clubfitting: longer shaft for irons necessary?

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tongzilla

tongzilla

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Was messing around at the range and just so happened there was a Ping fitting thing going on.
I hit a few 7 irons and apparently the guy said my iron shafts need to be 0.5 to 1 inch longer than standard.
I am not sure if it's sales talk trying to get me buy a new set or what. I'm 6'0" with normal length arms (me thinks anyway). What do you guys think?
 
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softconsult

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I will just throw in the fact that there is no standard. Titleist standard for 5 iron is 38". Ping standard for same club is 37.75. So +0.5" is really just + 0.25 inches over Titleist. Recently was fitted for new Ping S56 irons by a veteran Ping fitter. We went 1" over Ping Standard and 3 up over Ping Standard. I have generally been fitted with longer and more upright clubs, but played last year with Titleist standard length and lie. Be aware that longer equals higher swingweight. Ping can adjust that pretty well with the glued in weighting system.
 
94monarch

94monarch

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I am 5'11. I used to like the feel of slightly shorter clubs. I also have spent most of my time wearing out the toe on iron shots. I have relatively short arms and once properly fit about ten years ago I was fit between +.25 and +.5 to Titleist standard. which on the fitting system is 37.5 for a six iron. It has helped me tremendously going to +.5 on my length. I think you need to look at centerdness of contact more than anything. I have done thousands of fittings and If you hit the center better why not get it done. Make sure you understand how the weight and lie angles are changed as well. A good fitter will be able to help you.
 
Matt Bryda

Matt Bryda

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tongzilla said:
Was messing around at the range and just so happened there was a Ping fitting thing going on.
I hit a few 7 irons and apparently the guy said my iron shafts need to be 0.5 to 1 inch longer than standard.
I am not sure if it's sales talk trying to get me buy a new set or what. I'm 6'0" with normal length arms (me thinks anyway). What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

How far do you hit it with your clubs?

Do you curve the ball more than you would like to curve the ball?
 
W

Wgolf131

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Tongzilla,

I have a few buddies that have their own CMS shop as well I have some guys that work in the tour vans. The worst thing I did was go to longer clubs for me what it did ; was make it harder for me to find the sweet spot consistently.

So when I went to my buddies at the golf shop they liked longer because he wants to sell distance to his clients. My buddies in the tour vans said to me find a length that allows me to find the center of the club face more often. Hope that helps...this came from some really creditable folks.
 
Erik_K

Erik_K

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To some degree it's preference. I can't imagine that the "standard" length fits everyone perfectly. I am 5'11" and I needed 0.5" or 1" longer shafts. This made life on my back a lot easier.

Go to a reputable fitter and hit irons of various lengths. That's the only way to know for sure. I want to say the basic static measurement involves looking at the distance your fingers (hands placed at sides) are from the floor. However, it's possible that longer or shorter shafts are needed depending on the setup, comfort level, and so on.
 
J

Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
Rarely do i see dramatically different distances in irons by changing .25-.50". I switched to 37.75" 5 iron in my ping S58's and love the slightly shorter length. I feel the shorter clubs made me more consistent and i didn't lose any distance.
 
mjstrong

mjstrong

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Jim Kobylinski said:
Rarely do i see dramatically different distances in irons by changing .25-.50". I switched to 37.75" 5 iron in my ping S58's and love the slightly shorter length. I feel the shorter clubs made me more consistent and i didn't lose any distance.
Click to expand...

+1 to this.

I play my irons at Callaway's standard length, but my hybrid, 3w, and Driver at -1/2". More than anything, I find that my "traj" is much more consistent with the shorter clubs. I tend to get shots ballooning with shafts that are too long.
 
