Stuart_G

That would be my first thoughts as well. Although that's really just if you want to address the tendonitis. It likely wont do anything with respect to any potential fatigue issues. That's where going down in weight might be more beneficial - although I don't see any reason to drop the flex down as well as the weight. So I would think the 105 x would be the route to go if you're concerned about fatigue and you wanted to stick with Axiom's. But that's a big jump down in weight, so I think it probably better to find a different model graphite shaft that has an option in the ~115 gm range.

The line doesn't have to be perfectly aligned. Look at the labels in the lie angle testing thread. 1* of the lie angle being off results in a slant of the line left on the club of about 9-10 degrees. That "amplification" helps overcome any small errors in line placement So there is no need to be overly worried about how perfectly vertical the line placement is. FYI No one cares if you mark up the range balls. Even if they did, dry erase marker lines will come off in the ball washer. If you're using permanent markers instead of dry erase marker, I'd be more worried about the lines left on the club being harder to clean than the ball.

1000% correct. Always butt cut using a club ruler with the head mounted (or dry fit). Ideally with the desired setting of the adapter if it has one. Some people subtract a generic 1/8" for the grip. Some treat the playing length as the measured length w/o a grip. Some actually measure how much the specific grip cap of the grip they are using adds the length. In that respect, there is no wrong or right way - just different opinions.

While it's true that it's not as easy as it is with turf, if you pay attention to the right things, it's not really all that hard. Both the sound and the feel (even with graphite) of impact are different if you hit the mat first. Regardless, IMO beginners should start off using a short tee when working on the irons. The focus should be on how the body is moving and timing and sequencing. Impact can be fine tuned later after a good foundation has been built.

s300's are not a bad starting point for someone who's above average in strength. But IMO, they will be too heavy for the average amateur. Weight is certainly important, and going too light certainly can be problematic. But going too heavy with shaft weight can be just as detrimental as going too light - particularly with those with less than ideal mechanics. And that's backed up by more than just my opinion. And it can be hard for those that can handle the heaviest shafts to understand since they've never experienced it. Either that or a faster way to drive someone away from the game 😄 My money would be on the later for the average amateur. Feedback is certainly important to improvement but foot powder spray provides significantly better feedback on impact location than feel every will and doesn't result in the player having any fear in failing when trying something new or different. And more importantly, feedback by itself is not enough. It's much more important to understand how the motion needs to change to improve impact. Some people with above average athletic ability can stumble upon it randomly or maybe even quasi-intuitively. But most will not, the golf swing is just not that intuitive for it to come naturally to most. Instead they will just get frustrated even faster than they would otherwise. Other than the oversimplification that a bad fit will hurt efforts to improve and a good fit will not, there are no universally useful generalizations on what equipment changes will help and what will hurt a golfer's efforts to improve. It's just way too subjective.

IMO - the two most important specs for beginners is 1) playing length not too long and 2) shaft weight not too heavy or too light (2b maybe head weight or swing weight). It used to be common - it's not any more and it never was a good idea. BUT - it's easy to chop some length off the butt end - maybe at the cost of some new grips. So it doesn't really rule out the longer set as a possibility (with some mods). For beginners a good fit for shaft length would start with the Wrist to Floor (WTF) measurement. Getting and posting that could help decide which set has a better playing length for yourself. The shaft material isn't nearly as important as the shaft weights. If you can find that out it would make it easier to give a recommendation. If nothing else, get the total static weight on a kitchen scale (in grams) of two matching irons from each set (e.g. both 8 irons or both 9 irons). Also some basic overview on your general athletic ability (strength). The concern would be that the graphite shafts might be too light, making it harder to have a consistent rhythm and timing. And it's also possible that the steel shafts might be too heavy - resulting in (among other things) slower swing speeds or even too much excess muscle tension in the hands and forearms. It may or may not be a good idea to get your pros opinion on which might be a better set since he can judge your potential abilities and evaluate the clubs better than we can without much more details. The "may not" comes into play because not all teaching pros know all that much about equipment fitting. It's kind of hit or miss so to speak.

That's because for BBGM measurements - the adapter is considered part of the head, not part of the shaft. But most don't know that so it causes a large point of potential confusion when these numbers are thrown around. Take the adapter off the shaft and you'll get that 1.5" measurement for how much longer the playing length is over the cut shaft length. Or in some cases it might be 1.75" or even 2.0" depending on the head make and model.

