Can a Fubuki J X-flex be soft stepped?

[No5somes]

Have read that many modern driver shafts are designed to tip 1" before installing adapter. IDK whether or not this is true. In the case of a Fubuki J, is it designed to tip in a driver so that we can leave the tipin order to soft step the shaft? If not, we could ad a 10g weight to the head; would rather not. Am old now, so SS is 98-102 depending on which hack swing I put on it. Although, transition is a bit quick. Am able to hit (load) some of the softer X flex shafts, just not as easily & usually not until later in the round on a warm day. Honestly, most S flex shafts are the better fit. Am asking 'cuz' we have an uncut J-X flex that could be used if it can be softened a bit. Thank-you for any advice.

[liljim]

I don't know if modern shafts are "designed" to be tipped an inch or not. TM's standard tipping is one inch but it varies from each manufacturer. I play a x flex fubuki j 60 in my driver and the 70 in the 3 wood. The driver is tipped 1 inch and the 3 wood is tipped an inch and a half. Although I have a bit more swing speed than you at 110 mph neither feel like they are tipped to much. The fubuki j is a very smooth feeling shaft to me... almost like a smoother whiteboard. I would think that you could handle it untipped. There is not really a way to soft step a wood shaft. You can adjust the tipping to fine tune the flex.

 

Jim

[Stuart_G]

Have read that many modern driver shafts are designed to tip 1" before installing adapter. IDK whether or not this is true

 

No. Not true. Whether an adapter or not doesn't play any part in how the shaft will play or what will need to be done with it. TM's practice to tip 1" is ridiculous and has nothing to do with getting the shaft to play the way it's supposed to. They just end up playing a lot stiffer than they should. Titleist tips some shafts 1/2" - but that's a fall back to get the shafts to play like they would in the old bore through heads, not like they are designed to play in a standard bore head so still end up stiffer than designed. No one else does any tipping in drivers.

Now there are some older shafts that were made with a longer tip section for installation into a bore-through head back when those types of heads were more common. Those will have recommendations to tip some before installation into a more typical standard bore head. However, they are not very common any more although you still might find some for sale.

 

But the Fubuki J is not one of them.

mca-golf.com/sites/default/files/spec-pdf/2017%20MCA-FUBUKI%20J%20Spec%20Sheets%20r2v20170406.pdf

 

The only way to get it to play softer is to increase the head weight. It takes roughly 10 gm of extra head weight to counter act each 1/2" of tipping. So playing at a shorter length in the driver might allow for that additional head weight and softer performance. Although whether it's enough or not is impossible to say w/o giving it a try.

[No5somes]

Thanks for the comments. We'll install it (untipped) & see what happens.

[No5somes]

UPDATE:

It's too soft. Am gonna start tipping it. Really wish there were actual standards among shaft manufacturers. Never expected an X flex shaft to hit extremely high spinners & sideways snappers. I know the J is high launch, but this problem more related to flex. Have seen it many times in fairway woods.

[cardoustie]

Tip 1/2" and use in a 3w

[Stuart_G]

I'd be careful about making assumptions about what's causing the ball flight.

 

If it clearly feels too soft and you feel the shaft load and unload more than you like during the swing, then yes it could be the shaft stiffness. If it feels a little bit too soft, then I'd tip 3/4" to a full 1", the first 1/2" of tipping generally wont have that much of an effect on the feel. If it feels a LOT too soft and you're getting into wet noodle territory, tipping can only do so much so you might actually be better off selling the shaft before tipping it (after can reduce the resale value).

 

If there is no clear feeling of the shaft being too soft then there is a pretty good chance that it's not the stiffness that's causing the ball flight issues. I'd look more to weight or swing weight but there are actually lots of possibilities so even that would just be a guess.

 

BTW - standards for flex wouldn't really help. Stiffness along the full length of the shaft is really a higher dimensional propertie than any one flex rating could ever handle.

[No5somes]

Yah, it's shaft flex. I always swing D5 or just over, in driver & have a swing weight scale. Could get away w/ D4+, but less than that & consistency is gone when using 60g range shafts. Shaft weight is 65g & grip is 47g, 2 layers of grip tape. Same M1 head & setting that was used in my Tensei TK blue S; same head weight, head settings, swing weight, shaft weight is very close, grip weight & tape wraps are the same. Also, have a project x LZ 6.0 for the M1 head, same set up & it's not a problem either. This driver is 1/4" longer, but that's not enough to be hitting the type of shots this thing produces.

 

Almost every fairway wood we've made for me has required more tipping than standard. So, it isn't unreasonable to find the same w/ this driver. IDK why, because my SS isn't high or obnoxious. It's just always been that way...even now, older & slower. Anyway, I'm gonna pull it, as is & sell. This way, the buyer has all of the available options. I don't think we can tip it enough to get where it needs to be.

[No5somes]

Ugh, OK. So, we tipped it 1" & extended the butt to accommodate & it's really good. My son reminded me that I have a stored 4 wood w/ a "K" in it that had to be tipped 2" before I could hit it straight. So, we gave tipping a shot and it worked out. Thanks again for the comments. This hit or miss fitting drives me crazy.