Soft/hard stepping shafts

[EZ 3 PUTT]

To all and anyone in the know on this subject.. I am only 6 years into the great game and I'm becoming a sponge to knowledge. Can someone please explain. 1. What is soft stepping/ hard stepping a shaft? 2. What are the benefits or affects of the performance of the club?

[billchao]

Soft/hard stepping can be done to your irons to alter the feel of the clubs. It's something you'd get done if you were "in between" flexes on your clubs and needed something slightly stiffer or softer.

Soft stepping means you take all the shafts out of your irons and install each one in the next iron in numerical order. Basically, take your 3i shaft and install it in your 4i, your 4i shaft in your 5i, etc. Makes the irons feel a little bit softer because they are slightly longer.

Hard stepping is the same process, but in reverse. You take your PW shaft and install it in your 9i, your 9i shaft in your 8i, etc. Makes the irons feel a bit firmer because they are slightly shorter.

You'd need an additional shaft to replace the odd one out from either end unless you custom ordered.

I'm not sure they really do much for the performance of the clubs on their own. It's more likely that they will perform differently because the golfer will react to the different feeling clubs. The important thing is that the clubs are fit properly.

[EZ 3 PUTT]

Thank you.. appreciate the knowledge

[WUTiger]

Here's a more detailed explanation of softstepping from last year.

Softstepping the shafts would mean putting the 7i-tipped shaft in the 8i, the 8i-tipped shaft in the 9i, etc. Softsteppping decreases the stiffness of a shaft by about 1/3 a flex. After moving the shaft up, you would need to trim 1/2" to keep club lengths to specifications. ...

... Again, can you use a launch monitor and get data using the Stiff vs. Regular versions of the shaft?

Also, do you have a clubfitter who could help you on this? Once you trim the shafts, you can't put metal back on.

(For full thread, see: http://thesandtrap.com/t/65120/nippon-950-gh-s-r-shafts#post_815939)

The shafts feel softer because you extend the length of the softer tip section of the shaft. For softstepping, you would need to trim 1/2" off the butt to keep the length and swingweight the same.

For hardstepping, you get a firmer feel by having less length in the softer tip section of the shaft. And, if you were hardstepping the original shafts that came with the irons, you would need to lengthen the shafts 1/2" to keep length and swingweight the same.

Again, softstepping decreases stiffness by 1/3 flex, while hardstepping increases stiffness by 1/3 flex.