Extreme short iron set?

[tokeyb]

I'm 5'1", 31" WTF, and stocky not slim (but not fat, just solid!). I play my irons 4* flat now, but still find myself choking down significantly to get the feel and look right to me. Comfortable up to about a 7I, above 5 feels atrocious. Driver I just shorten and its a different swing anyway.

 

I have played ladies irons before and found the length fine but weight much too light.

 

So: I have assembled components from BST and am ready to build a custom set for myself. Has anyone else tried a set at 2" or so short of standard?

 

I know swing weight will be an issue, especially since I like heavier midsize grips. What else should I be thinking about as I start assembling?

 

Thanks guys.

GoTeamShorty

[blackngold_blood]

I usually play my irons to a 1" short 8 iron then go 1/4" increments instead of 1/2". Doing this helped with my consistency with the longer irons. The biggest issue I run into is the gapping shortened up slightly so I had to go get the lofts adjusted. I am 5'7" tall with a 32.5" WTF length FWIW

[cardoustie]

Just make the 6 iron 1/4" longer than the 7 etc

 

Introduce yourself to,lead tape

[tokeyb]

Just make the 6 iron 1/4" longer than the 7 etc. Introduce yourself to lead tape

 

Oh I'm loving the lead tape! I said comfortable to 7, but its the P and 9 that actually feel right. I want my 6 to feel as good as my 9.

 

How about starting PW 1" short, and 1/4" increments all the way through?

 

If Hawekeye blood is on point (and all Iowans are), this would shorten the gapping significantly. Plus lead tape. Would it even be worth it?

[blackngold_blood]

Just make the 6 iron 1/4" longer than the 7 etc. Introduce yourself to lead tape

 

Oh I'm loving the lead tape! I said comfortable to 7, but its the P and 9 that actually feel right. I want my 6 to feel as good as my 9.

 

How about starting PW 1" short, and 1/4" increments all the way through?

 

If Hawekeye blood is on point (and all Iowans are), this would shorten the gapping significantly. Plus lead tape. Would it even be worth it?

 

To be clear, my gapping shortened up but until you try it you won’t know if your’s will. The key for me was getting the length right to allow me to make a consistent swing and feel comfortable from 3-Wedge. Adjusting the lofts and swing weights was actually the easy part once I felt good with the lengths.

 

Personally I would find a length you are comfortable with then adjust lie and sw. once those are dialed in adjust the lofts for gapping and your all set.

 

For me at almost 38 years old, I know I am not getting any taller. Now I know my lengths, lies, and sw so when I get new irons I just book some sim time to get my gaps dialed in and lofts adjusted accordingly.

 

One final note, NEVER be afraid to experiment. You never know what might work until you try it!

[BMC]

See if you can track one of Ian Woosnam's Maruman sets.

 

If you get the lie right, you could use just about any length you want.

[5hort5tuff]

Im 5'3 and have experimented with many lengths and such. My WTF is around 30. I think 2 inches short is too short overall. I play my driver at 43.5 and my best iron striking is with my 36" 8 iron. A 2" short 7- PW would be tiny!

 

Even at 37 i find my ball striking poor with a 5 iron. Ive recently just hit 36" Wishon Sterling 5 iron and hit it SO much better. Im having a set built in the next few week.

 

Last 2 things. Measure swingweight with a standard grip on and go from there. Dont worry about the midsize weight.

 

Maybe think about making the 4 5 6 irons as short as your 7 iron, and keep the rest of the set that you hit well the current length. Make sure to tip the long irons appropriately as adding 20g of lead tape will change the shaft feel and launch.

 

[Clafoone]

If your looking for a similar swing effort in all your irons, you might want to try MOI matching or even single length irons.

 

Randy

[tokeyb]

Thanks for all the thoughts, folks.

I'm liking the idea of an inch short to 9, reduced gapping to 6, same length 5/4 and see what that does.

 

Will probably need to pester my club guy for tip weights, since I don't have but a few and will need his sw scale anyway. He'll laugh at me, but I can take that!

[tokeyb]

Im 5'3 and have experimented with many lengths and such. My WTF is around 30. I think 2 inches short is too short overall. I play my driver at 43.5 and my best iron striking is with my 36" 8 iron. A 2" short 7- PW would be tiny!

 

Really appreciate the perspective, I've never actually touched one that short!

