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

[FirePro]

Well my home project hit a snag tonight gentlemen...

 

A real bummer occurred when I went to adjust the final lies on my single length clubs.

 

Since I am a self appointed idiot, home brew club maker many of you probably know that bending a cast Cleveland TA3 gun metal iron 4 degrees is a bad idea.

 

I snapped the 5 iron clean in half and cracked the gap wedge when adjusting the lies.

 

I'm still gonna put the set together and use them. If it works out relatively well I'll likely just buy a set now. Bending a lie angle on a cast club that extreme was probably the dumbest idea in the entire project.

 

My 4 iron was 59 I believe? And my GW was close to 66. I was comfortable after all the testing at 62.5 but as you can see I wasnt able to get them all there, LOL.

 

Onward I go. I'll give updates as the play with my set continues. Luckily the 4 iron is fine and I have 47-56-60 degree wedges in addition to the snapped 52 so this is something I can recover from (Bend the 4 weak and make the wedges gap evenly)

Yes this could be an issue using cast clubs. for a project like this forged is the way to go

[dhappy42]

First, great post. Great thread.

 

Second, I've had the same idea about "single-length" irons -- that they don't have to all be the same length. One length for irons and one length for wedges works too. And you can save yourself the trouble of cutting down a 3 iron and slathering it with tape by playing a 7 wood, which I do anyway.

 

I'm planning a "two-length" project with 5,6,7,8,9 irons at 37.5" and wedges 48*-52*-56*-60* at 36". (Top of the bag will be driver, 3W, 5W, 7W.)

 

Cleveland CG16s for the wedges with extensions to make them all 36". (They only vary by .125 stock, anyway, so it's barely worth the trouble.)

 

ProjectX 6.0 in the 5-9.

 

25* -- Adams Idea Pro a12 4 iron, weakened 1* -- cut 1" loses 6SW, so add 12g

30* -- Adams Idea Pro a12 6 iron, no adjustment

35* -- Adams Idea Pro a12 7 iron, weakened 1* -- 1/2" long

40* -- Adams Idea Pro a12 8 iron, weakened 2* -- 1" long gains 6SW, so subtract 12g

45* -- Adams Idea Pro a12 PW, strengthened 1* -- 1.75" long gains 10.5 SW, so subtract 21g!!! (or tinker with counter grip weight to feel)

 

I'm not concerned about the 1-2* bounce changes.

No need to do anything to the 6 and 7 irons, except adjust the lie angles. (All lie angles will be 66*. I currently play Ping's maroon dot, +1/2".)

The 7, 8 and PW will need weight taken off or they'll play very heavy. Drill? Where? Lighter shafts?

 

Hoping the gap between the de facto 9 iron (labeled PW), at 45*/37.5" and the 48*/36" wedge isn't too big.

 

The woods will be a cut down Taylormade R7 and V-Steel fairways -- 43-42-41-40".

 

Comments? Suggestions?

[Dan Drake]

Actually hit 2 long irons OVER the green yesterday. Think about that for a second. When was the last time you hit a long iron, from the proper yardage, close enough to the sweet spot to carry it onto the green and go over, lol. It was actually funny, the second time it happened. The first time I was irritated to see a good shot go largely unrewarded, but the second time, I realized that it wasn't anyone's fault but mine. I simply hadn't ever hit 2 long irons that well in the same round in my life.

 

For the record, I will probably make the switch to the MOI/progressive SW 3/8" method, but starting with the really short clubs. I am playing with my SLI @ 36.75" and I would want my MOI 3i to not be much longer, perhaps in the 37.5" - 38" range. I have always hit the PW out of that set really well, so I will most likely start there.

 

Anyway, just wanted to add the funny little anecdote. I haven't ever seen what's behind those two greens, the new scenery was a welcome change!

[FirePro]

has anyone thought of going to a 1/4" length progression?

[ChaosTheory]

I have a set built with 1/4" progression. e.g. 36.5" 9 iron, 37.5" 5 iron. I like it a lot. Distances and trajectories are completely normal. Compared to my 37" SL set, the 5 iron is more useful, and the 9/PW/AW are more precise as far as hitting in the center of the face. What I need to do is build a 1/4" set with the same shaft as my SL set. Right now I think my SL set has a better fitting shaft for me, while the 1/4" set is otherwise better. But the differences are not so big as to be obviously in one direction or the other. Each design has pros and cons.

