FANG to CLAW

There's a game that goes by many different names. I know it best by the name "Transformations." The idea is that you have two four-letter words (specifically not swear words, but also not abbreviations or initialisms; whether slang is acceptable is negotiable*)—and the object of the game is to begin with one word and, by changing one letter at a time, transform the first word into the second word. Sometimes, solving the puzzle is easier if you transform both words at the same time and attempt to "meet in the middle," so to speak. This is a game I played with my students back when I worked at the tutoring center in Centreville, Virginia. If two people play, the winner is the one who takes the least number of steps to transform a word into the "destination" word. Here's an example of the game: 

BLOB to GOLD

(working backwards from GOLD to BLOB)

G O L D

B O L D

B O L T

B O O T

B L O T

B L O B

There may be an even shorter way to do the above transformation. To count the number of transformations you do, don't start with the initial word: count only the words thereafter. So for the above transformation, your score is 5. Can you do the above and score a 4 or below?

Now that I've introduced the game to you, though, I really want to know whether you can find a shorter way to do the following transformation:

FANG to CLAW

I did this in 12 steps:

F A N G

F A N S

S A N S

S O N S

C O N S

C O O S

C O O P

C L O P

G L O P

G L O W

F L O W

F L A W

C L A W

So, my question is: is it possible to do the transformation in under 12 steps? I imagine the answer is yes, but I've been racking my brains trying to figure it out.

Good luck! I'll be working on this problem, too. Leave your answers in the comments.

FINAL NOTE: a lot of people like doing transformations that are alchemical. LEAD to GOLD is an easy one, for example:

L E A D

L O A D

G O A D

G O L D

Three steps.

Oh, yeah—there are variations of this game involving five-letter words and such.

__________

*Some abbreviations are essentially slang. The verb frag, for example, is military slang: it's an abbreviation for fragmentation grenade. The action of fragging means killing one's hated superior officer, usually via fragmentation grenade, but possibly by other means. Jim fragged Sergeant Mitchell just now! So does the verb frag count as a legitimate four-letter possibility, or is it unacceptable because it's technically an abbreviation? That's for you to work out.