Club Length vs. height

I am 5'6" at most and shrinking to 5' 5 1/2". I play standard iron club length. Am I kidding myself although I don't carry my 6i anymore. I don't feel comfortable choking the clubs by 1/2" , and I am afraid to cut 1/2' from its butt end.

What's standard? If you're 5'6" then why not play a 37.5" 5-iron like those made for the Japan market? That's what I did and I never hit my irons as well. Here's an example, with the added bonus that you're getting a one-of-kind set:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=271528554446&alt=web

There's a bit more at work here than just how tall you stand.

How long are your arms? The standard club fitting measurement is called WTF. Wrist to floor. There are plenty of WTF tables on the internet to use to fit yourself.

How do swing an iron to hit your most consistent shots? If your swing is flat, you might need flatter lie angles for your irons and wedges. If you swing better upright, than more upright lie angles might be indicated. There are several ways to measure best lie angles with the WTF triangulated being the most simple. Hitting off a lie board with impact tape on the club sole and face is better. Best is taking irons with different lie angles to the grass range, or, preferably the course and play with them to see which lie angle suits you best.

What weight shafts do you hit with the most consistency? If graphite is your material, you might play your irons a bit longer with flatter lies angles to compensate for the increased iron length. And vice-versa for heavier steel shafts.

I have a few sets of irons that vary in length by almost an inch and in lie angles by almost three degrees. The flattest lies are on a set of Mizuno MX 25's with graphite shafts and the most upright are the Cobra cast FP's with Nippon steel shafts. Right now as I am hitting the ball more solid than I have in the past few years, its the stiff steel shafted Cobras that are in the bag. I'm sure come next spring when its cold and wet and I'm older and stiffer, it will be one of the graphite shafted sets.

I'm 5'10 and with the srixon 701's, I reshafted with project x 5.5's + 1/2 inch. Seems to be working out pretty good. Dropped 2 strokes from the end of last season so far and down to a 12.8. Another month or two of golf here so I'll see where I end up this year.

Still have the tour vipers with the project x's which are also +1/2. Will be looking for another set of heads to put them in this winter. Will be a less popular brand so I shouldn't have to worry about knockoffs so much. Probably bridgestones. I like japanese irons.

Somtimes tall players with long arms and short players with short ams have their hands the exact same distance from the ground.  Height alone doesn't determine club length.  Both proportionate arm length and fitted lie angle determine required length more.  I have always gone std, length and 1º flat, and I continue to measure this way in fitting at my advanced age.

One who's tall with short arms (think dynasaur) or short with long arms (think baboon) definitely needs custom lengths and lie angles.

I have 4 set of old irons, all w/ graphite shafts (1) king Cobra over-sized II hump shaft (2) Cally BB 2002 (3) Mizuno MX-23 and (4) Cobra S2.... and I just measured their 5is.  From the butt end to the lowest point along its shaft - to the head (my tape is right on top of the shaft) is 38" for all of them. So I am not sure how Californiataxes measured his when he said 37.5" of his 5i (please describe how you measure yours). I think I could cut it by 1/2" for  'cleaner strikes" but I hate to take a chance

http://www.goldeneaglegolf.com/lengthhelp.htm
According to the above chart. I should play 1" shorter clubs... ???? not sure about that