Help, I cut down my wedge and now anything beyond 60yds is a disaster

[Bomber09]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum and would like to ask a series of questions mainly pertaining to a 58 degree wedge that I cut down and regripped. Here's the problem:

I recently have gotten extremely accurate with my 54 and 58 degree wedges. Though I've never been fitted for wedges, I noticed that when I started to get really accurate with them I was always choking down. I mean a good 2in's down on full shots(3/4 swings). Being able to stop it where it lands, one hop stops, low shots, high shots, everything. On occasion all that extra shaft would get in the way or make some shots that seemed easy, complicated, so I did what anyone would do, I cut it. I measured how much I was gripping down, left an extra 1/4 inch that my palm wouldnt contact and cut it. Now the club is so different I can only control it on chips and short pitches, but anything beyond 60 yrs is a disaster. I was previously able to use that 58 from 85yrds to the green comfortable. Here are the changes I've made.

Original set up: 

Mizuno mp t4 58/10 stock everything to include standard grip, with stock dg spinner shaft, wedge flex.

Changes: 

Cut 2.25 in from shaft, regripped with golf pride tour velvet midsize grip.

I know that sounds short but that is an awesome length for me. I just need to know how to get the feel back. I was thinking lead tape, but how much?

Thanks in advance!

[RandallT]

8 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

so I did what anyone would do, I cut it.

I'm not a tinkerer, so I get a kick out of that line.

I've read that changing the length of a shaft will impact the flex of the shaft:

So what you are experiencing makes sense to me. But you also gripped down on the club, so that would kind effectively change the length of the lever arm-- it wasn't obvious to me that would totally change the characteristics of the club, but it seems to have.

Good luck! Calling @Hacker James who seems to love to tinker with his clubs.

 

[Bomber09]

Yeah I even looked on this website that has a swingweight calculator and after i did all the measurements and weight, it says its sw is now B7/8. The original specs of the club was a D3 I believe. Im lost, been researching how to fix it for days now.

[Groucho Valentine]

I couldn't stop from laughing when i read the title of this thread. Then i opened it up and it did not disappoint.Why would you do that, dude? Just choke down..lol.

You can try lead tape to get the club swinging at a weight you like, but too much will throw you off even more.. 

[Lihu]

18 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum and would like to ask a series of questions mainly pertaining to a 58 degree wedge that I cut down and regripped. Here's the problem:

I recently have gotten extremely accurate with my 54 and 58 degree wedges. Though I've never been fitted for wedges, I noticed that when I started to get really accurate with them I was always choking down. I mean a good 2in's down on full shots(3/4 swings). Being able to stop it where it lands, one hop stops, low shots, high shots, everything. On occasion all that extra shaft would get in the way or make some shots that seemed easy, complicated, so I did what anyone would do, I cut it. I measured how much I was gripping down, left an extra 1/4 inch that my palm wouldnt contact and cut it. Now the club is so different I can only control it on chips and short pitches, but anything beyond 60 yrs is a disaster. I was previously able to use that 58 from 85yrds to the green comfortable. Here are the changes I've made.

Original set up: 

Mizuno mp t4 58/10 stock everything to include standard grip, with stock dg spinner shaft, wedge flex.

Changes: 

Cut 2.25 in from shaft, regripped with golf pride tour velvet midsize grip.

I know that sounds short but that is an awesome length for me. I just need to know how to get the feel back. I was thinking lead tape, but how much?

Thanks in advance!

Two things could have happened.

One is when you grip down on the club the grip diameter is lessened. When you cut the shaft and added the mid-size grip you increased the grip diameter by a lot.

The other is that the swing weight is a lot different. You already surmised that by thinking of adding lead tape.

Not sure what I would do in your case? 2.25 inches less seems like a lot.

What is your lie angle?

[Bomber09]

I also went by the shaft cutting directions and cut from the butt end.

[Lihu]

5 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

I also went by the shaft cutting directions and cut from the butt end.

What's your lie angle? (shaft angle relative to the ground)

Help, @WUTiger?

[Bomber09]

Standard lie which im usually 1 degree flat on my reg irons so shortening it may have helped the lie angle a little. 

