Need some tips about tip trimming

[wings02]

I have a set of Titleist C-16 irons that I bought on Ebay from a trusted golf club store. The clubs were custom made for someone by True Spec golf.  The shaft in the set is a Mitsubishi Rayon with a label saying Tru Spec 60. Although I hit them well when I make good contact, I feel the ball tends to ballon a little. As stated in an earlier post, the C-16 head requires a 355 tapered tip. I want to re-shaft the set and will be going with a 370 parallel graphite shaft mostly because the shaft I am interested in, a KBS 70 does not come tapered.  I will be tapering the tip to fit the head instead of boring out the hosel. I have re-shafted several sets in the past but I am looking to get a little more technical with this job in the sense that I want to possibly do a tip trim to try and lower my ball flight. Although I know the fit and assembly aspect of club building, I lack the technical knowledge. I play regular flex graphite and I'm concerned by tip trimming, I may be making the shaft too stiff. Would I be able to tip trim a shaft to accomplish better trajectory without increasing the stiffness of the shaft too much? is so, what amount do I trim off the tip? Also, I assume, after tip trimming, I achieve the proper club length by butt trimming the final amount.  I am going to a Titleist demo day on Sunday so I will have my swing and ball speed measured with a TrakeMan.

I just made a hydraulic shaft puller so I'm all set in that department. Any advise would be appreciated. 

[Stuart_G]

If you want to lower the ball flight, adjust the loft stronger.    Trying to chase launch and spin with shaft changes and tip trimming is extremely unreliable and frequently turns into a wild goose chase.   The change in dynamic loft from a shaft stiffness profile change comes from the amount of forward bend in the shaft at impact.  In theory the softer the shaft, the more forward bend and the more dynamic loft added at impact.  But that's just the theory, reality is very different.  First of all, how much that actually happens depends a lot on the mechanics - swing speed and how early or late the release.   e.g. A slower swing speed and an early release player wont see any forward shaft bend at impact because it happens before impact and is lost by the time the club gets to the ball.  So in cases like that, the stiffness profile will have no direct effect on the dynamic loft.   Even when the swing does support that forward bend, it's typically not going to have a large direct effect on the dynamic loft so more of a tweak then anything else.

 

More importantly, that is without considering the indirect effects.    A change in feel of the stiffness of the shaft (loading unloading) can have a lot of subjective effects on the swing and there is no good rule on exactly how.  Some people can see the complete opposite of what the change in shaft characteristics imply.  Some people can see big changes in shot shape when the feel changes.   it's all extremely subjective.

 

So the bottom line is that shaft stiffness profiles, flex, and tip trimming should be selected for feel and for the consistency of the results - dispersion, accuracy, etc...   Not launch and spin.

 

Another thing that many don't realize is that the shaft weight and swing weight can sometimes have a bigger effect on the dynamic loft delivered (and therefore the launch and spin) than the stiffness profile.   So take some time to fit your self for those two specs first before worrying about the influence of the stiffness profile.

 

This was originally written for driver but the parts about shaft weight and swing weight are just as valid for any club.  Just ignore the parts about adjusting length when it comes to irons.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Stuart_G

[DYOS4]

The KBS TGI 70 does come tapered if you want to do that. 

 

But 2nd on Stuart's post. Try stronger lofts for a slight trajectory change. 

 

Get a second opinion from the fitter and Trackman numbers whether you even need to make any changes. 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by DYOS4

[chipa]

As someone pointed out the shaft you want has a taper tip, and this is going to limit you to trimming per the specs.

 

As far as finding the right shaft for you to control your ballflight, I do my own clubfitting and would recommend buying some parallel component heads from Monark or Hireko and Appollo lightweight steel shafts (cheap) and then you can play around with the trimming to see if it does lower the ball flight.  I've overtrimmed up to almost 4" more than the spec on my clubs, all Apollo steel, as I play between S and X but the ballflight is still higher than my X100. The Apollo shafts are cheap but they have a very nice kick to them. They are softer than I probably need but I like the feel so much I just swing a little easier with my irons and if I swing hard I just aim a little right.

[wings02]

Good Advice by all. 

thank you!