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Hi,

I am just wondering if a shaft should always "bottom out" in the hozel when shafting a club? Is it possible for it not to?

I just bought a set of pull-out shafts (Penley IMS graphite shafts) off EBay. I need a 38" 5-iron, so before bidding I asked the seller if I could achieve this with these shafts considering that the hozel depth on the Snake Eyes 600Cs is 30mm. He told me that these shafts would "build out to a 38 inch 5-iron no problem." However, I just received the shafts and the measurement from 30mm up the tip to the butt of the club is only 37 1/2".

The only way I can see to make a 38" 5-iron from these shafts would be to only partially insert the tip into the hozel (i.e. 18mm instead of the full 30mm). Is this possible? Or did the guy just out and out lie to me? (I don't want to cry foul if in fact it is possible to build these out to the desired length.)

I'd appreciate any information/advice you can give me.

Thanks.

Kelly

P.S. I guess an insert would be another option, but I figure that I have already paid enough money for these shafts.

Before anyone asks, to clarify: the measurement of the Penley shaft from 30mm up the tip to the butt of the club is not 37 1/2 inches; it is about 35.3 inches. The entire length of the new shaft is on a hair over 36 1/2 inches.

The only reason I say that it would build out to a 37 1/2" club is that I held it up against my current 5-iron (which is 38"), placing the 30mm mark of the new shaft at the edge of the hozel. The "new club" is exactly 1/2" shorter than my existing 5-iron.

Sorry about the confusion

Hosel depth has little to do how long a club will play with a certain shaft. Whats really interesting is the BBGM (bottom bore to ground measurement). The reason is hosel lengths come in all sizes with different style of irons, but the bottom of the hosel bore to the ground is what determines how long the club will play. That being said, most irons are within 1/2" of each other. You need to dry fit the shafts into your heads to determine their actual playing length. From there you have a few options. You could soft-step them by placing the 3i shaft into the 4i, the 4 into the 5, and so on down the line. This will give you back a 1/2". The downside to this is the shafts will play softer and it may be tough to find a shaft for your 3i (if you even carry one)

The other option is to extend each shaft once they are epoxied into the head. This can be done relatively inexpensively by reaming a dowel (5/8") about 2 1/2" in length so that in can be inserted into the butt of the shaft. You can do a whole set with just a few rods. Setting the blade height low on a table saw does the trick. Or you can buy graphite shaft extenders...

By the way...

It is recommended that shafts be inserted at least 1" (25mm), but there is no rule saying that you have to fully insert shafts, this can be used as a fitting parameter in drivers. Normally irons are always fully inserted because there isn't much leeway

Thanks for this information. It should be helpful. Your idea of using the 3 shaft for the 4, 4 for 5, etc., is intriguing. I do carry a three iron, but have been considering a hybrid anyways.

I just wonder how much money I want to dump into this since it is basically an experiment. I'm getting so much conflicting information about shafts, from so many different sources, I'm beginning to think this is all a bit of a **** shoot anyways.

Thanks again.

Or you could just add a .5" extention to the butt of each shaft. It may not be the cheapest way out, but you'll be able to keep your 3 iron that way.