Fitting irons for my 4'11" daughter

[GHJuniorGolf]

Hi everyone,

 

Hoping to lean on your expertise.

 

My daughter is 16 years old, 4'11" tall with 80mph driver speed, 16 handicap.

 

Currently plays Titleist 716 ap1 irons with women's graphite shaft.

 

We went to the Seattle Golf Show and were fit by Titleist for irons.  They recommended a 50g iron shaft, regular flex, cut down 2 inches.  

 

I'm trying to figure out how to set her irons up.  My concerns:

-taking 2 inches off the shaft will reduce it's weight

-adding the weight back to the head after trimming 2 inches off the shaft will make the shaft play softer

 

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this type of a situation and what they did.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

Arnel

[Billfitz]

Taking two inches off a 38 inch shaft will reduce the weight by roughly 2.25 grams, which is insignificant. Different grip choices can vary the weight by ten times that.

[grochol17]

22 hours ago, GHJuniorGolf said:

We went to the Seattle Golf Show and were fit by Titleist for irons.  They recommended a 50g iron shaft, regular flex, cut down 2 inches. 

 

Did they have a club with that length and shaft for her to hit, or did she hit a different club and the fitter just told you that's what they think would be best for her?

 

Also, what is her current set up and is there an issue you're hoping to fix, or just looking for newer clubs?

[GHJuniorGolf]

Thanks for the responses.

 

Billfitz- I was thinking more of the swing weight.  My understanding is that each 1/2 inch taken from the butt end of the club will decrease the swing weight by 3 points.  So if that is true, taking 2 inches would reduce the swing weight by 12 points, which I felt was a lot.  Maybe I misunderstand that part.

 

grochol17- They actually didn't have a -2 inch club/shaft for her to swing.  She choked up on a standard length, 50 gram, regular shaft.  So they thought it would be the best fit. 

Her current set up is Titleist 716 ap1 with women's shafts in them.  Even at standard women's length she has to choke up a bit.  When she got those clubs, her driver swing speed was closer to70mph, which the shaft was a good fit for.  She's developed some more speed and swinging 78-82mph now, so the regular shaft fits her better.  The women's shaft flex has gotten a little soft for her.

 

Thanks again for the help.  I appreciate people sharing their thoughts and experience.

 

Arnel

[ShortGolfer]

Spray foot spray on the club faces and see if she consistently hits the sweet spot of the clubs.  Add lead tape and see if that improves her accuracy.  Hitting the sweet spot is more important than the swing weight.

 

It may not be necessary with irons.  The grass I play on is often wet enough that I can see strikes on the faces of my irons.

[Billfitz]

I don't see the swing weight reduction being an issue, it's not like she's Michelle Wie. If you're concerned just go lighter with the grips to compensate.

[Stuart_G]

8 hours ago, GHJuniorGolf said:

I was thinking more of the swing weight.  My understanding is that each 1/2 inch taken from the butt end of the club will decrease the swing weight by 3 points.  So if that is true, taking 2 inches would reduce the swing weight by 12 points, which I felt was a lot.  Maybe I misunderstand that part.

 

The default or stock swing weight should not be your target.  And the worst thing you can do for juniors is to make the head weight too heavy.  That can cause a lot of problems with developing the swing and can introduce a lot of bad habits. Those "rules" on how swing weight change were never really meant for that context (when fitting for playing length different than stock/standard).

 

Ideally she should have been fit for swing weight (or really head weight) as part of the fitting.   And if she hit and tested a club as short as they recommended, it's not impossible but very unlikely that they added any head weight back to compensate for the shorter length.  If she tested a longer club but choked up to test the shorter length, then the effective swing weight she hit was the same as what you'd get cutting it down and not adding any weight.   So chances are you should not need to add any weight.

