9 iron xp95 R300 shaft for wedges

[Zman7575]

Does anyone know if you can cut down a nine iron shaft for a pitching wedge or a gap wedge?

[WUTiger]

A couple of things to keep in mind.

You can just put a 9i shaft into a wedge and butt trim it. or, you can use a numbered iron shaft to softstep a wedge.

For taper tip shafts (.355 tip) most manufacturers have a eight or nine shaft templates, one designed for each of the numbered irons.

KBS tapers come in 2i through 9/W, with 9i and wedges using the same shaft template (see insert). Taper tips only get butt cut, so you simply trim the 9i shaft shorter if it ends up in a wedge.

Spoiler

Nippon NS Pro tapers, such as the NS Pro 950, come in 1i through W. So, NS has a separate wedge template in its 950 shaft.

And, both companies offer shafts specifically made for wedges: Nippon has the Modus3 Pro Wedge shafts, and KBS has four unique shafts for wedges.

Parallel tip shafts all the same weight and length for a given flex; the clubfitter just tip trims them for the specific numbered iron flex, and butt trims to length.

Earlier era players like Jack Nicklaus would put a shaft tip-trimmed for an 8i in their wedges. Basically, they were softstepping the wedge shafts to allow a softer touch on partial shots.  This was before specialty wedge shafts. 

[Zman7575]

Thanks WUTiger I Will try that. even if it does soften the flex a little, it's better than the limp noodle graphite that are in there now! I was also reading you could only tip trim about 3/8 on a taper (.355) shaft. Or you might not seat shaft in hosel. Again thanks.

[WUTiger]

10 minutes ago, Zman7575 said:

I was also reading you could only tip trim about 3/8 on a taper (.355) shaft. Or you might not seat shaft in hosel.

If you're trying to soften the flex on a .355 shaft set, the best thing to do is soft-step it. If  you put taper tipped for 8i into a wedge, you end up with a longer flexible tip area than you would get with a 9/W shaft. Because the flex area is a half-inch longer, you get a softer flex.

(You then get desired shaft length by trimming from the butt.)

On occasion, you'll see the 8i or 9i taper lengths on a hot new shaft end up back-ordered - that's because clubfitters are ordering multiple 8i shafts with the set: one for 8i, and maybe a couple for wedges.

[Zman7575]

I'm not really trying to soften the flex but I would like to keep it as close to original specs as possible. As you can tell I'm just now getting into adjusting my own clubs. But I guess if I tip the club a 1/4 it might negate some of the soft step.

[arturo28mx]

I've done it before. My Titleist AP2 pitching wedge is just 1/4" shorter than the 9 iron, so using a 9 iron shaft on the pitching wedge is like a half of one softstep, hardly noticeable. Using the 9 iron shaft on a gap wedge, which is 1/2" shorter then the 9 iron, that would be one softstep, but again, barely noticeable. Go ahead and don't worry about it.