Shaft help

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of re-shafting my 03 Big Bertha's with something a little more tailor made to my game. I find the uniflex shafts in my Bertha's a bit on the inconsistent side as of late. I figured I'd try something new.

I would love to gain a little distance and consistency with my irons. I'm currently pretty accurate with all my irons 2-W. I'm not a big swinger with my irons, I tend to focus more on being smooth and clean with my iron swings. I hit the ball a long way with my driver (Grafalloy Blue Stiff) and fairway woods (Callaway Pro Series Stiff), I'm averaging 306 off the tee this year, and close to 270 with my 3 wood. My 7 iron is about 143 on average, and my 5 iron is about 165. I'd be lucky if I could hit my 3 iron 200.

I hit my woods extremely well, which is to be expected, but my iron play hasn't come around like I would like it. I'm not unhappy with the play, but I know that If I set myself up with a proper set of shafts, I'd be better off. Well, at least in my head anyways! :blush

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to stick with steel, and I really don't have a ceiling to my budget.....within reason! :-)

Thanks in advance guys. Please keep in mind the 03 Callaways are bore-thru design, I'm not sure how much of an issue this creates.

Cheers,

rockford35

rockford35.
With all due respect there is something a little odd about your query. There is no way that a 300 yard driver hitter can only hit his 5 iron about 165. With that kind of swing speed you should be hitting your 5 iron about 190. So how can a clubmaker fit you based on your swing speed. He'll recommend an extra stiff shaft for your woods and an A flex for your irons. I just can't figure it out unless you are really not swinging at all with your irons. A bore through simply means no tip trimming .

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Originally Posted by rockford35

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of re-shafting my 03 Big Bertha's with something a little more tailor made to my game. I find the uniflex shafts in my Bertha's a bit on the inconsistent side as of late. I figured I'd try something new.

I would love to gain a little distance and consistency with my irons. I'm currently pretty accurate with all my irons 2-W. I'm not a big swinger with my irons, I tend to focus more on being smooth and clean with my iron swings. I hit the ball a long way with my driver (Grafalloy Blue Stiff) and fairway woods (Callaway Pro Series Stiff), I'm averaging 306 off the tee this year, and close to 270 with my 3 wood. My 7 iron is about 143 on average, and my 5 iron is about 165. I'd be lucky if I could hit my 3 iron 200.

I hit my woods extremely well, which is to be expected, but my iron play hasn't come around like I would like it. I'm not unhappy with the play, but I know that If I set myself up with a proper set of shafts, I'd be better off. Well, at least in my head anyways! :blush

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to stick with steel, and I really don't have a ceiling to my budget.....within reason! :-)

Thanks in advance guys. Please keep in mind the 03 Callaways are bore-thru design, I'm not sure how much of an issue this creates.

Cheers,

rockford35

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Andre,

I appreciate your reply, and understand your confusion.

I find that if I swing harder through my irons I lose so much control. I can attack hard at an iron when I need to, but I find the swing uncomfortable and uncontrolled.

As for the lack of distance, you are as confused as I am. I play well within myself, and I'm carrying a 7 handicap, which I am somewhat happy with. But I know I could play better if I could hit my scoring irons farther, but with the same amount of accuracy.

I used the True Temper shaft fit guide and it recommended the Dynalite Gold R300. I've had zero experience with these shafts. What's the word?

I'd like to have mid trajectory (which I have now, I beleive) and a compromise between accuracy and distance. I feel my game is good enough that I can become more accurate as a result of increasing distance.

Thanks again Andre, and to anyone else that might want to chip in.

rockford35

I too have to agree with Andre, you have described a very weird senario. I carry my drives 250 yrds with role they can be pretty long, but I also hit my 5 iron 190-200 and my 8 iron 150-160 yrds. Being 6' 1",220lbs and in my late 20's I play with Dynalite Gold X-100 which is a stiff shaft and gives a high ball flight. I too did the true temper shaft fitting thing and they came out with the exact shaft that I use. The Dynalites have a mid/low kick which gets the ball up FAST! I have never seen a ball get airborne that quickly. It is great for landing softly on the greens even with long irons, but on a windy day it takes some imagination to get the ball down range. I have to admit that I am very surprised to hear of someone with that low of a handicap not able hit the irons well, but if that is the case for you I would suggest switching to utility clubs and carry more woods in your bag. The rules say 14 clubs, they do not say which 14 they must be. Get rid of you 3,4 and even 5 iron with that little distance and replace them with woods which you seem to be more comfortable hitting. As for shafts, I club fitter will have a hard time fitting an inconsistant swing speed like yours so I would suggest going to someone who really knows what they are doing such as an experienced club maker rather than Golf Town or another chain store. It is not that uncommon to have your woods stiffer then your irons but with the extreme distance differential that you discribed it will be quite a difference in shafts. Andre and BC Mist seem to be the two main clubmaking/spec guys on here and if one of them says that it's going to be difficult then I wouldn't be expecting an easy solution for this problem.
Denny

