# Questions About Shaft Lengths?



## Rothenfield

I recently bought a second set of used 4-P irons. I’ve played these Mizuno MX-23’s and like them very much; however, the grips need to be replaced and the shafts are about one club length longer than my standard length Ping Eye 2’s. I’ve never been professionally fitted, but I’ve played these Eye 2’s enough to feel like they fit me well. Being a cheapskate, my initial thought was to remove the Mizuno grips and hacksaw the shafts to match the lengths of the Pings club to club.

The problem is that the differences in shaft lengths for the Pings seem to be grouped in short, mid, and long irons. The 2,3,& 4 have about a quarter inch length drop; then at least a half inch drop down to the 5,6, & 7 with quarter inch drops between them; then another half inch drop to the group of 8,9 &P. (I’m hoping this makes sense.)
Here is a picture of the 2 sets matched to each other 4 through PW from left to right.











You can barely see in the picture that the Mizunos have a more consistent drop in lengths between clubs versus the Pings staggered drops. 

My question is whether club-makers have a reason that they would ‘group’ the differences in shaft lengths in categories of short, mid, and long or is a consistent length difference between clubs more common. I guess the easy thing to do would be to cut off the same length from each Mizuno thereby maintaining the designer’s original intent. Has anyone ever cut their own shafts, or am I being a nutty cheapskate?


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## Rothenfield

I think my question was so badly put that even I can’t figure it out. 

Basically what I’m wondering is how changing the shaft lengths will affect the relative distances of the clubs. The ideal, I’m assuming, is that with a duplicated swing, each club will add (or subtract) the same distance. If I cut an inch off of one of the Mizuno shafts but a half inch off another to match the Pings, wouldn’t that change the proportional distances. (Oh Geez, it’s still confusing.)


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## Indacup

Roth,

I think I understand what you are asking...sadly, my response may end up as confusing as your question...LOL...but here goes:



Rothenfield said:


> I think my question was so badly put that even I can’t figure it out.
> 
> Basically what I’m wondering is how changing the shaft lengths will affect the relative distances of the clubs.
> 
> The ideal, I’m assuming, is that with a duplicated swing, each club will add (or subtract) the same distance. If I cut an inch off of one of the Mizuno shafts but a half inch off another to match the Pings, wouldn’t that change the proportional distances. (Oh Geez, it’s still confusing.)


It WILL affect distance, but exactly how much is going to be impossible to tell you exactly because it involves a few variables...like the brand/model of shafts, the brand/model of heads. Regardless the distance change would be negligible at best.

However, other issues can result in altering shaft length too much. Specifically, the club lie will be different. For a higher handicapper, it may not be noticed much, if at all...for a lower handicapper, it could be critical.

Now one question I have for you are what lofts are we looking at in that picture?


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## Rothenfield

As a beginner, relating club specs to performance is something that I will have to learn over time.

Lofts
Mx-23 Eye2
4	23* 24.7*	
5	26* 28.5*
6	29* 32.0*
7	33* 36.0*
8	37* 40.2*
9	41* 45.0*
P	46* 50.7*

This may explain something. It seems the loft of the Eye2’s match the next club down of the 23’s.
MX-23 Spec
Mizuno Mx 23 Iron Specs | LIVESTRONG.COM
Eye2 Spec
PING : Clubs : Classic Irons

How does loft relate to shaft length?


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## Indacup

Rothenfield said:


> As a beginner, relating club specs to performance is something that I will have to learn over time.
> 
> Lofts
> Mx-23 Eye2
> 4	23* 24.7*
> 5	26* 28.5*
> 6	29* 32.0*
> 7	33* 36.0*
> 8	37* 40.2*
> 9	41* 45.0*
> P	46* 50.7*
> 
> This may explain something. It seems the loft of the Eye2’s match the next club down of the 23’s.


Yup.... this has been an ongoing marketing ploy for the last dozen years.
You will see/read so many companies claiming their irons are longer than the others or longer than their previous models...it's 99.99% of the time due to simply lowering the loft...nothing more.

This is why the GAP wedge was developed...to fill the gap between the wedges and and the irons.

What a lot of beginners don't realize is irons are not meant to be longer, they are meant to be accurate.




> How does loft relate to shaft length?


It technically doesn't...and it does...

The shaft length will affect the club LIE angle....and if you are hitting shafts too long, it would cause the toe of the club to point up which would result in pull shots which are gradually increased as the lofts are lower. In other words a 9-iron, at the wrong lie angle will pull more to the left than a similarly ill fitted 5-iron.

