Hard and soft stepping is a way of changing the flex of a shaft in a club to obtain an in-between flex which will also produce a slightly different ball flight. It works the same way regardless if the shafts are taper or parallel tipped.
What is shaft stepping in golf?
Feb 26, 2021 · This is called soft stepping once and would decrease the stiffness by a quarter flex. Soft-stepping twice would be cutting the shaft as a 3-iron or two clubs more and would decrease the stiffness by a half flex. If you soft step once for one club, you will do so on all the irons and wedges to have a uniform progression of flex throughout the set.
What is hard stepping in golf clubs?
Jun 30, 2020 · Soft stepping is the process where club shafts are made slightly more flexible. For example, if you had a stiff flex, after soft stepping the club it would become closer to a regular shaft and easier to hit if a player had issues with it being too stiff. The effect of soft stepping works identically even if the shafts are parallel or taper tipped.
What are soft stepped golf clubs?
Jul 25, 2011 · July 25, 2011 at 04:17 PM. We would hard step or soft step a shaft if we needed a shaft to play slightly firmer (hard step) or slightly softer (soft step). To hard step a shaft, we would put a 4 iron shaft into a 3 iron head and to soft step, we would put the 3 iron shaft into a 4 iron head. Please sign in to comment.
What are the benefits of soft stepping a club?
What is stepping on a golf club?
Does hard stepping lower ball flight?
The effect on each club would be that each clubs shaft would be a little bit stiffer than they originally were and produce a slightly lower ball flight. Remember, when you hard step, the club lengths will decrease.
How much difference does soft stepping make?
When you soft step a set of irons, you are putting the golf shaft of a nine iron into the pitching wedge. This helps to make the club a bit longer, and it has a softer feel overall. In turn, golfers are able to get a higher ball flight and more performance from their golf clubs.
What does soft stepping do?
What does it mean to soft step a golf shaft?
What happens if shaft is too soft?
A golfer using a shaft that is too flexible may experience a ball flight that is too high, a ball that spins too much, or a shot pattern that has inconsistent dispersion.Oct 15, 2018
Should I hard step my irons?
How do you soft step a golf shaft?
Can you soft step twice?
Do longer shafts play softer?
How much should I tip my driver shaft?
What is stepped shaft?
Why do golfers use soft stepping?
A paraphrased quote from Tom Wishon (Master Club Maker. "The main reason for soft or hard stepping is to change the feel of the shaft for golfers who really want their shafts to feel just right. The second reason is to try to change the launch angle and trajectory of the shot or to reduce or increase spin. A ½ inch can exhibit the beginning of ...
What is hard and soft stepping?
Hard and soft stepping is a way of changing the flex of a shaft in a club to obtain an in-between flex which will also produce a slightly different ball flight. It works the same way regardless if the shafts are taper or parallel tipped. Depending on which way you go, a regular shaft can be made to feel a little firmer and a stiff shaft can be made ...
What happens when you soft step?
3iron will become 4iron length, 4iron will become 5iron length and so on. When you soft step, the club lengths will increase. PW will become 9iron length, 9iron will become 8iron length and so on.
How to make a stiff shaft feel firmer?
The most common practice is by removing all the shafts from your matching irons (3 iron through to PW) then put each shaft in either the following or proceeding club.
What is hard stepping?
Hard stepping is the opposite of soft stepping whereby you elect to tip trim more than the amount suggested by the manufacturer to create a stiffer flex. There are two things to be aware of when doing so.
What is soft stepping on a parallel tip shaft?
Soft stepping on a parallel tip shaft is simply the process of trimming less than what the manufacturer suggests. For example, if you have a 5-iron, you tip trim the shaft like a 4-iron. This is called soft stepping once and would decrease the stiffness by a quarter flex. Soft-stepping twice would be cutting the shaft as a 3-iron ...
How to determine flex of a unitized shaft?
The flex of a unitized, parallel tip shaft is determined by how much to trim off the tip of the shaft based on the weight of the head. As head weight increases, the amount of tip trimming increases incrementally to maintain the flex the manufacturer designed into the shaft.
What does it mean to soft step twice?
Soft-stepping twice would be cutting the shaft as a 3-iron or two clubs more and would decrease the stiffness by a half flex. If you soft step once for one club, you will do so on all the irons and wedges to have a uniform progression of flex throughout the set. The downside to soft stepping is two-fold.
What is the downside of soft stepping?
The downside to soft stepping is two-fold. First, since you are cutting less off the tip, that means you are cutting more from the butt end. While the variation is small, it can lead in some cases to a smaller grip size under the lower hand.
Can you tip trim a long iron?
Secondly, if you have a long iron or hybrid, you cannot tip trim less than zero which will not maintain uniformity in the set. In the example above would affect the 2-iron by soft stepping once or the #2 and 3-iron by soft-stepping twice.
Is a taper tip shaft hard stepped?
The concept of hard stepping a taper tip shaft is just the opposite of soft stepping. However, this is rarely done because you run out of raw lengths when you get to your shorter scoring irons and wedges. If you examine the row labeled "hard stepped once", notice the 9-iron and wedge entries.
What does soft stepping do to a golf club?
Soft stepping would enable the flex of the club shafts to be softer and more flexible. If you soft step a stiff flex shaft it would feel between a regular and stiff flex.
Why is hard stepping important?
The effect of hard stepping helps the shafts become a little stiffer while lowering ball flight after contact. The club lengths will become longer after hard stepping. If you wished to keep the original shaft length, you will have to make changes to the shaft’s butt end.
What is a stiffer shaft?
