Hybrid Shaft in 4 & 5 iron?

[rwl]

A buddy is trying to hit his 4 & 5 irons higher. He's happy with the Tensei he has in his hybrid & looking to use the same. Anyone foresee problems with this? Thanks for your help.

[puresurfr]

the Hybrids are usually 0.370 tips and irons are 0.355T, but im sure u can sand it to fit

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

I did this with my 3i. Had a Nike Vapor Fly 19* hybrid with a Diamana shaft and put that in my Mizuno MP-H5 iron head. I carefully sanded down the shaft with small strips of sandpaper. Worked well. 
It launches higher, is way easier to hit and feels smoother, but it had an X100 in it before so it was really night and day. 
One thing to be aware of is, the hybrid shaft is usually longer compared to the equivalent iron. I shortened mine. 

[Stuart_G]

4 hours ago, rwl said:

A buddy is trying to hit his 4 & 5 irons higher. He's happy with the Tensei he has in his hybrid & looking to use the same. Anyone foresee problems with this? Thanks for your help.

 

No reason not to give it a try, but

1) the higher launch in the hybrids typically comes from the design of the hybrid heads, not the shaft.

2) depending on what shafts he's playing in his irons, if there is a big jump in weight between the old shaft in the 6 and the new shaft in the 5 it potentially may cause some issues switching between the clubs.

3) It would be cheaper to just have those irons bent weaker to get more loft.

 

[Stetson]

Assuming the hybrid shaft weighs less than the iron shaft an increase in speed should help elevate the golf ball. He may run into gapping issues at the top of his iron set though. 

[driveandputtmachine]

No issues with doing it. Many graphite iron shaft manufacturers make one shaft at .370 and sand for .355 heads.  What he experiences with it is another story.

 

Hybrids fly higher because.

1. They have a different design and lower CoG

2. Hybrids also have longer shafts,but that doesn't always make the ball fly higher, but for most golfers it does.  This is why people have issues with the upper end of many one length iron sets.

 

The shafts can be longer at the same loft because they generally have a larger sweet spot, and typically a lower headweight than a corresponding iron. A good guess is between 8-12 grams lighter.

 

Hybrids do not fly higher because a shaft is low bend point.  Hybrids do not fly higher because the shaft is lighter.

 

Shaft weight is funny, it almost always changes your delivery of the club when you change weight.  Lighter weight could make you deliver it with more loft, or it could make you deliver it with less loft.  "Low" bend point shafts, do not perform the same for every person either.  I have seen it go both ways with lowering launch and with adding launch, it can also change your spin.

 

Once he switches them, and if he isn't getting what he is looking for play around with lead tape.  On the head and on the shaft.  I would assume since the headweight of the corresponding iron will already be heavier, most help will be with placing at the balance point of the shaft.  So, when removing the head take the grip off too if possible and find the balance point of the new shaft and mark it.  Place your lead tape with equal amount above and below the shaft.  You could also port the head, or maybe his irons happen to have tip weights in them as maybe they were light from the factory.  I saw a long iron one day from a buddy that had a 10 gram tip weight in it.

 

DO NOT Cut the new shaft right away and try and match the length of his current iron.  I find experimenting first and then cutting is better, get good at taking grips off or use air to blow them on and off.  Because of a heavier iron head, you may want to tip it instead of butt cutting depending upon the parallel section the new shaft has.  You cannot add tip back, but you can add extensions to the butt end, but I prefer not to do that unless I have to.

 

[rwl]

Thanks gents, I'll pass this along