tipping a new shaft.

[DaveM]

Ok I'm going to put a new shaft I have hanging about into an old 7 wood. Normally you would trim 4 inches of the tip. I put one of the same shafts into a 5 wood tipped 3 inches. It feels a tad stiff. So if I don't tip trim or only trim by 1 inch, will it make it feel a bit softer. I think it should but I'm not sure. Also would it effect the flex point much.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Blue in Munich]

What shaft is it? And if the 5 wood shaft is too stiff because it has been tipped too much, is it worth pulling that and putting it in the 7 wood, then starting afresh with the new shaft in the 5 wood?

 

[nemicu]

Yes - what shaft is it?
Normally, most graphite wood shafts only have enough tip parallel section to tip up to 3"-4" but in reality you would tip a lot less before you reached that maximum to allow for insertion into the bore of the head - or for the adapter.
A lot depends on the actual shaft and on the actual head. The BBGM (bottom of bore to ground measurement) will dictate the overall flex of the club as it also dictates how much (if any) you need to tip the shaft. For example if the head is a bore thru design where the shaft passes all the way through the head to the ground, then no tipping at all is necessary to get it to play "to flex".
Tipping 3" or more in ANY shaft will make it a tad stiff because you've taken a sizeable chunk of the shaft profile away and left yourself with more butt section (the stiffest part of any shaft) in the finished length. If you tip less, then you trim more butt section away in the finished length to make it weaker - that's how it works.
Nonetheless, you can't affect the flex point of a shaft at all by trimming - it's set in the shaft by its design and construction, therefore you can't alter it. You have to consider the overall length of the shaft and decide which part of it you want to retain in the finished build. If you want it weaker, trim less tip and more butt - if you want it stiffer, trim more tip and less butt. But if it's a mid flex point shaft for example, it will still be a mid flex point shaft when you've finished.
If you can tell us what the shaft is, what the head is and what your target flex and length is - then we can help you out a bit more accurately.

 

[BTatHome]

Don't think I've ever seen instructions saying tip trim 3 inches .... matrix guide I have says 2.0" is the max.

 

[DaveM]

The shaft is a "grafalloy blue reg" and the head is a tm v_steel. When I said 3" I may have been a bit out but I did follow the trimming chart for grafalloy shafts. I think that the shafts play a bit stiffer than a lot of reg shafts. The five wood is a v_steel as well. The reason for the change was to bring the flight down which it has done. I hit it fine it's just that it feels a bit stiff. Maybe I just need to get use to the shaft.

 

[nemicu]

The Grafalloy Blue is a pretty stout shaft as it is and I wouldn't recommend tipping it much if at all unless you have a very high swing speed with a quick tempo. The standard tip trim is 1" (not 3" lol) for this shaft if it fits your swing in a 5-7 wood.

grafalloy trim chart here:
http://grafalloy.barnwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-Product-Spec-Trimming-Guide6.pdf

On a side note - remember the TM V-steel is a .350" head. Therefore you will need a shim if the shaft is .335". There are some Grafalloy Blues about with a .350" tip, but they are pretty rare.

 

[DaveM]

Yes I have some shims if I can find them. Thanks for your input.

 

[Foxholer]

Graf Blue (not Prolaunch) is a stout shaft at the best of times! Over-tipping it would turn it into a fence-post!