MMT 80 Stiff Iron Shaft(parallel) flex compared to steel?

[Gerr]

Earlier this year, I ordered a set of PXG irons with MMT 80 stiff flex shafts.  My previous iron set Elevate Tour Stiff shafts(117g), but I have a long term shoulder injury and had to slow my swing down and doc recommended that I go graphite to minimize vibration impact on my shoulder.  The fitter said I was right at the edge of going to the regular flex 70's, but I liked the weight of the 80's, so had them soft tip the clubs 1/2".  Fast forward 6 months and while picking up other clubs at PXG(0211 sale), had a chat with a different fitter and he said ALL ~80g graphite iron shafts will play approx one full flex SOFTER than 105g steel(my favorite weight to date), and the MMT's are no exception.  He did say that the MMT's play a bit stiffer than other graphite shafts in their weight range, so probably play more to an R+ and by soft tipping them, I brought the shafts down to no more than a standard regular compared to 105g steel.

 

So, which is it?  Do my soft tipped 1/2" MMT 80's play to the S- I was targeting originally, or do they really play to more like an R, maybe even R- when compared against a 105g steel shaft?

 

While I like the shafts, I am having some dispersion issues, probably swing, but this is my first light weight graphite set and am wondering if reshafting with 105g steel regular flex or even 95g steel stiff (soft tipped) might help.

[Stuart_G]

9 hours ago, Gerr said:

had a chat with a different fitter and he said ALL ~80g graphite iron shafts will play approx one full flex SOFTER than 105g steel(my favorite weight to date), and the MMT's are no exception. 

 

Sorry.  This is not even close to true.

 

I wouldn't pay much attention to anyone that generalizes flex or stiffness based on just the material the shaft is made out of.

 

 

9 hours ago, Gerr said:

He did say that the MMT's play a bit stiffer than other graphite shafts in their weight range

 

That certainly could be true.  The MMT's do have a rep for being on the softer side of many of the high end graphite options.  Although I couldn't say for sure how much since I haven't seen any actual data for them.

 

 

9 hours ago, Gerr said:

 

I brought the shafts down to no more than a standard regular compared to 105g steel.

 

Compared to which steel?   That's a big part of the problem.   There is no standard for steel much less any shaft for any given weight.

 

9 hours ago, Gerr said:

So, which is it?  Do my soft tipped 1/2" MMT 80's play to the S- I was targeting originally, or do they really play to more like an R, maybe even R- when compared against a 105g steel shaft?

 

You're looking for a standard for flex or basis for comparison which just doesn't exist.

 

 

9 hours ago, Gerr said:

While I like the shafts, I am having some dispersion issues, probably swing, but this is my first light weight graphite set and am wondering if reshafting with 105g steel regular flex or even 95g steel stiff (soft tipped) might help.

 

Now these are VERY Valid questions but something only you can figure out with some testing.   Yes weight fit issues (too heavy or too light) are more commonly a source of dispersion issues than stiffness - although both are possible.    So weight is the first thing you should explore and it's also the easiest as well.   Just get some lead tape.   Take your MMT's and add it to the shaft in 10 gm increments. (usually about 4"-6" below the bottom of the grip.    Do some testing and see what happens to the feel and consistency as you increment up in weight.

 

If after finding the best weight and if there are still consistency issues - it's possible it might be related to the stiffness -   but it also might be related to the forced changes to your swing  e.g. "had to slow my swing down".   Tempo and rhythm play a big part in consistency and dispersion - so if you had to change either - that alone could cause problems.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Stuart_G

[Stuart_G]

Sorry, meant to put this in that post but forgot.

 

stiffness of some 80 gm graphite vs 105 gm steel.

In one case the graphite is a full flex stiffer than the steel and both graphite's are stiffer than both steel by some amount.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Stuart_G

[pjc]

On 10/31/2022 at 11:36 AM, Stuart_G said:

Sorry, meant to put this in that post but forgot.

 

stiffness of some 80 gm graphite vs 105 gm steel.

In one case the graphite is a full flex stiffer than the steel and both graphite's are stiffer than both steel by some amount.

 

 

Interesting...do you have a graph for Dynamic Gold 105?

[Stuart_G]

13 hours ago, pjc said:

Interesting...do you have a graph for Dynamic Gold 105?

 

Sorry, no.   That shaft was released after that db stopped being maintained.

[Gerr]

During my fitting, my PXG fitter said I was right in between Stiff and Regular.  Because I liked the weight of the stiff better, I went with stiff, but had it soft tipped(parallel) to target a "soft stiff" overall flex.  I had come from a Modus3 105 Stiff, so was looking for something a bit more flexible than that, but not all the way to Regular.  Basically, I want to know if my soft tipped MMT 80 stiffs will play to a general S- or R+.

[Stuart_G]

13 hours ago, Gerr said:

During my fitting, my PXG fitter said I was right in between Stiff and Regular.

 

Did you try/demo both the R and S flex during the fitting?   How did each feel to you in terms of stiffness?   Your own experience with the shafts is going to be much more telling and informative than anything the fitter may have told you.

 

13 hours ago, Gerr said:

  Because I liked the weight of the stiff better, I went with stiff, but had it soft tipped(parallel) to target a "soft stiff" overall flex.  I had come from a Modus3 105 Stiff, so was looking for something a bit more flexible than that, but not all the way to Regular.  Basically, I want to know if my soft tipped MMT 80 stiffs will play to a general S- or R+.

 

That's hard to say since everyone's idea of what a true S or R feels like is going to be very different.  e.g. Coming from the Nippon 105 Stiff,   it might even feel like a X- or S+.   But coming from a DG Stiff or a steelfiber i-series stiff, it might feel like a R flex.

 

It's just too subjective.    Unfortunately, you're just going to have to wait to test them to really find out what they'll feel like to you.   All we can really say for sure is that it's going to feel much closer to the MMT S than to the MMT R.

 

But the  good news is that choosing for weight is usually works out better than choosing for stiffness.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Stuart_G

[jomatty]

PXG needs to let that second fitter go…MMT’s are not stiff like steelfiber but they are more or less true to flex (whatever that means).

 

id take the advice given above and play around with lead tape.  If you like dynamic gold 105’s than you will probably get along well with MMT’s, so the dispersion issue is probably weight related.  Lot of probably’s but weight seems like the place to start.