golfrewind.com

I have decided to take the plunge and re-shaft an old gap wedge, simply to find out how it is done. I have a couple of questions regarding shaft choice and trimming. Firstly, would a TT S300 shaft be OK in this wedge (I have these shafts in my 690 CB's) or are there any better alternatives. Secondly, how do you decide on a trimming point for the tip, do you have to take into account hosel depth and ferrule height before following the manufacturers trimming instructions?

First off most OEM shafts are stiff, and more then likely the shaft in the club is an S300. If it is not a highend wedge then you need to find out if the current shaft is a .355 taper tip, or a .370 unitized. Taper tipped shafts should not be trimmed unless you want to stiffen it even more. Only butt trim!

Unitized shafts, on the other hand will require tip trimming and butt trimming. Pull the old shaft first and measure the tip to see what kind of shaft your club head requires, then proceed from there.

Good luck!

Is there a Golfsmith store near you? If so, they offer a 1/2 day club makiing class real cheap that will teach you all you need to know for this job. Also, check out the Rifle Spinner Wedge shafts. They are designed to help spin the ball more with your wedges, and cost around $15. The TT DG would also be a good picks as then your wedge would have the same shaft as your irons. Never a bad idea to have them match. Good luck with your project and welcome to club building.

Thanks for your help guys. I live in the UK, so the Golfsmith 1/2 day course is a non starter...shame. I will pull the shaft and see what tip lies in the hosel, and then re-post. It's only a cheap Topflight wedge which has a budget TT shaft installed. It's the perfect club to pull to bits and rebuild, so any screw-ups during the process are no big deal.

Pulling the old shaft out will be the hardest part. You'll need to cut off the old ferrule and then heat the hosel with a torch to break the epoxy bond. Even then, you'll likely need a hosel pulling tool to get the shaft out. You can buy them at Golfsmith or you can get some inexpensive ones ($30) on ebay that people have made and do work fine for the occasional shaft removal.

Don't worry about the ferrule length when determining trimming dimensions. Hosel length can matter a bit, but only if you're very particular. The key dimension is from the heal of the club/hosel to the first step in the shaft. Golfsmith and the shaft manufacturers should have this information on their websites. As was mentioned, you don't tip trim the .335 tapered shafts, only the butt. You do trim the .370 parralel shafts at both the tip and butt. Tip to get the flex correct and butt to get the length correct.

There are good golf club assembly books for sale on ebay for less than $10 and they are very good for the most part. Have fun!

Dave

Managed to pull the shaft with no problems at all, the hosel just needs cleaning out now. I think the pulled shaft was unitized, its the same diameter (9mm or so) from the tip all the way up to the first step, does this sound correct? When I get hold of the rest of the components Epoxy, Shaft, & Ferrule I will re-post. Thanks guys.

You will need to get trimming instructions from the shaft manufacturer. It depends on the shaft but some shafts are regular flex as made, you can then trim an inch or half an inch to make the shaft a stiff flex. From that point, you would cut off another half inch for every iron starting from the one iron. The one iron is left full length. So for a wedge you could be cutting off another 4 1/2 inches. All wedges are the same length. You would then cut the shaft to length. This cut would be from the butt end.

GArry,
Golfsmith calls for 4 1/4 " to be trimmed from the tip of the shaft on a true temper dynamic gold iron shaft. Shaft the club then butt trim to final length as mentioned before to match the rest of the wedges. hope this helps

Many Thanks, I take it that I dont need to take the hosel depth into account when trimming. To clarify, TT say that the first step of the uncut shaft is 10.125 inches, I trim off 4.25 inches (as per TT's instructions), the hosel depth is approx 1.25 inches, therefore when shafted the length from the bottom of the ferrule/top of the hosel to the first step should be approx 4.375 inches? Is this correct?

Don't worry about hosel depth when "tip trimming" And don't worry about "the steps in a shaft" . A raw shaft has that length for advanced clubmakers to alter many different kinds of shaft characteristcs. Stick with cutting off the full 4.25". the hosel length is only to be considered if you are going to cut BOTH tip and butt at the same time. Many clubmakers do this but I prefer to tip trim first, glue, then butt trim when the club has dried. Just incase the shaft has "floated" a little in the hosel. I want to keep even overall measurements throughout the set. I dont want to see 38.5" five iron 38. six iron then a 37.75" 7 iron unless I am doing this on purpose for clubfitting reasons.

Thanks golfdawg, I will re-assemble the club this weekend. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread

If you would like a softer feel, do not hesitate to tip the shaft (if it's not a wedge shaft) the same as you would an 8 iron. A Rifle Spinner Wedge shaft feels a lot like an 8 iron in terms of tip stiffness.