cut down driver/ fw wood length

[robryche]

has anyone on here had their driver or fw wood lengths cut down from stock length? what kind of results did you have?


thanks




rob

[Rockford35]

Cutting a wood down will only lead to better control. You might lose some distance (slightly), but an inch on your driver goes a long way.

I play my fairways an inch long as I have no troubles hitting them. If I did, I wouldn't hesitate to shorten them.

R35

[bames]

I play a 44.25" driver. 905R with an Accuflex Evo Lite S-flex. I've trimmed two driver shafts now to about 44-44.5" and have been very happy. I feel comfortable hitting a 5-wood or hybrid so I don't notice any distance loss and have enjoyed the added accuracy. I also noticed after spending a few evenings with the hitting net and a marker that my consistency on the face of the driver increased as well, I really don't think I lost much, if any, by way of distance. One thing I learned though, be prepared to find a way to increase the swingweight after trimming to get it back to normal. I did not do this the first time and it just felt like a flyswatter. That is just me though. I now have a couple strips of lead tape placed neatly around the back of my 905R which actually aids a little in MOI as well. In short, it was a great move for me, I feel much more comfortable now with the driver. BTW, I don't think you height has much to do about it as I'm a little over 6' 1", so unless you're freakishly tall or short, I wouldn't consider that a factor.

[Sandpiper3]

Got just over 1/4" knocked off my driver to make it 44 3/4". Noticing a big difference in hitting the centre of the face imo. Even when my swing was shit yesterday i was still able to hit the centre of the longest club np.

Great move imo.

[robryche]

rock, bames, reason i asked was earlier this evening i was checking out a local store that takes trade-ins and usually has a decent amount of newer used clubs. i pulled out a tm r5 dual 3w and took it into the demo room. while setting up to hit, something just seemed odd with it, but it seemed like it was alot easier to hit with. after trying other 3w's which were a little more difficult, then back to that one i finally compared it to a similiar model 5w, and the 5w was like a half inch taller lol it measured out to a total club length of 43 "

anyway, to get to my point they only wanted like $129 for the 3w which i might have to jump on, and i'm definately going to get my driver trimmed down.

as far as trimming down, what are my options for having the head weighted down so i can maintain a similiar swing weight?

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by robryche

....as far as trimming down, what are my options for having the head weighted down so i can maintain a similiar swing weight?[/color]

I wouldn't worry about it. You're effectively changing the static weight of the club very minimally. If you find that it seems "heavier" or sluggish in your hands, you can always just wrap some lead tape just under the grip.

But honestly, I doubt you'll notice a difference.

R35

[gunning4u]

Its funny I have been doing searches tonight because I have been thinking about going to 44.5. I started to get worried over some of the things I read about swing weight. Last year I played a 65g shaft and this year I will be getting a 77 gram shaft so if I cut a half inch off it might reduce the clubs weight by 2 grams.

[bames]

Originally Posted by robryche

...

as far as trimming down, what are my options for having the head weighted down so i can maintain a similiar swing weight?

Rock and LyleG are the masters of this, but as far as I know you can add tungsten powder and a cork to it or use lead tape. A heavier shaft and lighter grip help some, but I do not know exactly how much. I liked the idea of the lead tape for a few reasons including the fact that I can mess around with it, it is not so permanent, I also like the weight added to the back and around my driver head, I believe this helps a little with COG and MOI. Like I said, one of the aforementioned masters will give better advice. Sounds like the correct move for you though.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by gunning4u

Last year I played a 65g shaft and this year I will be getting a 77 gram shaft so if I cut a half inch off it might reduce the clubs weight by 2 grams.

It depends on the shaft, as far as I'm concerned.

I played a 90g shaft in my fairway and took a 65g out of it, and it felt just as balanced with both shafts....

R35

[Pullmeister]

I have my own theory about why more people are liking short drivers:...

-its because modern drivers are getting too dam upright in lie.

To appease the average golfer(usually a slicer) manufacturers are doing whatever they can to give every driver a built in draw an that means closed faces and upright lies. Clubs have gone from44 " and to 45" standard yet lies have increased from 54-56 to 60 degrees . If anything they should be getting flatter not way more upright.

Some people will say the upright lies are necessary because of shaft droopage during the swing but IMO thats a load of poo. Todays shafts "droop" substantially more than shafts 10 years ago... I doubt it.

Finally consider this : Callaway has much flatter lies on their Tour model drivers eg Ft 3 Tour (56 degrees) than their regular models (58 -60)

[Pullmeister]

I have my own theory about why more people are liking short drivers:...

-its because modern drivers are getting too dam upright in lie.

To appease the average golfer(usually a slicer) manufacturers are doing whatever they can to give every driver a built in draw an that means closed faces and upright lies. Clubs have gone from44 " and to 45" standard yet lies have increased from 54-56 to 60 degrees . If anything they should be getting flatter not way more upright.

Some people will say the upright lies are necessary because of shaft droopage during the swing but IMO thats a load of poo. Todays shafts "droop" substantially more than shafts 10 years ago... I doubt it.

Finally consider this : Callaway has much flatter lies on their Tour model drivers eg Ft 3 Tour (56 degrees) than their regular models (58 -60)

[LyleG]

For every inch of shaft you trim the swing weight will go down 6 points. To restore this you must add 12 grams of weight to the head. This will soften the flex a little. The ideal way to cut down and restore weight is to pull the shaft and trim equal amounts from the butt and tip. Use rat glue to add weight internally to the head and then reassemble. This should keep the flex the same as you have removed 1/2 from the softest part of the shaft (the tip) and a 1/2 inch from the stiffest (the butt). The bonus is that the added weight in the head will also increase the clubs MOI by 37g/cm2 for every gram of weight you add to the head. So in this case the MOI increases 444g/cm2. Not a lot, but everybit helps.
I have experimented a lot this offseason with length and do indeed hit the ball more solidly with the shorter driver. When my game is on the 45 3/4 driver is fine but when my swing is a bit off the 43 1/2 driver is far superior.
The other thing to note is that the loss of distance is minimal. In Tom Wishon's testing he found that a 90mph swing with a driver with a 2.5* upward angle of attack (average for men) with an optimal strike will produce a 1.2 yard differance in carry with a driver of 42 inches versus a driver of 46.

[SiberianDVM]

I have a FREE driver coming for testing that will be a 44". In the meantime I am playing a 43" 13* strong 3 wood.

I was real hardheaded about not playing a "short" driver for almost 2 years. Now I am seeing the light, and may have one of my 45" drivers cut down to 43.5".

I pulled out a Ben Hogan laminated wood driver from the corner. It's steel shafted and was made in about 1978. It's 43.5"

[LyleG]

Siberian

Out of curiosoty, whats your swing speed?

The reason I ask is. If its less than 100mph, especially if its only 90ish, then a driver with 13* of loft is exactly what you need, and 43.5 inches is a perfect length.

Is the bell going off yet?

[dave.]

Originally Posted by Pullmeister

I have my own theory about why more people are liking short drivers:...

-its because modern drivers are getting too dam upright in lie.

This is a by product of increasing length rather than actually increasing the lie itself.Use a long club and you in effect make the lie more upright.

Whatever Wishon says doesn't apply to me!.I am at least 10 yards longer with a 46 using the same club.However,I am acutely aware this is probably and most likely to do with the fact the longer club I now use is at D6 and no doubt I have not tested shorter clubs with the correct weighting,most likely they have been cut and not weighted properly.I am sure many many golfers make the same mistake.I get a long draw of a 46" D6,and a high fade with a 44" driver