Again, assuming your swing is the same.


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## Accufitgolf

Rothenfield said:


> As a beginner, relating club specs to performance is something that I will have to learn over time.
> 
> Lofts
> Mx-23 Eye2
> 4	23* 24.7*
> 5	26* 28.5*
> 6	29* 32.0*
> 7	33* 36.0*
> 8	37* 40.2*
> 9	41* 45.0*
> P	46* 50.7*
> 
> This may explain something. It seems the loft of the Eye2’s match the next club down of the 23’s.
> MX-23 Spec
> Mizuno Mx 23 Iron Specs | LIVESTRONG.COM
> Eye2 Spec
> PING : Clubs : Classic Irons
> 
> How does loft relate to shaft length?


There is an old joke in the business that Ping erased the numbers on a club and renumbered them. The 3 became a 4, the 4 became a 5. When done they had one left over and someone said well call it L for left over.

The loft and length game has been played for years by manufacturers.


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## Rothenfield

If I’m reading correctly, I’d better find out what my proper shaft length is before trying to do a home-hatchet job on the MX-23’s. I’m assuming it would be standard length as I am 6’ and of average proportions. I was trying to go cheap and avoid paying for a fitting, but it seems a fool’s errand that may end in screwing-up a perfectly good set of irons.

At least I think I have one answer and that is that It would be unwise to just cut the MX-23’s to the same length as the Eye 2’s.

This has been a very helpful post for me, and I hope to other interested parties as well.

Thank You!


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## Indacup

Rothenfield said:


> If I’m reading correctly, I’d better find out what my proper shaft length is before trying to do a home-hatchet job on the MX-23’s. I’m assuming it would be standard length as I am 6’ and of average proportions. I was trying to go cheap and avoid paying for a fitting, but it seems a fool’s errand that may end in screwing-up a perfectly good set of irons.
> 
> At least I think I have one answer and that is that It would be unwise to just cut the MX-23’s to the same length as the Eye 2’s.
> 
> This has been a very helpful post for me, and I hope to other interested parties as well.
> 
> Thank You!


You can do a pseudo fitting for shaft length yourself with just some masking tape....let me know if you are interested, and I'll explain how to do it.


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## Rothenfield

Indacup said:


> You can do a pseudo fitting for shaft length yourself with just some masking tape....let me know if you are interested, and I'll explain how to do it.


I've PM'd you, but yes, anything that I could do to save money these days would be helpful. I'm wanting to have these Mizunos regripped soon, but I need to have this shaft length issue resolved before I do so.


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## Indacup

Rothenfield said:


> I've PM'd you, but yes, anything that I could do to save money these days would be helpful. I'm wanting to have these Mizunos regripped soon, but I need to have this shaft length issue resolved before I do so.


I sent a reply to your PM box!

Good luck!


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## Rothenfield

Pine Meadow has an on-line club fit guide that I went through; it confirmed that my best fit is a “standard” shaft length. This was no surprise to me with the understanding that inputting numbers on a website is not the same as an actually “fitting” by a pro; but all things being equal, what does “standard” club length mean anyway? Is there an industry standard for clubs?


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## Indacup

Yes, there is pretty much an industry standard for shaft length for men and another for females.....although in most cases, they (especially drivers) are wrong.


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## Rothenfield

Indacup said:


> Yes, there is pretty much an industry standard for shaft length for men and another for females.....although in most cases, they (especially drivers) are wrong.


If you say so, then I'm inclined to believe it. However, at my lower skill level, I've come to the conclusion that maybe I’m over-thinking this.

I found the specs for the Mizuno MX-23 irons. Then removed the grips, noted what the shafts are marked as, and then measured the actual lengths from the floor with the clubs tilted to what seemed like a flat lie.

These clubs are a matched set with the S300 shafts marked as LGISL300 followed by what seems to be the marked shaft length, although this number does not match the actual measured length.

Shaft Marking/ Measured Length/ Spec.Length/ Difference	
4i 40.50 39.25” 38.25" .5”
5i 40.00 38.75” 37.75” .5”
6i 39.50 38.25” 37.25” .5”
7i 39.00 37.75” 36.75” .5”
8i 38.50 37.25” 36.25” .5”
9i 38.00 36.75” 35.75 .5”
PW 37.50 36.25 35.25” .5”

Mizuno MX-23 Irons Set | Discount Golf World

The solution seems clear. I’m going to cut-off a half an inch from each shaft, put on new grips, and call it good. Thank you for your help on this matter.


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