Using an iron shaft in a wedge - help please!

[Stacey_E]

I ordered a GW from Callaway preowned, an MX-25 to go with my MX-23 irons (they never made a GW in the 23s). Kudos to Callaway, what was listed as average condition was very good in my opinion....the head that is. Shame on FedEx they totally mangled the box and broke the shaft. Callaway has already credited my account including the shipping because they don't really want the club back. Plus they obviously had no replacement in stock since it's an odd club. FedEx MAY want the club back, but they told the Callaway guy that they probably wouldn't bother because of the cost of the item, $30. If in 1 week they haven't decided to pick it up, I have the go ahead to keep the head for free and reshaft it if I like.

The head is exactly what I wanted. It was shafted with a Regular Flex IS2 62 gram graphite with 3.0 torque.

I have a demo 6 iron MX-23 with the same regular flex Exsar Blue shaft that is in my current irons. I have had to search hard to find the specs but most sources quote the Exsar Blue shaft with the same specs as the IS2.

QUESTION: If I use the 6 iron shaft in the GW would I tip or butt cut the shaft to the right length? If I line up the graphics with my current PW it looks like it would be a tip cut. But I thought a lot of irons were finshed to length by butt cutting. Either way, I'm going to have someone else do it. I just want some opinions on the best way to finish it to length. If there is a clear cut answer, I can get a guy to install it for cheap. If not I may take it to a legit club builder and pay a little more. Either way I have all the parts on hand already. I just want to make sure it fits well with my irons.

Thanks All!

[glebert]

According to Golfworks OEM shaft replacement guide the Exsar IS2 is a parallel tip shaft, so tip trimming would be the way to go. Exsar Blue is also parallel. FYI the Blue is a little heavier (68g vs. 62g) and has a bigger butt diameter (0.618 vs. 0.610) than the IS2. You probably won't notice the weight in a wedge and can maybe compensate for the diameter with less tape or a thinner grip.

Interestingly the guide says that for steel shafts on the MX-25 they are a taper tip shaft, which would mean that you could only butt trim and the flex would probably be very soft. Luckily you don't have that problem.

[Stacey_E]

According to Golfworks OEM shaft replacement guide the Exsar IS2 is a parallel tip shaft, so tip trimming would be the way to go. Exsar Blue is also parallel. FYI the Blue is a little heavier (68g vs. 62g) and has a bigger butt diameter (0.618 vs. 0.610) than the IS2. You probably won't notice the weight in a wedge and can maybe compensate for the diameter with less tape or a thinner grip.

That sounds like a very definative answer. Thanks a LOT. The slightly thicker butt in the Blue would actually be better for me since I have Blues in my irons. Although I doubt I would feel .008 difference, It sounds like this comedy of errors could result in a GW that matches better than if I had the IS2 in the head.

Just as a brief aside, If I were to butt cut the shaft a little (finished to the same length), would that soften the flex? I think that's what you are saying? My irons are actually a LITE flex. The shaft I'll be using as I said before is a regular. I honestly wouldn't fret the slight difference. Just curious how much butt trim it would take to soften the shaft to LITE. I may not even do that, just wondering if there was a definative answer on that. Thanks again glebert!

[glebert]

You may not be able to get an R to a L, but trimming the tip less and then butt trimming to length will soften the flex. This is essentially softstepping the shaft. The rule of thumb I have read is that every softstepping will soften the flex about 1/3 of a full flex. Putting a 6i shaft into a GW would be something like 4 or 5 softsteps, which would be about 1 1/2 flex, so the regular would get close to a Lite, but the rule of thumb might be getting stretched out too far at that point, there really isn't a way to predict how it will play without trying it.

If you can get someone to install it for cheap I would say put the 6i shaft in without tip trimming and then butt cut to length. If it turns out to be too soft you could pull the shaft and tip it and then add an extension to get the length back. You can add length back to the butt, but not the tip.

[Stacey_E]

If you can get someone to install it for cheap I would say put the 6i shaft in without tip trimming and then butt cut to length. If it turns out to be too soft you could pull the shaft and tip it and then add an extension to get the length back. You can add length back to the butt, but not the tip.

Excellent point and one I hadn't thought about. A lot of sources say that its prefered to have a softer flex in those "touch shot" clubs than the rest of the irons. The idea being it gives you more feel. I actually went with a matching cavity GW because I was mainly hitting my Vokey 250 on full shots. So since I use that club mainly for full shots, I thought, why not go cavity?

Either way, as you stated before, if it's too soft I could tip it later. If I tip it too much now I can't unring that bell.

[Stacey_E]

Anybody else have input?