What shafts to install to flight wedges?

[russian7]

Question....

 

How would you lower flight and keep spin from stock wedge shaft, do you just jump to an x stiff or what would help lower launch but keep spin other than changing swing?

 

I don't like any of the stock wedge shafts I am looking to have a lower trajectory but still keep the spin or flight my wedges down with changing the swing.

[Tru]

It would be helpful if you could give us a little background on what you’re playing now. Iron shafts? What wedges are you currently using? I’m a big fan of S400 but there are many on this board who are far more knowledgeable than myself. 

[Howard_Jones]

59 minutes ago, russian7 said:

Question....

 

How would you lower flight and keep spin from stock wedge shaft, do you just jump to an x stiff or what would help lower launch but keep spin other than changing swing?

 

I don't like any of the stock wedge shafts I am looking to have a lower trajectory but still keep the spin or flight my wedges down with changing the swing.

If the shaft shall be able to reduce launch angle, it has to be stiffer and bend less than the shaft we use now, so going stronger in flex is what we do, but often soft stepped since we dont really want a "stiff" shaft, only one thats stiffer then the shortest iron shaft.

Thats why we often might see a combination of DG S300 for irons, and DG X100 #8 iron shafts for wedge. This shaft will for the DG S300 player launch lower than the standard DG S300 #9 shaft, and ADD spin....For wedges we have a breaking point at 45* as "spin loft", so into wedges we gets beyond that and launch goes up but spin starts falling, so when we use a shaft that bends less, we bring spin loft down against 45 again, and by that we get more spin then the softer wedge shaft would give us.

Edited October 10, 2020 by Howard_Jones

[russian7]

1 hour ago, Howard_Jones said:

If the shaft shall be able to reduce launch angle, it has to be stiffer and bend less than the shaft we use now, so going stronger in flex is what we do, but often soft stepped since we dont really want a "stiff" shaft, only one thats stiffer then the shortest iron shaft.

Thats why we often might see a combination of DG S300 for irons, and DG X100 #8 iron shafts for wedge. This shaft will for the DG S300 player launch lower than the standard DG S300 #9 shaft, and ADD spin....For wedges we have a breaking point at 45* as "spin loft", so into wedges we gets beyond that and launch goes up but spin starts falling, so when we use a shaft that bends less, we bring spin loft down against 45 again, and by that we get more spin then the softer wedge shaft would give us.

Thats incredible information,  thanks for the help! So essentially if you have an x100 uncut you would then butt cut to 8 iron length? I play 120 s300 now so that would be great 

[Howard_Jones]

12 hours ago, russian7 said:

Thats incredible information,  thanks for the help! So essentially if you have an x100 uncut you would then butt cut to 8 iron length? I play 120 s300 now so that would be great 

Its got nothing to do with "length" (even i True temper say so in their claims for the latest DG Spinner).

Taper tip shafts is made for each club head (head weight) so long irons is "thin" and short irons is "thick" in the shaft walls, thats how they end up at the same weight even if length is different.

So, its the "dedicated" #8 iron shaft we use, that means a shaft designed for a head weight of about 275 grams, while a GW head is in the area of low 290 grams, so we are "soft stepping" or using a "weaker shaft vs head", but since we moved a full flex up as starting point, we ends up with a shaft thats about "1 shaft stronger" than the #9 or PW shaft from the iron set...a kind of "natural extension" like that shaft belonged to the iron set as a GW shaft.

We can also get there by tip trim of a #9 or PW shaft, but they simply dont feel good, while the "8 iron spinner trick" gives us a shaft that both lower launch, add spin and feel good.

So for your bag who plays DG S300 120 grams irons, it would be DG 120 X100 #8 iron shafts who gives you a shaft that fit the slot of a GW vs your irons, and we but cut it down to the normal play length for that club, be it a GW, SW or LW

Its TONS on this subject here on WRX, i wrote the first posts about it maybe 10 years ago, so this is really old news, and its only a few that has tried this that did not like it, most of them who have tried will never use anything else for wedge, and we can do the same with most shaft models on the marked, its not only DG, but also PX, KBS and Nippons.

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Howard_Jones

[BrickDaFunk]

12 hours ago, russian7 said:

Thats incredible information,  thanks for the help! So essentially if you have an x100 uncut you would then butt cut to 8 iron length? I play 120 s300 now so that would be great 

You would install the x100 8 iron (specific) shaft and then cut to your normal wedge length.

[russian7]

8 hours ago, Howard_Jones said:

Its got nothing to do with "length" (even i True temper say so in their claims for the latest DG Spinner).

