps it's my smooth downswing acceleration. Not sure. All I know is there is no going back for me. As a sidenote I have in my stash of shaft blanks a set of Accra 40 gram graphite iron shafts. These should suit me well as I become older and more decrepit.

[BIG STU]

> @raggal62 said:

> 45+ years of taking divots combined with a career in landscaping took it's toll on my elbows. 40+ years of running/jogging took it's toll on my hips and knees, but that's another story.

>

> Started using sensicore inserts and it helped some. But it's quite obvious to me switching to graphite in my irons have extended my playing years. I'd like to think that sans the joint issues I would still be playing steel, albeit a softer flex. But it's been about 8 years (65 now) since I made the switch and since day one I never had a problem with the drastic reduction in overall weight. For whatever reason it was an easy transition. Perhaps I'm not as sensitive in that regard. Perhaps it's my smooth downswing acceleration. Not sure. All I know is there is no going back for me. As a sidenote I have in my stash of shaft blanks a set of Accra 40 gram graphite iron shafts. These should suit me well as I become older and more decrepit.

 

You said it factually the key is your smooth downswing acceleration. I will admit I am not the smoothest swinger in the world anywhere in my swing

[elwhippy]

Thought I was...until this afternoon. Played with two gents who had R flex in their irons. One was a Nippon 105, the other DG XP. Couldn't hit either for toffee and when I did catch a 7 iron solid it spun off the green. The 5.5 PX is safe for now.

[Sean2]

> @Fellaheen51 said:

> If one takes credence in what Howard Jones postulates, getting one's preferred shaft weight nailed down, is the first and most important step in the whole shaft selection process. And by extension the overall club heft that one feels while swinging. And it's not the same as SW. But you already know that. I've lived with D4/5 forever, the range my irons typically come in at. One of the reasons why I've begun to utilize 3/8" steps between clubs on my builds, working off the 9 iron. Makes the longer irons a little less long. Thus a bit easier to wield affectively. In the perfect world of perfect swings.

 

My irons/wedges are +2-inches. The fitter told me if I went with steel the swing weight would be in the E6-E8 range. Closing in on 65, that is a bit too heavy for me. In addition to being lighter, graphite shafts took care of some elbow issues.