Advice Needed on Reshafting Apex CF19 Irons – Shaft Length Issues

[HarryG]

Hi everyone,

 

I purchased a set of shaft pulls (.355 taper that I intend to shim for the heads), but unfortunately, the measurements listed in the ad were incorrect. I made the rookie mistake of removing the old grips before double-checking the actual lengths, so now I’m left trying to make the best of the situation.

I’m working with a set of Apex CF19 iron heads (SW–6) and am looking for guidance on shaft lengths. Here are my raw shaft lengths (measured with no heads or grips):

 33.75, 33.75, 34.24, 34.75, 36, 36.5, 37.125

 

Any thoughts on how to trim these?  How should i gap the headweights with them?  Unfortunately the Wishon calculator says my 7i should ideally be 37.5", which I think at this point is likely impossible, so I am just trying to do my best now.

 

 

Edited May 28 by HarryG

[Nessism]

Your longest shaft is 37.125", add the length of the head (bottom of bore to ground) of about 1.25", and that yields something plus of 38" for your 6 iron.  In other words, you will have to butt trim the shafts to get the length you want.  I didn't do the math on each club, and I'm not sure your BBTG is 1.25, but hope you get the idea.

[gdb99]

So you need + 1/2”? What were the shafts listed as, 6-SW?

 

Dry fit each iron and measure. Looks like after the 8 iron is where the trouble starts? 

[HarryG]

This is what I am thinking of doing.  .5" steps between 9-S, and .75" for the rest of the bag.  I imagine I should probably drop the headweights to 6 gram gaps for the bigger jumps.  Do you think the .75" jumps are too big?  If a normal yardage gap is 10 yards, what would these be? 12-13 yards?  I can live with that.

[Stuart_G]

Did you actually measure the playing lengths with the shafts dry fit into the heads?   Or are you just making assumptions about the BBGM and what the playing lengths will be?

 

41 minutes ago, HarryG said:

Do you think the .75" jumps are too big?  If a normal yardage gap is 10 yards, what would these be? 12-13 yards?  I can live with that.

 

"normal yardage gaps"  and how much length changes effect the distance gaps completely depend on your swing.

 

But generally no, I don't recommend .75" length increments.  And using length increments to manage distance gaps is rarely recommended.  Playing length should be about managing accuracy and consistency - use loft to manage distance gaps.

 

 

[HarryG]

 

4 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

Did you actually measure the playing lengths with the shafts dry fit into the heads?   Or are you just making assumptions about the BBGM and what the playing lengths will be?

I tested two clubs (the SW and 6i) by dry-fitting the shafts into the heads, and it looks like the insertion (and I guess the bounce?) adds just over 1.125" to the shaft length. I also factored in approximately 0.125" for the grip, hence the 1.25" I was assuming in my chart.

 

Do I need to measure each club individually, or is it reasonable to assume this applies across the set? I’m definitely open to other suggestions on how to optimize the gapping given my current constraints.

[HarryG]

Another thought I had was just making them regular length with 0.5" gaps, but cutting down the longest club for the 8 iron.  

[Stuart_G]

43 minutes ago, HarryG said:

Do I need to measure each club individually, or is it reasonable to assume this applies across the set? I’m definitely open to other suggestions on how to optimize the gapping given my current constraints.

 

I would check all the clubs - especially with pulls or even new heads that have had the shafts pulled.  

 

For new, most heads will have the same BBGM through the set but there are exceptions.  Usually checking and comparing the longest and PW to see if there is any variation.  If it does change, it will usually be a progressive change, not a random change.

[Stuart_G]

37 minutes ago, HarryG said:

Another thought I had was just making them regular length with 0.5" gaps, but cutting down the longest club for the 8 iron. 

 

Don't take this the wrong way - but are you sure the shaft you think is the 8i - really is the 8i shaft?  

 

You don't want to randomly choose which shaft goes into which head.  If they are pulls, they need to go into the head they were designed to be played in (assuming taper tip shafts for the apex heads).

 

What shaft model are they?

[HarryG]

5 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Don't take this the wrong way - but are you sure the shaft you think is the 8i - really is the 8i shaft?  

 

You don't want to randomly choose which shaft goes into which head.  If they are pulls, they need to go into the head they were designed to be played in (assuming taper tip shafts for the apex heads).

 

What shaft model are they?

They’re KBS Tour 120g taper shafts. My understanding was that I could simply butt trim them to achieve the correct playing length – as an extreme example, trimming a longer 3-iron shaft to use for an 8-iron. However, based on your response, it sounds like this might not be correct. If that’s the case, I may be dead in the water.

[Stuart_G]

12 minutes ago, HarryG said:

They’re KBS Tour 120g taper shafts. My understanding was that I could simply butt trim them to achieve the correct playing length – as an extreme example, trimming a longer 3-iron shaft to use for an 8-iron. However, based on your response, it sounds like this might not be correct. If that’s the case, I may be dead in the water.

 

Yes, it's not correct.   Because of the different head weights, each shaft is designed to have a slightly different stiffness to compensate for the differences in head weight.    If you put a shaft in the wrong head, it will play either stiffer or softer depending on whether it's put into a longer or shorter iron head.   As per your example, a 3 iron shaft installed into an 8i would be soft stepped 5 times - which would probably equate to more than a full flex softer than the other shafts in the set.

 

Stepping once usually isn't a big deal.  e.g. if you got a PW-3i set of shafts and install them in a GW-4i set of heads, that wouldn't be much of a problem for most.   But you want to step all clubs in the set the same.

 

Now with single length blank shaft models (always .370" parallel tip) - you could tip trim a shaft that came out of the 3i to turn it into an 8i shaft.  But you can't do that with taper tip or discrete length parallel tip shaft models.

 

If you're not sure which shaft is supposed to go into which head, you might be able to check the etched or laser'd markings that should be on the butt of the shafts.

 

Edited May 28 by Stuart_G

[Nessism]

Check the stepping pattern on the shafts, to make sure everything seems correct.  Maybe that 8 shaft isn't an 8.

[Stuart_G]

40 minutes ago, Nessism said:

Check the stepping pattern on the shafts, to make sure everything seems correct.  Maybe that 8 shaft isn't an 8.

 

As an unconfirmed member, he ran into his post limit for the day.   He has the grips off and is going to check the stencils/etching on the shafts to figure out which iron each shaft is supposed to go into.

[Golf Pig]

8 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

I would check all the clubs - especially with pulls or even new heads that have had the shafts pulled

 

Definitely good advice. I don't know about the CF19s, but the BBGM of my CF16s varied through the set. The PW and 9 iron are 1", 6/7/8 irons are 1-1/16", and the 4/5 irons are 1-1/8".