 

In the 1/4" set, there is still a noticeable difference in setup and swing between the 37.5" club and the 36" club. But it's not as bad as having say a 38.5" club. Having only the "one club" in the SL set is a very nice thing. Most of the time. The higher your swing speed, the easier it will be to employ an SL set and get good distance gaps. If like me, you are a 90 MPH driver guy, you might find the 1/4" set to give you more traditional distance gaps.

 

As far as short iron precision, that will either be an individual thing, or it will be a trade-off you will have to decide to accept or not. With an SL set, the negatives are more easily noticed because they will be something different from your normal expectations, while the positives are harder to notice. Even though the positives might outweigh the negatives. Ultimately, which set produces the lower scores?

 

A lot of the above may be moot with a 36.5" Sterling set. I don't have any experience with one.

[andrevanderpost]

I'm starting my set build this week once all the components arrive:

 

Heads - Adams XTD Tour irons (Ernie Els model)

Shafts - Nippon Zelos 7 stiff (using 8 iron shaft) at 37.5"

Grips - Boccieri Secret grip

 

Thought process is to get all the heads to weight the same as the heaviest (i.e PW) by using lead tape and tip weights. From a few experiments this will swing weight the PW out at about E2 or E3 with standard grips. With the Secret grips 40 gram back weight, swing weight should turn out in the D3 range. Because of the additional weight in the heas and grips, I have elected to go with a lighter shaft so that when finished the total club weight is in the region of a "normal" 6 iron.

 

One of the things I realized when I built my experiment clubs is that because of the extra weight in the heads, the shafts definitely play softer, hence the idea of using an 8 iron shafts at 37.5 rather than 6 iron shafts.

 

Should be a fun exercise!

 

Andre

[dhappy42]

 

 

One of the things I realized when I built my experiment clubs is that because of the extra weight in the heads, the shafts definitely play softer, hence the idea of using an 8 iron shafts at 37.5 rather than 6 iron shafts.

 

Should be a fun exercise!

 

Andre

 

What's the difference between using a 6-iron shaft and an 8-iron shaft if they're both cut down to 37.5"? Higher flex point?

 

Why not use a wedge 37" uncut wedge shaft then cut the but to 37.5" playing length?

[andrevanderpost]

 

 

One of the things I realized when I built my experiment clubs is that because of the extra weight in the heads, the shafts definitely play softer, hence the idea of using an 8 iron shafts at 37.5 rather than 6 iron shafts.

 

Should be a fun exercise!

 

Andre

 

What's the difference between using a 6-iron shaft and an 8-iron shaft if they're both cut down to 37.5"? Higher flex point?

 

Why not use a wedge 37" uncut wedge shaft then cut the but to 37.5" playing length?

 

Great question! In theory using the 8 iron at 6 iron length will be like hard-stepping the shaft in all the irons up to 7. However because of all the weight added into the heads this will counteract the hard-step and almost play closer to normal flex. From 8 iron down they will play a little softer than normal.

 

I would have preferred to put a 37" wedge shaft in them but unfortunately the Zelos 7 wedge shaft comes at 35" so the 8 iron (@36") is the shortes shaft that will give me a 37.5" playing length. The 8 iron shaft will go straight in with no butt trimming at all.

 

Sounds great in theory but we will see how it works in practice!

[Mcgeeno]

Official playing "tests" happen this weekend.

 

Shafts, lies, weights, grips all work done now it's time to pay the piper.

 

If you guys want pictures let me know. I will provide an update that is honest after a few weeks but it's been a fun run.

 

Now I get to play haha.

 

 

[darpar1]

Here's a set of S/L irons I made a while back using some Maltby KE 4's.

I made them at an 8i length (37") and a 9i head weight (382grms) with a lie angle of 64°.

Swingweights were all in the D-3 range + or - 1 swingweight point.

 

Used Kuro Kage shafts in the 6-PW and a little stiffer shaft Tour Force Plat's in the wedges.

These heads do have weight ports but you are pretty limited in being able to add much weight for the 6 and 7i to get

to the head weight of the 9i.