 

But that's just a guess.   So before anyone here can help you make any call on what needs to be done with the head weight, we need a lot more information about exactly what was done during this fitting.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Stuart_G

[grochol17]

9 hours ago, GHJuniorGolf said:

They actually didn't have a -2 inch club/shaft for her to swing.  She choked up on a standard length, 50 gram, regular shaft.  So they thought it would be the best fit.

 

I'm not a club fitter, so maybe someone that knows more (like Stuart G) can chime in on this, but part of the reason I asked about whether or not she got to hit a -2" club is that if you cut off 2" from every club you'd be changing the total weight in addition to the swing weight.  So, it is possible that while choking up on a 50g shaft feels fine, a 50g shaft less 2 inches might not work for your daughter because it is lighter overall than the normal length club.  One option would be to order the irons -2" but with a slightly heavier shaft to make up for the lost total weight when cutting them down.  Unfortunately, there's not really any way to know for sure what will work without your daughter trying them out.

[GHJuniorGolf]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

 

At the Titleist booth, she hit the T300 with a 50g, regular shaft in it.  She choked up about 2 inches, and according to Trackman, hit it pretty well and consistently.  Even choked up, the club was a little too upright for her.  I believe one of the challenges with hitting off a mat is an improper lie angle is amplified because you can't take a divot and displace the turf, so the club turns a bit more than it normally would, especially when it's too upright.  When she hit it a groove down, she had her best ball flight and numbers, but when she hit the turf, it really grabbed the heel and closed it down.  

The Titleist fitter offered to get a 2 inch short shaft sent from the manufacturer and let her try it next time he is in our area.  I emailed him with some questions, and will try to coordinate testing that out.  I saw a Youtube video comparing choking up vs cutting down, and its impact on swing weight, and if it's correct, then the impact is nearly identical.  So I'm considering going the choking up route, but 2 inches is quite a bit of club hanging past your hands.

The goal isn't to match the manufacturer's swing weight specs, I just felt like dropping 12 points was pretty drastic.  We'll experiment with lead tape and see where that takes us.  I had my 7 iron, Titleist 718 ap1 with graphite shafts, bent down 2 degrees for her to mess with and see how she likes it.  I honestly thought about taking a steel shaft and cutting it down for an experiment, because there would be some mass left in the overall club.  Cutting 2 inches off of graphite shafts is an expensive experiment.......

Thanks again for all the input.  I appreciate every's advice.

 

Arnel

[Stuart_G]

9 hours ago, GHJuniorGolf said:

 I saw a Youtube video comparing choking up vs cutting down, and its impact on swing weight, and if it's correct, then the impact is nearly identical.  So I'm considering going the choking up route, but 2 inches is quite a bit of club hanging past your hands.

 

With respect to head weight feel or effective swing weight - yes it's the same.  The big difference - especially 2" is the grip size.    Now I don't know how big her hands are but if it was a standard size grip that she tested on, choking up that much may very well have helped give a better grip size for her.   But if you switch to a grip that's properly sized for her,  choking up 2" could have a negative effect on the grip size.

 

 

9 hours ago, GHJuniorGolf said:

The goal isn't to match the manufacturer's swing weight specs, I just felt like dropping 12 points was pretty drastic.  

 

True but that's really only drastic when directly comparing it to hitting at full length - which she never did.  

 

 

9 hours ago, GHJuniorGolf said:

We'll experiment with lead tape and see where that takes us.

 

Not a bad idea - just start at the raw head weight and go up in 1-2 gm increments.   But only do this once the club is cut down, grip size is right, and lie angles are adjusted.  It may be advisable to get/building one club first to do the testing before getting the full set.

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Stuart_G

[CUBuffaloes]

2" seems like a lot. How quickly is she growing? FWIW my son is right at 5' and plays clubs 1" short and 2* flat. Since you're looking into buying new clubs I'd start with something a little longer since it's easier to shorten than extend.

 

Also, with all the delays everyone talks about she might be 5' 3" by the time the clubs arrive 😅