3 iron shaft in a 4 iron

[JahSteve]

Looking to possibly do what the title says... Cant seem to find a Recoil 95 F3 4 iron shaft (2nd hand). I can however find a Recoil 95 F3 3 iron shaft So was looking to use a 3 iron shaft in a 4 iron. I've read all about soft and hard stepping. Not looking to really go down that road, Is there a real noticeable difference. Will I notice the 1/3 difference in stiffness.  I mean I can feel the difference btw the 60g and 85g shafts in my hybrid but that is weight. Is there anything inherently bad I should look out for? 

[Bad9]

As the shafts are the same otherwise(weight and flex) I doubt you would feel or see any difference using the 3 shaft in the 4 head.

[JahSteve]

Thanks for the reply. well i'm going from a KBS tour 90 to the recoil 95 F3, BUT the recoil 4 and 3 shaft are the same. 

[nitram]

Steve, although you say you don't want to go down that road, if you put a 3 iron shaft in a 4 iron, you are soft stepping x 1. The difference is subtle and for most who don't hit their irons very often will be barely noticeable, if at all. It is nothing like hitting shafts that have a 25g difference. I know several guys who SS their long irons because they get a little help with launch.

[Stuart_G]

18 hours ago, JahSteve said:

 Is there a real noticeable difference. Will I notice the 1/3 difference in stiffness. 

 

1/3rd is a very rough generalization - it's not really an even linear progression for each step.  For most ams, it will not be very noticeable or very subtle at worst and unlikely to cause any problems.  But there are always exceptions and we have no way of knowing what your particular sensitivity might be or how good a fit the profile is when used straight in.

 

BUT if there is any concern, since they are graphite you can actually tip the 3i shaft ~1/2" before butt cutting to account for the difference in head weight between the 3i and 4i to get a better match.   You'd have to reshape the taper tip after doing that but it's really not all that difficult if one is patient.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Golly]

Just recently I tried a GS95 2 iron shaft into Legacy Black 3 iron head. Flex wise it didn't feel any different from the standard 3.