Parallel Tip Trim Impact on Flex?

[dlow206]

Trying to better understand how much impact differences on tip trimming of parallel shafts have an impact on flex. Specifically for the shafts below, if I tip trim the 5 iron at 0.5" less, how much impact will that have on flex?

 

[Stuart_G]

33 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

Trying to better understand how much impact differences on tip trimming of parallel shafts have an impact on flex. Specifically for the shafts below, if I tip trim the 5 iron at 0.5" less, how much impact will that have on flex?

 

 

1) There is no one standard for flex - so what effect it has on flex will depend  on who's standard you want to compare it to.   Even then, those standards aren't very good at representing the actual change in stiffness feel of the shaft since they are usually based on butt frequency - which is horrible for representing stiffness feel of a shaft.

 

2) different shaft profiles will respond differently to tipping - so the specific model you're talking about matters.

 

3) different individuals have different sensitivities to changes in stiffness - so you can expect to get conflicting answers to the question.   Which answer will be most applicable to you personally will be impossible to know until you start doing your own testing.

 

4) Tipping does not change the stiffness profile in the same way as changing flex does.  So no amount of changes to the tipping will generally be exactly the same as changing flex for a particular shaft model.  It might be close enough for some or it may not work at all for someone else.

 

However, the general rule of thumb is that each 1/2" of tip trim is equal to one soft/hard step depending on if it's 1/2" more (hard step), 1/2" less (soft step).   

 

1x hard/soft step (1/2" diff in tipping) is a very subtle change in stiffness feel - may not even be noticeable to many ams.

 

2x hard/soft steps (1" diff in tipping) will generally be noticeable but may not generally be considered a significant change.

 

3x hard/soft steps (1-1/2" diff in tipping) is where people generally might start to consider it to be roughly close to a full flex change.  

Edited October 26, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Golf Pig]

It will typically play softer, but how much softer depends on the shaft (see #2 and #4 of Stuart's reply). KBS Tour for example adds 1 cpm for every 3/16" of tip trimming. I would ask the shaft manufacturer.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Golf Pig

[Howard_Jones]

56 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

Trying to better understand how much impact differences on tip trimming of parallel shafts have an impact on flex. Specifically for the shafts below, if I tip trim the 5 iron at 0.5" less, how much impact will that have on flex?

 

The short answer is, 0.5" equals to 7 grams of head weight on that model
If its steel shafts with 4/8" tip trim from iron to iron, 4/8" is equal to a tad above 4 CPM and we count 10 CPM as a full flex (R to S)

What shaft model is it?


 

[dlow206]

5 minutes ago, Howard_Jones said:

The short answer is, 0.5" equals to 7 grams of head weight on that model
If its steel shafts with 4/8" tip trim from iron to iron, 4/8" is equal to a tad above 4 CPM and we count 10 CPM as a full flex (R to S)

What shaft model is it?


 

This is the tip trim instructions for all LA Golf iron shafts. Specific iron model i am looking at is the AXS red in Stiff. The parallel tip shafts in that model are 86 grams. 

[Howard_Jones]

1 minute ago, dlow206 said:

This is the tip trim instructions for all LA Golf iron shafts. Specific iron model i am looking at is the AXS red in Stiff. The parallel tip shafts in that model are 86 grams. 

I dont know them, and it sounds like Graphite shafts, then flex response is most likely weaker than 1 CPM for each 1/8", but its still to compensate for 7 grams of head weight.

[mogc60]

As always, Great info above about technically what hard/soft stepping does.  I’m my experience, I’ve used hard or soft stepping as erring on the side of caution. I’ve never experienced any performance difference as far as ball flight goes. However, if I’m worried about a shaft being a hair too stiff, or a hair too weak I will step as needed. When my driver speed used to be 120+ mph I would usually hard step my irons 1 time depending on the shaft model because the last thing I wanted was shafts that would be too soft. Nowadays i soft step most iron shafts because the last thing I want is them to be too strong. It’s more a peace of mind thing than any true performance benefit. In theory a half inch difference on parallel shafts would be about 1/3 flex change. But it’s way subjective and no standard at all. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by mogc60

[dlow206]

37 minutes ago, Howard_Jones said:

I dont know them, and it sounds like Graphite shafts, then flex response is most likely weaker than 1 CPM for each 1/8", but its still to compensate for 7 grams of head weight.

 

Yes, graphite shafts.