Iron shaft change question - going back to S300 after five years with Steelfiber

[Brass_Bullseye]

I bought a set of Titleist 716 CBs back in 2016. In 2019 I decided to get a shaft fitting at Club Champion and they put me in Steelfiber 95s. I’m 5’10”, but they recommended going a 1/2” short because they said I have long arms. 
 

Ever since, I’ve struggled to bottom out in front of the ball.  In fact, I rarely take a divot, and even when I hit it high and solid, it still feels a fraction thin. 
 

I’ve decided to go back to the S300s because I think the shorter length, lighter weight, and change in swingweight has ruined my tempo. 
 

Has anyone else made a similar change? Did it help?

[Socrates]

5 minutes ago, Brass_Bullseye said:

I bought a set of Titleist 716 CBs back in 2016. In 2019 I decided to get a shaft fitting at Club Champion and they put me in Steelfiber 95s. I’m 5’10”, but they recommended going a 1/2” short because they said I have long arms. 
 

Ever since, I’ve struggled to bottom out in front of the ball.  In fact, I rarely take a divot, and even when I hit it high and solid, it still feels a fraction thin. 
 

I’ve decided to go back to the S300s because I think the shorter length, lighter weight, and change in swingweight has ruined my tempo. 
 

Has anyone else made a similar change? Did it help?

I would add back the length first and see how that changes things.

 

FWIW, after using graphite for few years, I was never able to go back to steel.  Was ok on the range where you had multiple chances to hit the same iron.  Wouldn't translate to the course where you only had one opportunity to make it work. YMMV.

[Pepperturbo]

12 minutes ago, Brass_Bullseye said:

I bought a set of Titleist 716 CBs back in 2016. In 2019 I decided to get a shaft fitting at Club Champion and they put me in Steelfiber 95s. I’m 5’10”, but they recommended going a 1/2” short because they said I have long arms. 
 

Ever since, I’ve struggled to bottom out in front of the ball.  In fact, I rarely take a divot, and even when I hit it high and solid, it still feels a fraction thin. 
 

I’ve decided to go back to the S300s because I think the shorter length, lighter weight, and change in swingweight has ruined my tempo. 
 

Has anyone else made a similar change? Did it help?

If you like Steelfiber 95s, consider lengthening them to standard and see how you strike the ball.   

 

In 2018, I went from 15+years playing 120g PX 6.0 to composite, first was Steelfiber i110cw in 2i-PW, at standard length.  Outstanding shafts stayed with them for 2yrs+.  I am also 5'10 and have longer arms, so says my clothier, 🙂  been happy with standard length forever.  Oh, I am a sweeper/picker with 2i-8i, only take a divot or scrape to roots with short irons & wedges. 

 

The only setup changes I've made aside from a new shaft is had the Lie flatten .5' cause it visually helps for some odd reason.  Recently went back to PX 6.0, only Red series in 5i-PW, said to be for fast tempo users like me.

[Brass_Bullseye]

1 hour ago, Pepperturbo said:

If you like Steelfiber 95s, consider lengthening them to standard and see how you strike the ball.   

 

In 2018, I went from 15+years playing 120g PX 6.0 to composite, first was Steelfiber i110cw in 2i-PW, at standard length.  Outstanding shafts stayed with them for 2yrs+.  I am also 5'10 and have longer arms, so says my clothier, 🙂  been happy with standard length forever.  Oh, I am a sweeper/picker with 2i-8i, only take a divot or scrape to roots with short irons & wedges. 

 

The only setup changes I've made aside from a new shaft is had the Lie flatten .5' cause it visually helps for some odd reason.  Recently went back to PX 6.0, only Red series in 5i-PW, said to be for fast tempo users like me.

The problem is I don’t really know if I like the Steelfibers because I’ve never hit them consistently well. But I was a 10 cap with the S300s and a 10 cap with the Steelfibers. That said, iron shafts have nothing to do with my short game, putting, or driver accuracy. 
 

I think I’m going to keep the Steelfibers, and if the steel shafts don’t work out I’ll just have the composite shafts extended. 

[Pepperturbo]

14 hours ago, Brass_Bullseye said:

The problem is I don’t really know if I like the Steelfibers because I’ve never hit them consistently well. But I was a 10 cap with the S300s and a 10 cap with the Steelfibers. That said, iron shafts have nothing to do with my short game, putting, or driver accuracy. 
 

I think I’m going to keep the Steelfibers, and if the steel shafts don’t work out I’ll just have the composite shafts extended. 

It could be you strike the ball better with heavier weighted shafts. 

 

Having experienced PX steel and seven years of various weight composite shafts; my ProV1 ball behaves more to my liking on fast greens, using steel shafts vs composite.  That result may be how I experience the different, others may be different.  But maybe there are those benefits to going back to S300. 

 

Also, you might have S300 shafts weighed to make sure ALL S300 shafts are within weight spec of stated flex.  Good luck.

Edited June 5 by Pepperturbo

[Brass_Bullseye]

9 hours ago, Pepperturbo said:

It could be you strike the ball better with heavier weighted shafts. 

