Hi Arnold,

As long as you are not going above a 4 iron we are able to soft step your irons twice. This would not be possible if you decide to include a 3 iron.

Arnold, 

Just curious, can you provide us with any details in regard to your swings speed, height, etc? I've yet to play with someone who has actually had to do this. I don't mean to sound condescending, just interested in learning about your decision!

Blake, I am buying new 716 AP2 irons for my retirement present.I will be 62, Jan 24th so i went to Edwin Watts to be fitted with miz DNA fitting system.My swing speed is 95 mph with a 6 iron with a fast tempo. The DNA fitting system recommended x100 or PX 6.5 shafts.So at my age I am afraid to go with that stiff of shaft.I have decided to go with the AMT Tour x100 soft stepped twice because they would still be stiffer than the s300 or the s400 and would have a lower ball flight which I need.I am 6'2 and have a high ball flight.I play the 2008 AP2 irons with PX 5.5 shafts.

Hi Arnold, 

I'm just curious about your fitting and thought process on the soft stepping also. But don't all the TT AMT shafts have a low ball flight? What would be the shaft flex frequency be if you soft stepped the AMT X100 twice? Would you get the same results if you went the other way with the AMT S400s and hard stepped them once?

You mentioned that you play the PX 5.5 and you got fitted for X100s or PX 6.5, that's a big difference. Do you think your high ball flight is caused by your current iron shafts? You are essentially going from a regular plus to an stiff plus. 

Thanks for the info. 

Sam

Hi Todd, 

When you soft step (or hard step) you are essentially changing the flex and kick point of the iron (shaft). This is really fine tuning your equipment and if you are in between a flex frequency, you can do this. But of course, only let the professionals do this, since they have the proper equipment to do so. 

When you soft step (or hard step) irons, you take the shaft that was meant for a particular iron and move it to the one next in line. So when you soft step, you take the 3-iron shaft and put it in the 4-iron, 4-iron into the 5-iron and so on and so forth. So I think when you soft step more, you will need to more that iron shaft further along down the link, so 3-iron to the 5-iron (if you soft step twice). so then you essentially won't have a 3-iron shaft anymore because you would take what would go into a 2-iron and put it into the 4-iron. Does that make sense?

Again, this is something that most golfers do not do because they either don't know about it or they just purchase something off the racks and play with. 

Sam

This response is exactly correct although I disagree that it is only for professionals. Anyone who sees a good fitter may leave with the suggestion of stepping their iron shafts.  

Hi Jonathan, 

You might have been referring to my comment about the professionals and you said that you disagreed. I should have clarified with what I meant, and that leave it for the professionals as in fitting professionals and club builder professionals, not (just) touring professionals. 

Someone shouldn't just walk into a golf shop and say they want their irons hard or soft stepped for an unknown reason, but should know what they really need after a fitting specialist/professional has told them what they need. Then they can have their clubs built to the persons specs. 

Sam

Sam - 

No worries. Yes, when I originally read your comment I misunderstood. 

I agree a professional fitter should be the one to determine if a shaft should be stepped. Stepping shafts is a great technique to achieve a variety of different goals when fitting irons but it should be done with the guidance of a professional club fitter.

I wouldn't advise anyone to request this without being properly fit. 

It seems you're just interested in what it means to "step" iron shafts. Iron shafts can either be hard stepped or soft stepped. Irons that have been hard stepped would have the 4 iron shaft fitted to the 3 iron, 5 iron shaft fitted to the 4 iron and so on. Alternatively soft stepping the 3 iron shaft would be fitted to the 4 iron, 4 iron shaft fitted to the 5 iron and so on.

Stepping the iron shafts is done for several reasons the most common would be to achieve a shaft flex that is in-between the standard shaft flex. For instance if you needed something slightly stiffer than a stiff flex shaft you could hard step shafts. Alternatively if you needed something slightly softer you could soft step. Another reason for doing this is to achieve a different ball flight. Soft stepping will produce a higher ball flight and hard stepping a lower flight.