Not Too Sure About The Fit

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By Walt S

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  • 6 Replies
  1. Walt S

    Walt S
    Mckenzie, TN

    Military

    Yesterday I went to get fitted for the 714 AP1. Thought this was not my first fitting, it's been a while since I've had one done so I thought instead of getting "rack" clubs, I would get fit.

    I chose this off course shop (not a name brand store) that does fittings and sells clubs because I was getting my car fixed and had some time to burn. Living about 2 hours away from big box stores, I visited this place before and he said that he has done numerous fittings and mine shouldn't any different. This place did not have an outside range but a cart fitting system with the latest in shafts and heads, so I made an appointment.

    The fitting was very much normal except that he didn't take measurements for length, but did use a lie board and tape to see where my hit pattern was. Bottom line when it was done:

    I was fit for 2* upright with an R shaft hard stepped. I never had upright clubs before let alone hard stepping the shaft. Of course I bit the bullet and said OK, plopped down my money and left all the while thinking "2* upright and a r hard stepped shaft".

    The question I have, has anyone had their shafts hard stepped or really soft stepped for that matter, and does it make a difference?

    I hope I didn't blow-it

  2. John M

    John M
    Ormond Beach, FL

    Never heard of hard or soft step shafts.  Could that be the tip which would then change the trajectory of your shots?
  3. Walt S

    Walt S
    Mckenzie, TN

    Military

    John M said:

    Never heard of hard or soft step shafts.  Could that be the tip which would then change the trajectory of your shots?

    John, They way it was explained to me is that they take a 3 iron shaft trim it and put it into a 4 iron, same with a 5 iron, they take a 4 iron shaft trim it and make it into a five iron shaft, so on and so forth through the set. The reason for this is to have a stiffer tip while having the same flex in the shafts.

    Now I could be wrong, but that's the way it was explained to me. If anyone has a better insight on this, I sure would like to know..!!

  4. Dan W

    Dan W
    North Grafton, MA

    I've had irons hard stepped before.  You are probably right in between regular and stiff flex.  If that's the case then hard-stepping regular flex could make sense. What shafts are they?

  5. Walt S

    Walt S
    Mckenzie, TN

    Military

    Dan W said:

    I've had irons hard stepped before.  You are probably right in between regular and stiff flex.  If that's the case then hard-stepping regular flex could make sense. What shafts are they?

    They are the standard TT XP95, which again I know nothing about. You know, it's not the fitting I doubted. it's just the results. Then again, my swing has changed some so maybe they're right. It's just that I have never hit an iron with a hard stepped shaft so I don't really know what to expect. We tried TT R 300-400 but they were too heavy and stiff for my liking. I tried the graphite shaft, but didn't like the feel. Since you have had irons hard stepped before, does it change the feel or can you really tell the tip is stiff? What can I or should I expect in terms of flight and feel?

     

    Thanks

  6. Dan W

    Dan W
    North Grafton, MA

    I think you have hard-stepping backwards in your previous post.  Using a 3-iron shaft in a 4-iron and butt-trimming to length would be soft-stepping.  Using a 4-iron shaft in a 3-iron would be hard-stepping.  Soft- and hard-stepping would be done to achieve the right fit if you are in between flexes.  Hard-stepping shafts once would make them play about 1/3 of a flex stiffer and lower ball flight a hair, hard-stepping shafts twice would make them play 2/3 of a flex stiffer, and so on.  There are good explanations of hard and soft stepping online - a google search will help explain them.

    In my case I had a set of 690.CB irons hard-stepped once with S300's.  It did not change the feel dramatically or lower the ball flight dramatically.  It was done to achieve a better fit as my swing speed was right on the line between S300 and X100, and I had tried X100's prevously and felt they were too stiff for me.

    For your example, DG XP95 are high-launching shafts.  Hard-stepping them once will make them play slightly stiffer (you may not even notice 1/3 of a flex stiffer) and lower the ball flight a bit.  If you balloon the XP's into the wind, then that could help bring them down a little.  I wouldn't be afraid of hard-stepping an R300 XP95 - it won't be a huge difference - as long as you trust your fitter.

  7. Walt S

    Walt S
    Mckenzie, TN

    Military

    Dan W said:

    I think you have hard-stepping backwards in your previous post.  Using a 3-iron shaft in a 4-iron and butt-trimming to length would be soft-stepping.  Using a 4-iron shaft in a 3-iron would be hard-stepping.  Soft- and hard-stepping would be done to achieve the right fit if you are in between flexes.  Hard-stepping shafts once would make them play about 1/3 of a flex stiffer and lower ball flight a hair, hard-stepping shafts twice would make them play 2/3 of a flex stiffer, and so on.  There are good explanations of hard and soft stepping online - a google search will help explain them.

    In my case I had a set of 690.CB irons hard-stepped once with S300's.  It did not change the feel dramatically or lower the ball flight dramatically.  It was done to achieve a better fit as my swing speed was right on the line between S300 and X100, and I had tried X100's prevously and felt they were too stiff for me.

    For your example, DG XP95 are high-launching shafts.  Hard-stepping them once will make them play slightly stiffer (you may not even notice 1/3 of a flex stiffer) and lower the ball flight a bit.  If you balloon the XP's into the wind, then that could help bring them down a little.  I wouldn't be afraid of hard-stepping an R300 XP95 - it won't be a huge difference - as long as you trust your fitter.

    Dan, Thank you for setting me straight on this. I never had my iron hard or soft step so I really had no idea and obviously I didn't get the definition of hard or soft correct either. When you get fit for irons, you go through a lot of steps and a lot of different configurations, this was my first fit with this fitter and as far as trust goes, I guess we'll see. I guess if the hard step does not work, I'll have to put in new shafts and try a different fitter. That was my main concern.

    Again, thanks for providing me with your experience, it was helpful!

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