Re-shafting Callaway X2 Hot Irons - Question

[msmalls22]

So I recently had my entire bag stolen out of my garage...you don't realize how much stuff is in your bag until it's gone completely!  Bye bye Scotty Cameron putter, new Adidas shoes, tons of Pro V1s, wedges, everything!

 

Either way, got a killer deal on some "like new" irons and I am re-shafting them.  My question is about length.  I have always had precision rifle shafts in every set of Irons I have ever played.  These come with TT speedster 85 shafts.

 

So off to the interwebs I went to find a set of 8 shafts (4-AW) of Precision rifle shafts.  Now that is what I am seeing, which is confusing the heck out of me...standard specs according to Callaway for iron length are as follows (with speedster TT shafts):

 

4  -   38.50"

5  -  38"

6  -  37.50"

7  -  37.00"

8  -  36.50"

9  -  36.00"

PW  -  35.75"

AW  -  35.50"

 

So I find a set of 3-PW Rifle shafts (seem to be the better ones, before they got ruined by TT, I LOVE these shafts) however these are the lengths of the shafts (see below)

If you notice the longest shaft is 37.375 inches, whereas my TT Speedster shafts have a 38.50 inch shaft length?  Is that due to the FCM of the rifle shafts?  That's a difference of 1.125 inches in length on my 4 iron?  

Should I try to find some uncut shafts?  They are out there but they are the newer Precision rifle shafts after they were purchased and I didn't like those as much

 

37-3/8

36-3/4

36-1/4

35-3/4

35-1/4

34-3/4

34-11/16

34-3/4

 

[WUTiger]

It appears that the pullouts you have are 1 1/4" shorter than the final length of the club you want to put them in.

In your planning you need to account for two things:

• Bore depth: how far the shaft fits down into the hosel
• Bore end to sole depth: How far is the bottom of the hosel bore from the sole.

(I apologize for using a driver head as an example; but, the measurements are the same for irons.)

So, if you had a 4i shaft that measured 37 3/8", would insert about 1" of shaft into the bore. that would be 36 3/8". But if you have 2" of bore end to sole length, this would add back to 38 3/8"; allow 1/8" more length for the standard grip cap, and this would return you to 38 1/4".

Key missing info: I have no idea how long the bore end to sole* dimension is for X2Hot irons.

(* If anyone knows the correct name for this dimension, please share!)

[msmalls22]

So the length of the iron listed on the specs of these irons isn't the actual length of the shaft but the length of the iron with the shaft. Makes sense. 

[WUTiger]

Yes, but you still need to determine the depth of the bore in the hosel. If it's more than 1", or the iron has a shallow face, you might end up with a shaft shorter than you want.

[msmalls22]

11 hours ago, WUTiger said:

Yes, but you still need to determine the depth of the bore in the hosel. If it's more than 1", or the iron has a shallow face, you might end up with a shaft shorter than you want.

I am putting rifle shafts in them (older R.P. models before they were purchased by TT), I just don't have access to the pro who put my last set of irons together so I am trusting this local guy up here knows what he is doing.  The shafts came pre-cut from 3-PW and I have 4-GW so the 3i shaft is going into my 4 iron, 4i shaft is going into my 5 iron, ect. 

I think as long as they are cut to the correct length for me since they are parallel .370 shafts going into .370 irons I shouldn't have any problems!!!

Just need to find the length that works best for me right now and he should be able to butt trim everything and not even have to worry about trimming the tips going into the hosel.

[WUTiger]

3 minutes ago, msmalls22 said:

The shafts came pre-cut from 3-PW and I have 4-GW so the 3i shaft is going into my 4 iron, 4i shaft is going into my 5 iron, ect. 

If you do this, you will be softstepping the shaft: You will come up a third a flex softer across the iron set. Again, you need to pre-measure everything to ensure you don't come up short on length in the reshafting.

Since the hosel and shafts are both parallel tip, you could tip-trim the shaft a half inch if you didn't want a softstep.

3 minutes ago, msmalls22 said:

so I am trusting this local guy up here knows what he is doing.

I would discuss the reshafting with this person to make sure he has the right skills. I'm surprised at the number of "clubsmiths" who are qualified to replace a shaft or do regrips, but not more complex projects.

I had a scare a few years ago when I approached a veteran "clubsmith" about reshafting my X20 Tour irons from Project.X to NS Pro. He didn't understand the difference between parallel tip and taper tip shafts. I politely said goodbye and went elsewhere.

[msmalls22]

1 minute ago, WUTiger said:

If you do this, you will be softstepping the shaft: You will come up a third a flex softer across the iron set. Again, you need to pre-measure everything to ensure you don't come up short on length in the reshafting.

