Shaft fitting for irons

[yeis20]

So I went to a golf show last weekend and at one of the booths I was fitted for shafts.

I took 7-10 practice hits to warm up and had not swung a club to often over the last few months but was pleased with my swing tempo, was in balance and was not over swinging... and I can be accused of chasing a distance with a club come mid season. I was tested on 3 swings after the warm up period where I was focusing on appropriate tempo for my swing on takeaway... take your time getting the club back but focus on getting the club to my comfotrable attack position, dont overswing, focus on bringiong the club through the zone and finish on balance. The 3rd swing felt the best and the other 2 swings were similar all 3 swings I middled the hit on a set of mizuno mp53 and the feel was incredible, but the 3rd felt "perfect". I am a feel player,never taken a lesson in my life but i understand corect swing mechanics for good ball striking.

The fitters recommendations were:

DG x100 soft step as a primary choice

Project X 6.0 as a secondary

Currently I play a set of AP2's that I feel I hit the ball far to high with, I dont play in high wind conditions all that much but I know I need a lower more boring flight trajectory.

The fitter said the Project x 6.0 would mute a lot of the vibration in a swing, and I believe this is something I would prefer but I still want to feel a mishit. Contact towards the heel currently feels to harsh and I have a mental issue that can ruin my game on consistent harsh feedback on contact towards the heel... I can feel it and it feels much harsher then toe hits.I always clean my clubface before a strike so I can review where on the face my contact occured.  I can ruin what many would consider a great round of ball striking golf by having the "feeling" that many of my shots are towards the heel of the club vs the toe, these do not feel anywhere near as harsh from feedback or distance standpoint. I dont focus on scoring as much as I do with contact on the face of the club on full swings. Mentally, I am ok with not shooting a good round if I know I can feel like I am striking the ball well.

I would say on a high percentage of my swings I middle my contact with very few off center hit, a bad miss is typically less then half a ball from center. I was hitting the mizuno MP59's and MP53's and I was amazed at how pure a shot felt on the 53 compared to both the MP59 and my current irons, though my current irons could be due to the shaft a bit as it is just a stiff flex but also a HL shaft.

I guess I was wondering what other high ball hitters have had the best experience with in bringing down their ball flight a bit and how the feel was between the 2 shafts recommended.

Help me golf gurus...

[mvmac]

I'd say go with the DG's but I just want to ask.  Why do you feel you need a more boring trajectory?  Hitting the ball high, imo, is an asset.

[WUTiger]

Building off of mvmac, you might take a look at the Project X website under True Temper. The latest info:

  Project X said:

Project X

A proven winner on the PGA Tour, the patented RIFLE design features a discrete constant taper for each shaft in the set. Longer taper rates result in more energy transfer to the ball, getting the ball up faster and flattening out quicker for a penetrating trajectory and ball flight.

So, the basic Project X shaft gets the ball off the ground without ballooning at the top.

I switched from stiff to regular about three years ago, and my old set of irons had TT Dynalite stiff shafts (high launch). Despite having lost distance, I was still having trouble with short irons ballooning into the wind.

Initially I played the X20 irons with the stock Uniflex shaft - midkick, low-mid torque. Although X20 was a UGI club, the shaft kept the short irons from ballooning.

My current X20 Tour irons have PX 5.0 rifle flighted shafts. The flighting gives a lower kickpoint on the longer irons, and higher kickpoint on the short irons. This means I can hit the 3i (as a driving iron, still lower flight than a FW), but don't have trouble with ballooning the short irons.

Also, don't forget the physics of your iron's clubhead design. Look up the Maltby Playability Factor printout for the irons you're considering at http://www.ralphmaltby.com/ .   You know a lot about golf club impact, and you could look at the iron model's MPF subscores to get an idea of how different head designs might contribute to launch angle.

[yeis20]

I agree a higher ball flight can be beneficial at times but I often feel my flight is too high. Some shots balloon and spend to much time up in the air where wind impacts the shot. 6 iron to my wedges I feel I get too much height, even if I play the ball back in my stance a bit more and try to keep it lower. I paid a good bit of attention to shafting on some wood upgrades last year and my ball flight has come down a good bit and definitely gets through the wind better. I dont feel like I am losing distance, if anything I have gained some yardage and the ball gets down to the ground faster with more roll out. To me I have more confidence when the ball doesnt turn as much in the air, wether its a baby draw or slight fade.