Stiffer shafts are meant for golfers who have higher swing speeds and can help with straighter and more accurate ball flight. Regular flex shafts are easier to hit and are for slower swing speeds. Some players want to change their shafts to be between the two for their swing speed and style. Soft stepping golf shafts is a way to do this.
How to make a club shaft more flexible?
Making the club shaft more flexible requires a process. For example when soft stepping, the 3 iron shaft would be put into the 4 iron’s head. The 4 iron shaft would go into the 5 iron shaft and so forth. The only shaft left would be the extra pitching wedge shaft but it is discardable since the 9 iron shaft replaced it.
Does soft stepping work on a parallel shaft?
The effect of soft stepping works identically even if the shafts are parallel or taper tipped .
What is a stepping shaft?
Stepping shafts is a method of reshafting that focuses on a flex between the specific designations, say, between a regular and a stiff flex. "Hard stepping" would make a shaft stiffer, "soft stepping," more flexible. The effective change in flex between immediate lofts from stepping is 1/3, or 5 cycles per minute, a practically negligible change in performance for most golfers.
What is spin in golf?
Spining is another entry in the long line of "new" innovations in the golf industry that aren't really new at all, such as bore-thru heads, shaft butt-weighting, freezing, shock absorbing, and magical pendants. The TrueTemper Company espoused spining in the 1970's with very limited success, and there is a good reason why.
What is hybrid golf club?
A hybrid tends to be easier to hit than the testy long iron, usually the nemesis for all but the strongest, most precise player.
Can you step from an already installed shaft?
If stepping from already-installed shafts, the resulting reshafts must then be shortened or extended proper length, and keep in mind there will be one 'odd man out' head in need of a new shaft. When step reshafting using raw shafts, simply cut each shaft to proper length, as per the usual finishing procedure. Stepping can be done with parallel, taper-tipped or stepless shafts.
Why are soft stepped golf clubs better than regular golf clubs?
Soft stepped golf clubs also provide an increased distance off the tee than regular golf clubs do. This is due to their larger sweet spot, making it easier for them to make contact with the ball, even on bad swings or shots that don’t land squarely on the clubface.
What is the difference between a soft stepping iron and a regular golf iron?
Soft Stepping irons have less offset than regular golf irons.
Why are soft steps better than regular irons?
Soft Stepping golf irons are easier to hit because they have a larger sweet spot. Soft Stepping golf irons produce more consistent shots and control the ball better. Soft Stepping golf irons are lighter than regular clubs, which means you can swing faster with less effort. Soft Stepping golf irons help you maintain your balance while swinging, ...
What is a soft step iron?
Soft Stepping golf irons have a wider sole and softer face than regular golf irons, which makes them easier to hit off the ground.
Why use a soft stepping iron?
Why you should use soft stepping irons. One of the best reasons to use soft stepping golf irons is they allow you to hit the ball straighter and higher. They also have a larger sweet spot, so it’s easier for just about anyone to utilize them. If you want to improve your golf game, soft stepped irons are the way to go.
How does soft step work?
This works by decreasing the amount of weight that a golfer puts on his or her club during swing impact. While this may sound like an effective way to reduce turf damage, there are some disadvantages.
Why does my step iron go higher than average?
When you play a soft step iron shot, the ball will go higher than average because you haven’t given it as much energy during impact.
How are steps added to a shaft?
As far as how the steps are added to the shaft, it’s done through a machining process called “swaging,” whereby the diameter of the steel is altered slightly in an efficient manner with minimal material waste. Depending on the pattern and length between the steps — as well as the length of the tip and butt sections — launch, ...
What are the ridges on a golf shaft called?
Those ridges are called “steps, ” and they play an important role in how the shaft performs during the swing. Let’s use Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson as examples. McIlroy plays a stepless Project X 7.0 product while Johnson prefers the step pattern found on True Temper’s Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100.
What is gear 101?
Welcome to Gear 101, GOLF.com’s weekly dive into an equipment topic that will make you smarter and more knowledgeable when it comes to the tools in your bag.
Is Dynamic Gold a stepped steel shaft?
Both shafts are considered extra-stiff products, but according to Paul Loegering, True Temper’s director of Tour operations, there are some differences based on the steps (or lack thereof). True Temper's Dynamic Gold is a stepped steel product.
Do steel shafts have ridges?
There’s a good chance it features a uniform smoothness or has some subtle ridges in the lower section of the shaft.
What is a hard step in golf?
A “hard step” is to put a 5-iron shaft into a 4-iron clubhead and so on through the set. This makes the shaft play a little stiffer. A “soft step” is the opposite — it means putting a 3-iron shaft into a 4-iron head (and so on through the set) to make the shaft play a little softer. To receive GOLF’s all-new newsletters, subscribe for free here.
What does it mean to tip a golf club?
“Tipping” or “tip trimming ,” as it’s sometimes called, means trimming a club shaft from the clubhead end, not from the grip end where it’s most often cut. ...
Why do golfers tip their shafts?
Better players tend to make the most use of this technique in order to fine-tune their shafts to precisely the amount of flex and feel they’re looking for. And sure, they could just as well switch to a different shaft, but tipping affords even greater fine-tuning to a particular flex profile. In most cases, shaft tipping is done to steel iron and wedge shafts but occasionally is done in graphite shafts for woods and drivers as well.
What does cutting off a shaft tip do?
Cutting off a section of the shaft tip can make it feel as if it were stiffer.
Does tipping affect spin rate?
Lastly, tipping won’t do much to affect spin rates and launch angle — two popular misconceptions when it comes to trimming the lower end of a shaft.
