Shafts worth more than old irons dilemma

Guacbuster77 · January 2, 2018

The other day I got some Titleist Tour model 1991 types with S300 shafts

after redoing the letter fill on them I tried them out and they are shorter for yardage than my G30 irons.

True temper says I need the DG 120 R300 and KBS says I need the Tour 90s

Since the shafts would cost many times what I paid for the clubs,

would it be feasible to harvest R shafts from old Wilson or MacGregor blades? I can get whole sets for $15 at Play it Again

The shaft extractor is on the way right now.

The MacGregors have a type 1 shaft ®

blink3665 · January 2, 2018

Hm. What is the purpose of the reshaft? If you are trying to go from s300 to r300 thinking that you will make up the distance on those Titleist blades... That's not going to work.

There are a few reasons those blades aren't as long as your g30s and the difference between r and s isn't going to be a big contributor.

Loft could be a factor since the blades are nearly a full club weaker than your g30s. The other factor could be the difference in forgiveness and playability. The Tour Blades are no joke! :)

Stuart_G · January 3, 2018

s300 isn't a shaft model, it's just a TT flex designation. I assume you mean they are Dynamic Gold s300's?

What shaft are you playing in the Ping's? Were you actually fit for that shaft?

BTW - those 'online' fitting guides from the shaft companies are a horrible way to find the right shaft. For example those two recommendations are two very different shafts and nothing alike. So both recommendations are very unlikely to be a good fit. One of them might be or neither, but not both.

"Harvesting" a shaft from another set may or may not work (from the standpoint of the build - not the from the standpoint of fixing the distance problem). First of all the tip size needs to be the same. I assume the Titleists use a .355 taper tip so you would be out of luck if you got a set that used .370" parallel tip shafts. Second, different iron heads can have different BBGM - which basically means that the playing length can change when you move the shafts from one head to another. When moved to the new heads, It may end up giving a longer playing length (not a problem as you can just butt trim) or shorter - which would be more of a problem due to the cost to extend to the desired playing length. Then of course that's assuming you have a scale and can properly manage the swing weights with the new shafts.

Same is true from buying a used set of pulls.

And BTW (v2) - you don't need a shaft extractor to pull steel shafts - only the graphite needs the extractor to pull safely.

Guacbuster77 · January 3, 2018

Blink: The Purpose is to see if I can game with these irons, they are primarily for my practice bag and for the fun of restoring them.

Lofts The G30s are super strong the 4 iron is 21, 7 iron 37, and 9 Iron 40

Tour Models are 26,37,45 degrees The PW is 49 so these predate gap irons.

Stuart: Thanks for warning me about BBGM I will research more before ruining any nice clubs.

My G30s came with Ping CFS R flex shafts and are good for me.

The Tours are using Dynamic Gold S stiffness .355 taper fit

I got a shaft puller as I want to build or modify any type of club as a side hobby not that anyone told me I need them for steel shafts.

blink3665 · January 3, 2018

If you love to tinker and want to screw around with the club builder part of this game, more power to you! I love to do that. I have WAY too many shafts sitting in my shed and garage that are from just screwing around. I understand the itch to build and create.

If you're going through this process with no love for club building and just to see if the blades are a good fit you could save time and money but hitting the range with the clubs as is and getting a better feel for them. (Yes, there is a difference between the s300s and r300s, but I think you can still get a feel for the irons with shafts that are off by 1 flex.)

Sorry. I definitely don't want to come across as condescending (and I'm afraid I have). I just wanna make sure that your not pouring time and money into something if you're not going to enjoy the process or end product.

Cheers!

Bigarch · January 3, 2018

Blink: The Purpose is to see if I can game with these irons, they are primarily for my practice bag and for the fun of restoring them.

Lofts The G30s are super strong the 4 iron is 21, 7 iron 37, and 9 Iron 40
Tour Models are 26,37,45 degrees The PW is 49 so these predate gap irons.

Stuart: Thanks for warning me about BBGM I will research more before ruining any nice clubs.

My G30s came with Ping CFS R flex shafts and are good for me.

The Tours are using Dynamic Gold S stiffness .355 taper fit

I got a shaft puller as I want to build or modify any type of club as a side hobby not that anyone told me I need them for steel shafts.

Sounds like a fun plan to me. I enjoy the heck out of tinkering with clubs by reshafting, regripping, and restoring old iron sets that I find. I like to hit the thrift store circuit and look for old discarded sets or even individual clubs. You can pick up clubs on the cheap. But it's also a great source for cheap shafts and grips that you can reuse on other clubs that you may have. Any time I see clubs with a nice steel shaft in them, or a nice grip I can save, I buy it in the thrift shop for $2-3 a club. When you start looking at prices for new shafts and grips...that's a steal!

Jagpilotohio · January 4, 2018

You will never hit the blades as far as your pings for multiple reasons.

Loft, center of gravity, shaft weight and flex, length of the shafts, etc.

You are truly comparing “apples to oranges” as the saying goes. They are about as dissimilar as Irons can be.

Stuart_G · January 4, 2018

My G30s came with Ping CFS R flex shafts and are good for me.

If you want to come close to matching those shafts, I would think the TT XP 105's or KBS Tour 105's would be a closer match then either of the options you mentioned.

And it's certainly possible that you might be loosing a little distance with the much heavier and stiffer Dynamic Gold shafts.

dunn · February 27, 2018

^^^

Agree....i have played cfs shafts and to me pretty soft kinda like a Nippon 950, kbs tour 90, tho maybe hair lighter and even as well as Stuart's choices....

Boy those are some super thin soles on titleist

dano0726 · March 11, 2018

I have my 2nd set of graphite (.355 tapered) iron shafts on my Tommy Armour 845s -- they're Paderson Kinetixx TS-I stiff and I'm saving them just in case I want to switch

Chromer · August 29, 2020

On 1/3/2018 at 6:46 PM, Bigarch said:

Sounds like a fun plan to me. I enjoy the heck out of tinkering with clubs by reshafting, regripping, and restoring old iron sets that I find. I like to hit the thrift store circuit and look for old discarded sets or even individual clubs. You can pick up clubs on the cheap. But it's also a great source for cheap shafts and grips that you can reuse on other clubs that you may have. Any time I see clubs with a nice steel shaft in them, or a nice grip I can save, I buy it in the thrift shop for $2-3 a club. When you start looking at prices for new shafts and grips...that's a steal!

I’m coming back the game after being away for around 10 years. I can’t believe how much grips and shafts have become.
I will consider hitting the thrift for some spare parts since I already have shaft puller and grip remover from back in the day.