Is altering shaft length basically harmless?

[returning_golfer112]

Hi,
I am on the verge of buying some second hand irons from Callaway pre owned website. At a recent fitting i was told I had a mid 90s speed swing with a 7 iron and my wrist to floor is 36". These irons are perfect in that they are a stiff shaft, and 2 up right lie but they have a large 3" extra on shaft length. Is it basically harmless to get these and get them cut back by a pro to the right length (1/2 inch more than standard). If so would it also be unnoticeable if I brought a 5 iron, with same stiffness and 2 lie but is -1/2 shaft length and asked to add an inch on to also be +1/2 from standard. Appreciate any ideas or discussion.

 

[Imurg]

2 1/2 inches is a lot of shortening..
It will stiffen the shaft, maybe not by much but it will make a difference
It will make the lie angle flatter
It will change the swingweight - you lose 3 swingweight points for every half an inch
Normally, irons SW at about D2 or D3...cutting that much off will drop it to low C range and it will feel very light.
This could be ok but its a big change.
A clubbuilder would be able to add weight to get the swingweight back, I think its 2g for every SW point - you'll need about 20+g per head....
I probably wouldn't worry about 1/2 inch either way but 2 1/2 is a massive change....

 

[bobmac]

I'd want to know if they were originally the normal length and have been extended.
The only way to tell for certain is to remove one of the grips and see if there's a plug in the end.

 

[jim8flog]

Iron shafts are always trimmed for length at the butt end.

Swing weight may change if the butt is trimmed/lengthened after original club has been made but in the same respect swing weight may have changed by fitting a grip other then the one originally fitted ie a heavier or lighter grip.

In terms of swing weight the important thing however is where that extra weigh is in relation to the balance point of the club.

As per Imurg it is easy to add the weight back by heavier grips or lead tape under the grip.

As per bobmac it will also depend on whether there was an extension added after the clubs were made or if they were built to that spec originally.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

Iron shafts are always trimmed for length at the butt end.

Unless they have been hard or soft stepped.

 

[jim8flog]

Unless they have been hard or soft stepped.

Soft stepping and hard stepping is
Soft is putting 6 iron shaft in a 7 iron
Hard is putting a 7 iron shaft in a 6 iron

What determines a 6 iron shaft from a 7 iron shaft is how far the first step is from the hosel and not how long the shaft is overall.

 

[nickjdavis]

Regarding sw/wt....it may well be that, unless lighter heads than standard were used in the original build, the current sw/wt might be in the E range...chopping off the 2.5 inches may well take the sw/wt back down to normal levels around D2.

Utter minefield of what-ifs.

My advice would be to hang on and keep checking the Callaway Pre-Owned site for something that is more suitable. The stock shown on the site changes regularly and is constantly being updated, unless you are looking to buy something particularly exotic shaft wise, it is quite likely that something more suitable will get listed in the coming days/weeks. I've bought plenty of stuff of the same site over the last year....sometimes I've had to wait a few weeks for what I wanted.....but eventually it has appeared.