To stiff or to soft??

[toolman]

Hey all just wondering if its smarter to have irons that play to stiff or to soft? Just bought a set of irons with project x 5.0 in them but I am used to playing 6.0 or s300. Wondering what I should be expecting. Thanks

 

Matt

[kg92lefty]

6.0 is much stiffer than s300. 5.5 is even stiffer than s300, fyi.

[toolman]

Yeah I believe the 5.5 is still .2 stiff then the s300. I'm just worried that I should have gone up in stiffness not down.

[golfingchuck]

You should expect to hit the ball higher and a lot more spin. Be prepared to hit ballooning moon shots

I have xstiff kbs in my MP-52s and Stiff in my MP-68s.

[toolman]

Currently I play TM TP r9 b stamps with s300 and my misses are high sweeping hooks. But I went on a mizuno swing optimizer the other day and it said my ss with a 6 iron was 84 and recommended the px 5.0. I was shocked one at the ss (my drives are usually 280+ and my ss is 110+) and 2 that it would recommend that low of a shaft. So I decided to try out some regular flex stuff and hit my dads tm burner 3 wood longer and straighter then my current driver. I don't have a lot of lag and have a really smooth transition, i also very rarely take a divot.

I'm just confused because it seems like the stats and the results contradict each other.

[BrianL99]

[quote name='toolman' timestamp='1345342722' post='5496574']
Hey all just wondering if its smarter to have irons that play to stiff or to soft? Just bought a set of irons with project x 5.0 in them but I am used to playing 6.0 or s300. Wondering what I should be expecting. Thanks

Matt
[/quote]

It all depends on your swing ... shaft "stiffness" labels are a red herring.

[drumdude96]

As a rule of thumb, you should play the softest shaft that you can still control well. Don't let your ego get in the way of your golf game. Too stiff a shaft is much more detrimental to your game than one that is slightly too soft. I imagine you will possibly see a slight increase in distance and a little softer feel from the 5.0's as compared to the 6.0's. Don't expect anything drastic like hitting moon shots that spin too much or not having any accuracy at all. There isn't that much difference between 5.0 and 6.0.

[toolman]

Ok, I was just worried that I may spray these all over the place.

Oh well even at the end of the day if I dont like the shafts I still got some Ap2's for 150 bucks haha.

[drumdude96]

I just built a set of irons to sell on the bay, and I shafted them with Dynamic Gold R300 regular flex shafts. I use X200 in my gamers currently. Well, I couldn't resist the urge to try the ones I built up, so I took them out for a couple rounds last week. The results were pretty surprising, to say the least. I was hitting the irons about a club farther than my gamers. No big surprise there, since a softer shaft tends to give you a bit more distance. The real surprise was in the trajectory and the amount of spin I was getting. The ball was actually flying LOWER with LESS SPIN than with my X200's. I don't know why, but for some reason the extra stiff shafts are spinning the ball too much for me and ballooning slightly, so I'm going to reshaft to a hard-stepped S300 or S400. My swing speed with an 8 iron is about 104 mph (according to my Swingmate radar device), which by the numbers requires extra stiff shafts, but the softer shafts just work better for me. The point is, if it works well for you it doesn't matter what the label says on it. The ball doesn't care. Keep the ego in check and just play some dang golf.

[The Grifter]

I played PX 6.5 and went to S 300 . What’s amazing is not only stiffness in flex but how the weight of the shafts affect playability. The 5.5 is almost identical to S 300.....as a matter of fact, I probably wouldn’t be able to feel the difference between the two if I didn’t know which shaft I was hitting.

[gb350]

aps for 150 what a deal nice score

[toolman]

UPDATE:

Well my AP2's arrived today fitted with Proj X 5.0, within 15 minutes I was at the driving range. Wow these are so much easier to hit then my tm r9 b stamp irons, and i thought the r9's were easy! So far with the weaker shaft I have noticed that the ball goes really high. I've always had a low-mid ball flight but these really get up in the air and fast! Also, if I swing easy the ball always goes right, almost like a push, but if I step on it just a little bit the ball jumps off the club face and just goes! I was mainly hitting the short irons and I was aiming at a flag that was exactly 167 yards away and I had a little breeze in my face. I was hitting my 8 iron to the flag everytime and flew it a few times when I really decided to swing hard. I know going from s300 to 5.0 isn't that big of a jump but its a completely different feel and I love it!