[szaino]

The DG's have a high bend or kick point and produce a lower trajectory. Soft stepping the DG irons would increase the trajectory. So I am not sure why this was recommended if you are trying to bring your ball flight down. The Project X are a great shaft, but then again, the DG's are also a great shaft. Believe me, save yourself a lot of money and get matched to the proper DG shaft.

Some people just have a higher ball flight due to their build/swing. Some people have a higher ball flight because the shaft isn't matched properly. Your HL shafts are a "High Launch" , probably part of he problem.

Answer this and I will tell you what I think.

- What is your club head speed of your driver?

- how far do you hit your driver?

- does the driver have a high, average, or low trajectory?

- what shaft is in your driver?

- How far do you hit a 6 iron?

- how far do you hit your PW?

Driver shafts (graphite) and iron shafts for irons are 2 different animals.

[yeis20]

- What is your club head speed of your driver? average is close to 110, 108-115 typically

- how far do you hit your driver? centered will go 290+

- does the driver have a high, average, or low trajectory? I would say medium typically, its a nice ball flight

- what shaft is in your driver? Taylormade TP fubuki stiff flex

- How far do you hit a 6 iron? 180 - 190 carry, I swing smotther with my mid to higher iron (4-6 irons)

- how far do you hit your PW? 135-140 carry, I chase these a bit more, my playing buddies can hit there long iorns farther, but I typically hit my 9iron down to wedges longer

Thank you for your feedback

[szaino]

All of your data would indicate that you should be using stiffer shafts.

Irons- I would go with the DG x100 (not tipped or soft stepped.) The Project X 6.0 that was recommended is a soft stiff and you would be better off with the 6.5 which is a soft xtra stiff. 7.0 is a xstiff.

There are 3 Project X shafts out there. The new Project X PXI is a higher launch than the other Project X shafts.

Driver- You need to get on a monitor to fine tune this shaft. If you hit your irons high I am willing to bet that your driver is also a little high. I can almost guarantee you that you could greatly benefit from an Xstiff with a lower launch trajectory (high bend point). Not sure which Fubuki shaft you have because they offer several at different launch angles and most are mid/high.

A great, not too expensive shaft is the graffalloy pro launch red.

At your club head speed, If you are not getting these results with your driver, you are losing a lot of distance.

Launch Angle - 10-14 degrees

Angle of attack- on the upswing +-  a couple of degrees

Spin rate: 2,600-2,900

Don't feel that because you hit the ball so far that you should not fine tune this club. Fine tuning will allow you to get the same distance with a slower more controlled swing which will greatly enhance your consistency and accuracy.

[yeis20]

I really like the flight on my curent driver and 3 wood, driver has the TP fubuki (80g?) and ball flight is what  I would call mid. I think the 3 wood has the adila nvs stiff and I dont feel it bend as much as the staft in my 5 wood.Played 2 times this week and had a guy with a gps tracked 2 pured drives from the tee. 1 was 317, the other was 310 to a slightly up hill fairway / green. Niether looked low or balloned... would of called both strikes perfect trajectory to my eye. I get the sensation on a pured driver swing that either the face of the club or the ball I am playing (tour B330) gives... meaning I can feel the spring like effect of the ball or the face of the club compressing the ball, could be both. The b330 doesnt feel as mushy as the titleist pro-v ball either. Its been windy in the northeast lately so I have really been feeling the impact on my short irons. On a non or very low wind day my 50 degree gap wedge is my 125 yard club, into a 15-20 mph wind I struggle to get my club selection  distance right due to my higher ball flight in my short irons. All the more reason to get all this great feedback and get the right setup for irons / shaft combo. I feel comfortable playing my driver almost mid stance to very slightly forward of middle and produce a nice boring trajectory with a nice baby draw that I love to play. I do this on my other woods as well.

Once I get passed my 6 iron, the ball flight might be due to the ball placement in my stance as well. I can play 7iron and down to wedge a little back in my stance but it looks uncomfortable but I am practing at it. I use an adams idea boxer tour proto 3h that has a great lower to mid trajectory. the shaft on it feels REALLY stiff and it works well for me. Ball flight on this club is lower then my 5 wood and I often find myself choosing the hybrid over the 5wood due to this.

My 5 wood defintely needs to be replaced but it has a really special place in my bag... its the club I holed out my 2nd shot on a par 5 from 210 uphill into a slight left to right wind back in 08, but alas it needs to be retired.

Its an expensive endevour to do all this but well worth it due to my passion for the game. Just trying to know all I can before I lay the money down for the purchases. Doesnt help being a lefty either :)