So instead of buying a bunch of different weights for the ports I just added some tungsten powder.

 

BUT that wasn't near enough weight so I mixed epoxy and tungsten powder together and placed it low in the cavity part of the irons

to get the target weight of 382grms.

For the wedges,which are a little heavier around 295-300 grms the challenge was to remove some weight.

For the lw and gw I was able to bore out the hosel enough to get close to 382g,but NOT recommended as this will tend to weaken the neck

of the club a little.....changing the lie on these was pretty easy.

The sw which was quit a bit heavier required a trip to the drill press to do some major drilling on the back of the sole.

 

Over all these clubs feel pretty equal in static weight and the way they feel/look standing over the ball.

My biggest problem (probably just me) was distance control....long irons seemed to go shorter and short irons went a little farther than say my CallyApex set up.

 

I might give these another shot someday though,as my current sticks are the old reliable Apex's.

 

 

 

 

[FirePro]

Here's a set of S/L irons I made a while back using some Maltby KE 4's.

I made them at an 8i length (37") and a 9i head weight (382grms) with a lie angle of 64°.

Swingweights were all in the D-3 range + or - 1 swingweight point.

 

Used Kuro Kage shafts in the 6-PW and a little stiffer shaft Tour Force Plat's in the wedges.

These heads do have weight ports but you are pretty limited in being able to add much weight for the 6 and 7i to get

to the head weight of the 9i.

So instead of buying a bunch of different weights for the ports I just added some tungsten powder.

 

BUT that wasn't near enough weight so I mixed epoxy and tungsten powder together and placed it low in the cavity part of the irons

to get the target weight of 382grms.

For the wedges,which are a little heavier around 295-300 grms the challenge was to remove some weight.

For the lw and gw I was able to bore out the hosel enough to get close to 382g,but NOT recommended as this will tend to weaken the neck

of the club a little.....changing the lie on these was pretty easy.

The sw which was quit a bit heavier required a trip to the drill press to do some major drilling on the back of the sole.

 

Over all these clubs feel pretty equal in static weight and the way they feel/look standing over the ball.

My biggest problem (probably just me) was distance control....long irons seemed to go shorter and short irons went a little farther than say my CallyApex set up.

 

I might give these another shot someday though,as my current sticks are the old reliable Apex's.

 

 

 

 

would love to see what the bac of each of the heads looks like mainly the least lofted (I almost said longest Iron lol) and the SW if possible

[FirePro]

I have a set built with 1/4" progression. e.g. 36.5" 9 iron, 37.5" 5 iron. I like it a lot. Distances and trajectories are completely normal. Compared to my 37" SL set, the 5 iron is more useful, and the 9/PW/AW are more precise as far as hitting in the center of the face. What I need to do is build a 1/4" set with the same shaft as my SL set. Right now I think my SL set has a better fitting shaft for me, while the 1/4" set is otherwise better. But the differences are not so big as to be obviously in one direction or the other. Each design has pros and cons.

 

In the 1/4" set, there is still a noticeable difference in setup and swing between the 37.5" club and the 36" club. But it's not as bad as having say a 38.5" club. Having only the "one club" in the SL set is a very nice thing. Most of the time. The higher your swing speed, the easier it will be to employ an SL set and get good distance gaps. If like me, you are a 90 MPH driver guy, you might find the 1/4" set to give you more traditional distance gaps.

 

As far as short iron precision, that will either be an individual thing, or it will be a trade-off you will have to decide to accept or not. With an SL set, the negatives are more easily noticed because they will be something different from your normal expectations, while the positives are harder to notice. Even though the positives might outweigh the negatives. Ultimately, which set produces the lower scores?

 

A lot of the above may be moot with a 36.5" Sterling set. I don't have any experience with one.

The more I look at the 1/4" progression its looking better and better to me after putting some numbers together starting at a standard 9 iron length 36" with a 3 iron ending up at 6 iron length but I think this is getting away from the single swing idea so I digress.

[pearsonified]

FirePro, my Adams CMBs (mentioned on pages 1 and 2) have a total length progression of 1.5", which is almost identical to what you'd get from a 1/4" progression set.

 

I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again: If you're using OEM heads, a single-length set is likely NOT the most sensible solution.

