advancedballstriking.com/lag_specs.doc
For those interested in how I have my sets “set up” here is a doc file you can download for your contemplation.
These are my MacGregor M85 specs which I like also
advancedballstriking.com/1953_M85.doc
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Great stuff Lag - super useful! I have never really fully understood the practicalities of tipping a shaft so can you shed a bit of light for me? So if you are tipping a shaft half an inch does that that mean you are trimming that amount off the tip end rather than the butt end? And if so is it only an option with shafts that are longer than that you want to play them at?
Thanks, Arnie
Hi Lag,
How about putting up your average carry distance for each club?
I think most of us need to be brainwashed out of thinking that heavy clubs / heavy swingweights = short distances.
Hi Arnie
I had this discussion with jeff Summit of Hireko golf last year about shaft trimming (after I had already wrongly trimmed a couple of Hogan Apex shafts from the butt end). Do go down to the posts for clarity.
blog.hirekogolf.com/2008/02/13/c … -trimming/
Also Arnie, most taper tip shafts are already pre cut and set at their desired flex and thickness level- therefore cutting them at the tip can stiffen them more but can also in some instances make them not even fit the head you are inserting them into as the shaft is tapered and gets thicker as it goes upwards- Cut it too much at the bottom and you trim off the correct thickness- so a 355 taper tip now becomes larger and won’t go in the head.- These shafts are mainly trimmed to length by cutting at the butt end
Parallel shafts (normally have a U at the end of the flex information- S300U for eg) are normally cut from the tip end to calculate stiffness and length
Just a bit more info about it- I am no means a club maker but do dabble and fool around with my own equipment- Lag will give you more insight I am sure.
Macs and Two - many thanks for the link and the insight - I understand trimming better now.
Cheers, Arnie
cutting them from the tips makes them stiffer. Sometimes I like to step a set differently than they came from the factory, in other words, my personal preference is that I like my long irons and woods very stiff, but am more open to my shorter irons being more along the line of what the factory had in mind. I can tip them all I want, in fact with my set of Hogan Power Thrusts, I decided to put in the stiffest shafts of all my sets. I tipped them an inch and a half over what was originally an DG X100. Super stiff. I love them in the long irons, but I"m not as certain in the short irons, which means I might bump up the head weights significantly more with the shorter irons. This would be done progressively.
With a couple of these sets I tipped, I added length to the grip end by putting in extenders from other old shafts. There is virtually no flex going on in the grip, so adding a 2 inch stub in then taping it up to level with the old butt end allows me to add length before re gripping.
I like my grips a little built up like Moe did, and I think Hogan did too. Knudson liked really thick grips. Of course this does lighten swing weight some, so keep that in mind too. This is one of the reasons those guys could have really heavy heads but not really heavy swing weights.
When you cut the taper tips, you might have to drill out the necks on the clubs. I have done a lot of that, and am now faced with taking some time off the game from hurting my elbow from the power drill snapping my right arm and blowing out my elbow. Lesson learned. I hope to be back swinging a club in a few weeks! ouch
Lag,
Sorry to hear about your elbow…Hope it feels better real soon…
I remember as a young junior golfer sitting around the clubhouse waiting for the rain to stop, I used to watch the Club Pro sand and alter the bulge and roll his woods etc…But I also remember him putting in weights in the 1,2,& 3 irons in the butt end of the club for a little less swing weight and potentially more speed/acc…
Also, Lag thanks for the spec post…That diver is almost Wild Bill’s Spec of 45 degrees…Maybe you’ve said it before but which club do you tend to take out of play when you add in the 15th club, the putter, to your spec sheet?
It depends upon the golf course.
most likely the 2 iron.
My 1 iron is my go to club for “must hit” the fairway. I typically play a slight power fade shot with the 1 iron, but I can draw it if needed also.
It’s hard to hook a 1 iron, and hard to slice it also, especially from a flat lie angle. I have mine set at 13 degrees so it’s a real knife!
My two favorite 1 irons are my 1962 Hogan Power Thrust and my 1962 Dynapower Turf Rider. Same set up and specs but totally different feeling clubs. It’s amazing really.
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From 56 flattened to 48 degrees…
re bored the hole in the neck, filled it with epoxy and sawdust, then re drilled it flatter.
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Are the weights for the clubs just the clubhead weight? or the finished club total weight?
