Shortening my long irons

[lmkhl]

I recently cut down the shafts of my 4 and 5 irons to the length of my 7 iron. I don't really game these clubs as I usually just take out a hybrid whenever I feel like I need to use my 4 or 5, so I thought I'd tinker with these irons that I barely use. I know in cutting my shafts, I've changed the swing weights and adding lead tape might help a little bit, but what do I need to do with my lie angle? Anything else?

Would it make thaaaaaat much of a difference if I left it as is with the shortened shafts? I've taken them out on the range and hit some good and bad shots. I'm attributing that more to me than anything, but wondering if there is something I need to do since I've shortened to make them easier to hit. I figure if I just keep practicing as is, it'll still work, but I'm just a noob when it comes to all this.

 

[onthehunt526]

Your seven iron is 1.5" shorter than a standard four iron. So if you cut down your 4-iron to 7-iron length you would more than likely have to stand closer than usual to hit it. So your lie would need to be more upright. Maybe not to seven iron lie, but definitely a degree or so.

[SavvySwede]

I think you just ruined two perfectly good clubs.

[WUTiger]

I've heard of clubsmiths cutting 1/4" off one's longest iron to increase control. Cutting the 4i and 5i down to 7i length, however, is a lot different. Let's compare...

You would need quite a bit of lead tape to get back to D2 swingweight. Plus, you would need to adjust the lie angle because the shaft is shorter. In traditional irons, the 1/2" shaft length difference is good for 5-6 yards of the 10- to 12-yard difference between numbered irons. Shaft length, however, has less impact on distance in the wedges. (Most companies have 1/4" shaft length differences between categories of wedges. Or in case of Muzuno, the S5 wedges all come in at 35.25".)

The single-length irons such as the Cobra King F7 and the Sterling irons have specially engineered heads so that all have the same weight. The links describe other variations which make the "one length" irons work.

[Lagavulin62]

I recommend shaft extensions. 

In all seriousness if you like those irons I would leave them alone for now and work on your swing using the 7 and 6 iron. If you are using newer irons then the 6 & 7 are very good practice irons. It might be trying a different shaft later will give you more help with those longer irons. But from a swing development perspective I wouldn't recommend using clubs altered in that fashion. 

 

[1badbadger]

On 2/18/2017 at 9:21 AM, lmkhl said:

I recently cut down the shafts of my 4 and 5 irons to the length of my 7 iron. I don't really game these clubs as I usually just take out a hybrid whenever I feel like I need to use my 4 or 5, so I thought I'd tinker with these irons that I barely use. I know in cutting my shafts, I've changed the swing weights and adding lead tape might help a little bit, but what do I need to do with my lie angle? Anything else?

Would it make thaaaaaat much of a difference if I left it as is with the shortened shafts? I've taken them out on the range and hit some good and bad shots. I'm attributing that more to me than anything, but wondering if there is something I need to do since I've shortened to make them easier to hit. I figure if I just keep practicing as is, it'll still work, but I'm just a noob when it comes to all this.

 

Simply cutting down the 4 and 5 iron to the length of your 7 iron and re-gripping won't really work.  The 4 and 5 iron heads are much lighter than your 7 iron head, so as you mentioned the swingweight has changed considerably.  It will take a lot of lead tape to get the swingweight back up to where it was.

The lie angles are another aspect you were wondering about.  Yes, the lie angles should be adjusted to match your 7 iron.  If you left the clubs as-is, they will be almost un-hittable. I know you have taken them to the range and have hit some shots that were good, but next time you are on the course and have an approach shot in the 160-180 yd range, try hitting your 4 or 5 iron and see what happens.  The combination of the swingweight being so light and the lie angle so flat will have a huge effect.

The other thing a lot of people forget about is the shafts.  This will be more visually noticeable if you play shafts with steps, but it applies to all shafts.  The first step on your 4 iron shaft (from the top of the hosel to the first step at the tip end) is longer than your 5 iron.  The 5 iron should be 1/2" lower, and each iron after that will be 1/2" lower until you get to the 9 iron and wedges which are the same usually.  This is because the 4 iron head is lighter than the 5 iron, so for the shafts to have the same flex throughout the set they get stiffer from the long irons to the short irons.  When the butt end is cut to the 7 iron length and the swingweight is increased the result will be like having a 7 iron head on a 4 iron shaft (and a 7 iron head on a 5 iron shaft).  They will probably play pretty soft.  But if you leave them the way they are, they will play too stiff.

I hope this makes sense.  Let me know if you need me to clarify anything.

[mvmac]

@WUTiger and @1badbadger basically hit the nail on the head, it makes a big difference.

I'll also add that even if you got the swing weights right, made the lie angle more upright, got the shaft flex right, the 4 and 5 iron heads you currently have are most likely not designed to launch the ball high enough at a 7-iron length. So the 4 and 5 will fly lower and shorter.

[Single Length Irons Guy]

I did the same thing with a set of Ping G30s trying to test out the single length concept before I invested in a set of clubs. Long story short, it really didn't work because the lofts were not strong enough and I was hitting my 4 and 5 irons roughly the same distance as the 6 iron before I cut it down.

You can build a set of Pinhawk SL single length irons for about $250, which is not a bad price for a set of irons.

[406pat]

Hi, my name is Pat and I'm a compulsive tinkerer who can't leave a perfectly good mousetrap unimproved.

I currently game a set that I did this with. Took 4-7 down to 8 iron length. I took the heads off and cut from the tip to match the shaft profiles. My irons are game improvement and have a large cavity back (Callaway X-series n415). I was able to match the swingweight by using solder to cast large weights that fit the cavities which I glued in with silicone. Then fine tuned with lead tape. I had the lie angles adjusted on all of them and the 4 iron was over 2^o. Most clubs aren't recommended to be adjusted this far and even more rare is a tech willing to do that with a customers clubs. I had two techs refuse before I found a guy who was curious enough to give it a shot.

I have a faster swing so I still have good gapping with the long irons but I did lose at least 10 yds with the 4 iron and the launch is noticeably lower as @mvmac suggested it would be. Also, the stock lofts on my set are about a club strong so my 4 iron is really a 3 iron loft and so on. Part of the "you'll hit it 10 yards further with these clubs" sales pitch.

Personally I'm very happy with how things turned out. I'm liking having the shorter long irons and I don't notice any awkwardness with having a mixed set (8 iron and down standard length). I'm more accurate with my long irons and the swing feels much better. With that said, I wouldn't recommend taking the same route I did unless you're a person that is very comfortable tinkering, potentially wrecking perfectly good clubs, and getting funny looks and laughs when techs see your clubs. I'd recommend hitting the cobra one lengths or building Pinhawks as @Single Length Irons Guy suggested. The only reason that I didn't go the Pinhawk route was that I had just bought a new set of clubs right before I got turned on to the single length idea. The wife didn't notice the hacking and gluing, but there's no way I could have gotten away with having 2 new sets kicking around!

[DrvFrShow]

The single length irons did something with the MoI and CG and stuff to make them work. 

Your modern 4 iron is the old 1980s 2 iron loft, and not many players can hit it consistently well. It becomes a dead club except maybe off the tee. I put my rinky dinks in my bag last summer and pulled the long irons and played better.