How You Can Build a Single-length (or close to it) Set of Irons

[smellysell]

Have any of you ever played with putting, say a 7 iron shaft cut to my 7 iron length in every club? I worry the 8, 9, and PW might be a bit whippy, but want to play around with this and was thinking this might be the way to go. What am I missing?

[driveandputtmachine]

Having played for many years and loving my current irons and looking for more consistency in the longer irons I have tried quite a few things. What I have determined.

 

1. SL is not for everyone. I got my hands on some pinhawks and tinkered with them, never could get everything the way I wanted. I tired 4 different shafts, different weights, different lengths, anything I could think of. Luckily I sold them to a friend, he however is excelling with SL irons. He went from 5-6 greens a round to around 10.

2. Custom Length is for Everyone. For some people Custom length may be SL, others may be like me where it is something to make them all more similar to one another.

3. It is hard to accomplish yourself, but with a company like Wishon with ports it should be relatively easy for a CL set. Obviously Pinhawk and Wishon both make sets for SL.

 

What I settled on.......

I went lighter weight than my project X shafts. I am playing 110 recoils.

My wedges (60, 56, 52, 48) are all 36.5" long. (1/2 longer than standard graphite in the PW) I have gotten them all playing roughly the same SW. The Lie angles are all 67 degrees.

Each club from there goes up 1/4 inch in length from there. I compensated for the weights with tip weights and lead tape. Luckily most of my irons were over "standard" weight anyway. My 4 iron and 5 iron are Callaway XR Pro irons(they are stamped 5 and 6). It was easy to add tape to these.

Lie angles are roughly(I have the info at home in exacts) I can weigh and take pictures for anyone that would like them.

9 - 66

8 - 66

7 - 65

6 - 64

5 - 63

4 - 62

==

I can honestly say a couple of things.......

 

I was a good golfer before I made these changes almost two years ago now. I was a 3 handicap(had been a +3. in college) and wanted to get better. However I could not spend the amount of time playing I did while in high school and college. The weakest part of my game had always been iron play, especially short irons. My long irons have gotten worse in my old(ish) age as well. I went from a 3 handicap hitting 7 greens a round to hitting 68.1% for 2015. I no longer felt I needed to go for every par 5 in two to be able to make birdie. It might take some time to determine what is best for you, and a qualified club fitter could have cut down on the amount of time it took me and can make a world of difference.

[pearsonified]

Custom Length is for Everyone. For some people Custom length may be SL, others may be like me where it is something to make them all more similar to one another.

This is exactly how I feel.

 

I think custom length can be superior to single length because it affords the opportunity to maintain the same hand position while having a different lie angle (which can help to mitigate certain kinds of misses).

[xion0374]

@personafied

 

After cutting all my clubs down to the length I wanted, which is 31inches for 6i to 9i. I'm struggling still to hit my 6i n 7i, where I thought it would improve my swing because of the shorter length.

 

@ 31inches all my club head sits flat n flush on the ground versus where the club head on longer iron would be pouting up towards the sky n the club head sitting on its butt.

 

Now when I swing my 7i standard men club I could only reach about 100 to 120 yards. However when I swing the junior 7i I could get to 150 to 160 yard give or take into consideration of the wind.

 

I do know that the shat on my men standard is regular flex vs the junior which is super flex. Would this be against pga rules if I used junior clubs or women's clubs to men's club when in a tournament.

 

If not then I want to order me some junior clubs since they are lighter to begin with.

 

Thanks let me know.

[pearsonified]

31" total shaft length or 31" impact wrist-to-floor?

 

Either way, the geometric differences between your clubs is minimal, so any problems with certain clubs (while still hitting others well) are likely swing-related or even just mental.

[FirePro]

After a 4-month experiment with flatter lies, I decided to bend these more upright again. I'm now playing around a median impact wrist-to-floor distance of approximately 32.5". I was closer to 32" with the flatter lies, so at the more upright lies, these clubs are effectively 1/2" longer.

 

I've also switched away from the Jumbomax grips and am now gaming Lamkin UTx Wrap Midsize in black.

 

In the following picture, the columns are: club, length, lie angle, impact wrist-to-floor distance.

 

 

 

saw where DeChambeau's (sp?) constant length irons lies are set to something like 72 degrees! Yikes! thats like 12 degrees upright

Standard 7 iron Lie is around 62-62.5 - 72-62.5=9.5 but yes still very upgright, he does have a vary upright posture so this probably accounts for the higher deg of lie angle

 

think he plays his irons at 37.5 inches. think a putter may be around the lie has on his irons...lol

he can use it when he goes over and plays some Links courses that thing would run forever. just going to put it out there longest yardage iv hit a putter 258 Yards lol its possible

[xion0374]

31" total shaft length or 31" impact wrist-to-floor?

