Trimming shaft changes flex how much?

[WaffleHouseTour 641]

I've been told by the club mechanics at a big golf store that if I shorten a shaft that its going to impact the flex and stiffen it up.  But they also tell me that I don't change the flex, and if I just grip down on the club the flex remains the same.  

I don't understand why that is...  but that's not my real question.

My real question is - how much?  If I shorten the shaft by an inch, how much does stiffen the flex. 

I've found a club I'd like to club down, and its a Lite-flex shaft, I'm hoping that it ends up like my R-flex matching shafts.  Thoughts from the gurus?

[Tom the Golf Nut 4,532]

Look on line for the shaft trimming guide for your brand and model shaft you have. They are all out there. If you trim from the butt side you do not change the flex. If you trim from the tip there is a point where you change the flex. To cut down an inch you would probably have to take some from each end to get the flex you want. The trimming guide will tell you how much. When you purchase a set of shafts they are all the same length. You have to cut them all usually from both sides to get the correct length and flex.

[dlow206 8,153]

28 minutes ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

I've been told by the club mechanics at a big golf store that if I shorten a shaft that its going to impact the flex and stiffen it up.  But they also tell me that I don't change the flex, and if I just grip down on the club the flex remains the same.  

I don't understand why that is...  but that's not my real question.

My real question is - how much?  If I shorten the shaft by an inch, how much does stiffen the flex. 

I've found a club I'd like to club down, and its a Lite-flex shaft, I'm hoping that it ends up like my R-flex matching shafts.  Thoughts from the gurus?

Are you talking about wood shafts or iron shafts?

[WaffleHouseTour 641]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:06 PM, dlow206 said:

Are you talking about wood shafts or iron shafts?

Iron

[WaffleHouseTour 641]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:06 PM, dlow206 said:

Are you talking about wood shafts or iron shafts?

Actually irons and hybrids from 37 to 36 

[cnosil 19,467]

I've been told by the club mechanics at a big golf store that if I shorten a shaft that its going to impact the flex and stiffen it up.  But they also tell me that I don't change the flex, and if I just grip down on the club the flex remains the same.  
I don't understand why that is...  but that's not my real question.
My real question is - how much?  If I shorten the shaft by an inch, how much does stiffen the flex. 
I've found a club I'd like to club down, and its a Lite-flex shaft, I'm hoping that it ends up like my R-flex matching shafts.  Thoughts from the gurus?

I am not a guru and there are some people that have much more knowledge. Butt and tip trimming do different things. Shafts also have different tips (parallel and taper) and some can’t be top trimmed. Butt trimming a club will have minimal impact on the shafts flex. Remember a shaft starts out at a raw length and is cut down to fit 2 iron to lob wedge. You will not be able to change a lite flex shaft into a regular flex shaft by butt trimming.

[hckymeyer 6,409]

If you have taper tip shafts, you don't want to ever trim from the tip.  You install the proper shaft in the proper iron and then trim the butt end to playing length.  If you want to adjust the flex you would do what's called hard stepping or soft stepping the shafts.  That would be taking say a 7i shaft and installing it in the 6i (hard stepping, goes up in flex) or installing it in the 8i (soft stepping, goes down in flex)  For each "step" the iron shaft flex changes by about 1/3 of a flex.  So in your example (assuming 1/2" length progression)  you would pull all the shaft and move them up 2 irons.  So your 7i shaft would get installed in the 5i.  This would make your clubs 1" shorter and play approx 2/3 rd's of a flex stiffer.  Obviously you would then be 2 shafts short of a set so you'd have to buy 2 new shafts for the short irons and you'd have two extra from your longest 2 irons.

If you have parallel tip shafts those are a different animal.  There will be a trimming guide from the OEM that says how much to trim the tip of the shaft for each iron.  If you want them stiffer you would trim more from the tip, softer trim less from the tip.  Parallel tip shafts are not iron specific until you choose how much to trim the tip.

For graphite shafts there should also be a recommended tip trim guide depending on what it's going in.  There is also a limit on how much you can trim the tip.  Usually only the first 3" or so are parallel so if you trim more than that it won't fit in the hosel any more.  Same principal applies though.  Trimming from the tip will stiffen the shaft more, trimming from the butt doesn't affect stiffness as much.

All that said, all of this shaft trimming is really fine tuning something that fits pretty well to begin with.  Generally speaking it's a small tweak, you aren't going to turn an L flex in to an R flex through tip trimming.  You're much better off just buying the proper fitting shaft and installing that to begin with.

[aerospace_ray 784]

Couple of sources I like. The first is regarding tipping myths. The second is effects of just gripping down. Several more good videos from basic web searches. I just prefer these two in particular.

Shaft tipping myths article: https://pluggedingolf.com/what-does-tipping-a-shaft-do-golf-myths-unplugged/

 

One of my favorite videos regarding key variables involved when "gripping down on a golf club"  >