Shaft Length

[CharlieB]

I was practicing with my son on our short game. We both have Vokey SM6 wedges. They are identical except mine are -1”. I tried his and was shocked by the difference in feel. I cannot feel the club head with mine and his feel like a hammer. I hit his so much better than mine. He also has the standard grips, mine have the Golf Pride plus Fours.

All of my irons are cut this way. I’m thinking this could be my problem with lack of distance.

Any opinions, or experiences with this from any of you.

[TourSpoon]

It sounds like you are describing swingweight or how heavy a club feels when you swing it. Given the identical club, you have taken off an inch of shaft and possibly added a heavier grip (the MCC plus 4 is much heavier). Both have the effect of lessening how heavy the clubhead will feel relative to your son's stock SM6. To regain some swingweight you could add some lead tape to the bottom of the head, use a lighter grip, do a variation, or even go back to stock to get the balance back. Not to get too into the weeds but you may well have turned a D5 weighted club into a D0 which can have a drastic feel to it when you swing. Generally wedges have a heavier feel to them than most of the irons so this may be why it feels so different. 

There are some guys here that can tell you the best route, but I think this will give you an idea. 

[CharlieB]

I have the MCC Plus 4 grips on all my clubs, plus the 1” butt cut. Could that be why I have lost so much distance? I have senior flex graphite shafts in every club except the wedges.

[TourSpoon]

If the grips are standard MCCs they are fine, its the midsize or jumbos that add the butt weight but the 1" reduction in length without some compensation could have you not feeling the head properly. 

I am sure there will be a spec pro jumping on this in a bit to give you a more detailed answer. 

 

[CharlieB]

Thanks for your input. The grips are standard size.

I’ve had my Ping G15 irons for 10 years now, but I’ve never hit them well. Prior to these I had Ping i3’s with light steel shafts. I have aged, but I shouldn’t be this much shorter. My 7 iron with the steel shafts use to be 130 yards, now these senior graphite G15’s are 100 yards and that is if I don’t shank them.

The wedges I was talking about before. Vokey, M grind, wedge flex, -1”, MCC + 4 grip, 54* only go 40-45 yards.

[Adam C]

A longer club will give you more speed and therefore more distance in most cases assuming you can still make center contact. Guessing the Ping irons feel extra light between the 1 inch short cut, the fact that Pings run light in SW and you have a lighter senior flex shaft. The Vokeys will feel heavier but still light since an inch in a wedge reduces the SW around 5 points.

If you are looking for distance you may want to extend them back to full length. You may also want to work with a little lead tape on the heads and see if you can't get a little more feel for where the head is and hopefully get some more consistent contact from it.

[TourSpoon]

17 hours ago, TourSpoon said:

Not to get too into the weeds but you may well have turned a D5 weighted club into a D0 which can have a drastic feel to it when you swing.

 

11 hours ago, Adam C said:

The Vokeys will feel heavier but still light since an inch in a wedge reduces the SW around 5 points.

So I was actually on the money with SW. I feel so validated that I am not spewing nonsense. Thanks for clearing that up! @Adam C

[Adam C]

27 minutes ago, TourSpoon said:

 

So I was actually on the money with SW. I feel so validated that I am not spewing nonsense. Thanks for clearing that up! @Adam C

Oops. Small mistake. I said 5 SW points for an inch on the wedge, it's really more like 6-7. Got my wedges and drivers mixed up with the curve. Inch on a driver will be more like 5 SW points.

[TourSpoon]

1 minute ago, Adam C said:

Oops. Small mistake. I said 5 SW points for an inch on the wedge, it's really more like 6-7. Got my wedges and drivers mixed up with the curve. Inch on a driver will be more like 5 SW points.

Haha, close enough for government work! 

[CharlieB]

So the MCC plus 4 standard size grips shouldn’t be a issue?

