Shaft question

[Alohaed]

Been reading positive reviews, and posts, about the Titleist 716 AP1s. Will go to PGATSS and hit them soon. Here's my issue with these. The PW is 43 loft. Insane. No wonder I see they have 2 gap wedges between this and a sand wedge. Can one get fitted for a shaft that can make up the difference, hitting this PW the same ball flight and distance as a normal 46 PW? And similarly, if I were to have a combo AP1, AP2 set, 5, 6 AP1, then 7 - GW AP2, there will be a 6 degree difference between the 6 and 7 irons.

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, Alohaed said:

Been reading positive reviews, and posts, about the Titleist 716 AP1s. Will go to PGATSS and hit them soon. Here's my issue with these. The PW is 43 loft. Insane. No wonder I see they have 2 gap wedges between this and a sand wedge. 

The loft on the club is only part of the equation. A lot about how the golf ball launches has to do with CG, the length of the club, and the type of golf shaft. 

Also, gap wedges don't matter. In the end you are fitting 7-8 irons between your woods/hybrids to your wedges. It doesn't matter what the irons are labelled. You are still buying 7-8 irons and they need to have good yardage gaps 

1 hour ago, Alohaed said:

Can one get fitted for a shaft that can make up the difference, hitting this PW the same ball flight and distance as a normal 46 PW? 

Sure, add about 1-1.5 inches to the iron. Though you will lose accuracy. 

1 hour ago, Alohaed said:

 And similarly, if I were to have a combo AP1, AP2 set, 5, 6 AP1, then 7 - GW AP2, there will be a 6 degree difference between the 6 and 7 irons.

Again, it depends on a lot more than loft. Though I agree it might be tricky to mix those two irons sets. 

[WUTiger]

If you go with full AP1, you might play make-believe: pretend the 43* PW is a 9i, the 39* 9i is an 8i, etc. Then, figure out which three wedges you want at the top. As far as mixing up wedge shafts, that could be iffy.

I posed a similar question to a fitter from Tom Wishon's online site. The fitter said that for wedges, loft influences distance quite a bit more than shaft length does.

On new wedges, general wisdom says get the iron set selected, and then pick wedges to match.

You have a lot of moving parts in your question. Why not talk to the fitter and get some advice? A good fitter knows secrets for overcoming such problems.

[Alohaed]

Of course I will talk to a fitter when the time comes. I would not buy irons without being fully fit. I am only wondering if my questions were possible.

[1badbadger]

I agree that 43* seems strong for a PW, but like saevel mentioned, just consider it a 43* club and disregard what is stamped on the bottom (at least while configuring your set).  I happen to have a 43* iron in my bag, the one before it is 39*, then after it goes 47*, 52*, 56*, 60*.  My point is it doesn't really matter what number is stamped on any of these clubs...my 43* is the same loft as the 43* in the set you are considering.

Regarding the gap between the 6 and 7 irons if you go with a combo set...honestly, the gap in lofts doesn't matter.  It the gaps in distance that are important.  Who knows...you might have the correct distance difference with the stock specs.  If not, and there is too much difference in distance, the lofts can be tweaked.  That's easy to do with forged irons.  

As far as a shaft that will turn the 43* PW into a more traditional 46* PW (if I understand that correctly), no, I don't know of a shaft that will accomplish that.  Even if there was, that would create a distance gap between the PW and 9 iron.  I would suggest adding a 46 or 47* wedge rather than try to make the 43* play like a 46*.