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SteveT

Guest
tongzilla said:
Was messing around at the range and just so happened there was a Ping fitting thing going on.
I hit a few 7 irons and apparently the guy said my iron shafts need to be 0.5 to 1 inch longer than standard.
I am not sure if it's sales talk trying to get me buy a new set or what. I'm 6'0" with normal length arms (me thinks anyway). What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Did he test you out with an impact board and tape on the club sole? Also, why did he chose additional length over increased shaft lie?


softconsult said:
Recently was fitted for new Ping S56 irons by a veteran Ping fitter. We went 1" over Ping Standard and 3 up over Ping Standard.
Click to expand...

Isn't 1" longer and 3º up equivalent to 5º upright lie and standard length club (1/2" = 1º)? Do you know why the fitter chose this combination of length and lie?


I play 1"+ and 2º up green dot PINGS.
 
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J

Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
mjstrong said:
+1 to this.

I play my irons at Callaway's standard length, but my hybrid, 3w, and Driver at -1/2". More than anything, I find that my "traj" is much more consistent with the shorter clubs. I tend to get shots ballooning with shafts that are too long.
Click to expand...

Longer the club the stiffer it needs especially in the woods to keep same type of "launch conditions."
 
S

softconsult

New
Isn't 1" longer and 3º up equivalent to 5º upright lie and standard length club (1/2" = 1º)?

That was the old rule of thumb that I was taught. When I had my only lesson with Brian about 3 years ago
I asked him that very question. I think at the time I was playing Titleist 695's 2 up and 1/2 over. He answer was
, "No not really."


" Do you know why the fitter chose this combination of length and lie?"

Length because of hand height off the floor, Ping Chart. Lie because of impact tape results and lie board results. Finished off with range testing 7 irons with various lengths and lies. Am I hitting the sweet spot less frequently than previous standard length set? No. If anything these slightly longer irons are better.

I will throw this in the mix. Ping grips really flare at the end of the grip. This effectively forces me to grip down just a bit more than the the more standard grips on my previous set.

Jim's remark about shaft being more flexible as you go overlength is correct, but to me it's very subtle. These S56's are just a terrific head and the AWT Stiff shafts really do what they say they do. 5 iron and 4 iron really do fly higher than say my Titleist 735's.

Just got back from 18. It's 67 degrees at the end of February. It's like winter never happened this year.
 
B

birly-shirly

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There's a school of thought that adjusting swingweight will help you find more consistent contact on the face. Adjusting length for a fixed head weight could be doing the same thing. In other words, it's not the length per se, it's the effect on swingweight.
 
S

softconsult

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We specified D4 to the factory. On 4 through PW. This was accomplished. Tour wedges ended up with in D6 and higher range and are fine.
 
S

SteveT

Guest
birly-shirly said:
There's a school of thought that adjusting swingweight will help you find more consistent contact on the face. Adjusting length for a fixed head weight could be doing the same thing. In other words, it's not the length per se, it's the effect on swingweight.
Click to expand...

Well there's static swingweighting a dynamic MOI matching... so what kind of swingweight adjustments are you referring to...:confused:
 
Matt Bryda

Matt Bryda

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tongzilla said:
165 yards 7 iron (36 degrees).
Yes I do curve it more than I like...but I don't blame my clubs for that!
Click to expand...

Well distance is not an issue

Maybe, maybe a longer club would help you hit it straighter

I would experiment with a couple different lengths and lies, longer and shorter to see which one is easier to find the

sweet spot with
 
J

Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
Rarely when doing fittings does length mess with sweetspot contact much and if it does it's because you've altered lie via length instead of altering the lie itself. IMO Length is really a personal comfort thing, i had a good friend/student who is 6'3" and played with various lengths and had the lies adjusted to suit and he just went with what felt best to him when it came to comfort and waist bend.
 
mjstrong

mjstrong

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I'm surprised that more people don't have lie angles that vary throughout the set. It seems strange that most people would need the same progression of lie angles (and other variables, for that reason) through the set. I think, if everybody were ideally fitted, you'd see way more variation in lie angles and lengths.

I've retro-fit (post purchase) quite a few people for flatter lie angles in their wedges, for example, and more upright lies in their long irons.
 
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