 

Either way, the geometric differences between your clubs is minimal, so any problems with certain clubs (while still hitting others well) are likely swing-related or even just mental.

 

I measure the shaft of the club only n cut from there. Did not measure from wrist to floor because I used a junior 7i as the set length I wanted the club to be.

 

The standard men size shaft are regular flex n the junior 7i shaft is superflex, could this be an issue as well.

 

The junior 7i is lighter overall even after I cut the standard men size 7i down to 31in shaft length wise.

[jbhawx]

From an economic perspective, producing single-length shafts would be substantially cheaper (and easier) than producing the shaft sets with which we're already familiar. Also, designing club heads of equal weights that provide a consistent look and feel is actually easier than designing heads that offer similar characteristics in drastically different sizes (ie, a 3-iron is substantially smaller than a 9-iron).

 

 

This is slightly misleading and opens up the dialogue of why manufactures don't produce them. Currently there isn't enough interest in single length iron. Lots of people have interest, but not enough of the people who can change the influence of golfers minds are in on it. So from a marketing perspective, this would be a niche market right now, but it could blow up with him going pro and doing well with a setup like this.

 

As for manufacturing it. Shafts all come in single length to begin with, and they are cut to length to fit the club. So no saving here really. The club head is also different.

 

Even though the club head weighs the same, shares the same lie angle, and so forth, they still have one major difference from each other...loft...so if you think about casted clubs, you still would have to have an individual mold for each iron in order to change lofts. Forged clubs could benefit, but bending to desired loft changes bounce, which you pointed out, so they would still have to forge each head individually and separate to get the loft correct and keep the bounce the same.

 

At the same time it also appears major OEM brands are clueless on how to actually design a set. They would have to start with a single iron head and than off that head create the necessary gapping so they are all the same. This would take R&D to figure out how to change loft without changing bounce, weight, etc. The rest of the build should be cake, same length shafts, swing weight matching, and MOI matching possibly as well. Without the interest though OEM will probably not budge on making a set.

 

I can see how this could be cheaper, a lot of the R&D already exists, not to mention the club assembly could use the same line instead of a different line. That could cut costs.

 

for now I think this just needs more interest generated.

[jbhawx]

Have any of you ever played with putting, say a 7 iron shaft cut to my 7 iron length in every club? I worry the 8, 9, and PW might be a bit whippy, but want to play around with this and was thinking this might be the way to go. What am I missing?

 

The problem is the club heads are all different in lie, weight, and so on. Everyone who has tried to just use same length shafts with OEM heads has failed. You have to use the same head with the only difference being loft, if you wish to use the same length shaft throughout.

[FirePro]

From an economic perspective, producing single-length shafts would be substantially cheaper (and easier) than producing the shaft sets with which we're already familiar. Also, designing club heads of equal weights that provide a consistent look and feel is actually easier than designing heads that offer similar characteristics in drastically different sizes (ie, a 3-iron is substantially smaller than a 9-iron).

 

 

This is slightly misleading and opens up the dialogue of why manufactures don't produce them. Currently there isn't enough interest in single length iron. Lots of people have interest, but not enough of the people who can change the influence of golfers minds are in on it. So from a marketing perspective, this would be a niche market right now, but it could blow up with him going pro and doing well with a setup like this.

 

As for manufacturing it. Shafts all come in single length to begin with, and they are cut to length to fit the club. So no saving here really. The club head is also different.

 

Even though the club head weighs the same, shares the same lie angle, and so forth, they still have one major difference from each other...loft...so if you think about casted clubs, you still would have to have an individual mold for each iron in order to change lofts. Forged clubs could benefit, but bending to desired loft changes bounce, which you pointed out, so they would still have to forge each head individually and separate to get the loft correct and keep the bounce the same.

 

At the same time it also appears major OEM brands are clueless on how to actually design a set. They would have to start with a single iron head and than off that head create the necessary gapping so they are all the same. This would take R&D to figure out how to change loft without changing bounce, weight, etc. The rest of the build should be cake, same length shafts, swing weight matching, and MOI matching possibly as well. Without the interest though OEM will probably not budge on making a set.

 

I can see how this could be cheaper, a lot of the R&D already exists, not to mention the club assembly could use the same line instead of a different line. That could cut costs.