Taper tip shafts is made for each club head (head weight) so long irons is "thin" and short irons is "thick" in the shaft walls, thats how they end up at the same weight even if length is different.

So, its the "dedicated" #8 iron shaft we use, that means a shaft designed for a head weight of about 275 grams, while a GW head is in the area of low 290 grams, so we are "soft stepping" or using a "weaker shaft vs head", but since we moved a full flex up as starting point, we ends up with a shaft thats about "1 shaft stronger" than the #9 or PW shaft from the iron set...a kind of "natural extension" like that shaft belonged to the iron set as a GW shaft.

We can also get there by tip trim of a #9 or PW shaft, but they simply dont feel good, while the "8 iron spinner trick" gives us a shaft that both lower launch, add spin and feel good.

So for your bag who plays DG S300 120 grams irons, it would be DG 120 X100 #8 iron shafts who gives you a shaft that fit the slot of a GW vs your irons, and we but cut it down to the normal play length for that club, be it a GW, SW or LW

Its TONS on this subject here on WRX, i wrote the first posts about it maybe 10 years ago, so this is really old news, and its only a few that has tried this that did not like it, most of them who have tried will never use anything else for wedge, and we can do the same with most shaft models on the marked, its not only DG, but also PX, KBS and Nippons.

 

Wow,thank you for the help great information and very helpful.

[russian7]

On 10/10/2020 at 11:23 PM, Howard_Jones said:

Its got nothing to do with "length" (even i True temper say so in their claims for the latest DG Spinner).

Taper tip shafts is made for each club head (head weight) so long irons is "thin" and short irons is "thick" in the shaft walls, thats how they end up at the same weight even if length is different.

So, its the "dedicated" #8 iron shaft we use, that means a shaft designed for a head weight of about 275 grams, while a GW head is in the area of low 290 grams, so we are "soft stepping" or using a "weaker shaft vs head", but since we moved a full flex up as starting point, we ends up with a shaft thats about "1 shaft stronger" than the #9 or PW shaft from the iron set...a kind of "natural extension" like that shaft belonged to the iron set as a GW shaft.

We can also get there by tip trim of a #9 or PW shaft, but they simply dont feel good, while the "8 iron spinner trick" gives us a shaft that both lower launch, add spin and feel good.

So for your bag who plays DG S300 120 grams irons, it would be DG 120 X100 #8 iron shafts who gives you a shaft that fit the slot of a GW vs your irons, and we but cut it down to the normal play length for that club, be it a GW, SW or LW

Its TONS on this subject here on WRX, i wrote the first posts about it maybe 10 years ago, so this is really old news, and its only a few that has tried this that did not like it, most of them who have tried will never use anything else for wedge, and we can do the same with most shaft models on the marked, its not only DG, but also PX, KBS and Nippons.

 

Howard, I ordered my Nippons today, so with 8 iron shafts do we just cut to desired wedge length once installed or do most keep the shaft longer?

[Howard_Jones]

6 hours ago, russian7 said:

Howard, I ordered my Nippons today, so with 8 iron shafts do we just cut to desired wedge length once installed or do most keep the shaft longer?

Use your normal play length, its no reason to change that

[shellbmb]

If playing project X 6.0 in irons, I figured a 6.5 8 iron is the match, correct?  But do you typically put that in just the sand and lob wedge?  Or in the gap wedge as well?  Or just put the 6.0 PW shaft in the gap wedge since I use that for more full shots?

[Howard_Jones]

10 minutes ago, shellbmb said:

If playing project X 6.0 in irons, I figured a 6.5 8 iron is the match, correct?  But do you typically put that in just the sand and lob wedge?  Or in the gap wedge as well?  Or just put the 6.0 PW shaft in the gap wedge since I use that for more full shots?

PX 6.0 to 6.5 is not a full flex, its only half a flex stronger, so if the question was related to the #8 iron spinner trick, we talk PX 6.0 irons, and PX 7.0 #8 iron shafts.

What clubs you want them in is up to you and what you want for that club, so you can even change your PW shaft if that club launch higher than wanted.

In this tread the terms is mixed up, but its got tons of examples

 

[Phabs]

Excited to try this in a set of my practice wedges.  Just ordered up a set of (3) 7.0 rifle shafts in 8 iron length.  I've never really loved my ball flight with the standard dynamic golf wedge flex offering so i'll be interested to see what this shows on the course. 

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by Phabs

[kylemd]

This works for  graphite shafts too BTW. I have regular  flex shafts in my blades And use graphite in the wedges too just one flex stronger and butt cut to wedge length. BUTT.... I have found that the shaft weight has to be heavier ( 80 gram wedge shaft aint cuttin ot with me) so I ended up with heavier weight wedge shafts in stronger flex. Easy to flight wedges down. More spin too! 

