wedge shaft lengths

[golfnuub]

i have been reading Dave Pelz short game bible book and he mentions in there:

Quote from Pelz Short Game bible:
"As you become more proficient with the finesse system, you'll want your 12 shots to provide the most even coverage over 100 yards. You might not find your standard pitching and sand wedges up to the task. A big reason for this could be the length of their shafts. the Sand wedge should be half an inch shorter than the Pitching wedge; the L (Lofted) wedge should be half an inch shorter than the sand wedge. If you add a fourth (X) wedge, as i strongly recommend, that should be half an inch shorter still. Furthermore, the heads of each wedge should get progressively heavier as the clubs get shorter and more lofted, and the lie should be slightly more upright as you move closer and closer to the ball."

i dont have an XW but i do have a GW so does that mean that the GW should be half an inch shorter than the PW, the SW half an inch shorter than the GW, and the LW half an inch shorter than the SW? i have been fitted for my irons earlier this year and it was determined that my shaft length is a standard length, but my irons needed the lie adjusted +2 upright.

here are my wedges and current shaft lengths (all wedges have stock shafts in them True Temper Dynamic Gold, except for the Mizuno has a project X 5.5)
mizuno mp-68 35.50 (lie adjusted +2 upright)
vokey SM 52.08 35.50
vokey SM 56.11 35.25
vokey SM 60.07 35.00

i am trying to figure out if i should shorten my shafts as Pelz described in his book if i need to get the lie adjusted +2 upright (i still need to hit off of a lie board to determine if i need +2). if i shorten them than from what i can see my PW would be 35.50 still, my 52 would be 35.00, my 56 would be 34.50 and my 60 would be 34.00. has anyone else done this before? i have read that by shortening the shaft your accuracy can improve, which is definitely something i want in my short game.
i am looking at changing my shafts in the vokey's to Project X shafts and re gripping as well as lie adjusted (if needed) so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Harmonious]

I'm a big Pelz fan, but I don't think it's worth it to modify all your wedges' lengths. Shortening a lob wedge 1" would probably drop 5 yards at most from a full swing, but most of your shots with that club should be partial swings, not full. If you want to hit shorter full shots, why not just choke up an inch? Would accomplish the same thing, and wouldn't mess with the swingweight, either.

[WUTiger]

golfnuub,

Your post rang a bell with me. I have the last two or three years of golf club product catalogs from Callaway, Cleveland, and others. The catalogs have all the specs for the different models of clubs, and it's useful for comparing within a brand and across brands.

The companies are all over the place with shaft lengths on the stock wedges that come with iron shots. Callaway X22 has:
.................Shaft
Wedge Loft Length
PW......45*...35.5"
AW......51*...35.5"
SW......56*...35.25"
LW...... 60*...35.0"

For specialty wedges, the Cleveland CG15 family has shaft lengths from 35.625" down to 35.125" for the super lobs. Shafts get shorter in .125" increments.

The CG14 was much more basic: 35.5" for PWs and GWs, 35.25 for all others.

Club designer Ralph Maltby offers this planning guide for distance gaps: Clubs in a matching set with 4* loft differences and 1/2" shaft length gradation will yield about 10 yards between clubs. (Stronger players will get more, and smaller women less, but the idea was that the distance differences would be fairly equal).

When you go to 3* or 2.5* differences between the longer irons rather than 4*, this can cause some bunching up of the yardstick at long end. An old schoolmate who is a scratch golfer handled this in a novel way: Kept his 3I, bent his 5I one degree strong, and dumped the 4I.

So, back to wedges. I guess the idea is to measure your wedges for loft and shaft length if you're having unexpected distance gaps between wedges, and before you actually spend $$ on a new mix of wedges.