 

for now I think this just needs more interest generated.

MOI wouldn't change on the same length set of clubs

[rekrab]

I just started building my own set. I am planning on doing all 7 iron length 37". I could go 36.5 to but I want to start longer first and go from there. The plan is just to go straight all same length. I have all ready ground and drilled holes in 8-PW so they are the same weight as my 7 also working on a 56 as well. It was actually surprisingly easy after the first few heads ended up just using my angle grinder and buffed them out with a steel brush wheel. My PW actually looks amazing and super smooth after the buff. I will post pics they are just on my phone. My heads are a set of titleist 981 DCI's 3-PW.

 

I also plan to bend them all do 7 iron lie so they can be perfect. this is a really fun project.

 

I have one question though I have 3 s300 shafts and 3 rifle shafts. SHould I worry about the weight difference? I can measure them before epoxy just to make sure but I cant imagine it being more than a gram or two.

 

Thanks for the forum guys I will post pics soon.

[bobcat]

Since nobody chooses to do the same with their metal woods, why bother making only irons/wedges the same length?

[pearsonified]

Since nobody chooses to do the same with their metal woods, why bother making only irons/wedges the same length?

By that logic, why bother to do anything?

[bobcat]

Since nobody chooses to do the same with their metal woods, why bother making only irons/wedges the same length?

By that logic, why bother to do anything?

 

That's the whole point...you can't make all the clubs in your bag the same length without creating a huge DISADVANTAGE, so why just do some! Shaft length and ball position still have to change...

[diggingestdog]

Since nobody chooses to do the same with their metal woods, why bother making only irons/wedges the same length?

By that logic, why bother to do anything?

 

That's the whole point...you can't make all the clubs in your bag the same length without creating a huge DISADVANTAGE, so why just do some! Shaft length and ball position still have to change...

 

There are inherent differences between the swings for irons and woods. The design of drivers and the required angle of attack is unique; the same is true for fairways. A steeper descending strike of down and through doesn't usually end well with woods. Imagine taking a divot with your driver. So the ball position and shaft are different out of necessity. The full benefit of these clubs wouldn't be there without the longer shafts and more of a sweeping motion. This is why some people excel at striking their irons while they may not be as proficient with a fairway wood or driver; the opposite could also be true with a strong driver of the ball not being as skilled with his irons. The iron swing is essentially the same for every iron, because it can be-it's advantageous for it to be so. This is why there is a benefit for some golfers to use single length irons. It eliminates as many variables as possible within the different irons in the bag.

 

[bobcat]

Since nobody chooses to do the same with their metal woods, why bother making only irons/wedges the same length?

By that logic, why bother to do anything?

 

That's the whole point...you can't make all the clubs in your bag the same length without creating a huge DISADVANTAGE, so why just do some! Shaft length and ball position still have to change...

 

There are inherent differences between the swings for irons and woods. The design of drivers and the required angle of attack is unique; the same is true for fairways. A steeper descending strike of down and through doesn't usually end well with woods. Imagine taking a divot with your driver. So the ball position and shaft are different out of necessity. The full benefit of these clubs wouldn't be there without the longer shafts and more of a sweeping motion. This is why some people excel at striking their irons while they may not be as proficient with a fairway wood or driver; the opposite could also be true with a strong driver of the ball not being as skilled with his irons. The iron swing is essentially the same for every iron, because it can be-it's advantageous for it to be so. This is why there is a benefit for some golfers to use single length irons. It eliminates as many variables as possible within the different irons in the bag.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful reply...I can certainly appreciate that kind of logic and insight!... :)

[matchavez]

Since nobody chooses to do the same with their metal woods, why bother making only irons/wedges the same length?

By that logic, why bother to do anything?

 

That's the whole point...you can't make all the clubs in your bag the same length without creating a huge DISADVANTAGE, so why just do some! Shaft length and ball position still have to change...

 

There are inherent differences between the swings for irons and woods. The design of drivers and the required angle of attack is unique; the same is true for fairways. A steeper descending strike of down and through doesn't usually end well with woods. Imagine taking a divot with your driver. So the ball position and shaft are different out of necessity. The full benefit of these clubs wouldn't be there without the longer shafts and more of a sweeping motion. This is why some people excel at striking their irons while they may not be as proficient with a fairway wood or driver; the opposite could also be true with a strong driver of the ball not being as skilled with his irons. The iron swing is essentially the same for every iron, because it can be-it's advantageous for it to be so. This is why there is a benefit for some golfers to use single length irons. It eliminates as many variables as possible within the different irons in the bag.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful reply...I can certainly appreciate that kind of logic and insight!... :)

 

There is one other very considerable drawback - potentially. The main reason why you don't see OEMs doing SLI is total range of distance.