If you bought pulled shafts with grips on them - it couldn't hurt to pull the grips - if for no other reason than to make sure there is no extensions and the inside of the shafts are clear of any old epoxy (or tape) from the previous build.

If you've never had a chance to test that shaft before, that's usually the best idea. Once you take some off the tip, there's no way to put it back on. 🙂 Just build a single club first and leave it 1/2" long at the butt end, then go test choking up and see how it feels. If you like it, go trim the butt. If you think it's too soft, go back and trim the tip. It's easy to add the taper back by hand on graphite shafts. Blow on the grip will make it easier to save and reuse if you do go back to butt trim to length. Now if it was a shaft you'd been using for a while in a previous set and know you like it as it is (not soft stepped), then the recommendation might be different.

It seems pretty clear to me. You do need to go back to a heavier shaft but that doesn't mean you need to go back to steel. The problem is weight, not material. So the solution is going to be weight - not material. There are some decent heavier graphite options available. Maybe not as much choice as you have in steel above 100 gm - but there are enough to give you a decent amount of choice. If there are health issues that are pushing you toward graphite - it's best to stick with graphite. No steel shaft will ever come close to what graphite can do for shock absorption.

Be careful. The full list is only useful in a fitting environment to help direct an individual on what shafts to test during the fitting itself. You should NEVER make any purchase decisions based on it. It's a subtle yet very important distinction - It's a list of what might fit, not a list of what should fit the individual.

For most taper tip graphite shafts - you can usually get away with 1/2" of tipping without compromising the shaft. Not sure I'd want to go much beyond that though. The problem is that all graphite shafts have reinforced tip sections where the wall thickness is much thicker to handle the higher stresses that occur at the top of the hossel. It is possible that if you tip trim too much, the shaft section at the top of the hossel will no longer be reinforced. Unfortunately, unlike parallel tip shafts, the manufacturers do not publish information about how big or long that reinforced section is. So it's hard to predict how much tipping it can take before the shaft will be compromised. You wont see a lot of hard data about that here and like the previous answers - people will tend to be more conservative in their advice. So it's always a good idea to check directly with the shaft manufacturers customer service about how much tipping it can safely handle. But I do know a few have asked that of UST before and were told that 1/2" would not be a problem. I'm guessing that's the reason he want's to tip them, to compensate for the soft stepping.

IF you want to exactly duplicate a heavier model shaft with a lighter model shaft and some lead tape, you need to add the weight so that the balance point of just the shaft AFTER adding the lead tape matches that heavier shaft's balance point. That is not the same as adding the lead tape to the balance point of the lighter shaft. However, that's for testing out if you might want to buy and change to the heavier shaft model and how it might effect head weight feel. If you want to just add lead tape to increase the static weight of the club, or just testing out different shaft weights without a specific shaft model in mind - exactly where you add it really isn't that important - AS LONG AS you go through the process of refitting for head weight / swing weight. Some people say add it to the 14" swing weight fulcrum point - which is not any kind of balance point. So the "swing weight wont change." That's one possible spot but it's really an arbitrary choice and it's not really keeping the heft feel the same - since it's still increasing the MOI of the club. I personally prefer adding it a bit higher up because that makes the head weight refitting a bit easier. Less of a chance that you might need to reduce the head weight. But again, where to add it is pretty arbitrary. There is no right or wrong place to put it.

Do you know and compare the swing weight with both sets? That can be unpredictable - especially when dealing with over-length builds. It's certainly possible that the loading feel is influencing your release timing but it's much more common for shaft weight and swing weight to do that. Don't get me wrong. AFAIK, nothing wrong with changing just because the shaft doesn't feel right to you. But there are some inconsistencies with some of the things you're saying. Ballooning is a high spin problem - yet you said spin was low with the x100s. You say you need a tip stiff shaft, yet the x100's have a stiffer tip than the $-tapers. That makes me wonder if there are other things going on and we're not getting the big picture. FYI - it sounds like the data might have been collected over multiple sessions. Just realize that you can't compare numbers across different LM's hit off of different surfaces. And it's important when testing shafts to make sure all the other specs (grip size and weight, head weight or swing weight, and playing lengths) are identical in the test clubs.

You don't use a scale to adjust head weight (swing weight). You just need to use some lead tape while on the range hitting balls. Generally adjusting in 2 gm increments. The scale is only for after the fitting is done to record the results. No - because 1) shaft balance point plays a big part 2) you do NOT want to keep the swing weight the same when changing shaft weight. You need to refit head weight from scratch, not reuse any old value from a different shaft weight (or different playing length for that matter).