[golfnuub]

  Harmonious said:

I'm a big Pelz fan, but I don't think it's worth it to modify all your wedges' lengths. Shortening a lob wedge 1" would probably drop 5 yards at most from a full swing, but most of your shots with that club should be partial swings, not full. If you want to hit shorter full shots, why not just choke up an inch? Would accomplish the same thing, and wouldn't mess with the swingweight, either.

i do choke up on my club when i want to hit shorter shots not just with full shots, but 3/4 and 1/2 swings as well as pelz recommends in his 3x4 system to give you 24 potential shots inside 100 yards. i am just trying to see if anyone else has done it and the results they have seen by have the half an inch gap between your wedges.

  WUTiger said:

golfnuub,

does any club designer recommend the shaft lengths that Dave Pelz suggested in his book?

[WUTiger]

  golfnuub said:

....does any club designer recommend the shaft lengths that Dave Pelz suggested in his book?

Don't know if they do or not, I'm away from my catalogs right now. For stock wedges with SGI iron sets, probably not.

But, you could order specialty wedges (Vokey, CG15) with those shaft specs, or trim/reshaft the ones you use. Trimming a half-inch or less shouldn't affect stiffness that much. Another thing you can do is make a range card for your wedges. I have distances for PW, GW and SW at quarter, half, three-quarter and full swing. Since I don't have laser-trimmed shafts and equal loft changes in matching wedges, the range card works pretty well. The range card might be more practical/cheaper for most golfers.

[bigoak]

I've glued up a lot of sets and in the past have used 36 for steel and 37 for graphite. This year I have been going to 35.5 for the sand and 35 for the lobber and I like em better. I fell like I get more spin on the ball and I am not sure why. For giggles and grins I built two sets in steel all .5 in under standard and I sold both sets immediately to the first guys to try em.

[trickyputt]

I made a cg15 62/08 into a 34" shaft to suite my hands and grip. It is a real consistent and fun club. I got tired of choking down. I like a skinny grip to fit down in my fingers and the heel of my hand on the end of the shaft. I dont hit full shots with a lob anyway. I lob with a lob.

I bent it to 66 lie. I filed the front lip sharp to cut grass easier so I dont hang and open the face. divots look like a scalp. nice club. It already had heel and toe relief grind so it was easier. I bent it up to a 60 loft and  it has 2* less bounce that way. I like a D8 so I popped the head and stuffed it with lead til it swung a D8.

I modeled it after a Mammoth Niblick I own that is from 1927-a no bounce 22* angle lip razor blade the size of a dessert plate with a F swingweight. bad boy. anyway - bend yourself over til your finger tips just touch the top of your kneecap with your right hand and grab your lob grip in your left hand. you should get the idea of whats good for you personally real quick. You gotta be you. You cant be the other guy.

[brass]

when u shorten your shaft accuracy will improve. first try a shorter club for accuracy almost all golf course pro shops have clubs they will let u hit that are shorter longer and with different lie angles. remember it is ok to tip them for this service, as they will probably take the time to fit u. it should take about ten minutes overall to determine ur length lie and grip sizes. b4 u go in to pro shop hit some balls to warm up so that ur swing n ball flight is what it usually is. then u might think about lookin up some diy vids on youtube for clubhead removal. basic tools = safety glasses, propane torch, razor knife, rags shafting epoxy, shafting beads,n either a tube cutter or my favorite a harbor frieght cut off tool, with a 4" metal cutting wheel, n a couple drill bits to match the inside of the tip of the shaft and to match the inside of the clubhead hosel, [for cleaning out th old epoxy].

when you add an inch in length it adds a couple of swing weight points to th weight of the club n will be 2 degrees more upright [if i remember correctly] n will cause a more right to left ball flight. when u shorten it is the opposite so shorter club = flatter lie angle, less swing weight [which is dynamic not static weight] but also slightly less club weight, n more left to rite ball flite. check with ur local pro tell them what ur up to. if u wanna try it urself be SAFE. wear glasses n gloves as hot metal n flying hot epoxy can burn. watch some vids.