 

Example - 4-P SLI 24-46º have a total range that is less than standard 4-P irons in the same loft.

 

SLI overcome this drawback by extending their lofts... e.g. pinseeker is 20-50º over the same 7 clubs. While standard length clubs have similar ball flight apexes, SLI using this method generally do not. Differing shot heights can play havoc with wind and downward descent angles. Your 4-iron SLI will run more, and your PW SLI will fall out of the sky more, all else equal. In addition, where someone might want to play a 3-GW over 20-50º (9 clubs), SLI 20-50º is only able to fit in 7. You can't really make a 15º 3-iron, right? (insert TM joke here)

 

It is a method to reduce one variable to zero, and in return you give up some control on the high and low ends, gapping, etc.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... 1 cm or 1/4" inch gaps would be a lot better for Joe Hacker. It's easy to be that tight in tolerances now with shafts, where as in the past you couldn't mass produce at that increment. It would give a lot of the same benefits of feeling very similar, and still offer more "play" for the manufacturers. It wouldn't hurt to have a descending swing weight, as well.

 

I'd call them "Tempo" irons, myself. To hit more greens, you have to be in tempo. It's a fact.

[ChaosTheory]

Here is what I built last year. Wishon 752 6 iron through AW. Each head is 272 grams and 62º lie. Each club is 37". DG SL R300, D1. Loft range is 29 to 52 degrees. There is no 4 or 5 iron shown. I have tried one of each, but preferred my Wishon 335 hybrid instead. There is no SW or LW either, because I like my regular ones. I will probably make a SW one of these days anyway, just to do it.

 

So as you can see, there is not a lot of modification going on to get them to 272 gram head weight and 62º lie angle. I used three different hole drilling patterns for the AW, PW, and 9i. I was basically learning as I went. I ended up adding a gram or so of lead tape back to the latter two. The holes are filled with a nub of foam backer rod and a millimeter or two of epoxy. In addition, on those three heads, I ground some metal off the heel. They come with a real angular heel that I didn't like to begin with. You can see the difference by comparing the 8 to the 9.

 

The missing 4 or 5 iron would look a lot like the 6 iron, except with more tape. Those two each also have a 9 gram weight in the Wishon hosel port, then lead tape down low in the back. I am pretty sure there is some weight in the port of the 6 iron too, although I don't recall. Since it doesn't have much more tape than the 7 iron, it must be in the port. (I built them last year and I don't recall that detail.)

 

[plt]

@Snowman9000 Nice work. Do you have a drill press for the holes or did you use a hand drill?

[accraw3]

So, I stumbled on this forum a few weeks ago while searching for advice on building my own single-length set. I've probably read the initial post about 30 times since beginning this engineering journey.

 

I'll try and be as concise as possible in describing what I've done to complete my build, but before I tell you what I did, here are the details I have not paid much attention to as of yet because I don't have the tools readily available. However, I will make these adjustments at some point soon.

 

What I didn't do: I did not adjust the lie angle of my clubs. (I will soon, but haven't yet.), I didn't use the exact same shaft in my set. I have not adjusted the wedges at all because they are currently being used in my main set and wasn't ready to commit them to this experiment just yet.

 

Ok, what I did do to build my custom length set.

 

I used an old set of Bridgestone J33 Irons (3i - 9i).

 

Shafts I used are as follows:

 

3i - X100 - 37"

4i - X100 - 37"

5i - x100 - 37"

6i - X100 - 36.5"

7i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5"

8i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5"

9i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36"

PW - X100 - 36" (not assembled yet)

GW - X100 - 36" (not assembled yet)

 

That is how I built the set. There are two reason I used different shafts. 1) It's what I had without purchasing new shafts. 2) Also, as Pearsonified mentioned in his post, the easiest way to balance weight other than grinding the head is to utilize the weight in the shaft (lighter shaft helps balance swing weight on heavier clubs (7-9).

 

Having said that I was still in a position where I would need to add a good amount of weight to the 3, 4, 5, and 6 irons. I wasn't too worried because after reading Tim Wishon's post about altering the COG, I knew that wouldn't be an issue because I didn't need to add more than 25 grams. So, I got to work.

 

Here's the list of weight I added to the heads prior to assembling the clubs.

