Taper Tip VS Parallel Tip

[GB13]

I know the main difference between taper tip and parallel tip is whether or not it fits in the hosel properly. 

This may well be a stupid question but does parallel or taper tip affect performance at all?  

 

[Rtracymog]

No it just affects the type of club that the shafts will fit in. Taylormade is always annoying because their M line is .370 tip and the P line is .355, but their fitting shafts fit all the heads because some shafts fit both styles.


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[GB13]

3 hours ago, Rtracymog said:

No it just affects the type of club that the shafts will fit in. Taylormade is always annoying because their M line is .370 tip and the P line is .355, but their fitting shafts fit all the heads because some shafts fit both styles.


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Thanks. That helps a lot. 

[jaskanski]

It affects several things. 

Taper tips are normally constant weight shafts - ie the 9-iron shaft weighs the same as the 3-iron shaft despite the difference in length. The flex progression or "slope" is pretty constant too, meaning it's a much easier task for club builders to make a set to spec and if the end user likes a swing weight matched set.

Parallel tips are slightly different. Each shaft comes from a set length blank which has to be trimmed at the tip to achieve the desired flex and trimmed at the butt to achieve the desire length - or a combination of both. This creates a descending weight shaft (if you have descending length set of irons) which makes for much more detailed work for the club builder to get a set built to spec. It has advantages such as making a specific flex frequency, but it is very much under used in the industry and by OEM's for the labour intensive assembly process when using them. 

Is there a performance difference? Well that depends on how you've made the set to perform. If you're comparing apples to apples in for example the venerable Dynamic Gold - they're nothing like each other at all even when built to the same flex - simply because of the weight difference, but also because the tip to first step flex is completely different too, making the launch and spin different. Tapers are softest in the long irons and stiffest in the short irons whereas Parallels tend to be stiffer in the longer irons and softer in the shorter irons - good players will notice the difference instantly, but in general the Taper shaft plays much stiffer in the tip than it's Parallel counterpart.

As mentioned before because of the trimming involved, the parallel shaft will work out much lighter when trimmed to length especially in the shorter irons. For example a wedge DG shaft will be around 123g trimmed to length for a taper, whereas the Parallel shaft trimmed to the same length will be 110g - a big difference.

[Craigs24]

On 10/6/2018 at 2:14 PM, GB13 said:

I know the main difference between taper tip and parallel tip is whether or not it fits in the hosel properly. 

This may well be a stupid question but does parallel or taper tip affect performance at all?  

 

I realize this is an older thread, but I'm trying to figure our parallel vs. tapered. My question is this: How do I know when I pick up a club head whether it takes parallel or tapered?

[null]

1 minute ago, Craigs24 said:

I realize this is an older thread, but I'm trying to figure our parallel vs. tapered. My question is this: How do I know when I pick up a club head whether it takes parallel or tapered?

Do a google search of the club head or ask on a golf forum and you'll likely find your answer.

What is the club head in question?

[RickyBobby_PR]

5 minutes ago, jlukes said:

Do a google search of the club head or ask on a golf forum and you'll likely find your answer.

What is the club head in question?

I love that google thing. The information there is amazing

[8802sAndHeartbreak]

For what it's worth, when I've pulled taper tips in the past, they are frequently bent inside the shaft (factory install). I still use taper tips but I find that interesting.