NickBooras

Ask the seller what he means by "finished length". I read that to mean the finished length of the entire club is 41.5" by USGA measurements, but he could mean 41.5" is the length of the shaft without a head...I don't know. If the shaft itself is 41.5" I think you'll be fine unless your head is a bore-through. You may end up popping in a 0.5"-1" extension depending on your length preference, bore depth, etc., but if the shaft is cheap, I don't see any problem with it.

Baby steps, friend. Start by soft stepping one club and move to two if necessary.

That isn't surprising to me in the least. I work in a VERY high volume shop, and I tell all my customers the same thing when they ask to be fit - "The amount of time I spend with you is directly related to two things: 1. your handicap, and 2. your wallet." I can fit a 30 handicapper for a set of irons in 10-30 minutes no matter how fat his wallet is. I'll spend considerably more time with a scratch golfer...a few hours, if necessary. If it's a scratch golfer with a fat wallet and a desire to get the PERFECT set, I'll spend a month building, testing, fitting, grinding, and otherwise tweaking the set until the only possible variable in his game is the swing. For a tour-caliber golfer, I think 300 hours is reasonable. The problem I have now are the customers who want to spend $2000 on a set of sticks, but are unwilling to spend $40 on a 1-hour lesson that would do more for their game than any golf club ever will.

If you've already decided on your components, I don't see much point in guessing. We can sit here and do the calculations to get a very rough estimate, but there isn't any substitute for getting out the scale, the saw, the tungsten, and the rubber and actually doing the work. As always, play it safe...a good clubmaker should have that club fitted and swing weighted for you in half an hour, save for unforseen problems with the head/shaft/etc....

It's generally used for swing weighting or for modifying the static weight of a club. Usually 4 grams of tape under the grip will reduce the swing weight by about a point, two grams to the head will increase it by a point. The general rule of thumb for shafts is that a 9 gram increase in shaft weight will increase the swing weight by one point, but that depends on where exactly you add the weight...a 65 gram shaft will not always be exactly 1 swing weight heavier than a 55 gram shaft... Some players also use the tape to change the center of gravity on the club head, and by extension the trajectory of the golf ball. Higher, lower, draw bias, fade bais, etc. For a very good player (read: 5 handicap or better) this is a very effective tool, but when I talk to 20+ handicappers who add 2 grams of tape to the heel of their driver to stop their 40 yard slice...well...I can't help but laugh.

My very limited experience with Tour Stage products leads me to believe it is a .335, but I am certainly not the authority on their products...

The general rule for Taylor Made's new products is forged = taper tip, cast = parallel, woods are .350", TP woods are .335". That might not always be the case, especially when working with tour clubs, but it'll work for you 99% of the time.

I don't have much experience bending woods, but I'll give you my $0.02. To bend a wood it must have a long hosel - obviously you're not going to "bend" any Callaways, and if you bend a Titleist, you might not be able to feed the shaft all the way through the head for the bore-thru. Bending titanium is going to be difficult if not impossible. It's my understanding that it cannot be done, but Joe Kwok may have a better understanding. Also, I am under the impression that bending the loft of a metal wood will also adjust the face angle. For every 1 degree you subtract from the loft you will also close the face by 1 degree. Again, I have VERY limited experience with this, so someone may correct me if I'm wrong...

LOL! Ok then. I was going to ask if this was one of Joe's brainfarts. ;) We've all made them...we just prefer not to relive them! Did you try to re-epoxy the crown, or just tell him to send it back to Callaway?

Jesus. I'm assuming that break happened on the course and not during the reshafting process? How long did it take to come back to the shop? I don't think I'll have that problem, but you've got me worried now!

Well Joe, I tore two apart today with absolutely no problems. I simply used a heat gun and a shaft extractor, and it came out clean as a whistle, no damage to the aluminum whatsoever! You're spot on about the epoxy, though - it appears that they intentionally use weaker epoxy for these clubs. Usually it takes me about 1.5-2.5 minutes of heat with a heatgun to remove the shaft, but these ones only took me about 30 seconds worth. Easiest Titleists to reshaft by far! Thanks for the help again. Nick

Probably a stupid question, but I figured I'd ask. ;) I've got one of our demos sitting in the shop right now waiting for me to tear it apart, and I just wanted to get your take on what would be the best approach. I don't see any reason a heat gun would damage the insert, but my only concern would be breaking down the epoxy that actually holds the aluminum sleeve in the head. What about heating from the inside via a hot rod? Obviously this would probably result in a ruined shaft, but if it's just a crappy Titleist shaft, who cares? What are your thoughts? Thanks! Nick

Mat, I would suggest you first try heating the sole of the R7 to see if you can catch the rattle without removing the shaft. Most of the newer drivers have a small amount of glue added at the factory for swing weighting purposes, so applying about 30 seconds worth of heat to the sole of the club with a micro-torch or heat gun will melt the glue and will usually catch small rattles. If that doesn't work, a clubmaker can remove the plug in the bottom of the hosel and attempt to shake out the loose epoxy. Usually it's a little large to be removed, so some rattle stopping glue will need to be added. Good luck.

No need to be scared of the FT-3. I reshafted a new Fusion fairway wood yesterday and it was cake. While I realize that the FT-3 is slightly different construction (no bore thru), I don't see why it would be any more difficult. Whenever I'm dealing with a Callaway Fusion of any sort, I use a hot rod to heat from the inside, and I wrap a wet rag around the entire composite area. If you do this, you shouldn't have any issues. I'm sure you could use a micro-torch as a heat source instead of a hot rod, but I just feel more comfortable heating from the inside whenever a composite is present. My $0.02.

Correct. The finished length of the club has no impact on what raw shaft length you choose. Shaq and Mini-me would use the same length raw shaft, assuming they both play the same flex.