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I'm officially a ho' now, but need some advice

David B

Nuttier than a Squirrel
Apr 21, 2005
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Well, I thought I was satisfied with my Supersteel irons, but after another day of hacking away I decided to take another look on ebay...

I ended up scoring a set of Callaway Hawk Eye Tungsten Injected Titanium irons (4-P) for a bit over $200, in 8+ condition... the interesting thing is my bid was a lark, since these clubs have been going for over $300 in this condition (easily), and I was amazed that my bid actually turned out to be the highest... but here's the kicker... they have Precision Rifle 6.5's in them. :eek:

So... it appears that I'm going to have to reshaft them down to a 5.0 to 5.5 if I can even expect to hit them fairly well.

The interesting thing is I get conflicting information depending on the website I visit... some club building websites say that my swing speed (about 80-90) would be fine for the 6.5's, but others say that 105+ is the recommended range for 6.5's. I've heard they play stiff, so I take the lower ratings with a grain of salt, and I am tending to think that I'll definitely need a softer shaft.

I've been looking at another set of Rifle shafts, or the Apollo stepless shafts. I really like Rifles, but it's hard to beat the price of the Apollo's if the quality is comparable ($3.90 Apollo vs. $14.45 Rifle at golfcompplus.com)

I could also score a full set (3-P) of Rifle shafts through ebay tip trimmed and prepped for about $50, then just cut to length, which drops the price to about $6.25/shaft, but they don't include shaft bands.

Any help on shaft selection would be greatly appreciated... I definitely like the stepless shaft designs, so that pretty much limits me to one of the above-mentioned brands.

The through-bore hosel should be an interesting reshaft, but I'm looking at the method of grinding the shaft tip flush after epoxying, then burnishing the sole, which shouldn't be much more difficult than doing a typical reshaft. I have the mechanical skills (I'm a DIY kinda guy), but just need to be pointed in the right direction.

Thanks.
 

Rockford35

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Dave,

Those shafts, I'm pretty sure, are slit tip irons. Here's some info from Golfsmith on the irons:

"A Word About Callaway Irons

Callaway employs a special swaged fit in their irons which is accomplished by slitting the tip of a parallel tip shaft and force fitting the shaft into a specially-tapered hosel. When the shaft is installed, the bottom of the hosel squeezes the slit tip and gives the shaft a tighter fit within the clubhead.

Other than demanding more patience and more pushing pressure, the removal of iron shafts is no different. Installation of the new shaft, however, does require a clubmaker to make a decision as to whether to:

1) Use parallel tip iron shafts and ream the bottom of the hosel to a .370-inch diameter using a reamer
2) Leave the hosel alone and reshaft with a .355-inch taper tip shaft"

Here's the demo:

Callaway Bore Thru Re-shaft

You can stick a tapered shaft thru the bore and mark the high and low to get the shaft tip angle and just use a grinder to get the angle perfect. I've re-shafted my fairway woods, it's time consuming, but if you're patient, you'll get it right the first time.

Good luck.

R35
 

Rockford35

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Oh, and as for the shaft selection...

Do you really have a 90mph+ 6 iron swingspeed? That's pretty insane. If that's your DRIVER swingspeed, than you'd be lower down on the scale. I'm guessing about a 5.0 in the Rifle FCM range. The 6.5's will be like iron.

But if you carry 190 with your 6 iron, they'll be fine.

R35
 
OP
David B

David B

Nuttier than a Squirrel
Apr 21, 2005
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Howdy Rockford35.

First off, thanks for all the good advice. :)

My swing speed was estimated at about 85mph with a 7 iron when I was hitting in a simulator at Copeland's Sports the other day, and I was hitting at about 150-165 yards with it... I actually got a nice 12* launch trajectory with one hit that went about 183... but that's definitely not the norm (we won't talk about the ones I bladed or shanked). ;)

That was with an X-18 7 iron with the uniflex shaft.

From the sound of it, it appears that I may be better off having a professional reshaft them for me, though I've heard that you can get the shafts tip slit from Golfsmith (IIRC) so they're easier to install.

I've also read stories from those with Rifle 6.5's saying that they're like swinging a telephone pole, which isn't exactly the feel I'm going for. :)

I'm also open to graphite shafts, though I've also read that Callaway doesn't recommend swapping shaft types since the clubheads are made differently for each shaft type.

