What is exactly stepping an iron shaft

[touch]

Pings said my irons were double stepped? so.....

Fellow members,
I picked up a set of used S 58 Pings and called in teh serial # to get the details from Ping.
They said the shafts CS-Lite ® steel were double steped stiff. I have heard of stepping weaker or firmer, but never double stepped.
What does this mean, and especially what does it do to playability? Kick Point? Trajectory?
They are a WRX custom Dept. iron set. They fit me perfectly as I have had 3 or 4 Ping offficial fittings.
Plus 1/4 inch over length, Blue Dot 1* upright. I like the shafts as they play. They do not feel like a stock CS- Lite shaft at all. Stock is weak in R flex. These feel stiffer.
All with info on this matter, thanks in advance for your comments.

[Pinehurst1999]

Stepping simply refers to the 'rings' on a steel shaft where the size slightly changes. Some steel shaft have 0 steps, and some have many...not too sure of the characteristics though.

[texashigh10]

If they said double stepped stiif, i guess they mean they were hard stepped twice. When you hard stepping would be putting a 4 iron shaft in a 3 iron, 5 iron shaft in the 4 (pretty sure that is how someone explained it to me), since the shaft made for the club is stiffer it would mean your irons would play stiffer if they do mean they were hard stepped twice it would brobable play somewhere around a flex and a half stiffer (again, not 100% certain) so if you had DG S300's they would play a bit stiffer than X100's.

 

EDIT

 

So your shafts probably play a bit stiffer than stiff.

[wolfgame]

Putting a 4 iron shaft in a 3 iron would only make it longer....correct? I too am curious to know what hard stepping is....I always assumed it meant "tipped"....but the logic around 4 iron shaft in a 3 iron doesn't really make sense to me. Essentially the set of iron shafts are all the same...they are just trimmed down for each iron (from the butt end)...as I understand it.

[mat562]

Soft or Hard Stepping is something that is done with taper-tipped shafts, whereas parallel-tipped shafts can be 'tipped.'

 

The design of a parallel tip means that it has a tip section which is a constant diameter for a specific length. It can thus be tipped more or less than is recommended to give a particular flex as it will still fit into the hosel of the club which is also a constant internal diameter. The 'tipping' is a method of fine tuning the flex that the shaft will play to. Increasing the amount of tip trimming will generally stiffen the shaft.

 

In the case of 'taper tipped' shafts, the shaft tip cannot be trimmed - since it narrows down along the area which will fit into the corresponding hosel which is designed to accomodate it. In the case of a set of taper tip iron shafts, the tips are all identical, meaning that any shaft will fit any hosel. The shafts can be 'stepped' by fitting either the next longest or next shortest club's shaft into the corresponding head (e.g. putting a 6 iron shaft into a 5 iron or vice versa), and then butt triming the shaft to length after it is inserted to get it to play at the desired playing length. Butt trimming does not affect flex markedly - it is merely used to cut clubs to length.

 

By fitting a shaft from a different club, the shaft can be made to play slightly softer (soft stepping) or slightly stiffer (hard stepping) as desired. Double hard or soft stepping simply involves shifting the adjustment two clubs along the scale rather than only one. (e.g. putting a 4 iron shaft into a 2 iron or vice versa) and results in a greater change in the playing characteristics and stiffness than single stepping.

 

Hopefully that makes sense!

[Wormburner.]

Makes perfect sense Mat. I will add a couple of things. The shafts have different length tips with taper tips, hence the name taper, as you say, parallel have the same length tip, hence the name parallel. Its the weight on the heads that dictate the tip, the tip being the distance in inches from the end of the shaft to the first 'step'. The length is longer for say the 2 iron, because the head is small so cannot bend the shaft as much as the heavier short irons. As the heads get heavier, the length of the step needs to reduce to account for the increase weight to ensure all the heads play the same flex. Its also one of the differences between stiff and reg, the regular shafts with have a shorter butt, and much longer tip.

 

Anyway, the 4 iron head will be heavier than the 3 iron, so if you use the 3 iron shaft, ie a longer tip section to the first STEP, then the heavier 4 iron head will play that shaft as SOFTER. Hence the expression SOFT STEPPING.

 

Taper tips will be .335, parallels .350.

 

Double soft stepping is obviously a 3 iron shaft in the 5 iron head. This will usually drop the flex by about one full flex in the tip, but remember the butt has not been changed. Its useful to help players with an early release and slow/mid tempo, and a smooth transition, this player may prefer the feel of softer tips.

[touch]

Thanks for the informative replies.

I should conclude that my irons are playing stiff flex with the regular tip being softer.

This should mean my kick points are 2 clubs stronger each iron too.

Am I right??

Thanks for the help.

[touch]

Guess I could take them to a frequency analizer and see just how stiff those double stepped CS Lite

shafts are. I will compare it to a R off teh rack and give the CPM's on this thread soon.

Still more insight into trajectory, and kick point would be handy.

Thanks again.

[Wormburner.]

What CPMs will you take? All you get is a butt reading and it will tell you little of any use

[touch]

Your right without removing the grips the freq is useless, thanks.

I think they play to a stiff flex, with a more penatrating ball flight.

Just back from the range and that was my impression.

Thanks for the help.