Shortened Driver?

[ManchesterGolfer]

Does anybody play a shortened driver?

I know Dave has had his cut down to 44" has anybody else done the same and what have you found? How did it affect distance, accurancy & swingweight?

I rediscovered last night at the range that i was hanging off the end of the club. If I go down a little and leave a 2 finger gap at the butt of the club i strike it much better. Problem is as i keep striking it better I creap back up the club until I'm hagging off the top again. I did the same thing over Summer and ended up putting some tape at the top of the grip to stop me doing it but I think i'm gonna make it a permanant feature by chopping it down.

 

[The23rdman]

I did this to my old titleist 975D and ruined it. If you're going to do it it's well worth getting a clubfitter to do a proper job, mate, as it will affect the swing weight. My 975D felt like a wand after my hack job.

Saying that I think it's well worth shortening your driver. It wasn't long ago we all played them at 44", after all.

 

[King Par]

I play an r5 tp at 44.75 inches, although i am 6'6''.

i know its only a quarter of an inch, but i've gained, accuracy, control, while sacrificing distance. it wasn't much, 10-15 yards, but i'd be willing to give up more to be in the fairway more often.

in a month or so i'll be able to go to the golf dome and golf shop on my own so i'll be able to experiment more. but i bought the club at the end of the season, and my last 5 rounds were the best, driving wise, than they were all summer.

 

[MIKE1218]

I play my driver at 44 inches. I had it re-swingweighted to D5 when the shaft was cut down, so you might want to look into that if you get yours cut. As far as distance and accuracy, I would say my averages are up quite a bit due to striking the center of the face, though my best hits with the longer shaft were 10 yards longer.

 

[warbirdlover]

I'm 6'0" but have short arms (and a fairly flat swing plane) and find longer drivers work better for me for control. Weird.

 

[SiberianDVM]

I had Dana Upshaw make me a 43.5" Maltby CT250FC and it is SOOOO much easier to hit straight. It seems a wee bit shorter off the tee than my 45" Titleist, though it may be my imagination.

In addition, there is minimal difference in being 280 yards out vs. 270 yards out: I still can't get there in 1. The difference in being in the short grass vs. the bermuda rough could be substantial.

The Titleist just looks and sounds better than the Maltby, darn it.

 

[swartzd]

I have the Nike Sumo SQ Lucky 13 driver which comes with 44 in. shaft. It really does increase confidence and control. I'm sure the 13 deg. helps too. It's amazing that you lose almost no distance either. Great stick!

 

[indacup]

One of the first things I remember Tom Wishon saying about driver length was "When fitting the majority of customers, be as stingy as possible giving away length over 44"".

At first the reasoning was by keeping it shorter, the consistancy and repeatability of consistent ball striking, at or closer to the sweet spot is increased.

You therefore gain more accuracy and distance.

Then, this past year we found by doing the same and adding weight strategically to the head increased the MOI for added distance on off center hits.

There's pros and cons for each...I have a short driver (44-1/4) and a long one (47")...when my tempo goes awry, I use the longer driver...it forces me to slow down.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I took an inch off mine in the middle of the last golf season. Hit the ball much more consistent and hit the ball longer on the average. Granted I don't get the occasional "really long balls" like the other when I did manage to find the screws but I probably "averaged" about 15-20 yards longer as I now manage to find the screws alot more often. The new fairway woods I should receive tomorrow will be between 1/2" and 1 1/2" shorter than, my current ones. Interested to see how that effects my consistency.

 

[Dale]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and be totally different!
My R7 Superquad developed a rattle about a week after I bought it, I took it back to the shop and left it with them to send off whilst I went on my honeymoon. Came back and they had replaced it with a new one, only this one had a totally different shaft than before. Previously I had a standard length Grafalloy Blue, came back to find a VS Proto that was 2" LONGER than standard! I took one look at it, a couple of practice swings and started to get cross! I absolutely loved the Grafalloy shafted club before and was gutted that they had done this.
I started to blow my top, and they suggested I just try it out first before giving it straight back, and as awkward as it felt at first I now absolutely crush the thing. I had it in my head that longer shaft would make me more inconsistent and generally all over the place, but I actually hit it longer, more consistent and with a much sweeter looking draw - I'd say 8-10 are good strikes with the driver now.

The other thing is I'm fairly short (5'9") - Now I don't know much about the mechanics of the golf swing, or technology, but I was sure I'd muff almost every shot with this longer shaft, once again I got proved wrong!

Now I'm totally used to it, and hitting my friends 'standard' drivers feels weird!

 

[SilverUberXeno]

If you guys are all basing this on Dave I think you're FOOLS!

The best feeling driver I ever had was a 46" Launcher 460 with an Aldila NV.

Some more physics...

Consider your normal swing speed with a standard length (45") driver as X.

- A shorter shaft will require more power to produce the same clubhead speed relative to the standard. It will require more effort to reach X, aka a faster swing. (this is why some tour pros with swing speeds up to 115 still only carry 270; shorter drivers.)

- A longer shaft with the same tempo swing as the X-swing will produce MORE clubhead speed. I recall reading that Hogan had all of his clubs lengthened, as a matter of fact. Longer clubs + a smooth swing can produce significant clubhead speed. Note Hogan's graceful swing.

The variable is center-face contact of course. But to me it really seems more profitable to stick with a longer shaft and swing more smoothly.

Less length requires more speed to reach X. More length requires less speed to reach X. Less length plus standard swing equals <X. More length plus standard swing equals >X.

 

[RickinMA]

you've gotta play the percentages - most people will do better with a shorter more manageable club.

Smooth controlled swingers with a flatter swing plane, may do just fine with a longer club.
Guys with more upright swing planes and aggressive swings usually do better with a shorter club.

Dale, in your case, the bend profile and or swingweight/MOI of the newly shafted club might just fit your swing better than the old club. if you don't have a flatter than average swing plane and super athletic ability, you might make good contact 9/10 times with that driver built to the same MOI and flex with the VS Proto at a shorter length
(figured I'd throw that in, in case you needed justification to ho another driver)

 

[RickinMA]

The variable is center-face contact of course. But to me it really seems more profitable to stick with a longer shaft and swing more smoothly.

This is a very big variable. I don't have the results in front of me, but I think robot testing has shown like a difference of only a couple yards by adding an inch of length.
In real life, an extra inch can be a disaster for center-face contact for most golfers.
It's more important to make good contact that it is to pick up 1-2 mph of swingspeed. The distance loss is immaterial and the accuracy gains are more than worth it.... in my opinion anyway

 

[MCDavis]

I was playing a stock G5 and a stock Adams 460D, both at 45 3/4". Bought a J33r that's stock 45" and noticed an immediate difference...my mishits were not as bad (read STILL IN THE FAIRWAY) and my good hits were as long as I was used to with a less forgiving driver.

Reshafted the G5 @ 45"...expecting it to be more controllable.

 

[ManchesterGolfer]

Think I'm gonna give it a try. I'm going to have half inch cut off & if I don't like it i have a shaft extender for graphite lying around here somewhere If I do like it my 3 & 5 wood may also be in for the chop. Thinking half inch because thats roughly how far down the shaft I go but it feels better holding at the top of the grip.