Thanks again.
 

Rockford35

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No problem.

I will also advise against going with graphite from steel. There's alot more work involved.

Good luck with the shaft search. If I could offer some "obvious" advice, I'd say get some X-18's with Uniflex shafts! LOL...183 7 iron? Hello Johnny Daly!

:)

R35
 
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David B

David B

Nuttier than a Squirrel
Apr 21, 2005
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LOL... I wish my average hit with a 7 iron was 183... but I think I'd need some more weight to back it up, like John Daly. :D

I was out on the range again today, and we had a nice tail-wind going... I was driving the fence (about 275) with my R540XD, hitting 220+ with my 5-wood, and driving 180 with my 7 iron... I wish I could do that under normal circumstances. ;)

I'm almost wondering if the stiff shafts, combined with the extremely low center of gravity on the Hawk Eye's might make the iron somewhat playable, even at the extreme stiffness... I guess I'll just have to try them out.

I'm all for sacrificing a bit of distance for better accuracy, which is something that I've been suffering through with my current Supersteel's with R-80 shafts... they tend to spray the ball all over the place. One hit will be a hook, the next a slight fade, the next a slice, then I'll hit one straight down the fairway... I wonder if a stiffer shaft will help alleviate this problem?

I swing with a pretty rapid tempo... well, it's slow on the upswing, then I hammer it through the ball, so maybe I'm close enough to the rating that I may be looking at a non-issue.

I found a place outside of Seattle that will do bore-through reshafts for $17/club which includes shaft and grip, so I may have to keep that in mind if (or when) I decide to reshaft these puppies.

Anyway, thanks again for your advice... you're a great asset to this forum, and I appreciate your input. :)
 

ezra76

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Feb 5, 2006
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If they can salvage the 6.5's for you that would be great. You can get a good price to sell those puppies as everyone thinks they need super stiff these days. I hit some MP33's with 6.5's and they were nasty. Like swinging rebar into a curb.
 
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David B

David B

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Apr 21, 2005
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Thanks for the tip Ezra... I'll keep that in mind.

Rifle 6.5's with Winn grips should fetch a decent price I'd think, though the one problem is it's a 4-PW set, rather than 3-PW.

Of course somebody could always pick up an extra Rifle shaft for cheap and then have a full set, and get the other 7 shafts/grips for pennies on the dollar.

The only problem I foresee is that I'd be without clubs for a week or so, so I'll probably have it done once my monthly range membership has run out. :)
 

Rockford35

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David B said:
Anyway, thanks again for your advice... you're a great asset to this forum, and I appreciate your input. :)


David,

Don't let anyone else see this. It'll stir up major conflict! LOL.:D

Thanks,

R35
 

DaveE

The golfer fka ST Champ
Aug 31, 2004
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David B said:
Anyway, thanks again for your advice... you're a great ass at this forum, and I appreciate your input. :)

I fail to see how there would be any conflict or debate about this. :p
 
OP
David B

David B

Nuttier than a Squirrel
Apr 21, 2005
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LOL... looks like I forgot where I was when I made that comment. ;)

:D


Anyway, I called a local shop here in town, and if I provide the shafts, he'll reshaft the entire set for about $50. :eek:

So, it looks like I'll be having it done locally rather than having to ship them off, though now I get to scour ebay for some Rifle shafts, since the shop doesn't carry those.

The guy I talked to (the shop owner I assume) was great too... he actually told me that I should check out ebay for shafts... how many shops do you know of that do that? Of course this could just be because he doesn't carry Rifle's, but I still thought that it was cool that he didn't tell me "Oh, I can order those, but it'll take a week or so and cost extra..."

He actually even said that I should go out and try hitting them first before making my mind up if they'll be too stiff... he tended to agree with the lower ratings on swingspeed that I've seen here on the net, that they aren't nearly as stiff as Golfsmith makes them out to be.

Had a tail-wind at the range again today... I think I'm just going to have to play golf when the wind is at my back, because my confidence goes up a thousand-fold... 220+ on the 5-wood again. Now if I can just get fat, develop a gambling problem, and get my PGA card, I can give John Daly a run for his money... :D
 

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