What is the relationship between lie angle & shaft length?

[jakkim]

I am currently playing a set based on a 38.5" 5 iron at 2* upright. I am considering dropping down to a 38" 5 iron and was just wondering what effect that will have on my lie angles. Would I simply drop half a degree on the lie angles as well? Also, I am considering using stiff shafts, would that also effect the lie?

[OrangeBlood]

Well the longer the club the flatter the lie should be, the shorter the club the more upright it should be. Not sure the exact number if you shorten by 1/2". You wouldn't drop any, it would be more upright. Flex has no bearing on lie angle.

 

Why the 1/2"?

[jakkim]

Well the longer the club the flatter the lie should be, the shorter the club the more upright it should be. Not sure the exact number if you shorten by 1/2". You wouldn't drop any, it would be more upright. Flex has no bearing on lie angle.

 

Why the 1/2"?

 

I actually got some impact tape and tried it out on both my 5 iron and the same model at 38 inches and I was much more consistent and hitting closer to the center of the face.

 

So if I wanted to keep the same lie angle, with the clubs now being more upright wouldn't I have to drop a degree or so to compensate for the shorter shaft? Should I actually play the 38 inch 5 iron 1* upright rather than 2?

[Shoop31]

Ping does 3/4 degree lie angle change per 1/2 inch shaft length change.

[hos]

Please correct me if I'm wrong - but - shorten you bend upright not flat

I would agree w/ prev. post that the longer it is, the more flat is should be. Thus the shorter it is, the more upright.

 

Key word - replace should with 'needs to be'.

 

So, If your at 2 deg now and take a 1/2 inch off, It will play flatter and you will probably need to compensate for that by going more upright. Think of it as if you would extend the club by 12 inches. Put it in address position and the toe will be off the ground big time and you will have to bend in more flat. So shorter will need to be bent upright.

[e-man]

For every 1/2 inch you cut off, you decrease the effective lie angle by 1 degree.

[Awalkspoiled]

For every 1/2 inch you cut off, you decrease the effective lie angle by 1 degree.

 

 

I don't go along with that personally. For one thing, it's not linear. There's much more toe droop on longer shafts, so they'd want to be set up relatively more upright than your formula would imply. the best thing is to set each club up individually, but as a baseline, I like around 5/8° for each 1/2". this means that if your 4i is 60° your GW will be close to 65°, which works well for many guys.

[e-man]

For every 1/2 inch you cut off, you decrease the effective lie angle by 1 degree.

 

 

I don't go along with that personally. For one thing, it's not linear. There's much more toe droop on longer shafts, so they'd want to be set up relatively more upright than your formula would imply. the best thing is to set each club up individually, but as a baseline, I like around 5/8° for each 1/2". this means that if your 4i is 60° your GW will be close to 65°, which works well for many guys.

 

I agree that the longer clubs droop more during the downswing, but aren't we talking about static measurements here? I've done quite a bit of research on this subject, and cutting 1/2" in shaft length does change the effective lie angle by about 1 degree. Of course, the actual lie angle (the relationship between the club head and the shaft) remains exactly the same, but because you're standing closer to the ball due to the shorter shaft, the static lie angle at address is effectively reduced.

 

Now, that being said, I hadn't considered the dynamic factor with respect to longer clubs. I need to think about that one for a bit. You might have something there.

 

e