Im looking to build up a 5 iron to these specs
I have a set of Royal blades from the '70s sitting around (actually my very first set of irons). Going to be very nastalgic working on them. I’m looking to reshaft, bend, weight and play them. Questions:
1. Will Lag’s specs be appropriate for my swing (only Lag will know)? Will a Mod 2er benefit from these specs? Does it vary from player to player?
2. The heads are over-the-hosel type. Any precautions or special shafts that I need for them? Do I always use parallel tip shafts if I want to tip any shaft?
Grad
Yeah, my question was going to be similar. Not so much, what are your clubs specs, but how should each of us go about working out our clubs specs being all different shapes, sizes and strengths?
If those weights are just the clubhead weights, then Lag is one serious freak of nature! I thought my irons were on the heavy side with a 6-iron dead weight of 441.0grams and a swingweight of D6. 
Those posted weights are total overall weight of the entire club.
As far as gear… we really need to finish up module #3 before we will have our own true swing plane in the ball park enough to make the proper adjustments… Everyone will be different… but as a rule of thumb, we want to swing the heaviest clubs we can handle without losing dramatic velocity…
We should swing on as flat a plane or have as shallow an entry into impact from P3 as possible.
Stiff shafts will give you the most control over the golf ball. Steel will provide the most consistent response.
Swing weight describes how the club will feel to us in our hands…
Dead weight has more impact upon how the ball reacts to the club and the transfer of energy from the club to the ball.
Either way… we have to deal with the “m” in the equation.
f=ma
p=mv
The ball likes mass, but so does our brain to feel the club in our hands…
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Lag,
Do you see any benefits to having a set (or 2) with softer shafts in them? The Mac PT3’s I just received have the Propel 3 shaft in them while most everything I use is stiffer.
Is there anything we can learn by playing or practicing on occasion with irons that are NOT as stiff as we can “handle”? I was thinking that over-acceleration issues might be amplified with softer shafts (but perhaps at the expense of a strong post impact pivot)? If nothing else it seems like it might heighten one’s “swing awareness”.
Similarly, does going even stiffer on occasion have any benefit?
robbo
Robbo,
I asked a question a couple of months ago about shaft flex and Lag answered with the following,
As far as a more flexible shaft exaggerating over-acceleration…I would agree and I believe that is one of the reasons why Lag says his tipped X shafts help him on days when he’s slightly off. I also agree that swinging a whippier shaft will basically act as an instant barometer as far as holding shaft flex is concerned. I have a Cleveland driver with a senior shaft that I use exactly for that reason (I seem to lose flex on the [modern] driver the most)…I swing on video and check the shaft flex situation directly and make adjustments from there. I suppose if I were swinging persimmon I probably wouldn’t have to check at all.
Bagger,
Thanks for reminding me about that post. It addresses my question very directly.
I have a set of Mac split-soles from the 60’s that feel x-stiff although the shaft bands indicate they’re simply “stiff”. I’ve played them once but they felt so “boardy” to me that I’m afraid I began overswinging in an attempt to “feel” some flex in them. That was a few months ago so perhaps it’s time to try them again and see if the swing is any stronger.
robbo
I don’t see anything wrong with going out with looser shafts for a round or two… you should be able to adapt to various shafts without too much problem. I find it interesting that when I play looser shafts I can feel impact happening later in my rotation as my hands are slightly further around and to the left… my divots will fishtail slightly more left also, and I will hit the ball a bit lower if I’m swinging good at it.
Robbo,
When I switched back and forth from Hogan PC irons (Hogan 4s)to some newer Cobra MBs, I had a similar situation. I use the Cobra MBs on a wide and long course that I play to give me some extra distance. The shafts in the Cobras are lighter and more tip flexible (Nippon 1050s Stiff) but with very similar swingweights to the Hogans. My divots, in fact, point more left with the Cobras with a noticably different impact feel to them. Also, I notice any throw out of shaft flex waaay more with the Cobra setup because the ball seems to balloon and come up short as if my left wrist breaks down. So, if I get too quick from the top and my hands get too far in front of me, I feel it. Because the shaft release is so obvious, perceiving the Nippon shafts release AFTER impact became my main swing intention once I found ABS.
I realized though, it forces me to focus on the club and the swing I am making at the moment instead of being ‘ball-bound’ and thinking more of the resulting ball contact/flight/distance/direction too much. Kind of in line with letting the ball “get in the way” philosophy.