Why do I have to pay more for iron shafts when you specify a stock option?

I wish the answer to this was simple but basically it come down to Cool Clubs build controls and measurement points.  

When Cool Clubs build a club, even when it is a stock option shaft, we do not order the built product from the club manufacturer directly. We source the brand of club from Ping, Titleist, Callaway, Srixon etc... We then source the shaft at its raw uncut length from the shaft manufacturer, and source the grips brand new from the grip manufacturer.  

We then sort the head weights, shaft weights and grip weights in our stock at Cool Clubs USA. We do this to highlight any anomalies and eradicate them during the build. As with any manufacturing there are tolerances in weights and frequency (stiffness). Once a shaft is cut it cannot be made stiffer or softer without adjusting another variable such as length or weight.  

When we spec you for key points such as length, Swing Weight and FM (flex) they all link together. If we were to try and reuse pre-cut products from manufacturers it would literally be a guessing game as to how many clubs we could get correct to your specifications.  

To give you the club we promised we have to source all of the components individually, measure each piece and ensure its consistency relative to your build, and finally use our technology to build it accurately by balancing all of the components in the most efficient way. After we have done this, we can stand by the product we sell you and guarantee it does what we said it would do, or better than it did during the fitting process.  

By taking any part of this process out of our control means we cannot guarantee the products performance. We even offer SST PURE on our builds to tighten our tolerances and get the club’s performance to a level unrivalled within the industry.  

People ask, “As an average golfer would I notice these differences?”  

I respond with; skilled golfers can notice imperfections and manipulate their techniques in acute ways to account for them. The less skill you have the more consistent club you require as you may not have the ability to correct the issue the club is causing.  

Even if you have a very basic fitting and you are recommended Regular flex and not a Stiff. Let’s say that iron shafts have 0.5FM (stiffness) tolerance per shaft, the 4 irons comes out 0.5 under flex and the 6 iron comes out 0.5 over flex, you now have a full flex difference between the 4 and 6 iron, and yet they are within the manufacturer’s tolerance. A skilled golfer may feel this and adjust their 4 iron swing and 6 iron swing to manipulate the best result they can.  

An unskilled golfer would keep trying to make the same swing and get poor results, or even worse feel something is not correct and adjust their swing in a negative way to account for the issue.  

In short at Cool Clubs we go through our process’ and charge appropriately for the work we do to deliver you what you paid for, and help you play better golf.