Trimming a Shaft

[PhilnAmarillo]

I am going to trim a few of the longer clubs in the bag just a little. I was wondering what the maximum is for trimming a club down without having to do a whole new shaft? I have one club that I really need to take 2" off to get to the length I am looking for. Is that to much? I have researched the question and can't find any real clear answer.

[Tony Covey MGS]

Sort of depends whether or not you're talking about a raw shaft, or one that's already in a club. It sounds like you're talking about the latter. One of the club makers here could probably give you specifics about how much is too much, but two things to keep in mind - assuming you're trimming from the butt end - you're going to decrease swing weight, and soften the flex.

[RookieBlue7]

Flexural stiffness isn't going to be effected enough for you to notice it by butt trimming. The butt section of a shaft is where you trim to length. Will the stiffness be effected by butt trimming, sure, a little. The way to effect flex is to tip trim. Why? The tip is the weakest part of the shaft where the butt is the strongest part of the shaft (in terms of stiffness). Trimming from the weak end increases flex much faster than trimming from the strongest end. It should still play fairly similar. If we're talking a driver, you might effect it 10 CPM's, which isn't enough to take it out of the same flex category as it's currently in. There also is no standard CPM for each flex, just a range. If you're on the upper end or lower end of the range of CPM numbers, you could possibly barely jump from one flex to another, but it's not very likely.

 

 

Butt CPM ranges for graphite driver shafts:

L 220-254

A 219-257

R 216-277

S 235-295

X 261-308

 

What you will effect, significantly, though is the club's swingweight. For every half inch of length, you will effect it 3 swingweight points. At 2 inches, you're talking 12 swingweight points. The club will be balanced significantly differently than before the trimming. You'll end up having to add weight to get it back in balance to like it is now, and a lot of weight at that, depending on how you add it. 5 grams to the grip would be 1 swingweight point whereas 2 grams of clubhead weight would be 1 point. Then there's the fact that 2 inches of length removed will make the club play 4 degrees flatter, which increases the swingweight 1 point. So you've got some tweaking to do to get it back in balance.

[Justin66]

There's also the parallel tip section to consider. Generally, you need at least 1.5" to keep the shaft from breaking easily- especially graphite shafts. The PTS is where the tip is "beefed up" to withstand the forces of impact. Lose this and you could see your clubhead flying down the fairway. Not only that, there isn't a guarantee that going past this point will allow the shaft to seat into the hosel fully, since the diameter of the shaft can be larger than .335 (or .350/.355/.370, depending on the model in question). You should never tip-trim a taper-tip model. Check out the GolfWorks, Hireko, or Golfsmith's websites- or contact the manufacturer directly- to find the PTS for your shafts before getting too involved in this.

[RoverRick]

I put a new shaft in my driver a couple of months ago and left it raw length. I was hitting it pretty well. Then change shafts two weeks ago to one with too much spin and too high. When I went back I trimmed the first one 1 1/2 inches now much stiffer. Less spin better control and 15 yards average more.

[RookieBlue7]

There's also the parallel tip section to consider. Generally, you need at least 1.5" to keep the shaft from breaking easily- especially graphite shafts. The PTS is where the tip is "beefed up" to withstand the forces of impact. Lose this and you could see your clubhead flying down the fairway. Not only that, there isn't a guarantee that going past this point will allow the shaft to seat into the hosel fully, since the diameter of the shaft can be larger than .335 (or .350/.355/.370, depending on the model in question). You should never tip-trim a taper-tip model. Check out the GolfWorks, Hireko, or Golfsmith's websites- or contact the manufacturer directly- to find the PTS for your shafts before getting too involved in this.

Why should you never tip trim a taper tip? The guys from Titleist and Nike in the vans did it for years for some dude named Eldrick.

[indacup]

Why should you never tip trim a taper tip? The guys from Titleist and Nike in the vans did it for years for some dude named Eldrick.

 

Where did you get that information from? If you could provide a link how they were able to tip trim a tapered shaft that would make the outside diameter larger than the hosel it was originally created for,and then some how fit INSIDE it, I'd love to see how they did it.