 

Having experienced PX steel and seven years of various weight composite shafts; my ProV1 ball behaves more to my liking on fast greens, using steel shafts vs composite.  That result may be how I experience the different, others may be different.  But maybe there are those benefits to going back to S300. 

 

Also, you might have S300 shafts weighed to make sure ALL S300 shafts are within weight spec of stated flex.  Good luck.

Thank you, Sir. 

[Ri_Redneck]

On 6/4/2025 at 7:38 PM, Brass_Bullseye said:

I bought a set of Titleist 716 CBs back in 2016. In 2019 I decided to get a shaft fitting at Club Champion and they put me in Steelfiber 95s. I’m 5’10”, but they recommended going a 1/2” short because they said I have long arms. 
 

Ever since, I’ve struggled to bottom out in front of the ball.  In fact, I rarely take a divot, and even when I hit it high and solid, it still feels a fraction thin. 
 

I’ve decided to go back to the S300s because I think the shorter length, lighter weight, and change in swingweight has ruined my tempo. 
 

Has anyone else made a similar change? Did it help?

If the SF irons had been MOI matched to your TT S300 irons, you would have probably been fine. SW doesn't matchup with steel when you go that light with the shaft. Head-feel will be lighter.

 

BT

[Stuart_G]

On 6/4/2025 at 7:38 PM, Brass_Bullseye said:

I’ve decided to go back to the S300s because I think the shorter length, lighter weight, and change in swingweight has ruined my tempo. 

 

Definitely use what works the best, but just some observations about the proper way to transition to graphite.

 

1) Playing length -  If the problems you had is consistent throughout the set, then the playing length wasn't the problem.   If it was limited to the wedges, then yes length might have been part of the  problem.    Much more likely was that they didn't properly swing weight the clubs for the shorter length and lighter shaft weight - but more on that later.   As an aside:  it's actually much more common for "fitters" to try and get people to play longer playing lengths when going to graphite - and that is generally a horrible idea.   A good fit for playing length has nothing to do with the shaft material - e.g. whether it's graphite or steel.

 

2) Yes, shaft weight is one of the most important shaft specs to get right in fitting - and what weight is a good fit doesn't change when going from steel to graphite.  The jump from 130 gm DG to 95 gm steelfibers might have been too big of a jump for you.

 

3)  You didn't say how the swing weight changed but when changing shaft weight or playing length, it's always important to properly refit for swing weight.  Apparently that didn't' happen.

 

So while the shaft weight certainly could have been a problem, the swing weight "problems" were not the shafts fault - but rather an implementation failure.   Either by the fitter not fitting you properly for swing weight - or the builder not building to the right specs - or both. 

 

Would a proper fitting for swing weight have "fixed" the shaft weight problem?   Impossible to say for sure but it might have.  In some cases swing weight can be used to compensate for a less than ideal shaft weight.   So if you keep the steelfiber set, it might not be a bad idea to get out the lead tape and play around with adding head weight to see what might happen.  Actually measuring the swing weight might be a good first step to see where they are at.

 

Edited June 9 by Stuart_G

[mat562]

On 6/5/2025 at 12:38 AM, Brass_Bullseye said:

I bought a set of Titleist 716 CBs back in 2016. In 2019 I decided to get a shaft fitting at Club Champion and they put me in Steelfiber 95s. I’m 5’10”, but they recommended going a 1/2” short because they said I have long arms. 
 

Ever since, I’ve struggled to bottom out in front of the ball.  In fact, I rarely take a divot, and even when I hit it high and solid, it still feels a fraction thin. 
 

I’ve decided to go back to the S300s because I think the shorter length, lighter weight, and change in swingweight has ruined my tempo. 
 

Has anyone else made a similar change? Did it help?

 

I'm 6'00" (or maybe a smidgeon under these days) and I also have long arms (76" reach IIRC). I've long played 1/2" short (based around a 37 1/2" 5-iron) to accommodate it. I take divots that would shock a young Ian Woosnam.

 

I recently went to lighter and softer shafts. After years of playing X100s at around 130g, I went to KBS Tours at closer to 120g. 

 

I also play my irons pretty heavy, at D4. If I use lighter clubs, I tend to struggle to bottom out and find it difficult to feel the head. My clubs have long had a healthy dose of lead on the back in order to get the weight and feel to where I want it. Lighter shafts are something I can cope with (at least, when the change is 10-15g) but the swingweight is the key issue for me that can completely throw me out of kilter. Give me something a few points lighter and, whatever shaft is in it, I struggle. I may well be able to get better results with a different, or lighter shaft, on paper, but if it doesn't feel right when I'm swinging it, it's invariably a bad move for me.

 

 

Edited June 9 by mat562

[Brass_Bullseye]

Update. I played my first round with the original S300 shafts at standard length on Saturday. I might have hit 10 balls on the range, all with a 7-iron. 
 

The transition was seamless. I immediately hit the ball more solid with better feel and control.