Well technically the 3i sticker on the shaft doesn't mean it has to be used for a 3 iron, it's just labeled that way (or so I thought???).  The length of that shaft is 41 inches.  If I want to put that shaft in my 4 iron as long as it is the proper length it shouldn't matter?

All the shafts are labeled but that doesn't mean they *have* to go into the irons they have listed on the stickers...?  It's just helping by labeling them?

As long as the shafts are cut to the proper length I should be fine?  Now I am worried here.  I never had these concerns the last time I had rifle shafts put in my irons and they worked flawlessly for almost 10 years....???

1 minute ago, msmalls22 said:

Well technically the 3i sticker on the shaft doesn't mean it has to be used for a 3 iron, it's just labeled that way (or so I thought???).  The length of that shaft is 41 inches.  If I want to put that shaft in my 4 iron as long as it is the proper length it shouldn't matter?

All the shafts are labeled but that doesn't mean they *have* to go into the irons they have listed on the stickers...?  It's just helping by labeling them?

As long as the shafts are cut to the proper length I should be fine?  Now I am worried here.  I never had these concerns the last time I had rifle shafts put in my irons and they worked flawlessly for almost 10 years....???

Sorry just to clarify, the numbers I have listed up above are not accurate, I purchased a different set of Rifle shafts, with the 3i "labeled" shaft which is the longest being 41"

As long as that shaft is cut to the proper length for my X2 Hot irons which would be the following :

4  -   38.50"  (this includes the iron, not just the length of the shaft)

God this was so much simpler years ago, why is this so confusing now?  Tip trimming, soft stepping, these are all things I never heard of.  I literally brought my set of shafts and grips to my guy, he cut them to the proper length, installed them in my irons and I was good to go.  And I don't think he was a "rifle expert".

[WUTiger]

Inserting the shafts as is (no tip trim) should work out OK. The irons might feel a bit smoother in the swing.

As long as you don't have a superviolent swing and overpower your shafts with regular snap hooks, you should be fine.

(I just wanted to make you aware of softstep.)

[msmalls22]

13 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Inserting the shafts as is (no tip trim) should work out OK. The irons might feel a bit smoother in the swing.

As long as you don't have a superviolent swing and overpower your shafts with regular snap hooks, you should be fine.

(I just wanted to make you aware of softstep.)

Thank you, your feedback is VERY much appreciated.  In order to avoid "soft stepping"  would my best bet be to trim the tip of the 3i shaft so it is the same length as the 4i shaft?  

Then install it in the 4 iron and butt trim the remaining shaft I don't need?  

Meaning a Callaway X2 4 iron is 38.50" in length with the iron/shaft/grip installed.  

So i take my 41" 3i shaft, match it to the 4i shaft length (by trimming the tip), then install it (and let's say I have an Iron+Shaft that is 42.50 inches in length when done)

then go ahead and trim 1 5/8 inches off the shaft?  That way my iron + shaft is 38.125 inches and then once the grips are installed I get another 3/8 of an inch for a total length of 38.50 which would match the OEM length of the X2 irons?

Did that all make sense or am I way off base?

Edited July 27, 2017 by msmalls22

[WUTiger]

An easier way would be to put the 4i shaft in the 4i // 5i shaft in the 5i // etc..

Then, you would finally tip-trim the 3i shaft to fit the second wedge. Remember, for parallel tip shafts, the basic shafts are all the same before trimming.

1 hour ago, msmalls22 said:

...then go ahead and trim 1 5/8 inches off the shaft?  That way my iron + shaft is 38.125 inches and then once the grips are installed I get another 3/8 of an inch for a total length of 38.50 which would match the OEM length of the X2 irons?

Also, your total length calculation is a bit off. The cap of the grip adds 1/8" to the length, not 3/8".
--------

@boogielicious, can you check my calculations on this?

Edited July 27, 2017 by WUTiger
Note to boogie

[msmalls22]

1 hour ago, WUTiger said:

An easier way would be to put the 4i shaft in the 4i // 5i shaft in the 5i // etc..

Then, you would finally tip-trim the 3i shaft to fit the second wedge. Remember, for parallel tip shafts, the basic shafts are all the same before trimming.

Also, your total length calculation is a bit off. The cap of the grip adds 1/8" to the length, not 3/8".
--------

@boogielicious, can you check my calculations on this?

I just spoke with a local club fitter that all the courses around here use and he emulated what you said, indicating that the shafts are essentially all the same (meaning the 3i shaft is technically the same as the 9i shaft, it's just longer.  No other "different" attributes).