[95124hacker]

I noticed in your sig that you play Titleist irons, which I believe are 2* more upright than Mizuno, Srixon, Bridgestone, Honma & other Japanese brands. So in those brands, you’d only have to bend them 2* flatter. Have you been fitted for those brands or Pings (orange, brown, gold dot)? I’m below average height but have always played std length irons. I don’t bend over too much in my stance and I think that helps too.

[tokeyb]

I noticed in your sig that you play Titleist irons, which I believe are 2* more upright than Mizuno, Srixon, Bridgestone, Honma & other Japanese brands. So in those brands, you’d only have to bend them 2* flatter. Have you been fitted for those brands or Pings (orange, brown, gold dot)? I’m below average height but have always played std length irons. I don’t bend over too much in my stance and I think that helps too.

 

Good point, hacker. I played Pings last year (orange/brown dot) and picked up some Sroxon 565 to try out if we ever get to spring in the Midwest.

 

I know I like my PW at 61* lie or less, not the 63 or 64 most have them at.

[24Linc]

Best way to figure out the length for your irons would be first identify what's the longest length for your longest iron. This would be the longest length that you feel comfortable with. It may take couple sessions to figure it out. Then do the same with your shortest club that you would hit with a full swing. Find what is the most comfortable length for that club. Now do the maths, use the difference between the longest and shortest club that's comfortable to you and divide by total number of irons minus 1. Now you have your increments for your iron set. If the increments are very small you may want to try single length irons. After length is determined then you can test for swing weight then lie angle.

[95124hacker]

Or you can try single length irons...

[tokeyb]

Or you can try single length irons...

 

Yes, you and 24Link are right that I should consider and give SL a try. I think I'd want them off 8 iron length or shorter, long distance gap to hybrids and driver.

 

Okay, still thinking and plotting.

[rattlergolfer]

Or you can try single length irons...

 

Yes, you and 24Link are right that I should consider and give SL a try. I think I'd want them off 8 iron length or shorter, long distance gap to hybrids and driver.

 

Okay, still thinking and plotting.

 

I am 5' 2" on a good day with new shoes and inertia outweighing gravity. I just had a set build last week and my 6 Iron is 37" @ D3 DW. I added the C-Taper Lite in my irons and after a few good shots, I feel the length is spot on. Not, sure I would go 2 Inches short as that seems EXTREME.

 

When teeing up your iron shots how do you hit the ball?

[Howard_Jones]

You should look into 3/8" sets....thats the solution here, NOT going down 2 inches on all, that want work and will be hard to get right, while we can simply jump into it, and make a slope staring from a #3 iron thats lets say 1.5 inch shorter than standard.

 

When we no go "only" 3/8" shorter from that #3 iron at MINUS 1.5 vs std, we end up with a #9 iron thats only 0.75 below standard, so we can make it minus 1.5 in the long, and only minus 0.75 in the short as one example on many options here.

 

Since a set like this should be made to progressive SW value, we have a fair chance to do it, while we can never find the place for lead tape enough on the PW if we went 2 inch shorter.

 

(if reset of SW value is wanted thats 12 SWP on that PW of each 2.3 grams or close to 8.05 cm lead tape for each 2.3 grams x 12 = 97 cm lead tape needed on that PW.....thats NOT Possible, while if it was only 0.75 shorter its 4 swp or 4 x 8.05 cm lead tape = 32.5 cm, thats a lot, but possible)

 

Or start from the #8 IRON, how short do you really want that club to be? when found, draw a slope into the long with what ever length progression you want. I suggest you use 3/8 to make it simple, but as long as we can adjust head wgt right, we can use what ever.

 

Follow this link and read more about 3/8" set ups, and ASK.....it might look like a mess, but its simple stuff when you get to understand what we can do and how.

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1680558-shortening-my-irons/page__st__30#entry18252834

[wkuo3]

Something to think about. you can approach it from the equipment side and from the golfer's side .

I had a guy about your height. tried a set of 3/4" short and 3/8" gap in length between the numbers. I moved the 3,4,5 irons out of the bag and replaced them with hybrids, 5 and 7 woods.

When he used the regular length irons, even after the lie adjustment, because the swing plane was flat, difficult to elevate the ball flight, hence he never could stop the approach shot onto the green. Had he reached the green, most likely the golf ball would ended up in the back of the green.

