Cutting a new shaft to length... One length irons..

[Jay Bogg]

Hello Everone... New to golf, taken it up as an interesting hobby, and need some insight... I have searched thorough and cam't seem to find advice on this question... If I lengthen the tip on a new shaft (don't cut quite so much off) and make up for it in the butt cut (I plan to make my clubs 1/2 long per recommendation) , what effect will this have on Swing weight?  I am currently using a set of Cobra T Rail 2's which are rated at C8, and I am told by my Professional my speed is higher than normal for 69 yrs old but my dispersion sucks... I plan on building a set of "Frankenstein" one lengths with recoil 680 shafts at 83 gr. with agxgolf iron heads at 277 gr... I'd like to soften the flex a hair as I am sitting between the recommended speed between senior and regular... I can easily pump another 5-10 mph out of my current swing, but every spec you can imagine suffers!! LOL  My cost on this Frankenstein set will run about 300 usd and depending on results, I will then probably buy something in the Cobra line... I realize I could probably buy something in the LTDx line or older and accomplish the same thing, but that takes all the fun out of tinkering and learning along the way... I am a retired equipment engineer and a lefty to boot!!  Any advice to the original question about shaft length is much appreciated...

Edited June 5 by Jay Bogg

[Brooky03]

Disclaimer:  I'm no expert.  I'm not close to an expert.  I'm barely a novice when it comes to club building.

That said, if dispersion is a problem, I'd imagine you'd want a stiffer tip. If you trim less off of the tip (so, leave it long), that would increase overall shaft flex (I think).  Would it make more sense to buy a shaft that's on the soft side for you, do all/most of the trimming at the tip to make it stiffer and then extend the butt if you need to? I'm sure kick point and torque and other stuff comes into this that I'm not remotely qualified to assess.

As for swingweight (again, I'm not well-versed), it seems like each half inch you add will add 3 points to swingweight.  I don't think that whether that comes from the tip or the butt will matter much because I don't think there is a big difference between the weight of the tip and the butt, inch for inch.  So, the only change to swingweight comes from the change in overall length/weight of the shaft.  Assuming the tip is roughly 60% the diameter of the butt and the wall thickness is the same, 1 inch of shaft at the butt might weigh 3 grams when 1 inch at the tip might weigh 2 grams, roughly. So, depending on what you do, you're only moving around a gram or less of weight.  I think, though, that shafts have thicker walls at the tip, so that would effectively negate the weight difference between the ends, inch for inch.

It's maybe also worth mentioning that I'm slightly confused by the comments that you're making the irons a half inch longer each, but also that you're making a one-length set.  Are you actually making a one-length set - that is also a half-inch longer than a typical one-length set - or are you making an otherwise normal, progressive length set, that's just a half inch longer across the board?

[Jay Bogg]

Sorry for the confusion and thx for the reply... Yes, I am planning to add 1/2" to the normal length of a seven iron, and all clubs will be this length... Since they will be 1/2" longer, I have the option to leave the 1/2" at the tip or at the butt... Everything I own right now is R flex but I am straddling the line of senior flex... This is what made me think about leaving the tips 1/2" longer than recommended by mfgr and see if it would weaken the flex a hair... Shafts and heads are both in the mail as we speak.  I will probably start out with just one shaft, that way if the swing weight or flex is really jacked, I will only have to replace one shaft...