Choices for iron re-shafting - questions on flight and spin

[Herm33]

looking at PX 5.0 and Nippon vs. DG SL

Looking at getting a couple sets of older Hogan blades reshafted (Redlines and Apex II.) Currently play PX 5.0 in AP2's. Happy with the ball flight for the most part, wouldn't want to hit them much higher, a tad lower flight in the short irons would be okay too. Never been a huge fan of the feel but they do seem to work okay. Spin seems good.

Recently got on the Mizuno optimizer, with swing speed high 70's. I forget the other numbers (maybe 4 2 4 5?) but my tempo is smoother and I don't put a huge load on the shaft, as you would think from someone who's SS is in that range. I alsoo tend to flip more at impact than I should and I'm a sweeper. Recommendations were PX 5.0, KBS Tour, and the Dynalite Gold XP. The fitter said he liked the PX suggestion but didn't really like the other 2, thought I might hit those too high. He said he thought I might like DG SL R300, as it would help bring down short iron flight. I'm worried about feel in that shaft as well and mid iron height.

Been researching a bit on the Nippon 1150 Tour. Seems the majority feel it's a great feeling shaft, results are more mixed on flight, dispersion and spin. How would the 1150 Tour R compare to PX 5.0? Are the flexes different enough that I might want to consider 1150 S soft stepped once? I have a MacGregor Pro M 7 iron demo with the 1150 S that I haven't hit in a while but might take to the range tonight. Numbers are certainly important, but I put a good deal of stock into feel as well.

[PJ72]

[quote name='Herm33' timestamp='1314302761' post='3518912']
Looking at getting a couple sets of older Hogan blades reshafted (Redlines and Apex II.) Currently play PX 5.0 in AP2's. Happy with the ball flight for the most part, wouldn't want to hit them much higher, a tad lower flight in the short irons would be okay too. Never been a huge fan of the feel but they do seem to work okay. Spin seems good.

Recently got on the Mizuno optimizer, with swing speed high 70's. I forget the other numbers (maybe 4 2 4 5?) but my tempo is smoother and I don't put a huge load on the shaft, as you would think from someone who's SS is in that range. I alsoo tend to flip more at impact than I should and I'm a sweeper. Recommendations were PX 5.0, KBS Tour, and the Dynalite Gold XP. The fitter said he liked the PX suggestion but didn't really like the other 2, thought I might hit those too high. He said he thought I might like DG SL R300, as it would help bring down short iron flight. I'm worried about feel in that shaft as well and mid iron height.

Been researching a bit on the Nippon 1150 Tour. Seems the majority feel it's a great feeling shaft, results are more mixed on flight, dispersion and spin. How would the 1150 Tour R compare to PX 5.0? Are the flexes different enough that I might want to consider 1150 S soft stepped once? I have a MacGregor Pro M 7 iron demo with the 1150 S that I haven't hit in a while but might take to the range tonight. Numbers are certainly important, but I put a good deal of stock into feel as well.
[/quote]

My swing speed and optimiser figures were very similar to yours (SS about 80, other numbers were all between 2-5, but cant recall exact numbers), so we virtually have the same swing :-). I'm a sweeper too and i tend to use a more armsy/handsy swing rather than driving with legs/rotating but it does me ok.

Anyway, i've had a few fitting sessions this year before i settled on a new set - the Mizuno optimiser (once indoors, once at national fitting centre); an outdoor launch monitor session at the Belfry and an outdoor launch monitor fitting with the Taylormade Tour Van (all Trackmans btw).

The best 2 fittings - the Mizuno national and the Taylormade one gave similar suggestions to yourself.

The Mizuno suggested the PX5.0 and the Taylormade the DG S300 SL (soft stepped x1). I tried the PX5.0 in the JPX Pro irons but didn't really enjoy the feel so much despite getting very consistent, if not spectacular, flight pattern, distance, spin etc.

However, the Taylormade TP MC irons with the DG S300 SL's were a revelation - penetrating but high flight, lowish spin (my previous irons were spinning around 9000rpm with a 6 iron!), very consistent distance, plus with them being stiff they are difficult to overwhelm with power. They also give fantastic feel (although the irons do feel amazing with several shafts i had tried), but the weight of the clubs (the SL's are about 20g lighter), particularly for us slowish swingers, is what makes the shaft work so well despite it being stiff (albeit soft stepped once).
One thing i would say about my fitting is that they are +1" in length, so that will decrease the stiffness significantly over the stock length S300.
During the fitting i only tried the DG S300 SL's in 1/2" longer and not soft stepped, they still felt and perfomed very well but they weren't spinning enough (about 3500 rpm, i think), so we took an educated gamble and went with the longer shaft (this was determined using another 1" longer shaft on a lie board) and soft stepped once. Worked a treat.

A further note about this - blades tend to be heavier than the cavity backs, so will give much different performance with same shafts. My new clubs are about 45g lighter than my (very) old Wilson Staff FG17 classic blades. The Wilsons have a very very similar shape, size etc to the Mizuno MP68 blades, so they might be similar to the Hogans.

Most importantly, don't take my word for it (not like you would), you need to get yourself out on a launch monitor (trackman is best, i think) outdoors using decent 2/3 piece balls and try as many different shafts as you can in as many different heads as you can if you were buying from new. In your case you might need to take them to a reputable club builder for him to dissemble a club and get it's weight, swing weight etc and let him assess what shaft(s) would be suitable for that particular iron and your swing.

I know you were probably looking for an easier answer than this but thought i would add my experience with those 2 shafts and similar clubs to yours (AP2's and Hogans).

[Herm33]

Awesome feedback, thanks so much. You're right, I need to do some more testing and experimentation before I pull the trigger. Definitely have the same feelings about the PX 5.0, I don't have a whole lot bad I can say about the flight, launch, and spin, just wanting to find out if there's something better in the feel department.

[mwink822]

Just food for thought, if you like the performance aspects of the PX but want 'better' feel, you may want to try looking at the C-Tapers.

[Boxer]

My numbers were about the same (78mph on the iron swing speed, 4,4,5,6 or something like that), 150yds for the 7iron, I sweep, and I had the same recommendations using the Titleist 710CB club head. Did not like the PX or Dynalite shaft feel or ball flight at all. The KBS felt ok, but the fitter only had stiff and as you know reg flex is the right fit for those numbers so it was hard to judge whether the reg flex would have felt better. The Nippion NS 105T was great. Produced a higher (optimal) ball flight than the other shafts with good (i.e., not too much) spin. And I love the feel--very smooth, and very connected with the club head. If you are talking about a shaft for the Hogan blades--which should naturally have a lower ball flight--you may want to try the NS105T.