Does soft stepping a set of Tour Issue X100 shafts = standard set of Tour Issue S400 shafts?!

[WSUWarriorPGAPro]

Sorry if this is posted someplace else here, but I'm going to ask anyway.... I am looking at some different irons from some different companies out there. I currently have used DG S400 and DG Tour Issue S400 shafts in my irons since about 1993. (I don't change much.) That being said, I have dabbled briefly in KBS, tour 120 S shafts, but they didn't perform for me the way I was anticipating. They were tighter in dispersion, but I lost some distance in them, which I attributed to spin. This made me go back to the DG S400's. Therefore, I am curious if soft stepping a set of either DG X100 or Tour Issue X100 shafts into a set of irons will perform the same and/or feel the same as a set of DG S400 or DG Tour Issue S400 shafts. Clubs would be the same length in the end and the same swingweight of D2 to D3. Some companies have X100's but not S400's, so that is my main reason for asking. Thanks!

[Z1ggy16]

I don't believe so. I'm in a hurry right now but I'm pretty sure the EI profiles of S400 and X100 are somewhat different. See pic below for example:
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/800/ID6SPQEN9RUE.png[/img]
This is probably just a 7i though so I'm not sure how a 7i X100 would CPM vs an 8i S400. @Howard56 , our new resident Mayor would be the best person to answer this question in specific detail. GL.

[WSUWarriorPGAPro]

Thanks. That is somewhat what I thought. I don't need a shaft that is hard-er to get into the air with long irons (3&4 irons). I figure that even though they would/could be soft stepped, the feel would still be harsher/stiffer than the S400's would be. Unfortunately, I am someone who likes to feel the shaft and since I've been using the S400's all these years, I sometimes feel that I lose some feel of where the club is during my swing when I have gone away from the S400's. I know they are a couple of grams heavier than the X100's.

If I did soft step a set of X100s, what would it do to feel? Would they "feel" a bit softer than standard insterted X100's? (I know "feel" is a relative term.)

 

[Nixhex524]

I soft stepped some X100 AMTs in my J15 CBs and also installed Prosoft inserts... the only thing I noticed vs my X100 straight in was a little weight difference... SS1x is barely noticeable IMO as far as feel goes.. I did try some S400s and thought they felt great! I just didn't like the little extra weight which I never thought I would feel, but I did.

[Z1ggy16]

Soft stepping x1 isn't going to do much for you. It's debatable whether x2 soft stepping even does anything either, other than maybe it could feel a touch softer for you. Have you tried modus 130's ever? How about the $ Taper in 130g variant? Those could be alternatives.

[4rheel]

Longtime x100 user and soft stepping is what I needed. To me, SSx1 felt slightly stiffer than a s300 but much more livelier. Trajectory seemed slightly higher than x100 straight in but not noticeably higher.

[Howard_Jones]

We cant make DG X to play like DG S or the other way around, thats not possible.

If we look at the drawing, it seems like the only difference from S to X is that butt is 2 inch longer, and tip is 2 inch shorter, so quick thinking say if we soft stepped the X flex 4 times, this shafts would "look the same"....but they want be....

For each time we soft step a shaft, we loose the weight equal to 0.5" inch, and X100 started as 130 grams at 37 for a #9, so thats 3.51 grams pr inch.

When we are done at SS4, we have reduced shaft weight, by 7.2 grams, so our "comparable shaft weight" is now only 122.8 grams vs 130.....and in DG weight is flex, thats why we have SUB flex sorting to start with. As flex we can use 1 grams = 0.89 CPM for DG, but we count is as 1, so 7 grams down, = 7 CPM softer. Our shaft looks like S300 now, but flex has gone closer to R 300.

 

There is average only 8 CPM from S400 to X100, so SS2 would make butt CPM about the same, but we are now at 126.5 grams and a tip section thats 1.0 inch longer than standard. so this shafts will launch higher than standard S400 who would be 5.5-6 grams higher as shaft weight.

X100 as SS1 should be considered to be 128.5 grams, with a slightly higher launch than standard, the difference to SS2 is larger than standard to SS1 (progressive change of feel and ball flight). DG X100 SS1 will still measure stronger than S400 strait in, but how you and your swing respond to that, and the difference of 3.5-4.0 grams shaft weight cant be predicted. DG X100 is not a monster shaft, dont be afraid to try them off, IMO it delivers a better feel than the S series.

 

 

[WSUWarriorPGAPro]

Define "much more livelier" for me please. (Just so I know what you mean exactly. I can have one interpretation, but you may have another.) How exactly did they affect BALL flight?

[4rheel]

For me, the s300 seemed muddy and dead whereas the x100 felt more crisp if that makes any sense. x100 straight in gave me a lower flight versus the s300. x100 SSx1 seemed to fly closer to the s300. Hope that helps.

[Valtiel]

The shafts are two different profiles, so Howard is right in that you can not make one feel like the other. Performances however is another story as that can be determined by many different things. If you lost distance and gained spin from a lighter shaft then it could very easily have been just the weight that made the difference. Is there a specific problem you are trying to solve here? People often give bend profile too much credit and weight not enough when factoring in performance variables as weight usually has a much bigger impact on delivery than bend profile.

As far as actually testing this stuff out, its probably easiest to work off of something like your 6-iron and simply swap shafts in and out until you find something you like. I agree with the above posters that soft stepping once will not usually make any tangible difference, so best to test with SSx2 to begin with. I'd also recommend testing different weight classes as well to get a feel for what works for you and what does not.