Yeah and like i said to in the original post, choking down got in the way, i was holding the steel on most shots, it got annoying. I just gotta get the feel back. Who know I may buy a used one and get fitted with it. I guarntee it will come out to the same length as the one i cut.

[Lihu]

2 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Standard lie which im usually 1 degree flat on my reg irons so shortening it may have helped the lie angle a little. 

Yeah and like i said to in the original post, choking down got in the way, i was holding the steel on most shots, it got annoying. I just gotta get the feel back. Who know I may buy a used one and get fitted with it. I guarntee it will come out to the same length as the one i cut.

A DTL picture of you at setup might help us?

Help, @WUTiger?

[DaveP043]

22 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Changes: 

Cut 2.25 in from shaft, regripped with golf pride tour velvet midsize grip.

I know that sounds short but that is an awesome length for me. I just need to know how to get the feel back. I was thinking lead tape, but how much?

Thanks in advance!

Another thing that trimming the butt end does is to change the weight balance by removing weight from "above" your hands.  To get back to the same feel, you may want to experiment with a little weight right at the butt end of the club, to "mimic" the amount of steel you've trimmed off.  Here's one way to do that:

http://www.golfworks.com/universal-counter-balancing-system/p/GW0113/

5 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Yeah I even looked on this website that has a swingweight calculator and after i did all the measurements and weight, it says its sw is now B7/8. The original specs of the club was a D3 I believe. Im lost, been researching how to fix it for days now.

The original swingweight may have been D3, but that kind of assumes that you're gripping it near the end of the grip.  When you were gripping down by several inches, the "effective swingweight" was well below D3, was probably even below the B7/8 that you're estimating now.  Again, adding a little weight to the butt end might give you a feel similar to the way you were swinging it.  

Also as @Lihu mentions, previously you were gripping down onto the thinner section of a standard-size grip.  Going from that "smaller than standard" up to the largest part of a mid-size grip is a significant increase in diameter.  To reproduce the same size as you were used to before, you may need to use a undersized grip, rather than a larger mid-size.

[Bomber09]

Youre probably right about going back to standard grip size. The midsize feels so much better on everything in the bag. And i thought about adding weight to the butt. Everything i was readyin was pointing to the head, but i agree the butt makes more sense.

Also i do have pretty long arms, i use to play alot of other sport to include basketball. Im 5'7 with a wingspan of an average person of 6'1.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Bomber09

[Piz]

Shaft extensions are inexpensive.  Restore the club to its original length, minus 1/2, and see how it goes.  Club tweaks are best done in small increments.

[Hatchman]

49 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Original set up: 

Mizuno mp t4 58/10 stock everything to include standard grip, with stock dg spinner shaft, wedge flex.

Changes: 

Cut 2.25 in from shaft.

Well what do you know.  Someone else who tries things.  As a DG Spinner shaft player, probably a 124g, you have changed the swing weight as you know.   But also, the kick point.  Does your ball flight rise or take off low like you thinned it now?  It might not be saveable.  That shaft typically likes to be loaded.  The lower the swing weight the lower they hit for me.  I tried it too.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Hatchman

[Bomber09]

If i do anything with the shaft I would probably replace it with the same shaft on my irons. To be honest this spinner section of the shaft is mildly annoying. If i cant fix this with some simple solution like butt weighting or leadtape, Im probably gonna reshaft it. The kbs 130g x flex gos for $18 on ebay.

[rehmwa]

Have tried just hitting all your drives to within 60yds?

[Bomber09]

The ball flight is about the same, maybe a little higher? Not enough to consider a flight change. My biggest issue is controlling the head with the weight loss. Too pick it up it doesnt feel much different but to swing it seems like i maybe a lil lost unless its really slow soft tempo. 

[iacas]

Yeah… re-shaft it back to the way it was. Then grip down when you want to hit a grip-down type shot.

[Hatchman]

4 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

If i do anything with the shaft I would probably replace it with the same shaft on my irons. To be honest this spinner section of the shaft is mildly annoying. If i cant fix this with some simple solution like butt weighting or leadtape, Im probably gonna reshaft it. The kbs 130g x flex gos for $18 on ebay.

Your playing irons with 130's and wanted to cut that down 2.5".  Yea, I'd get a good used pull from eBay then since you had some accuracy success prior.