 

Because of the geometric optimization possibilities, I like the 1/4" progression approach. The only drawback is the amount of weight reduction/addition necessary to make OEM heads work in this scenario.

 

Now that I have 14 months of experience with custom-length clubs, I am pretty much sold on the idea that 3/8" progressions are the best answer for anyone who is [1] using OEM heads, [2] isn't willing to grind the heads of shorter clubs, and [3] would prefer not to add a bunch of lead tape to their clubs.

 

Over an 8-club set, 3/8" progressions will save you 1 inch in total length difference (versus 1/2" progressions), and this is often enough to make the longer clubs much more playable.

 

Check out my first attempt at 3/8" progressions—these Adams MB2s with Recoil Prototype 125s. The build isn't perfect, but the clubs feel great through the set and do not require nearly the amount of lead tape that my Adams CMBs do.

 

For practical reasons, I will probably stick with 3/8" progressions on all future builds. It's easy enough to modify a 1/2" progression set into 3/8" progressions, so that gives you a lot more flexibility with total build cost as well as shaft availability.

[matchavez]

And I'll add to it that I think 1/4 inch builds are fine if you accept progressive swing weighting. Especially with recoil protos, I think they work very well in the short irons. I also think the tempo is more equal at about 2/3 a swing weight per club.

 

If you must have the same swing weight, 3/8 is probably a more workable tolerance. Otherwise, you'll have to have a lead tape party.

[driveandputtmachine]

I have mentioned numerous times; maybe in this thread, maybe in another; that custom length irons are for everybody.

 

Not everyone works great with 1/2, not everyone works great with SL, and again not everyone will work the best with 1/4. However MANY people(I'm not saying all) would highly benefit from some type of "custom" length iron set.

 

My clubs are roughly 1/4 increments. I don't have all of the info in front of me, but I switched to lighter graphite iron shafts. Lengthened my LW, SW, GW, and PW to the length of my nine iron. Which was roughly just roughly 1/2" over standard graphite length(I think). From there I go up mostly 1/4 inch lengths to the 4 iron. The 2iron and a makeshift 3 iron I have are both a bit different.

 

My SW's.....Well I had to drill out my LW and SW quite a bit, my GW and PW were fine. Some of my longer irons had a little bit of lead tape. My Rough SW is around D6. However it varies a tad throughout the set. I like the heavier feel, which I discovered by accident toying around with the recoil 110 shafts(which aremuch lighter than the Project x shafts I was playing) and hard/standar/soft stepping. With a 5 iron shaft that ended in my 7 iron, and a 7 iron shaft that ended in my 9 iron. From there what I discovered with the extremely long 7 and 9 irons is that I was hitting the ball better. Especially the 9 iron. SO I made my short irons almost exactly like it after I got it dialed in with lie, then bent loft for distance gapping. I discovered that my 7 iron was a bit too long, once I cut it down to where I was hitting it solid it was 1/2" longer than the 9. I bent lie angle to get the starting direction I wanted, then fit the 8 in between the two irons.

 

At that point I had the 7 - LW set and they were golden. Since I had all of them soft stepped once, I then worked my way up from there. Ordering a soft stepped shaft for the 6, trying it at 3/4, 1/2 and then 1/4 longer than standard.

 

I don't know exact lengths, but I can get them.

 

9 iron or PW - LW same length and lie angle. All clubs are 4* loft gaps except the 3 and 2 iron. I cannot remember off the top of my head if the 9 iron is longer or the same length as the PW, but the most length difference I have is 1/4" except the 2 and 3 iron.

 

1/4 differences 9 to the 6 iron. 5 iron is almost the same as the 6, 4 iron is 1/4 longer than the 5. I haven't checked but I think my 4 iron is close to standard length, maybe it is a bit shorter. I never really cared about how long total it was. I wanted more solid strikes, better dispersion, better proximity to the hole, better distance gaps throughout the set. Do I have some lead tape on my longer irons, yes I do have some, but luckily my GW and PW both had hosel weights and I only had to drill my LW and SW, I lucked out a bit on my weighting(specs were a bit varied weight wise) and the design of the J40's in that Lead tape doesn't stick out a ton on them.