 

(Keep in mind, I did all the calculations prior to adding any weight or assembling the clubs. I used the basic metrics that are found online about what elements effect swingweight and so on. So, once I completed the calculations it was easy to apply the weight. I'll share the spreadsheet on this post and some pictures later one.)

 

Weight Numbers: (I wanted to get the heads as close to the 270 grams of the 7 iron as possible)

 

3i - 22g

4i - 15g

5i - 7g

6i - 2g

7i - 0g

8i - Counterweighted 12g

9i - Counterweighted 30g

 

How did I counterweight? I took the long way because I hated the idea of ordering butt weights online and paying $0.12 for the weight and $4 for shipping. So I made my own counterweights.

 

I took a 5/8" washer, epoxied a long golf tee to it so the washer acted as a stopper on the end of the shaft (this raw weight of the washer/tee/epoxy mix is about 3g). Once the epoxy dried I applied lead tape to the golf tee until I met the desired weight. Once I had the right amount of lead tape on the tee I wrapped it in paper towels so there would be a tight fit in the butt of the shaft. (Probably not the easiest way to do it, but again, I was using what I had.)

 

I also used Jumbo Lampkin Grips on all the clubs and I assembled them last night.

 

So, in summary, here is what the final make up looks like.

 

3i - X100 - 37" (22g head weight)

4i - X100 - 37" (15g head weight)

5i - x100 - 37" (7g head weight)

6i - X100 - 36.5" (2g head weight)

7i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5" (0g head weight)

8i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5" (12g counterweight - golf tee/lead tape)

9i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36" (30g counterweight - golf tee/lead tape)

 

A couple things I'm lacking as of right now: 1) I don't have a swingweight scale (but I'm going to golfsmith soon and I'll use theirs to see how close I am). 2) I'm concerned that the lead tape isn't going to stay on so if I like the way they feel then I may epoxy the lead tape.

 

So far I like the way they feel. I'm pleasantly surprised how close they feel in my hand to the same weight. That could prove to be totally off, but I think the whole purpose is that if they feel good in your hand then the experiment was a success.

 

More to follow. This is a great thread and I can't express how much brain power I've spent trying to solve this problem. It's been a lot of fun.

[ChaosTheory]

@Snowman9000 Nice work. Do you have a drill press for the holes or did you use a hand drill?

 

I used an old drill press owned by a friend. He has a basic clamp jig with it. I made little blocks of wood to insert in the clamp and hold the heads in the right orientation. I am sure a hand drill could work, as long as you have the head SECURELY clamped into something. Then make sure you don't drill right through to the other side. :)

[accraw3]

So, I stumbled on this forum a few weeks ago while searching for advice on building my own single-length set. I've probably read the initial post about 30 times since beginning this engineering journey.

 

I'll try and be as concise as possible in describing what I've done to complete my build, but before I tell you what I did, here are the details I have not paid much attention to as of yet because I don't have the tools readily available. However, I will make these adjustments at some point soon.

 

What I didn't do: I did not adjust the lie angle of my clubs. (I will soon, but haven't yet.), I didn't use the exact same shaft in my set. I have not adjusted the wedges at all because they are currently being used in my main set and wasn't ready to commit them to this experiment just yet.

 

Ok, what I did do to build my custom length set.

 

I used an old set of Bridgestone J33 Irons (3i - 9i).

 

Shafts I used are as follows:

 

3i - X100 - 37"

4i - X100 - 37"

5i - x100 - 37"

6i - X100 - 36.5"

7i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5"

8i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5"

9i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36"

PW - X100 - 36" (not assembled yet)

GW - X100 - 36" (not assembled yet)

 

That is how I built the set. There are two reason I used different shafts. 1) It's what I had without purchasing new shafts. 2) Also, as Pearsonified mentioned in his post, the easiest way to balance weight other than grinding the head is to utilize the weight in the shaft (lighter shaft helps balance swing weight on heavier clubs (7-9).

 

Having said that I was still in a position where I would need to add a good amount of weight to the 3, 4, 5, and 6 irons. I wasn't too worried because after reading Tim Wishon's post about altering the COG, I knew that wouldn't be an issue because I didn't need to add more than 25 grams. So, I got to work.

 

Here's the list of weight I added to the heads prior to assembling the clubs.

 

(Keep in mind, I did all the calculations prior to adding any weight or assembling the clubs. I used the basic metrics that are found online about what elements effect swingweight and so on. So, once I completed the calculations it was easy to apply the weight. I'll share the spreadsheet on this post and some pictures later one.)