 

Thanks!

 

NO tour irons are tapered.....none.

 

The reason irons are tapered is for mass assembly reasons...it takes less time to slip a previously, mass produced shaft into a tapered hosel than it does creating a parallel shaft/hosel and taking the time to meet specs......all custom and pro clubs / shafts and hosels are parallel.

[indacup]

oops..double posted!

[BK in TEXAS]

I had read about the swingweights changing if you shorten your shaft. So, when I cut an 1 1/2" off my driver I played around with different weights, but ended up liking the way it was with no weight change. Go figure. I suppose it's a personal thing...what feels good to one might be intolerable to another.

 

Anyway....I love the shorter shaft and ended up cutting an inch off my 3 & 5 wood too.

[RookieBlue7]

Where did you get that information from? If you could provide a link how they were able to tip trim a tapered shaft that would make the outside diameter larger than the hosel it was originally created for,and then some how fit INSIDE it, I'd love to see how they did it.

 

Thanks!

 

NO tour irons are tapered.....none.

 

The reason irons are tapered is for mass assembly reasons...it takes less time to slip a previously, mass produced shaft into a tapered hosel than it does creating a parallel shaft/hosel and taking the time to meet specs......all custom and pro clubs / shafts and hosels are parallel.

 

You can tip any taper tip shaft up to 1/2".

 

Tiger has spoken many times in interviews that his shafts are X100's tipped 1/4" (even at a Nike Q&A). The you can't tip taper tipped shafts assumption is a myth. Ask anyone on any tour can. They can be tipped up to 1/2" due to the PTS. As long as you have a minimum 1" insertion depth, you're perfectly fine tipping them. But they'll seat all the way to the base of the hosel when tipped 1/2". Tiger has played the same shafts since age 14 in his irons, X100's tipped 1/4" to have the same flex as DG X700's but feel smoother instead of boardy like the X7's do. Theyre bent 1 degree weak and 1 degree up, and are almost standard length (his lengths are weird, the spec sheet off the Nike van is out there). It's about like the myth that his clubs are Miura forged. No, his Titleist 681's were Hoffman forgings and his Nike forged blades were Endo forged.

 

Also, nearly no pro uses a .370 head. They all use .355T heads, again ask anyone on any tour van. Why do you think they had to ream Furyk's heads to accept the .370 steelfibers? Tiger's personal Tiger Slam irons that were sold were shafted with DG x100's tipped 1/4" and built to D4 Swingweights.

 

They all use .355 as a base now because it's easier to build their clubs due to the discreet lengths of the shafts. Next time you attend a tournament, tour a few of the tour trailers. Ask them about the heads and such and their hosels, tipping taper tipped shafts, etc. They're not hard to access, I've spoken with people on different vans several times, bought heads direct off of the tour van (the set in my bag is direct off of the van and has never been sold to the public, guess what, they're .355T hosels). They use taper tip hosel heads because if you've ever seen the volume of work that comes through, you'd know why they don't have time to trim 8 parallel shafts to tipping specs then build then butt trim.

 

Or just fire off an email to Joe Kwok, he's worked with a ton of touring pros as well as being one of the best club builders in the country and ask him about tipping a taper tipped shaft. Or ask Tom Wishon or Ralph Maltby, they'll tell you the same thing. Tipping taper tipped shafts is perfectly acceptable and common practice. It's the same as tipping any other shaft, taking it to a stiffer flex. 1/2" tipping is the same as hardstepping once.

[anthony727272]

So if I soft step a True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue 4 iron shaft measuring 39.5 inches into a 5 iron head and trim the tip 1/2 inches ( hard stepping one time) will I effectively come close to the X100 playing flex characteristics of a True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue 5 iron shaft measuring 39 inches?  Will that tip trimmed shaft seat all the way down into a .370 hosel?  I removed a KBS C Taper Lite 105 gram X100 shaft from the iron and that shaft was inserted 1.02 inches into the .370 hosel.