[Alan Pllu]

On 10/11/2020 at 7:23 AM, Howard_Jones said:

Its got nothing to do with "length" (even i True temper say so in their claims for the latest DG Spinner).

Taper tip shafts is made for each club head (head weight) so long irons is "thin" and short irons is "thick" in the shaft walls, thats how they end up at the same weight even if length is different.

So, its the "dedicated" #8 iron shaft we use, that means a shaft designed for a head weight of about 275 grams, while a GW head is in the area of low 290 grams, so we are "soft stepping" or using a "weaker shaft vs head", but since we moved a full flex up as starting point, we ends up with a shaft thats about "1 shaft stronger" than the #9 or PW shaft from the iron set...a kind of "natural extension" like that shaft belonged to the iron set as a GW shaft.

We can also get there by tip trim of a #9 or PW shaft, but they simply dont feel good, while the "8 iron spinner trick" gives us a shaft that both lower launch, add spin and feel good.

So for your bag who plays DG S300 120 grams irons, it would be DG 120 X100 #8 iron shafts who gives you a shaft that fit the slot of a GW vs your irons, and we but cut it down to the normal play length for that club, be it a GW, SW or LW

Its TONS on this subject here on WRX, i wrote the first posts about it maybe 10 years ago, so this is really old news, and its only a few that has tried this that did not like it, most of them who have tried will never use anything else for wedge, and we can do the same with most shaft models on the marked, its not only DG, but also PX, KBS and Nippons.

 

Thats a great informative post, I'm currently trying to figure out my wedges just now as my current setup isn't working for me. Kbs hi rev 120 that are standard in hi toe. 

 

What would you advise with this method when using modus 105 s in irons? 105 x 8 iron shaft? 

[Howard_Jones]

1 hour ago, Alan Pllu said:

Thats a great informative post, I'm currently trying to figure out my wedges just now as my current setup isn't working for me. Kbs hi rev 120 that are standard in hi toe. 

 

What would you advise with this method when using modus 105 s in irons? 105 x 8 iron shaft? 

YES!

[LowAndLeft32]

Hey @Howard_Jones do you have any tests that show an increase in spin and a change in launch angle between say a regular wedge shaft and the 8 iron spinner that you talk about? Thanks. 

[Howard_Jones]

11 hours ago, LowAndLeft32 said:

Hey @Howard_Jones do you have any tests that show an increase in spin and a change in launch angle between say a regular wedge shaft and the 8 iron spinner that you talk about? Thanks. 

Tests? You make it sound like this was a very well known concept where its natural to find tests, but its not, and numbers like thats is always different from player to player anyway.
1-2 lower launch and up to 700 added spin is "normal" from my own experience.

The closest we get to a test is this video, but its NOT this "#8 iron spinner trick" they are comparing, but "wedge dedicated shafts ", so its not the same.
 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Howard_Jones

[andfri]

@Howard_Jones

How do you compare Dynamic Gold 120X 8-iron vs 115 stiff wedge shaft?

[Howard_Jones]

2 hours ago, andfri said:

@Howard_Jones

How do you compare Dynamic Gold 120X 8-iron vs 115 stiff wedge shaft?

i cant, i have no experience with any of them, i no longer run my fitting studio

[LowAndLeft32]

11 hours ago, Howard_Jones said:

Tests? You make it sound like this was a very well known concept where its natural to find tests, but its not, and numbers like thats is always different from player to player anyway.
1-2 lower launch and up to 700 added spin is "normal" from my own experience.

The closest we get to a test is this video, but its NOT this "#8 iron spinner trick" they are comparing, but "wedge dedicated shafts ", so its not the same.
 

 

Thanks Howard for the response. I have seen a couple of TXG's videos comparing shafts. It seem to me there is usually minimal difference in performance of different shafts. For example, the Elevate shaft didn't really lead to higher ball flight or increased spin. 

[Howard_Jones]

1 hour ago, LowAndLeft32 said:

Thanks Howard for the response. I have seen a couple of TXG's videos comparing shafts. It seem to me there is usually minimal difference in performance of different shafts. For example, the Elevate shaft didn't really lead to higher ball flight or increased spin. 

Thats a correct observation, we cant use shafts to change much, but some, so its still Weight, Feel and Dispersion we look at, ball flight only if we need to, since its a loft issue, not really a shaft issue.

 

[Nessism]

Guys that load the shaft a lot with either a late release or quick transition are most likely to see different trajectories as related to different shaft profiles.  For most of us it won't have much if any effect so focus on finding a shaft that allows you to put your best swing on the ball.