We also had him changes his posture at address position. He used to squad down a bit and with very wide stance. We moved his posture to a more up-right position with stance just narrower than the shoulder. Kinda difficult at the beginning, but with exercise to strengthen his leg muscles he could do that comfortably now. And, for certain days when he couldn't produce a more consistent strike, he would grip down on the irons maybe 1/2"- 1" and take one more club.

Ball Trajectory is what we were after, not just a solid strike at the golf ball.

[24Linc]

Or you can try single length irons...

 

Yes, you and 24Link are right that I should consider and give SL a try. I think I'd want them off 8 iron length or shorter, long distance gap to hybrids and driver.

 

Okay, still thinking and plotting.

I play the Wishon Sterling SL. 4-7 iron are at 36.5", 8-GW at 36". My WTF is 34". Just find what's comfortable for you. I hit my 7 iron 165, 4 iron carries 190 to 200, hybrid carries 215, so distance gaping is not an issue for me. This may not be true for everyone though.

[rattlergolfer]

That is very interesting. My try this on my back-up set of Z745.

 

Or you can try single length irons...

 

Yes, you and 24Link are right that I should consider and give SL a try. I think I'd want them off 8 iron length or shorter, long distance gap to hybrids and driver.

 

Okay, still thinking and plotting.

I play the Wishon Sterling SL. 4-7 iron are at 36.5", 8-GW at 36". My WTF is 34". Just find what's comfortable for you. I hit my 7 iron 165, 4 iron carries 190 to 200, hybrid carries 215, so distance gaping is not an issue for me. This may not be true for everyone though.

 

I like this idea ....

[tokeyb]

Good feedback Howard and wkuo. I have experimented with smaller progressions, but only with existing sets, not from the ground up, so swingweight and MOI are usually a mess.

 

Agreed I can probably toss the 3-5 irons, I hit hybrids better for sure. That leaves me with fewer things to monkey with.

[Howard_Jones]

Good feedback Howard and wkuo. I have experimented with smaller progressions, but only with existing sets, not from the ground up, so swingweight and MOI are usually a mess.

 

Agreed I can probably toss the 3-5 irons, I hit hybrids better for sure. That leaves me with fewer things to monkey with.

 

What is it you have at home now? way to may players start by CUTTING shafts....DONT

 

Tell me what you got, both as play ready clubs and as "parts", and tell me what club of them you have that works the best for you.

 

Then i can run the numbers on my computer and save you a day job.

- I would need PLAY LENGTH on that "favorite", the HEAD #, and a approximate SW value the way that club works the best for you

 

Then what set you plan to build (head numbers from and to for full swing, include your GW if its for full swing mostly, and tell what play length that SHORTEST club you play to full swing have now.

 

Then i can reply with the needed grams for all heads, and then we can identify those who needs more than a tip wgt can deliver, OR a adjust the slope (higher all over) until it "covers" and smoother out the differences.

 

in a few days i can share this app with you all, but im not done with all yet, but its a small EXCEL VBA APP, where everything is done in the METRIC system down to 1/10 of a millimeter and 1/10 of a SWP point, so we can pick what ever play length progression we want from 0.5" inch or 4/8" down to 0, and the math is done for you.

 

The "issue" with apps like this, is that most who wants to use them dont know the actual start specs of their own clubs, and if they are off, they will still be off when done with this, so it demands a set thats FLAT on start specs (fit factory specs on both length, loft, lie and SW value, but they hardly ever do, but if they do, its a walk in the park)

 

We simply start by choosing play length for our #8 iron, then we just use a "spinner" up or down for what play length we want between clubs both ways from that #8 iron, and we can choose any from 0.0 and in steps of 1/10 millimeter up to 12.7 mm

In real life we should only use down to 0.5 mm as steps so we can measure and cut between two mm lines as the tightest step

but thats gives us 0.0 - 0.5 - 1.0 - 1.5.....all the way to 12.7 so we are NOT stuck with either 4/8"- 3/8 or 2/8, but tons of options in-between since we move it all into metric

 

Example 3/8" is equal to 9.5 millimeter, but we could use 9.0 or 10.0 if we wanted, or 8.0 for that matter....METRIC = TONS OF OPTIONS we normally dont see but thats the future of custom clubs, because we can keep using "SW based heads" like now, even if we turn that way.

