Possible to change lofts of irons?

[poolman88]

Got a question hopefully someone can help me out with..

I have a set of snake eyes 675b forged irons i made a couple years ago but somehow I've lost both the 7 and 8 iron  . If I'm not mistaken they discontinued that iron head and no longer make it correct? The problem I'm having is I can't seem to find a used 8 iron in the 675b model but was wondering would it be possible if i took a 7 iron and bent it to the 8 iron specs or go with a 9 iron and de-loft it, is one better than the other or no difference, if its possible to begin with? 

Should i just suck it up and buy myself an actual 8 iron that matches somewhat close to the set like the 600b?  Wanted to see if anyones been down this road and what would be the best option? Thanks. 

[Lihu]

They're probably pretty close anyway, but I would check the bounce and lie before doing something like that.

I'm guessing that you use those irons for many of your approach shots? 

@WUTiger and @1badbadger might know the answer?

[Piz]

It would be better, given the two options, to weaken a 7 rather than strengthen a 9.  Weakening the loft of a club will increase the bounce.  The effect  would not be significant; but more bounce, however slight, is preferable to less bounce - particularly in the scoring clubs.  

[1badbadger]

I'm not a fan of bending an iron that much.  Turning a 7 iron into an 8 iron will reduce the bounce by about 4* and make it dig, and add a lot of offset into the hosel.  Turning a 9 iron into an 8 iron will increase the bounce by about 4* and add onset.  Either way, the club wouldn't play very well.

[poolman88]

Thanks for the replies. The bounce was one thing i didn't even think about but yeah that would create some issues that can't be controlled unless I wanted to get into grinding it down and thats another can of worms that doesn't need to be opened lol. It's seeming like a bigger mess to deal with just to have the club head perform correctly when learning of more things that will be affected changing lofts. I can deal with having a different model 7 & 8 iron knowing that the lofts are correct along with the bounce and any other issue that could arise de-lofting/lofting clubs. Appreciate the info guys thank you.

[WUTiger]

I had a similar problem when I lost the 7i for my Pro Tour Black set (custom-fit component clubs). The set's shaft was a Dynalite S300 which was easy to find. Current irons have stronger lofts than the old PTBs, so the best I could find was an 8i that had similar loft. The clubsmith built the 8i for me with a 7i-length shaft. I tested it out on launch monitor, and found I needed the loft 1* weaker to split the yardage between 6i and 8i.

As you may know, Snake Eyes was a house brand of Golfsmith, which got bought recently by Golf Galaxy. I searched around online, and Snake Eyes seems to have fallen off the map, other then for used club sales on eBay.

On 9/2/2017 at 9:45 PM, 1badbadger said:

I'm not a fan of bending an iron that much.  Turning a 7 iron into an 8 iron will reduce the bounce by about 4* and make it dig, and add a lot of offset into the hosel.  Turning a 9 iron into an 8 iron will increase the bounce by about 4* and add onset.  Either way, the club wouldn't play very well.

Given 1BB's caution, you could have someone build you an 8i and 9i using the heads from a similar iron model. You might get advice from local custom club shops that deal in component heads. And, hope the new clubs fits your game.

Or, you could build your self a new set of irons, or simply buy a set.

Edited September 4, 2017 by WUTiger

[1badbadger]

On 9/2/2017 at 9:45 PM, 1badbadger said:

I'm not a fan of bending an iron that much.  Turning a 7 iron into an 8 iron will reduce the bounce by about 4* and make it dig, and add a lot of offset into the hosel.  Turning a 9 iron into an 8 iron will increase the bounce by about 4* and add onset.  Either way, the club wouldn't play very well.

I said this backwards...Turning a 7 iron into an 8 iron will increase the bounce and make it skip, while adding onset.  Turning a 9 iron into an 8 iron will decrease the loft and make it dig, and also add offset.  

Thanks @Piz

[onthehunt526]

Have you checked eBay? While you might not be able to find the individual clubs... You may be able to find a set of them and shaft the 7 and 8 how you want. 

You can change lofts in irons fairly easily especially with forged heads. I wouldn't recommend 

Have you checked eBay? While you might not be able to find the individual clubs... You may be able to find a set of them and shaft the 7 and 8 how you want. 

You can change lofts in irons fairly easily especially with forged heads. I wouldn't recommend more than 2° strong or weak however... Due to the change in club dynamics.