Can i tip a driver shaft for a driving iron?

[PanchiCab]

I have an evenflow black 6.0 75g that came stock with my g410 and don't use cause its a bit soft for me. Last week the shaft of my driving iron snapped so i need to get a new one

 

Question is, can i cut the shaft right above the adapter and use it in my driving iron? I don't have a shaft puller and i know that tipping will make the shaft more firm but don't know if it will be too much and messed up

 

Old shaft on my driving iron was px steel 6.0 hard stepped and head is mizuno mp fli hi

[Stuart_G]

3 hours ago, PanchiCab said:

I have an evenflow black 6.0 75g that came stock with my g410 and don't use cause its a bit soft for me. Last week the shaft of my driving iron snapped so i need to get a new one

 

Question is, can i cut the shaft right above the adapter and use it in my driving iron? I don't have a shaft puller and i know that tipping will make the shaft more firm but don't know if it will be too much and messed up

 

Old shaft on my driving iron was px steel 6.0 hard stepped and head is mizuno mp fli hi

 

 

If it's too soft in your driver, you wont be able to tip it enough to get it any stiffer when played in the much heavier driving iron.   In fact it will likely play softer in the driving iron than it did in the driver.

 

Evenflow black has a 3" parallel tip section - which means the max tipping is about 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" depending on the hosel depth of the iron.   Don't know your driving irons weight but they are typically around ~240 gm in weight,  That would mean 2" of tipping just to get it to play similarly as it did in the driver which is going to be beyond the max tipping.

 

But if you want to try it anyways, you'll also need a special shim and ferrule to be able to use the .335" tip shaft in the .370" hosel.  And you also might need to do some creative tape layering as the shorter driving iron playing length might mean the grip could possibly extend past the parallel butt section and into the tapered part of the shaft.

 

[PanchiCab]

6 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

 

If it's too soft in your driver, you wont be able to tip it enough to get it any stiffer when played in the much heavier driving iron.   In fact it will likely play softer in the driving iron than it did in the driver.

 

Evenflow black has a 3" parallel tip section - which means the max tipping is about 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" depending on the hosel depth of the iron.   Don't know your driving irons weight but they are typically around ~240 gm in weight,  That would mean 2" of tipping just to get it to play similarly as it did in the driver which is going to be beyond the max tipping.

 

But if you want to try it anyways, you'll also need a special shim and ferrule to be able to use the .335" tip shaft in the .370" hosel.  And you also might need to do some creative tape layering as the shorter driving iron playing length might mean the grip could possibly extend past the parallel butt section and into the tapered part of the shaft.

 

Thanks 

 

The head actually weights 250g and is .355 but if the shaft will play softer i'll take another route

 

Any cheap option for a driving iron graphite shaft? The last one was steel but want to try graph

[Stuart_G]

1 minute ago, PanchiCab said:

Thanks 

 

The head actually weights 250g and is .355 but if the shaft will play softer i'll take another route

 

Any cheap option for a driving iron graphite shaft? The last one was steel but want to try graph

 

What weight?  That's where you need to start the search.    But lots of inexpensive iron and hybrid shafts to choose from (inexpensive relative to most wood shaft costs).

 

If you want a stiff tip, lower launching option the first ones that come to mind wold be:

Aldila NXT GEN NV hybrid shaft (~$28 US)

Aldila Tour Green nxt gen MLT hygrid shaft (~$31 US)

Aldila NV 2Kxv green hybrid (~$45 US)

steelfiber i series iron shafts (80, 95, and 110 gm) (~$45 us)

[PanchiCab]

32 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

What weight?  That's where you need to start the search.    But lots of inexpensive iron and hybrid shafts to choose from (inexpensive relative to most wood shaft costs).

 

If you want a stiff tip, lower launching option the first ones that come to mind wold be:

Aldila NXT GEN NV hybrid shaft (~$28 US)

Aldila Tour Green nxt gen MLT hygrid shaft (~$31 US)

Aldila NV 2Kxv green hybrid (~$45 US)

steelfiber i series iron shafts (80, 95, and 110 gm) (~$45 us)

Thanks my man 

 

Tip stiff, lower launch it's my go to and i'll guess 85/95 should be a good weight? A bit concern on tip sizes, most shafts i've found are .335 and .370 in graphite.

