Yet another irons/shafting question...

[Silver]

Well, I guess I'll start off with a hello and a brief introduction in order to help you have an appropriate level of clarity if you have any help you can provide.

I'm a young, fairly big guy at 26 years old and about 6', 220 lbs. I'm not a stellar golfer, but overall I'm not horrible. I've dropped about 15 strokes off my game this year alone (from the 105-110'ish mark to the 90 - 100 mark) due to lessons and increased play. My play gets better every time I play, and I think I may even drop under 90 when I play tomorrow or the next day. I'm still taking lessons and will continue to do so, but am considering some new equipment if it would be helpful.

I have a relatively high swing speed (approximately 105 with the driver) and that is actually going up because I'm getting more fit and more flexible all the time. I just traded in a Wilson Deep Red Fat Shaft (stiff) for a Cleveland Launcher 460 (stiff) because of how whippy the Fat Shaft was. I'm striking way better with the Launcher that I was with the Deep Red now.

Anyhow, on to my question...

I'm currently playing a set of TaylorMade Firesoles that I picked up last year for a few hundred Canadian. They were in fairly good condition with a regular flex R80 steel rifle shaft. I hit them "alright", but I do have a tendency to pull them left or send them off to the right when I hit them as clean as can be. I *think* that this may be due to them being just a touch too soft. I'm trying to decide if, given my swing speed, I should consider getting my irons reshafted to stiff steel or perhaps even just going for a full new set of sticks.

I've considered going the clone route (the good Golfsmith type component clones) or maybe going with a used set of good clubs if the price is right. If I was to go clone, I thought of going with something like a titanium VFT clone because I believe it has a slightly lesser offset.

I demo'd a set of Cleveland TA7s last week - great clubs but I found the offset to be too extreme and found myself hooking sharply or drawing more strongly than I'd like. To shoot straight, I had to forward press uncomfortably far, which just doesn't seem right for my swing.

I've been offered a great deal from a friend in my local golf shop who plays for Wilson and therefore has a set of Deep Red II Distance irons in regular steel (Fat Shaft again), which I understand to be more stiff than a regular shaft (which is the opposite of the Fat Shaft in graphite, which even Wilson says plays about a full grade softer). The clubs are brand new and I could get them for about $600 CDN all in (about $450'ish USD). They retail up here for $799 (I think).

I've also considered the Cobra SSi - nice club, reduced offset, feels good in my hands. Haven't demo'd it yet though.

Any demos I take from my shop have to be taped up, unless they have a used set, so sometimes it can be hard to get a good feel for what I'm hitting, so I thought I'd get a rough idea of what you guys think in terms of what might be a good choice, or even if I should just slow down my swing so that I can hit my R80 shafts.

Oh yeah, and BUDGET is a major consideration because I'm starting law school in two weeks.

Thanks!

Silv

[collegegolfer]

It's tough to say if it's your shafts causing the problems, but if you're shooting 90's-100's, I would guess it's probably not your shaft. As far as new clubs...I doubt they will help you but if you want them nobody is stopping you. With a 105 swing speed (and I know shaft flex is more than swing speed) you more than likely would not be overpowering R flex. Unless you have a very fast tempo and so forth. If you're into spending money, buy some new ones. Otherwise I'd spend the $500 on lessons for next year until I'm shooting low to mid 80's...then buy new clubs. Good luck.

[Silver]

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. I don't actually think that the shafts are causing my score problems (that's more of a practice issue and since I really only have been playing extensively for about a year...that's the bigger problem), I just wasn't sure if they might be a contributing factor. I know the shaft on my driver was a MAJOR problem...that thing was flying all over the place no matter what I did. I talked about it with my pro at a lesson and she watched me swing a few and basically said "you're swinging really well, take that driver out of your bag because it's too soft for you" and that was that.

I do tend to have a fairly fast tempo, but I'm working pretty hard on slowing that down to a more "smooth" tempo and it's coming along when I'm thinking about it.

Your advice is actually the direction in which I'm leaning, I just thought I'd seek out some further opinions first.

Thanks again.

[Icicle]

....And look at it this way also, changing equipment costs money, a lot more money than practicing does, I agree with the above opinion.

[jc@bg]

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. I don't actually think that the shafts are causing my score problems (that's more of a practice issue and since I really only have been playing extensively for about a year...that's the bigger problem), I just wasn't sure if they might be a contributing factor. I know the shaft on my driver was a MAJOR problem...that thing was flying all over the place no matter what I did. I talked about it with my pro at a lesson and she watched me swing a few and basically said "you're swinging really well, take that driver out of your bag because it's too soft for you" and that was that.

I do tend to have a fairly fast tempo, but I'm working pretty hard on slowing that down to a more "smooth" tempo and it's coming along when I'm thinking about it.

Your advice is actually the direction in which I'm leaning, I just thought I'd seek out some further opinions first.

Thanks again.

Silver,

At 6 feet, it is certainly possible that your club length and/or lie could be causing you problems, not necessarily the shaft flex. Have you had someone measure your setup in terms of length and lie? The best measurement for lie is dynamic, meaning that they put impact tape on the sole of the club and have you swing at a ball resting on a firm/hard surface like a plexiglas sheet. Then you look at the tape and see whether your impact is centered on the sole of the club (it should be). Length of clubs also heavily influences the playing lie. There are club-fitting charts available (Ping has something like this on their website), but as I remember, wrist-to-floor measurements of 34-35" are considered standard length for men's clubs, 35-36" should use 1/2" additional length, and so forth. My wrist-to-floor measurement is 37" (standing "at attention" with shoes on and a firm surface), and I was fitted this year for irons 1" over standard length. I'm exactly 6 feet tall, and I've never hit the irons as straight as I have with these longer clubs.

You may or may not have length/lie issues, but if you do, your current irons (if you like them) can probably be modified for a minimal fee. And you can test-lengthen just a club or two to get an idea if it will help. Two more things: swingweights will rise as you lengthen existing clubs (not a big deal, usually), and it is often necessary to re-adjust (bend) iron hosels when shaft extensions are installed to re-establish the proper lie. In my case, my irons were both too short and too flat in lie, so lengthening them 1" created just the right length and lie in one fell swoop.

Good luck!

[Silver]

Yeah, I've been thinking about going to a custom fitter in town, just haven't had the chance. We don't seem to get all the demo days with all the reps that do custom fitting like everyone else seems to.

Thanks for the advice.