 

Since switching to this in 2015 my GIR is at 68.9%. I normally hit 12-13 greens a round, with days where I hit as many as 16-17(which happens somewhat frequently) Last 5 rounds is at 71.1%, with a 50% hungover and heavily drinking golf day yesterday included.

 

Before with my project X 6.5 standard L/L/L set it was 43.8%. I normally hit 7-8 greens per round with as many as 13-14(which rarely happened)

[driveandputtmachine]

Found my lofts........

 

Lofts 60, 56, 52, 48(PW), 44, 40, 36, 32, 28, 23(4 iron)

 

My "3" iron is a Callaway XR Pro, but it has too much offset and has been bothering me so it has been relegated to another bag.

 

My 2 iron is 18*(TM UDI) - Again these are the marked iron numbers. Luckily The J40's bend well and were relatively weak in their lofts to begin with, which helps a ton. 5 degree gaping from 5 to 4 and then from 4 to 2 iron. They are a smidge under standard length in both. I really need to measure everything out again and get my numbers for reference.

[FirePro]

So I found an ancient set of Mizuno GRAD irons for pretty much nothing and believe it or not they are almost like new with little signs of wear on the face but your typical bag chatter. I have ordered my DG X100 7 iron shafts (38" raw length) which I will be plaing the irons at 8 iron length so Soft stepped once and also on rout are the white ferrules I purchased. I got a little impatient and wanted to try and build the 3 iron and bent all the irons to my desired lie angle which was 62 or 63 I can't quite remember. attached are some pictures

 

Started with bending all the lie angles to 62 or 63 degrees

 

 

Removed all the heads from the previous shafts ( this was a little harder then normal and took some extra work getting them off #theydontmakethemliketheyusedto

 

 

All heads are at proper lie angle and removed from shafts

 

 

Started drilling out the epoxy

 

 

it looks like they used the cork method of swing weighting 20 years ago but there was no lead powder Hmm?

 

 

I found a DG X100 7 iron shaft from a fitting cart laying around so I had to install it in the 3 iron just to see how much lead tap I was going to need in order to bring the 8 iron length 3 iron up to a D3 Swing weight

 

 

I didn't quite measure how much lead tape I used I just kept adding tape until the swing weight machine read D3 but I believe about 20" in total of the 1/2" high density lead tape

 

 

If anyone would like me to add in the rest of the build when the shafts and ferrules get in let me know as this was a fun process.

 

by the way I was still able to get the 3 iron out to 220 yards on average which I thought I would be closer to the 200 range due to the 2.5" shorter shafts. I know others have said that they need higher launching heads for the lower lofted irons but I compress the ball enough that I didn't really have an issue and with the ball being placed in the middle of my stance I am able to bring the spin numbers up enough that it gets off the ground.

 

To be continued?

[Mcgeeno]

Those look sexy!

 

If anyone cares about my single length journey, it ended relatively abruptly a few weeks ago.

 

1) I liked the consistency of same ball position, same length, same swing. That was great.

 

2) Loft bunching on your own 'rigged' set is real and always present. My standard 4 iron goes 195 carry. The single length was down to 180 or so. Add in the fact that my PW at 8 iron length was up to 140-145 carry and it made for some weird gapping issues.

 

I'm not a pro club fitter, and I didnt use forged clubs. I'm sure you could adjust lofts to make it work, but the set I had didnt really do the trick...

 

3) It will not fix a swing flaw, LOL. I still hook these as much as my standard set. I decided to work on fixing my swing fault instead of going this route.

 

All in all, no regrets, tons of funs and the positive thing is my dad is playing the SL set and loving it. He doesnt hit 4 irons anyways so the 5-LW all the same is working incredibly well.

 

I'm a 3.8 index he is a 15-16 so that could be a factor.

[pearsonified]

I really need to measure everything out again and get my numbers for reference.

Punch those numbers into the Clubmaker's Calculator and include a screenshot of the results here :D

[FirePro]

FirePro, my Adams CMBs (mentioned on pages 1 and 2) have a total length progression of 1.5", which is almost identical to what you'd get from a 1/4" progression set.

 

I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again: If you're using OEM heads, a single-length set is likely NOT the most sensible solution.