 

so, just post those numbers, and you can have all specs in return

[wkuo3]

Good feedback Howard and wkuo. I have experimented with smaller progressions, but only with existing sets, not from the ground up, so swingweight and MOI are usually a mess.

 

Agreed I can probably toss the 3-5 irons, I hit hybrids better for sure. That leaves me with fewer things to monkey with.

 

When you replace the 3-5 irons with hybrids, experiment with the length of the irons which are being replaced instead of using the regular hybrid length.

Also try one flex softer with heavier weight when experiment with shorter length of shafts in the irons.

[tokeyb]

 

What is it you have at home now? way to may players start by CUTTING shafts.

...

so, just post those numbers, and you can have all specs in return

 

Howard, you are a gentleman and a scholar for this offer. I will try to give you everything requested here, and THANK YOU for the help!

 

Current setup = Srixon 565, std length, 3 flat. True Temper XP95 R300, MCC grips std.

Best = 9I, 39*, 36", 60* lie angle, D2

And on the 9, I usually choke down an inch.

 

New stuff to assemble:

Cobra King Forged CB 4-P, plus MB gap. Yes I hit gap wedge full.

Specs are here: https://www.cobragolf.com/king-pro-irons

 

Shafts are Nippon 950GH Pro I believe. (Black&Gold, I told you Modus but was mixing it up)

 

Grips are GP MCC +4 std size. I like a couple extra wraps as well.

 

Thinking new 8i at 35.5" based on all the conversation above.

 

Again appreciate all the ideas and knowledge dropped in this thread and site as a whole.

[Howard_Jones]

[Howard_Jones]

im on a terrible internet line, loose connection all the time, and im out of photo quota, so i will have to delete to upload another suggestion.

Please SAVE that photo, so you can use it if needed.

 

Ive set the #8 iron to 36.50 and D2, but if you wanted the #9 iron to become D2 and the head weight allows it *not to heavy, we can remove 0.5 SWP all the way. Ive also set the GW into the same slope as irons with 38 inch all the way, that can be adjusted back if you want.

 

This is ONLY a suggestion, save the photo, and ask for any changes, and i can upload a new, but will have to delete the first one since ive used all my photo volume

 

As you can see, i can change any parameter we want, and get all numbers done at the 10 of a gram.

PS im NOT sure about BBGM on irons and wedges, so DONT use those CUT length yet for NET cut shafts, we have to make sure BBGM is set right first, then its all a walk in the park where you can just cut as advised dont to net cut shaft length you can see to the right

 

PS! SW progression has 4 MODEs

#1 SW matched / same SW for all

#2 Auto calc to 1.33 SWP pr inch / no matter play length between clubs / USED HERE

#3 DIY MOI match / equal to 1.0 SWP for each inch

#4 4 inch fulcrum SW scale / equals to 0.8 SWP pr inch as progression

 

That means it can also make the resistance as we want it, not only flat SW or Progressive SW but different slopes so it all becomes like THIS player wants it on ALL specs.

[Howard_Jones]

PS i have a few test runs to do only, and a few scrips for PRINT, and the APP is ready to be SHARED as a free app for anyone to use, and in coming back with that, and instructions for use so anyone can help them self. I know it will be different for most, since ive converted everything into the metric system to give us option we want find using inches, but its very easy since you can have the numbers shown as you like it on the screen

 

The idea is simple

Most of us play to our best using our #8 or #9 iron, while we struggle the longer we go, so if we start from the #8 iron, we can now decide how much longer each club would be vs that #8 iron.

 

Standard is 12.7 mm while a 38 set is 9.5 mm between clubs, but here we can go 9.0 / 8.5 / 8.0 or what ever, so we adjust the LONGEST club to be playable for us, and the APP helps to judge if the wgt change needed for the set is possible and how.

Wedges is standard 0.25 between clubs who is equal to 6.4 mm, and here we can adjust them both ways as we like.

 

It gives us FULL freedom to build and compose what ever we like, using standard component made for SW match, and it will be ready for all to down load during this week, i just have to make sure i dont do any "funny stuff" if we try something odd, so its for safety reasons it takes a few more days before you can all have it for use at home or at your shop.

 

As long as nobody reuse it for commercial interests (include it in something they sell) i dont care how its used, and even if its write protected, so we dont mess it up during use, there is NO passwords, so you are free to modify anything you want to have it the way you like it. That means if you run a professional shop, feel free to use it as a helping tool.