 

Weight Numbers: (I wanted to get the heads as close to the 270 grams of the 7 iron as possible)

 

3i - 22g

4i - 15g

5i - 7g

6i - 2g

7i - 0g

8i - Counterweighted 12g

9i - Counterweighted 30g

 

How did I counterweight? I took the long way because I hated the idea of ordering butt weights online and paying $0.12 for the weight and $4 for shipping. So I made my own counterweights.

 

I took a 5/8" washer, epoxied a long golf tee to it so the washer acted as a stopper on the end of the shaft (this raw weight of the washer/tee/epoxy mix is about 3g). Once the epoxy dried I applied lead tape to the golf tee until I met the desired weight. Once I had the right amount of lead tape on the tee I wrapped it in paper towels so there would be a tight fit in the butt of the shaft. (Probably not the easiest way to do it, but again, I was using what I had.)

 

I also used Jumbo Lampkin Grips on all the clubs and I assembled them last night.

 

So, in summary, here is what the final make up looks like.

 

3i - X100 - 37" (22g head weight)

4i - X100 - 37" (15g head weight)

5i - x100 - 37" (7g head weight)

6i - X100 - 36.5" (2g head weight)

7i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5" (0g head weight)

8i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5" (12g counterweight - golf tee/lead tape)

9i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36" (30g counterweight - golf tee/lead tape)

 

A couple things I'm lacking as of right now: 1) I don't have a swingweight scale (but I'm going to golfsmith soon and I'll use theirs to see how close I am). 2) I'm concerned that the lead tape isn't going to stay on so if I like the way they feel then I may epoxy the lead tape.

 

So far I like the way they feel. I'm pleasantly surprised how close they feel in my hand to the same weight. That could prove to be totally off, but I think the whole purpose is that if they feel good in your hand then the experiment was a success.

 

More to follow. This is a great thread and I can't express how much brain power I've spent trying to solve this problem. It's been a lot of fun.

 

Update 1: I hit about 200 balls at the range this afternoon and the satisfaction rate with these clubs is about an 8.5/10. The thing I like most is that I don't really have to change setup, ball position, or perceived tempo for any club (or I don't feel I need to do so).

 

What I can't speak to is how my long iron distance was affected. I was hitting the short irons about the same (9i - 150, 8i - 156-160, 7i - 165ish), but being on the range and hitting range balls it was nearly impossible to tell whether I was hitting a 4 iron 185 or 195. I'll get out on the course this week and give some more detailed feedback on the success of this build. So far, really like how comfortable it makes me feel over the longer irons (not so long now...less lofted clubs I should say).

 

The best result I could see from ball flight was that my shot dispersion seemed much tighter. I was hitting about 8/10 short iron shots withing a ten yard circle and the ball flight was a nice high draw consistently (which is what i like to hit as it's pretty natural).

 

I feel like there will definitely be more builds in the future and I have to agree with pearsonified, custom length clubs are the way to go.

 

-Acccraw3

[FirePro]

So, I stumbled on this forum a few weeks ago while searching for advice on building my own single-length set. I've probably read the initial post about 30 times since beginning this engineering journey.

 

I'll try and be as concise as possible in describing what I've done to complete my build, but before I tell you what I did, here are the details I have not paid much attention to as of yet because I don't have the tools readily available. However, I will make these adjustments at some point soon.

 

What I didn't do: I did not adjust the lie angle of my clubs. (I will soon, but haven't yet.), I didn't use the exact same shaft in my set. I have not adjusted the wedges at all because they are currently being used in my main set and wasn't ready to commit them to this experiment just yet.

 

Ok, what I did do to build my custom length set.

 

I used an old set of Bridgestone J33 Irons (3i - 9i).

 

Shafts I used are as follows:

 

3i - X100 - 37"

4i - X100 - 37"

5i - x100 - 37"

6i - X100 - 36.5"

7i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5"

8i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5"

9i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36"

PW - X100 - 36" (not assembled yet)

GW - X100 - 36" (not assembled yet)

 

That is how I built the set. There are two reason I used different shafts. 1) It's what I had without purchasing new shafts. 2) Also, as Pearsonified mentioned in his post, the easiest way to balance weight other than grinding the head is to utilize the weight in the shaft (lighter shaft helps balance swing weight on heavier clubs (7-9).

 

Having said that I was still in a position where I would need to add a good amount of weight to the 3, 4, 5, and 6 irons. I wasn't too worried because after reading Tim Wishon's post about altering the COG, I knew that wouldn't be an issue because I didn't need to add more than 25 grams. So, I got to work.

 

Here's the list of weight I added to the heads prior to assembling the clubs.