[dunn]

[quote name='drumdude96' timestamp='1345346265' post='5496832']
As a rule of thumb, you should play the softest shaft that you can still control well. Don't let your ego get in the way of your golf game. Too stiff a shaft is much more detrimental to your game than one that is slightly too soft. I imagine you will possibly see a slight increase in distance and a little softer feel from the 5.0's as compared to the 6.0's. Don't expect anything drastic like hitting moon shots that spin too much or not having any accuracy at all. There isn't that much difference between 5.0 and 6.0.
[/quote]bingo.....be all positives for you bro, not that big of a difference as some make it out to be.......i am swinging regular flex now after countless different clubs and shafts.......for me softer is better, stiffer brings on bad habits and messes up my tempo and all sorts of other crazy stuff

[jperkins12]

[quote name='drumdude96' timestamp='1345346265' post='5496832']
As a rule of thumb, you should play the softest shaft that you can still control well. Don't let your ego get in the way of your golf game. Too stiff a shaft is much more detrimental to your game than one that is slightly too soft. I imagine you will possibly see a slight increase in distance and a little softer feel from the 5.0's as compared to the 6.0's. Don't expect anything drastic like hitting moon shots that spin too much or not having any accuracy at all. There isn't that much difference between 5.0 and 6.0.
[/quote]

I have often pondered this theory. If you are correct, why is it that 99% of the professional golfers hit the x shaft (extra stiff)? They certainly do not have a control issue as compared to the average golfer. I am thinking the average golfer, or at least the low handicap golfer should hit a very stiff shaft also. Everyone always claims that a person's ego gets in the way when fitting is taking place. I think it may be just the opposite.

[plus8]

[quote name='drumdude96' timestamp='1345346265' post='5496832']
As a rule of thumb, you should play the softest shaft that you can still control well. Don't let your ego get in the way of your golf game. Too stiff a shaft is much more detrimental to your game than one that is slightly too soft. I imagine you will possibly see a slight increase in distance and a little softer feel from the 5.0's as compared to the 6.0's. Don't expect anything drastic like hitting moon shots that spin too much or not having any accuracy at all. There isn't that much difference between 5.0 and 6.0.
[/quote]


Interesting thread - I am one of those folks that is right between reg and stiff - driver ss about 94, 6i about 84.
I have a mixed bag as well - R flex driver and 3 wood, and TT S300 XP irons and wedges. I am constantly tinkering, struggling with reg or stiff, differences in manufacturers' specs as far as flex. etc, etc. And it's not just the 'flex' - there's also loft, total length, Swingweight, and kickpoint. For example, I think many folks use the wrong loft on drivers - I (finally) capitulated and tried out an RBZ the other day and compared it to my Adams F11. The RBZ was a bit shorter, had a 10.5 loft and stiff stock shaft. I found that with a stiffer TM shaft on a 10.5 driver, I actually got as good or better overall performance than I did with my 9.5 reg flex, longer length driver - and so, of course, I am again rethinking my driver......

Meanwhile, after going back and forth on irons for years (stiff, reg, soft-stepping, etc, etc, not to mention differing performance characteristics across different manufacturers for the 'same flex'), I got on a Mizuno fitting club and was matched with either S300 XP's, PX 5.0, or KBS Tour stiff (soft stepped) - and ended up with some TT S300 XP's - which are probably a little softer than full stiff or maybe with a bit higher launch, or something.

So now I have Adams reg voodoo driver and 3w, TT S300 XP irons, Cleveland wedge flex for gap, SW, and LW - and I found my control is best with this combination. My hybrids are some old Callaways with R flex, and I constantly fight a hook with them. I'm just about to order an S flex A12 to see if it is better.