 

Because of the geometric optimization possibilities, I like the 1/4" progression approach. The only drawback is the amount of weight reduction/addition necessary to make OEM heads work in this scenario.

 

Now that I have 14 months of experience with custom-length clubs, I am pretty much sold on the idea that 3/8" progressions are the best answer for anyone who is [1] using OEM heads, [2] isn't willing to grind the heads of shorter clubs, and [3] would prefer not to add a bunch of lead tape to their clubs.

 

Over an 8-club set, 3/8" progressions will save you 1 inch in total length difference (versus 1/2" progressions), and this is often enough to make the longer clubs much more playable.

 

Check out my first attempt at 3/8" progressions—these Adams MB2s with Recoil Prototype 125s. The build isn't perfect, but the clubs feel great through the set and do not require nearly the amount of lead tape that my Adams CMBs do.

 

For practical reasons, I will probably stick with 3/8" progressions on all future builds. It's easy enough to modify a 1/2" progression set into 3/8" progressions, so that gives you a lot more flexibility with total build cost as well as shaft availability.

any idea what the best rout to install for the clubs between the half inch standard taper shafts. would you soft step or hard step, the only way I see something like this working would be to use parallel shafts and trim accordingly.

[FirePro]

Single length iron Continued

 

I started out by installing the 7 iron GD X100 in the 8 iron head and cutting it to 8 iron length which was 36.5" based off of my Srixon clubs. I installed the Lamkin grip I was using, slid the ferrule on and through it on the swing weight machine and it was sitting at D2.5 which I normally use D3 but for the sake of the build it was good enough for me. I did not have any tip weights available (we ran out) so all of the additional weight aded to the clubs was lead tap... lots of lead tap. I took the head off of the shaft I did not use any epoxy to Swing weight so its possible with the addition of epoxy it would be closer to the D3 but I digress. I removed the 8 iron head and measured the weight of the head by itself, this turned out to be 278g.

 

moved onto the 7 through 4 iron adding strips of lead tap

 

 

once all of the irons had the sufficent amount of lead tap applied to bring the weight up to 278g I started removing weight from the 9 and PW ( Started grinding the 9 iron which was enough to remove the weight needed but the PW needed to be drilled out.

 

 

 

after all the prep work was done I epoxied the rest of the heads to their shafts cut them to length and slid on the grips

 

 

I will try and get out tonight and see how they perform in the simulator to get some accurate numbers and see if I get any bunching.

[FirePro]

So I was able to hit the irons last night and much like others have experienced there was a little bunching at the top end of the set mainly the 4/5. its definitely a fun concept and I was hitting them pretty good. Please not that I took a few shots with the pitching wedge to get a feel then hit 5 or so balls with each so there was very little practice time with them. I will continue to work with these for a bit and let anyone know if they would like that is if there are any changes made to the clubs as well as any new findings

 

 

 

 

 

[ChaosTheory]

Nice job, FirePro!

[FirePro]

Nice job, FirePro!

Thanks this has kept my from altering my current set which I am playing fantastic right now. has anyone else been playing with the idea of single length irons now that Bryson received his PGA Tour Card?

[driveandputtmachine]

has anyone thought of going to a 1/4" length progression?

 

I'll take a picture when I get home, but yes.

 

My wedges are all 36" in length from PW down to LW. I then go up 1/4 increments to the 5 iron. The 18* iron and 21* iron I am still undecided on, I have been hitting the snot out of my 18* iron but it is full length and steel. The 21* is still enroute, so I will start with it at normal length and decide from there.

 

My 18* iron gets a ton of use off the tee on par 4's and limited use off the ground, so I may meet somewhere in the middle probably 95% - 5%. The 21* iron will get some use off of the tee and some off of the ground, probably 50% - 50% so I will experiment with what to do there.

 

However my 1/4" iron progression set is working extremely well and has been very good. I didn't need to add a ton of lead tape, just a little, which helps too. I need to flatten the lies on my longer irons a little bit though, mainly the 5 and 6, I think I have the 7 iron down where I want them.

[rybo]

Since this post was inspiration for me to start tinkering, here is a link to a post I started where the set ended up with 1/8" length progression through the set.