 

(Keep in mind, I did all the calculations prior to adding any weight or assembling the clubs. I used the basic metrics that are found online about what elements effect swingweight and so on. So, once I completed the calculations it was easy to apply the weight. I'll share the spreadsheet on this post and some pictures later one.)

 

Weight Numbers: (I wanted to get the heads as close to the 270 grams of the 7 iron as possible)

 

3i - 22g

4i - 15g

5i - 7g

6i - 2g

7i - 0g

8i - Counterweighted 12g

9i - Counterweighted 30g

 

How did I counterweight? I took the long way because I hated the idea of ordering butt weights online and paying $0.12 for the weight and $4 for shipping. So I made my own counterweights.

 

I took a 5/8" washer, epoxied a long golf tee to it so the washer acted as a stopper on the end of the shaft (this raw weight of the washer/tee/epoxy mix is about 3g). Once the epoxy dried I applied lead tape to the golf tee until I met the desired weight. Once I had the right amount of lead tape on the tee I wrapped it in paper towels so there would be a tight fit in the butt of the shaft. (Probably not the easiest way to do it, but again, I was using what I had.)

 

I also used Jumbo Lampkin Grips on all the clubs and I assembled them last night.

 

So, in summary, here is what the final make up looks like.

 

3i - X100 - 37" (22g head weight)

4i - X100 - 37" (15g head weight)

5i - x100 - 37" (7g head weight)

6i - X100 - 36.5" (2g head weight)

7i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5" (0g head weight)

8i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36.5" (12g counterweight - golf tee/lead tape)

9i - Ping 95G (Stiff) - 36" (30g counterweight - golf tee/lead tape)

 

A couple things I'm lacking as of right now: 1) I don't have a swingweight scale (but I'm going to golfsmith soon and I'll use theirs to see how close I am). 2) I'm concerned that the lead tape isn't going to stay on so if I like the way they feel then I may epoxy the lead tape.

 

So far I like the way they feel. I'm pleasantly surprised how close they feel in my hand to the same weight. That could prove to be totally off, but I think the whole purpose is that if they feel good in your hand then the experiment was a success.

 

More to follow. This is a great thread and I can't express how much brain power I've spent trying to solve this problem. It's been a lot of fun.

 

Update 1: I hit about 200 balls at the range this afternoon and the satisfaction rate with these clubs is about an 8.5/10. The thing I like most is that I don't really have to change setup, ball position, or perceived tempo for any club (or I don't feel I need to do so).

 

What I can't speak to is how my long iron distance was affected. I was hitting the short irons about the same (9i - 150, 8i - 156-160, 7i - 165ish), but being on the range and hitting range balls it was nearly impossible to tell whether I was hitting a 4 iron 185 or 195. I'll get out on the course this week and give some more detailed feedback on the success of this build. So far, really like how comfortable it makes me feel over the longer irons (not so long now...less lofted clubs I should say).

 

The best result I could see from ball flight was that my shot dispersion seemed much tighter. I was hitting about 8/10 short iron shots withing a ten yard circle and the ball flight was a nice high draw consistently (which is what i like to hit as it's pretty natural).

 

I feel like there will definitely be more builds in the future and I have to agree with pearsonified, custom length clubs are the way to go.

 

-Acccraw3

I was messing around with a 3 iron someone gave to the pro shop. I had a shaft I was experimenting with that was already cut to a 7 iron length so I threw it in and added a tip weight and some lead tape to the back of the head to get the SW up. I also had to change the lie on it as well and just for the hell of it I delofted the bad boy to about 18 deg, because why not right. I took it out to the range yesterday and put it up against my current 2 iron U45 18deg at 3 iron length. it was a little odd at first being that close to the ball with so little loft, and had to move the ball back in my stance. once I did they were low bullets and I was pleasantly surprised, it did not keep up with my current 2 iron but it was no slouch ether, it was about a 20 yard difference between clubs but some of that could be accounted for from the U45 bring a utility up against a Nike VR Combo 3 rion. The more I mess around the more I want to try my 2 length set 60 to 8i at 9i length and 7i to 4i at 7 iron length set I have been pondering. the great thing about these lengths you can now go ahead and hit a small CB or even MB because of the shorting lengths the intimidation factor is a lot less at a 7 iron length.

[matchavez]

It's funny; we've all been tricked into thinking a low running bullet is a bad shot, or at a minimum, a trick shot. It's not, so enjoy that 3-iron. Golf is a results-based target game. There are no places on your scorecard for "style". Do what works!

