Be Careful w/ Huge Modifications

[A.Princey]

I've been really interested in making the game simpler over the past 3-4 years, and with it I've made huge overhauls to sets by changing lengths, swingweights, shafts, etc. My cautionary tale is likely unique to myself, but there are key lessons for everyone looking to do the same. The biggest issue I arrived at is playing length of a particular club, and it's here where my journey started.

 

I was always a good wedge player, and my inconsistencies always followed with the longest of my clubs, so my experiment was to "close the gap" from the top end of my bag on down. I got really crazy with it in having like a 36.75" 3-iron, but after adjusting lie angles and adding the appropriate weight to get the correct club balance, results were spotty at best. Long story short, given a specific head design, geometry, weight, cg, bounce, etc., making drastic changes to just a few of those variables will greatly impact how the club performs vs its original condition. My word of advice, make small changes unless a club can be completely altered from original to accommodate anything larger and still perform equally well. Just a little story to summarize my findings, I took my "modified" GI club(4-iron) to the range after getting things as close to balanced as possible for me, and hit it against a stock blade(yes, you read that correct) 4-iron, and the stock club won handily in terms of contact, flight and feel. Head design could be playing a big role in these results, but the shallower plane of the longer blade just felt more natural for that head design. For me, cutting 2-3" off a low-bounce 4-iron to create a steep angle of attack was the wrong way to go about it, even if the weight/angles were properly fit for my dynamic swing.

 

I also know a guy who personally made his clubs single length at 7-iron, completely disregarded lie angle and swingweight, and he hits them perfectly well, so who knows. For most people though, be careful and go in small increments.

[mogc60]

Hey you’re on the right site. We’ve all made a few whiffs on trying something we think will work. Just look on the BST...lol. You tried it didn’t turn out...move on to the next try. I think you could be a lot happier with a 3/8” gap poor mans moi build than the extreme you went to. Just a suggestion.

[mogc60]

https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1782086/my-moi-iron-build-thank-you-howard#latest

 

Here is my experience with it. Not saying it’s for everyone but sounds like you’ve had similar feelings to me on the longer clubs.