I am now thinking of adding the inch back to the wedges and buying a set of Titleist T300 with senior flex graphite shafts in 6-PW and a 48* gap wedge. My Vokey’s are 54* and 58* with steel wedge flex shafts.

My driver is a Titleist 915D2 with a 44” senior flex shaft, 3 is a 917F senior flex 43” shaft in 16.5 loft, 7 is a 915F senior flex 42” shaft in a 21* loft.

I have 3 hybrids that I can fill the gap between the 6 iron and the 7 915F with.

Any guggestions?

[Adam C]

I personally like a longer club length assuming you can still find the center of the face, and I think the increased SW from the length should help a bit with that. Again the key to distance is speed and contact so you need to find the balance that allows for the best of both.

Be aware those Vokey wedge shafts are heavy (130g) so full swings are going to be harder with those shafts.

[BeCu]

11 hours ago, CharlieB said:

So the MCC plus 4 standard size grips shouldn’t be a issue?

I am now thinking of adding the inch back to the wedges and buying a set of Titleist T300 with senior flex graphite shafts in 6-PW and a 48* gap wedge. My Vokey’s are 54* and 58* with steel wedge flex shafts.

My driver is a Titleist 915D2 with a 44” senior flex shaft, 3 is a 917F senior flex 43” shaft in 16.5 loft, 7 is a 915F senior flex 42” shaft in a 21* loft.

I have 3 hybrids that I can fill the gap between the 6 iron and the 7 915F with.

Any guggestions?

Agree with all @AdamC posted. Hopefully you can test the set make up you're interested in with a fitting and gap distance your clubs accordingly. My approach is the longest club I hit center strikes with that meet my distance gap (distances I expect each club to cover) requirements. And obviously the feel, swing weight has to be there. Good fitter, good fitting can help one accomplish that. Good luck. 

[CharlieB]

I took the  Vokey wedges to Golf Galixy today. They put the 1” plug in and epoxied it in place, then put a new Golf Pride grip on them. Is that ok to put the grip on right away? I notice a small difference between the length of the 54M and 58K, is this right?

[Vinsk]

41 minutes ago, CharlieB said:

I took the  Vokey wedges to Golf Galixy today. They put the 1” plug in and epoxied it in place, then put a new Golf Pride grip on them. Is that ok to put the grip on right away? I notice a small difference between the length of the 54M and 58K, is this right?

Hey there! Just letting you know if you want to notify a member use the ‘@‘ then you’ll see pop up list of members as you start typing the name..select the name...like this:

@Adam C

Edited August 1, 2020 by Vinsk

[Adam C]

No, that really isn't ideal to regrip at the same time as they epoxied the extension. Hopefully they used tour van epoxy and waited a few minutes at least to let it set before doing the grip. If they waited 20 minutes that would be idea and then gripped again assuming use of tour van epoxy. 

Don't worry though, probably won't be an issue with a 1 inch extension. Worst case, it comes loose but will still hold in place because of the grip and tape covering it.

Always better to find an actual club builder to do club work. Big box stores are extremely hit or miss, assume best case they have one competent builder on staff and I use competent generously. Even better do it yourself, extensions are pretty simple repairs and a good practice before moving onto doing reshafts etc.

[TourSpoon]

19 hours ago, CharlieB said:

 I notice a small difference between the length of the 54M and 58K, is this right?

The difference should be a quarter of an inch.  Its something that you probably never noticed until now. 

[CharlieB]

@AdamC He did both wedges in about 15 minutes. Hopefully they will work out. They are about a 1/4” different. Once I looked at the different lofts, I understand why they are like that.

[CharlieB]

@AdamC I have Ping G15 irons with TFC149 Soft R flex shafts -1”.

I am looking at buying a set of Titleist 714 AP1’s with Graphite Kuro Kage 65 R shafts in standard length. Do you think I will lose distance with the Titleist being a R flex? 
I would not be able to hit the Titleist before buying them. Thanks