[MBarger]

I was messing around with a 3 iron someone gave to the pro shop. I had a shaft I was experimenting with that was already cut to a 7 iron length so I threw it in and added a tip weight and some lead tape to the back of the head to get the SW up. I also had to change the lie on it as well and just for the hell of it I delofted the bad boy to about 18 deg, because why not right. I took it out to the range yesterday and put it up against my current 2 iron U45 18deg at 3 iron length. it was a little odd at first being that close to the ball with so little loft, and had to move the ball back in my stance. once I did they were low bullets and I was pleasantly surprised, it did not keep up with my current 2 iron but it was no slouch ether, it was about a 20 yard difference between clubs but some of that could be accounted for from the U45 bring a utility up against a Nike VR Combo 3 rion. The more I mess around the more I want to try my 2 length set 60 to 8i at 9i length and 7i to 4i at 7 iron length set I have been pondering. the great thing about these lengths you can now go ahead and hit a small CB or even MB because of the shorting lengths the intimidation factor is a lot less at a 7 iron length.

 

I can have confidence with a MB 2-iron if I shorten the shaft and load up the head with lead tape? Be still, my heart.

[MBarger]

This seems to work. The epoxy lead mix stays on permanently and drilling out some steel, if possible , helps with the head weight in the short irons. If your going to try SL irons, or similar, you have to go all the way modifying. Forget about resale.

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...s/page__st__60#

 

I'm curious about using lead or tungsten-based powder epoxy instead of lead tape on the head. I'm a total noob with clubmaking so I'm just curious about any other opinions from the group on using a powder-epoxy mixture to add weight to the head vs. 20+ strips of lead tape before sallying forth. Will it stay on over time? Could I have a refinisher chrome over it to "lock in" the weight change on the bigger irons if I absolutely love it?

 

I'm considering doing this for my long and mid irons, putting 37.5" X100s or 36.5" S300s in CB heads from 4i-7i (23-35*, 4* loft spacing, maybe even 19* if I can find it). Might make the 35* head a MB, as ostensibly I won't have to add weight to it.

 

If it works out, I may do a set an inch shorter for 8-G using MB heads (39-51*).

 

Would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks in advance.

[FirePro]

I was messing around with a 3 iron someone gave to the pro shop. I had a shaft I was experimenting with that was already cut to a 7 iron length so I threw it in and added a tip weight and some lead tape to the back of the head to get the SW up. I also had to change the lie on it as well and just for the hell of it I delofted the bad boy to about 18 deg, because why not right. I took it out to the range yesterday and put it up against my current 2 iron U45 18deg at 3 iron length. it was a little odd at first being that close to the ball with so little loft, and had to move the ball back in my stance. once I did they were low bullets and I was pleasantly surprised, it did not keep up with my current 2 iron but it was no slouch ether, it was about a 20 yard difference between clubs but some of that could be accounted for from the U45 bring a utility up against a Nike VR Combo 3 rion. The more I mess around the more I want to try my 2 length set 60 to 8i at 9i length and 7i to 4i at 7 iron length set I have been pondering. the great thing about these lengths you can now go ahead and hit a small CB or even MB because of the shorting lengths the intimidation factor is a lot less at a 7 iron length.

 

I can have confidence with a MB 2-iron if I shorten the shaft and load up the head with lead tape? Be still, my heart.

obviously it all depends on your playing ability but for me at a 7 iron length (37") I feel I can have a consistent enough impact area on the head.

[MBarger]

obviously it all depends on your playing ability but for me at a 7 iron length (37") I feel I can have a consistent enough impact area on the head.

 

That was the implication, yes. Just surprised you can get a decent trajectory/clubhead speed with a 37" 2-iron with, like, zero-ish bounce. Have you tried it off grass?

[FirePro]

It's funny; we've all been tricked into thinking a low running bullet is a bad shot, or at a minimum, a trick shot. It's not, so enjoy that 3-iron. Golf is a results-based target game. There are no places on your scorecard for "style". Do what works!

I'v never had an issue with the low runner, my 2 iron off the tee is one of my best clubs. When the winds a blowing its a great shot to have

[FirePro]

obviously it all depends on your playing ability but for me at a 7 iron length (37") I feel I can have a consistent enough impact area on the head.

 

That was the implication, yes. Just surprised you can get a decent trajectory/clubhead speed with a 37" 2-iron with, like, zero-ish bounce. Have you tried it off grass?

yes both in a simulator and off the grass. great point on the lack of bounce but oddly enough it wasn't taking to much turf.