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1385016-my-single-length-experiment-evolved-into-18-length-progression/

[FirePro]

I thought 1/4" length progression was maybe not enough but 1/8" length progression I would assume why not stick with the single length at that point. but hey what ever works for you works. Did you use parallel or taper shafts? if taper shafts what shafts did you use on the tweener lengths?

[rybo]

I thought 1/4" length progression was maybe not enough but 1/8" length progression I would assume why not stick with the single length at that point. but hey what ever works for you works. Did you use parallel or taper shafts? if taper shafts what shafts did you use on the tweener lengths?

 

I used taper tip shafts; the 7 iron shaft in the 7, 8 iron shaft in the 8, etc. Wedges all have wedge shafts. Used standard weight heads in the irons so the 1/2" change in tip length for 7 grams of weight in the head seems to hold up without issue. Removed a bunch of weight from the wedges so they play pretty standard. The lob wedge is phenomenal!

 

I really liked the single length set I made and played, what I didn't like were the wedges feeling so cumbersome due to the length. Over many rounds and practice sessions it became apparent they would perform better at a shorter length. The 1/8" change happened naturally and honestly it just feels better then straight single length. Never thought such a slight difference in length would make a difference but it has.

 

I could see a set where all wedges are the same length and 1/4" progression from there. Something like this:

5 -38"

6 -37.75"

7 - 37.5"

8 - 37.25"

9 - 37"

P, G, S, L - 36.75"

 

The overall length change across the entire set of irons in this build is not as tight as 1/8", 1 1/4" vs 1", but would be very playable. Still much tighter then any standard set that would likely have a length range of 3" or more.

 

If you are tall, using a 1/8" build is a game changer. Not so sure how this would work out for a normal height or shorter person as I don't have any reference point to recommend from. May use a normal height playing buddy as a guinea pig and build them a set to see what happens. Regardless of height, the tighter spacing and overall reduced length change is going to be more consistent as the swing from 5 iron to lob wedge is so similar. Like single length, you are essentially practicing and playing with one swing.

[pearsonified]

The wedge length issue still looms pretty large for me.

 

At 36.5", for example, typical wedges are insanely heavy. YMMV, but I tend to hit a lot of "barely fats" when the SW gets up around D6. With a Vokey wedge head, you're probably talking about a SW in the E3 range—that's Paul Bunyan territory.

 

Because I'm unwilling to grind my wedges, I've basically just settled on length reduction at the top end of the set. I have no problem launching the ball, so shortening longer irons simply allows me to strike the ball better without compromising shot characteristics.

 

I've also become a fan of a two-step progression, which could look something like this:

• G: 35.5"
  
• P: 35.75"
  
• 9: 36"
  
• 8: 36.25"
  
• 7: 36.625"
  
• 6: 37"
  
• 5: 37.375"
  
• 4: 37.75"
  

Notice the 1/4" gaps in the shorter irons followed by the 3/8" gaps, beginning with the 7i. This approach makes MOI-matching a breeze and also massively reduces the amount of lead tape necessary to achieve a geometrically optimized set.

 

I've said this elsewhere in this thread, but I'll repeat it again:

 

If you're using OEM heads and are unwilling to grind wedges to reduce weight, then your best bet is a total length progression of at least 1.75". The hypothetical set outlined above has a total progression of 2.25" and represents a 33-40% improvement in geometric optimization over a standard 1/2" progression set.

 

One more interesting point: Relatively speaking, longer clubs play flatter than shorter ones (from the same set). Now that I've played custom-length clubs for 15 months, I've noticed that the longer clubs are sometimes useful for "bringing me back to center" when I start getting too steep with the shorter clubs.

 

For example, if things aren't going well during the course of my round, I'll take practice swings with my 4 or 5i to regain a flatter, more shallow feel. If all my clubs were the same length and lie, I wouldn't be able to achieve the proper feel so easily.

 

Bottom line? I haven't found any distinct advantages from going any tighter than a 2" overall progression, but I've definitely benefitted from compressed lengths in the 4-8 irons.

[rybo]

Pearson,

 

Drilling some weight out of the wedges has proven to be the key in making this work. It's not all that scary once you do it. Once you play them you quickly realize how much easier wedges can be played. If you're tall like me, this is what I've been after for over 20 years!