Here's a link to the Golfworks site, which has a lot of basic info on shafts (including the Dynalite Gold): http://www.golfworks.com/cat_disp.as...cat_nbr=6&sa=y

Naturally, the True Temper shaft lab only recommends True Temper shafts. My favourite steel shaft is the Royal Precision Rifle (the 5.0 would be regular flex), which is a lightweight shaft similar to the Dynalite Gold.

I currently carry a driver, 3 wood, 5 wood and 7 wood. I carry the 7 wood 230-240 quite easily, with the stock Uniflex steel shaft that came with it.
I had a 2 iron in my bag, which i hit well 9 out of 10 times with a length of maybe 205 if i hit it on screws. I took the 3 iron out of my bag as well. I hit my 4 just as far as my 3, just more consistently.

Which leaves me with a huge hole in my club selection. I'm 230 with my 7 wood and 190 with my 4 iron at best. I'm hitting my woods with the accuracy of my short irons so far this year, it's almost disgusting.

But as for getting distance from my irons, i just can't seem to generate the swing that helps hitting a nice boring trajectory on a regular basis. I hit my 8 iron higher than my wedge(10 iron). I carry a 56degree Cleveland in my bag which i can hit just as far as my 50* wedge in my Callaway set. I seem to get a different feel thruough each one of my irons, and I never seem to know when i've hit a crisp shot except with my 8 iron. That club I always seem to hit well, and I know it right off the face.

I've used a set of Pings that a friend of mine had splined and fitted to his swing. We're the same height and have basically the same tempo of swing, and I can crush his irons. I know the problem isn't the clubs themselves as other people have hit my irons and hit them farther than their current sets and love them to death.

Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope.

Unless someone else can help me. :-)

rockford35

PS....if anyone wants to go out for a round, you'll see what I'm trying to say. When we both hammer our drives and have 156 to the flag and you pull your 8 or 7 iron, I'll hammer my 6 iron and still hit the front part of the green....

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Originally Posted by el tigre

Here's a link to the Golfworks site, which has a lot of basic info on shafts (including the Dynalite Gold): http://www.golfworks.com/cat_disp.as...cat_nbr=6&sa=y

Naturally, the True Temper shaft lab only recommends True Temper shafts. My favourite steel shaft is the Royal Precision Rifle (the 5.0 would be regular flex), which is a lightweight shaft similar to the Dynalite Gold.

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I hit a Callaway with a Rifle in it as a demo club once and loved the feel. It was a 7 iron, and I was hitting it quite consistently 160ish. That would make me happy.

I had thought about getting my set done with Rifles last year, but I wanted to see if the irons would come around. Obviously not. Out of all my irons, I'd say just my 8 iron feels and gives me the distance i desire out of the club.

rockford35

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Originally Posted by rockford35

Which leaves me with a huge hole in my club selection. I'm 230 with my 7 wood and 190 with my 4 iron at best. I'm hitting my woods with the accuracy of my short irons so far this year, it's almost disgusting.

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I also hit fairway woods much better than irons. This year I broke down and bought a 9 wood to replace my 4 iron. Only played a few rounds so far so the jury is still out, but so far I'm liking it much better.

So you might want to see if a 9-wood or 25*-28* hybrid/utility club would work to fill that gap.

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Originally Posted by rockford35

Which leaves me with a huge hole in my club selection. I'm 230 with my 7 wood and 190 with my 4 iron at best. I'm hitting my woods with the accuracy of my short irons so far this year, it's almost disgusting.

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Utility clubs......

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I've used a set of Pings that a friend of mine had splined and fitted to his swing. We're the same height and have basically the same tempo of swing, and I can crush his irons. I know the problem isn't the clubs themselves as other people have hit my irons and hit them farther than their current sets and love them to death.

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Sounds like your friend's Pings are better matched to you, than your own clubs are, and your clubs are better matched to these "other people" than their current sets.

There is no problem with your clubs, in and of themselves, but they may not be setup well for you.

Keating.