Does a softer flex iron shaft help with flighting shots?

[Hall401]

I was reading some posts on here and someone stated a good amount of tour players soft step their irons so they can flight the ball easier. Is this true in anyway? I thought if anything the flight would be higher. Was fitted for kbs tour v 120x and have been happy with them for over 2 years. I just find it lacks a bit in the feel department on less than a full swing so was thinking of soft stepping. Could I expect what I think, it will raise launch and spin?

[Old Tom Morris]

Soft stepping should increase height of shot. Too high=distance control problem. Proceed with caution.

[shart6]

I am playing a soft stepped set of Dynalite Gold S300 shafts. I did it for the slightly softer flex it just feels better now at an advanced age. I don't get any difference in ball flight that I can perceive. As for spin, if I need it that badly I have a set of 1985 Ping Eye 2 irons with real square grooves.

[Hall401]

My thoughts exactly. Thanks for the response

[Valtiel]

On paper, Old Tom Morris is right. I'm not sure where you read about tour players soft stepping shafts for that purpose as I don't believe that is the case. My understanding of the concept though is that soft stepping can help increase dynamic loft and spin, so that when you ARE flighting shots they can rise a little more and come down softer. So it is not meant to make it easier to flight them, but to make the flighted shot more controllable.

[rgk5]

My new irons on the way from TXG, will be Mizuno Hot Metals, 6-pw, with UST Recoil E460 shafts, soft stepped once, +1/2" in length. I know they will help this 73 year old with flighting.

[Ruleschamp]

I thought soft stepping would impact the height of the shot, at least that's what I had always been told. It had an immaterial difference on ball flight, and basically no impact on spin or initial launch for my swing. The only thing on which it had a material impact for me was feel, which is a personal definition that isn't quantifiable.

[Hall401]

Amen! I will be over the moon to be playing at that age! Take care of yourself and let us know how they are! valid point indeed I guess that could have been the way the person was portraying it and I miss understood. Thanks

[Hall401]

Same train of thought here. Some guys can swing a piece of rebar and say it feels good haha

[Buzzkill]

Your swing will determine flight BUT a softer flex will close the face more and you’ll have to adjust accordingly.

[Hall401]

Funny you should mention that. When I was testing I found the exact same thing. Kbs tour V X is on top (red dot) and project X LZ 6.0 on bottom (teal dot). Very different face angles, lie angles, attack angles, and strike location.

 

[OrangeGravy]

I think the OP is referring to "Tiger Stepping" (8 iron in wedge shaft thing) wedges maybe?

[Hall401]

No, but I do love that method. I was just reading posts on here and saw a couple people saying what I originally asked. Was just seeing if anyone knew or experienced it for themselves. After testing I know the softer wouldn’t help me in irons. Wedges I always like soft stepping the same iron shafts in 50 and 54. Stick with s400 in lob wedge because rarely ever swing more than 3/4 with that.

[OrangeGravy]

Gotcha. Thought maybe that's what was meant. I imagine for some specific swings/release patterns a softer flex may result in a lower trajectory.

[Stuart_G]

Yes, in theory softer means higher - but only for certain types of swings. But you can discuss the theory all day long but the reality is that it's too small of a change in stiffness to have any noticeable direct effect on the ball flight.

Soft and hard stepping once is ALL about tweaking the feel. Now for thsoe that are very sensitive to the feel from the shaft, what a change in feel might do the players swing and how that might effect the results is a different question and one that's completely subjective so anything is possible.

 

[Hall401]

Stuart always the best info, thanks for the detailed reply. Feel is so player specific haha I could play a kbs tour 130 x and say that feels good and pick up a PX 6.0 and “my feel” is wow this is muck more work even though it’s lighter and softer but feels like a pole in my hands haha

[ChipNRun]

I played the Dynalite Gold S300 shafts for 14 years in a set of Pro Tour Black irons (latter day Ping Eye2 clones). Dynalites were the high-launch cousin of the Dynamic Golds (and slightly lighter).

3i through 6i were great... a little extra launch made me look good. But, 7i on up tended to blow around on windy days in Oklahoma. IF I had known more about golf club design at the time, I would probably have gone with Dynamic Gold softstepped in short irons and wedges.

With flighted shafts, you get extra boost in launching longer irons, and get controlled somewhat lower flight at the short end of the bag.

I played the Project X 5.0 Rifle Flighted in my X20 Tours for about four years. The taper-tip PX sets had three blanks, which contributed to the higher cost of the shaft: a softer blank for the long irons, an on-spec flex blank for middle irons, and a hard-step blank for short irons and wedges.

The TT AMT shafts (below) and the Ping AWT shafts (also made by TT) are variations on the theme. In both AMT and AWT shafts, the longer iron shafts are lighter weight than the shorter iron shafts and wedge shafts.

[Valtiel]

An important note there, a PX 6.0 is not really softer than the KBS Tour 130x. The KBS is a pretty middle of the road shaft in terms of stiffness and Project X Rifles are super stout. Your feel is accurate there.

[Hall401]

Yes I know on paper and the frequency makes the kbs stiffer. They’re just smooth like the Nippon line of shafts. What performs and feels good is probably the best especially from a confidence stand point. Golf is mostly mental and sometimes the brain can ruin your round.

[Stuart_G]

Yes it's true the mental aspect is important for many. The feel from a shaft can give or take away confidence in the swing.

But on paper only the butt frequency is stiffer on the KBS. That doesn't make it a stiffer shaft. Butt frequency is a horrible way to compare stiffness across different shaft models. It's only really useful when you are comparing stiffness of different shafts of the same model (like freq matching a set of iron shafts).

You really have to look at the stiffness across the full length of the shaft. If you do you'd see that the KBS is stiffer in the butt, but the PX is stiffer in most of the rest of the shaft. And since different people may have different sensitivities to different parts of the shaft, some might feel the KBS is stiffer, while others might feel that the PX is stiffer.

Now the Nippon is a different story (except maybe the 130's) - they really are softer across pretty much the whole shaft. And BTW "smoother" is just a euphemism for softer. They really mean the same thing.

 

 

 

[getitdaily]

I played around soft stepping 4i shafts because that club specifically would not launch and spin high enough. I was playing ctapers 120s hard stepped in all irons. I went with a soft stepped 120s in the 4i and it did help raise launch by about a degree and spin by about 200rpm. Didn't really do enough to get the flight I wanted. I moved into $tapers at the same flex and weight and the 4i was still an issue. I ended up hard stepping a kbs tour 120s and it got the flight up but I lost control, ball went right more than I wanted. So I ended up in a 4i head designed to launch and spin more. That head (mp20 hmb) with $taper is perfect.

Long story short, get flight windows from a head change...soft stepping won't really do much.

[cardoustie]

I play softer in irons as of late .. helps me shape shots directionally

[Hall401]

Absolutely love your insight Stuart it’s much appreciated.