Another soft stepping question

[L3fty]

I know there's a lot on softstepping and apologize if this question is redundant. 

 

Currently playing a px 6.5 and fitter said I need to soft step it twice to make it play around 6.1 (taking 1" off each club)

My 4 iron shaft from butt to tip is 37.5. 

If I get a 38.75 on ebay, do I cut 1.25 to make it 37.5" or take an inch off and play it +1/4? If i go with taking 1.25 off, would this make it "softer" or the .25 is so small it would have minimal effect? 

[Stuart_G]

5 minutes ago, L3fty said:

If I get a 38.75 on ebay, do I cut 1.25 to make it 37.5" or take an inch off and play it +1/4? If i go with taking 1.25 off, would this make it "softer" or the .25 is so small it would have minimal effect? 

 

Assuming that's a 38.75" 2i shaft,  and you're referring to the amount of butt cutting - you could do either.  The shaft will pretty much play the same if you don't' change the head weight.   1/4" difference in how much the shaft is butt cut is negligible even if you do adjust the head weight for swing weight purposes.  In fact most amounts of butt cutting is going to be negligible.  The difference in performance is ALL about any difference in head weight - not the playing length.  e.g. the weight of a 4i head being played in a 2i shaft.   

 

 

 

[L3fty]

@Stuart_GI  was hoping for a response from you and glad you did. 

Follow up question- if the shaft on ebay does not indicate whether it's pulled from 2i or 3i etc and just gives the length, does that matter? or are you saying a 2i head is heavier than 4i head? 

 

[rsballer10]

14 minutes ago, L3fty said:

I know there's a lot on softstepping and apologize if this question is redundant. 

 

Currently playing a px 6.5 and fitter said I need to soft step it twice to make it play around 6.1 (taking 1" off each club)

My 4 iron shaft from butt to tip is 37.5. 

If I get a 38.75 on ebay, do I cut 1.25 to make it 37.5" or take an inch off and play it +1/4? If i go with taking 1.25 off, would this make it "softer" or the .25 is so small it would have minimal effect? 

 

I'm confused by the question. Soft stepping is taking the shaft from a longer iron and installing it into a shorter iron. To soft-step a 4-iron 2x, you need to install the 2-iron shaft in your 4-iron and cut it to length. If someone tells me "this shaft from ebay is 38.75" long, can I soft step it" there's no way to know. PX doesn't come uncut at that length, so if it's a shaft pull my first question would be "did the shaft come out of a 2-iron?".

 

There's nothing wrong with softstepping 2x, but in this case it sounds like trying to make an existing set of shafts fit as best as possible instead of installing the correct ones. 

[L3fty]

5 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

If someone tells me "this shaft from ebay is 38.75" long, can I soft step it" there's no way to know. PX doesn't come uncut at that length, so if it's a shaft pull my first question would be "did the shaft come out of a 2-iron?".

 

There's nothing wrong with softstepping 2x, but in this case it sounds like trying to make an existing set of shafts fit as best as possible instead of installing the correct ones. 

yes and that's why I asked a follow up question.

This item on ebay doesn't indicate which iron the shaft was pulled from. 

Project X Blue Label 6.5 X-STIFF 38.75 Single Iron Shaft Pull Steel 966433 | eBay

 

[NPSpar4]

Would need to know which shaft it is.  Def cant tell from that add

[MFBach]

9 hours ago, L3fty said:

This item on ebay doesn't indicate which iron the shaft was pulled from.

The only way to know for sure it by checking the screened code on the butt, under the grip. If you’re looking for a .355 PX 6.5 2i, I think the code is 6878TT 41. Maybe reach out to the seller for a picture? 
 

I think their 4i shaft is 39” raw, so anything from a 2-4i shaft is technically possible, based on the limited information in the ad. 

[Howard_Jones]

7 hours ago, MFBach said:

The only way to know for sure it by checking the screened code on the butt, under the grip. If you’re looking for a .355 PX 6.5 2i, I think the code is 6878TT 41. Maybe reach out to the seller for a picture? 
 

I think their 4i shaft is 39” raw, so anything from a 2-4i shaft is technically possible, based on the limited information in the ad. 

Project X (the OG) comes uncut 0.5" longer than DG, so a PX #9 iron shaft is 37.50" so your info is correct, PX 6.5 tapers looks like this (screen code on the butt) ( you missed the right specs for a #4 iron who is 40.0" uncut, not 39.0", thats a #6 iron shaft)

Edited September 24, 2022 by Howard_Jones

[Stuart_G]

20 hours ago, L3fty said:

@Stuart_GI  was hoping for a response from you and glad you did. 

Follow up question- if the shaft on ebay does not indicate whether it's pulled from 2i or 3i etc and just gives the length, does that matter?

 

Very much.   The length of a used, cut down shaft tells us nothing about which shaft it is.    It's only for a new uncut shaft that the length can be useful.   

 

You even can't always trust it when they say what iron the shaft came out of because it could have been hard/soft stepped as part of the original installation.

 

As the others have mentioned, the only sure thing is to check the silk screened codes on the butt of the shaft (if they haven't worn off).

 

20 hours ago, L3fty said:

or are you saying a 2i head is heavier than 4i head? 

 

 

No, it's the opposite.  2i head is lighter than a 4i head.    So when you put a heavier (4i) head in a shaft designed for a lighter (2i) head, then the shaft will play softer because of the heavier weight.

[MFBach]

10 hours ago, Howard_Jones said:

you missed the right specs for a #4 iron who is 40.0" uncut, not 39.0", thats a #6 iron shaft

I actually have a lot of those shaft codes saved from your old posts, so you should really get the credit for that info anyway. 
 

You’re definitely right though. I’m not sure how I goofed on that measurement while I was looking at the chart… I was trying to explain that it could actually be any of their shafts with an uncut length of > 39”, so the point is the same, but I should have said it’s possible to be anything from 1i-6i, rather than 2i-4i. Good stuff, as always. Thanks Howard. 

[L3fty]

Thank you everyone for the responses. I’ve learned a lot and will definitely put the lessons learned in my little tool box. 

[MFBach]

@L3fty FWIW, I’m almost certain I have a PX 6.5 2i shaft lying around somewhere. If you’re interested, PM me and I'll get you the details. I had it in a DI, but switched to graphite.