He indicated he would put the 3i shaft in my 4i and just butt trim it to match the length of my current shafts.  So my current 4i is 38.50" in total.

He is going to make my 4i the exact same length except obviously it will have the rifle shaft in it.  So say my speedster TT shaft in my 4i is 36" long when he pulls it out, he is going to cut my rifle shaft (butt trimming, not tip obviously) so it is 36" in length.  You indicated this will "soft step" them a little but he seemed to think it would be barely noticeable....(opinions?)

He said he has put rifle shafts in at least 10 sets of irons so he has done the work before.  I am closing the auction today once I accept the offer so hopefully this guy knows what he is doing!  He's only charging me $10 a club (I bought the grips/shafts/ferrules) so $80 bucks for 4,5,6,7,8,9,PW,AW isn't too bad!

If you think there is a better way for this to be approached please let me know so I can pass it along when I receive the shafts and drop everything off.

[WUTiger]

16 minutes ago, msmalls22 said:

You indicated this will "soft step" them a little but he seemed to think it would be barely noticeable....(opinions?)

He's right... The 3i tipped in the 4i head would be about a third of a flex softer - most people can't feel it. And at $10 a club... all I can say is, Enjoy!

Keep us posted on how the Rifles work out for you.

[msmalls22]

Just now, WUTiger said:

He's right... The 3i tipped in the 4i head would be about a third of a flex softer - most people can't feel it. And at $10 a club... all I can say is, Enjoy!

Keep us posted on how the Rifles work out for you.

I will, thank you again for all of your help!  I feel much more comfortable now getting this done.  I was so close to actually going somewhere that was ridiculously expensive because I was worried!

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, WUTiger said:

An easier way would be to put the 4i shaft in the 4i // 5i shaft in the 5i // etc..

Then, you would finally tip-trim the 3i shaft to fit the second wedge. Remember, for parallel tip shafts, the basic shafts are all the same before trimming.

Also, your total length calculation is a bit off. The cap of the grip adds 1/8" to the length, not 3/8".
--------

@boogielicious, can you check my calculations on this?

Some of the GolfPride grips add 1/4" such as the New Decade and MCC +4

[msmalls22]

19 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Some of the GolfPride grips add 1/4" such as the New Decade and MCC +4

I got Winn wraps (7715w).  I have been told in order to not "soft step" I should be trimming about 5/8" from the tip of each iron, 

Meaning take 5/8" off the 3i shaft, then install in the 4i and trim the rest from the butt end to reach the desired club length...

Is that accurate?  Last question, I promise.

[boogielicious]

47 minutes ago, msmalls22 said:

I got Winn wraps (7715w).  I have been told in order to not "soft step" I should be trimming about 5/8" from the tip of each iron, 

Meaning take 5/8" off the 3i shaft, then install in the 4i and trim the rest from the butt end to reach the desired club length...

Is that accurate?  Last question, I promise.

Sounds right. Before trimming the butt end, measure the thickness of the butt of the grip. Measure the total length, then stick a long thin item into the grip and get the inside length. The difference is the butt thickness. 

Then account for that thickness when the butt of the shaft is trimmed, by subtracting the grip butt thickness. 

We're only talking a small amount, so if you are off by 1/8" it is not a big deal. 

[msmalls22]

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Sounds right. Before trimming the butt end, measure the thickness of the butt of the grip. Measure the total length, then stick a long thin item into the grip and get the inside length. The difference is the butt thickness. 

Then account for that thickness when the butt of the shaft is trimmed, by subtracting the grip butt thickness. 

We're only talking a small amount, so if you are off by 1/8" it is not a big deal. 

My shafts are already trimmed (I am guessing), they are not blanks (each shaft is a different length).  Easy way to check would be measure the shaft with the "3i" sticker and see if it is exactly 5/8" longer than the 4i shaft (as seen in the image below)

I think the winning answer would be put all of the shafts in the proper iron and then trim the 3i shaft for my AW?  According to this it should be tip trimmed by 7 inches (if it were a blank)?  

The fact that the 3i shaft is already trimmed by 1 inch (and currently 41 inches long), and the AW should be trimmed by 7 inches would mean I should trim another 6 inches, correct?  Since all of the shafts are labeled, I am guessing they are all already properly tipped?  Meaning if I had a set of 3-PW I wouldn't have to tip trim any of them, just adjust length by trimming from the butt of the shaft?

Edited July 28, 2017 by msmalls22

[msmalls22]

Sorry, AW is 6" so I should trim the 3i by another 5" to make it the "same" as an AW shaft....