Gamers right now are modus 120x in my irons, aldila 85x in 3w and hrdus black 70x in driver

 

[Stuart_G]

14 minutes ago, PanchiCab said:

Thanks my man 

 

Tip stiff, lower launch it's my go to and i'll guess 85/95 should be a good weight? A bit concern on tip sizes, most shafts i've found are .335 and .370 in graphite.

Gamers right now are modus 120x in my irons, aldila 85x in 3w and hrdus black 70x in driver

 

 

Which Aldila 85x in the 3wd?

 

If you're playing 85 gm in the fairway, I'd lean toward 95 to 105 gm in the driving iron - but you never know for sure until you try it.

 

.335 shafts are wood (driver/fairway) shafts and not the best choice for hybrids and driving irons.  They are designed for lighter heads and longer playing lengths.  You'll have the same problem with them as you would have had with the Evenflow black.

 

.370 (hybrid) or .355 tp (iron) shafts will both work fine.  You'll just have to manually add the taper to the .370 shafts to fit in the .355 hosel.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Stuart_G

[PanchiCab]

10 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Which Aldila 85x in the 3wd?

 

If you're playing 85 gm in the fairway, I'd lean toward 95 to 105 gm in the driving iron - but you never know for sure until you try it.

 

.335 shafts are wood (driver/fairway) shafts and not the best choice for hybrids and driving irons.  They are designed for lighter heads and longer playing lengths.  You'll have the same problem with them as you would have had with the Evenflow black.

 

.370 (hybrid) or .355 tp (iron) shafts will both work fine.  You'll just have to manually add the taper to the .370 shafts to fit in the .355 hosel.

 

 

Nv green 85x in my 3w

 

Sandpaper would be ok to taper a shaft? I was a bit concerned about the process, if could make the shaft a bit weak so definetely will do it by hand 

 

Found this shaft on ebay super cheap but cant find the specs of voodoo by titleist 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203524372399

 

Or maybe this one, looks like a revamp version of the one i have in my 3w 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/372723432187

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333161496152

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333741340805

 

And just check the weight of the head, 250 grams

[mcounci2]

It's an MP FliHi- they're really designed to just be used with whatever your iron shafts are.  250g.....5 iron head??  What length are you trying to get it to play?

It'd probably help you to use a balance that goes all the way to grams.  Iron heads are normally ~7g apart- this is more precision than a scale that only reads to 10g increments can give you.  So that 250g weight is really anything from 245.1 to 254.9g, which is a pretty big uncertainty for an iron head.

What shaft do you play in your irons?  And what head is that in the picture?

Edited July 13, 2021 by mcounci2

[PanchiCab]

2 minutes ago, mcounci2 said:

It's an MP FliHi- they're really designed to just be used with whatever your iron shafts are.  250g.....5 iron head??  What length are you trying to get it to play?

Actually a 3 iron head i guess 40" it's ok for a 3 iron? Don't remember cause the shaft snapped in half and didn't keep it

[mcounci2]

What shaft do you play in the rest of your irons though? 

[PanchiCab]

More pics of the head

[PanchiCab]

1 minute ago, mcounci2 said:

What shaft do you play in the rest of your irons though? 

Nippon modus 120x hard stepped once in mp53 

 

3w aldila nv 85x

Driver hzrdus black 70x

 

SS driver 111 to 114mph if my back's having a good day

[mcounci2]

3 minutes ago, PanchiCab said:

Nippon modus 120x hard stepped once in mp53 

 

3w aldila nv 85x

Driver hzrdus black 70x

 

SS driver 111 to 114mph if my back's having a good day

 
I'd play the same Modus 120X in this 3i head, and just cut it 0.5" longer than your 4i.  I'd probably hard step the FliHi once as well. 

[Stuart_G]

41 minutes ago, PanchiCab said:

Nv green 85x in my 3w

 

Sandpaper would be ok to taper a shaft? I was a bit concerned about the process, if could make the shaft a bit weak so definetely will do it by hand 

 

Found this shaft on ebay super cheap but cant find the specs of voodoo by titleist 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203524372399

 

That's the vs-voodoo.  It's the mid launch variant - similar profile to the vs-proto and other various aldila "blue" profiles.    There was a low launch variant, the NV voodoo (green).    For older shafts you could look for the aldila rip alpha hybrid as another possible option.

 

Quote

Or maybe this one, looks like a revamp version of the one i have in my 3w 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/372723432187

 

yes, that's the 2kxv green I mentioned earlier.

 

Quote

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333161496152

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333741340805

 

 

S+ is a mid launch version of the Diamana.  The D+ would be the low launch variant.  I'm not familiar with the KK black so can't comment on it.

 

 

Also, with that head weight, swing weight could be an issue at anything longer than a typical 4i or 3i playing length. (38-1/2" to 39").

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Stuart_G

[PanchiCab]

1 minute ago, mcounci2 said:

 
I'd play the same Modus 120X in this 3i head, and just cut it 0.5" longer than your 4i.  I'd probably hard step the FliHi once as well. 

Thanks for the recomendation

 

This time i'm leaning more to a graphite shaft and maybe +.5" cause i want to improve my gapping with 3w, it was in my mind even before the old shaft snapped

 

[mcounci2]

9 minutes ago, PanchiCab said:

Thanks for the recomendation

 

This time i'm leaning more to a graphite shaft and maybe +.5" cause i want to improve my gapping with 3w, it was in my mind even before the old shaft snapped

 

 

If you're looking for a cheap experiment, seems like you're a pretty hard swinger. Maybe drill out the hosel and do a nv105 or nvs105 and play it 1" longer than 4i. They're $20-$30 on eBay

Edited July 13, 2021 by mcounci2

[nitram]

It's hard to beat an old Aldila NV Hybrid (Green) shaft and they can be found dirt cheap. 

[liveagua]

4 hours ago, PanchiCab said:

Thanks 

 

The head actually weights 250g and is .355 but if the shaft will play softer i'll take another route

 

Any cheap option for a driving iron graphite shaft? The last one was steel but want to try graph

Ad Di .355 is less than $100 brand new. 

[Pepperturbo]

Steelfiber i95cw or i110cw shaft for 3i would work, both are tip stiff.  You should be able to buy .335 or .370 for under $75.   Better option than trying to reconfigure a driver shaft. 

 

I played both in my 2 iron with great results, but currently have a 90 gram Tensei AV White AM "S" at 39.50" in 2 iron.  Hard to get an individual shafts of my current, but they are $90 ish.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Pepperturbo

[PanchiCab]

Thanks for the replies

 

I'm leaning towards aldila offering because of price and had good experiences in the past. Played og nv green, rip alpha, rip nv atx and rogue silver in my woods in the past and really like them

 

Anyone can compare the og nv vs 2kxv green or current offerings? 100 for a shaft is out of the budget, would like to keep it under 60 cause the head is pretty old, maybe in the future will upgrade for a more current option like udi or u500

Edited July 13, 2021 by PanchiCab

[fin12]

Hello, 

 

I’m currently using a Srixon MKii ZX utility 3 iron in a KBS $Taper 130 shaft. I like the feel but the ball flight is too high for what I need. 
 

I’m considering using my buddies Ventus 6x velocore black instead of the KBS. I know I’d have to cut a driver shaft down to the correct length for a utility iron. 
 

Has anyone attempted something like this? Is this a dumb idea?  

[Stuart_G]

10 hours ago, fin12 said:

Hello, 

 

I’m currently using a Srixon MKii ZX utility 3 iron in a KBS $Taper 130 shaft. I like the feel but the ball flight is too high for what I need. 
 

I’m considering using my buddies Ventus 6x velocore black instead of the KBS. I know I’d have to cut a driver shaft down to the correct length for a utility iron. 
 

Has anyone attempted something like this? Is this a dumb idea?  

 

It's possible but several problems with that approach - so it's generally not recommended.  And in your case, it's unlikely to help lower the launch.

 

1) wrong tip size will need a thick shim

 

2) wood shafts typically have a max safe tipping limit of about 1-3/4" - that's no where near enough to compensate for the much heavier utility iron head.  So the shaft will play a LOT softer than it was designed to play.  Which also means higher launching.

 

3) The total shaft weight (and therefore total club static weight) will likely be a LOT lighter than would be recommended for a hybrid/utility club for someone who would typically use a 130 gm iron shaft.  That could mess with your timing and consistency big time.  In fact, a lighter shaft weight can commonly quicken up the release and make the flight even higher.

 

4) Cutting down to play at that length means you'll have to install the grip below the parallel butt section of the shaft and over a tapered portion of the shaft.  Which means lots of tapered build up tape to get the right grip size.

 

 

If you like the feel of the current shaft - then keep it.  IF you need to tweak the launch/spin - the shaft is not the best way to do that.   Just have the loft bent stronger.   Or if you want to mess with anything - try adding some lead tape to the head  and see what happens with a heavier swing weight.  That might slow down the release - and therefore decrease dynamic loft.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Stuart_G