Shorter driver shaft, dohhhhh!!!!!

[mddubya]

Ok, I know, there have been plenty of threads on here touting the advantages of shortening the shaft on your driver. But I'm almost 6'2", and always figured, I'm to tall for that to work for me. My driver woes have returned with a vengeance here of late. Extremely over active power fades, no distance, very humbling and aggravating to say the least. That led me to going back into the stash of 7 drivers to see if any of them would behave better.

Yesterday for our mini best ball tournament, (me and 5 other guys that live here and walk, 3 teams of 2), I grabbed the Bridgestone J33p I swapped with Mike1218 for. The thought process being, maybe the smaller head would be easier to close and turn over. Mike told me before the swap that he plays his drivers shortened, so like an idiot I asked him if he could throw an extension in it for me. Well, half way through the round yesterday I felt the extension wiggling under the grip. So for the next few holes I gripped down under the extension. Not exactly dead straight drives ensued, but hey, they were staying in play, definite improvement over what I'd been doing.

So I get home after the round and figure, WTF? I cut the old grip off, pull the extension out and slip a new grip on. Anyway, a few minutes ago I grabbed 10 beat up shag balls and walked outside with the J33p in hand. 1st swing, a little baby fade, hmmmm, interesting. I'm hitting across the course into a cow pasture so distance is a guess, but it hung in the air nicely, and appeared to have decent distance. The next 9 swings were either dead straight, or a slight Nicklaus Power Fade. Holy $hit, if this works on the course this afternoon I'll be kicking myself in the rear for months.

So cross your fingers, I'll give a full report tonight as how it performs under actual course and competiton conditions.

 

[Youngun5]

do it up!

I'm at 6', and play my driver at 43.75" No distance loss for me in the switch because i'm hitting just about everything off the screws.

 

[Crossfire]

Bubba Watson is 6'4 and plays a 44.5" Nuff said.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

6'1" and play mine to 44".

Although height is not as good an indication as wrist to floor measurement. Wishon recommends a 44" driver for a 36-37" wrist to floor measurement, which is where mine falls at just over 36".

edit 1 - doing a quick search, I believe Mike said he played his at 44.5", which would correspond to an initial wrist to floor measure of 38-39", so in all likelihood it could even maybe go shorter depending on your wrist to floor and circumstances and setup for which you are comfortable. I played my last driver at 44.5", and while I had a little less control, it was by no means uncontrollable, and had 2* less loft.

 

[mddubya]

I've been tempted to try it before, but was always weary of cutting my shaft and then it not working. But since the extension in this one worked itself loose anyway, why not?

I'm excited about playing this afternoon, and the way I've been hitting my driver lately, thats a 1st in a while. My irons and wedges have been working great lately, even my putting has improved to an extent. The only thing really killing my scores has been my driving. Penalty strokes add up fast, not to mention the frustration the cause tends to lead to another bad shot sometimes. I'm not expecting to hit every fairway, but my home course is pretty tight, it doesn't take that much of a miss to end up OB and taking a drop. The idea of actually keeping the ball in play off the tee has me stoked to play.

Come on 5 O'clock!!!!

edit due to PA Jayhawk's post; The extension I took out is 1 inch long. and it looks like you're dead on, it looks like its playing at 44 1/2 now. And it looks like my wrist to floor is about 34 - 34 1/2?

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I've been tempted to try it before, but was always weary of cutting my shaft and then it not working. But since the extension in this one worked itself loose anyway, why not?

One other consideration if it seems like it lacks feel. In cutting it down, you also are supposed to add weight back to the head to account for the change in swingweight, and will also make the shaft feel closer to the original flex as cutting it down may make it stiffer (depending on how it was cut down). Also saw in the thread I mention that he doesn't add weight back, as he doesn't notice a difference.

So if you don't think it is working out the way you expected, or doesn't feel correct. You may want to add some lead tape back to the head to bring it up to a desired swingweight and flex before scrapping the idea. I do notice a big difference, and could tell a difference in the SW

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Here is the thread I was refering too, which also tells later in the thread what you would need to add back if you want to bring it back to the desired swingweight
http://www.shottalk.com/forum/equipment-talk/22957-whos-using-short-driver-3.html
http://www.shottalk.com/forum/equipment-talk/22957-whos-using-short-driver.html

Further, here is a calculator to check the swing weight, assuming you use a standard weighted grip.
Swing Weight Estimator

 

[mddubya]

See my above edit Jayhawk, my wrist to floor is around 34 1/2 and the extension was 1 inch that I took out.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

See my above edit Jayhawk, my wrist to floor is around 34 1/2 and the extension was 1 inch that I took out.

According to Wishon's book, for a wrist to floor measurement of 34-36", he would use and initial guidline of 43.5" for a driver shaft.

 

[mddubya]

According to Wishon's book, for a wrist to floor measurement of 34-36", he would use and initial guidline of 43.5" for a driver shaft.

Interesting, I'll see how it plays today at 44 1/2, I may whack another 1/2 or inch off of it afterwards.

 

[MIKE1218]

So sorry about the extension failing, maybe it was too loose a fit and the small amount of epoxy I put on broke? Good thing it failed though, eh? lol

Anyway, I didn't add any weight to the head because I like the lighter swingweight, so you might want to add tape to your preference. A lot more controllable now, isn't it?

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Something else to consider, just in case you should reach that point, he also recommends choosing a 3w at least 1.5" shorter (2" if you have issues getting it up in the air), and then 1" increments between the 3, 5, and 7 woods.

One thing I liked about the shaft that came with the TEE 4w, it was only 42.5" then 41" on the 7w, and put me right in the ball park. Although I am recently giving some consideration to maybe shortening it and my 7w a tad bit. While part of it is slight issues with getting my 4w to the height I was used too originally, another part is that I would actually like to take 5 yards off my 7w for gap reasons, and may actually get more control and equal distance on my 4w by going shorter?

Just food for thought if you go shorter for whatever reason, and depending on what you currently have your 4w at right now. Not that I am necessarily recommending doing so if it works at 44.5". Would actually probably try the lead tape first.

 

[74 thing]

I was fighting a problem coming across it and tried everything. Then one day someone tells me I am coming up after impact. I guess I was trying to unconciously help the ball up or something but by standing up I was in effect coming across the ball. As a result I now try to stay down and through and impact has become much better and more solid contact and less cuts. May want to give it a try-just a suggestion.

Have fun with your new driver.

 

[mddubya]

So sorry about the extension failing, maybe it was too loose a fit and the small amount of epoxy I put on broke? Good thing it failed though, eh? lol Trust me Mike, right now I'm very happy it failed


A lot more controllable now, isn't it?

Hell yeah it is, :thumbs up:

Ok, I just finished walking 9 holes. I hit driver on 7 holes, 71% driving accuracy. Holy Cow !!!!!!, I've never been even near 70%, more or less over. And of my misses, only one went OB, and that was a FUGLY swing. As soon as I hit it I knew I'd screwed that one up. I was trying to ride the wind and just over swung, and came OTT. The other misses were just barely in the rough, just off the fairway. Distance was a little shorter, but I think that was more the club and the GD TourAD YSQ just not matching my swing more than the 1 inch shorter shaft.

Even my playing partners couldn't believe how much straighter I was hitting my driver. One of my fairways missed was actually a miss on the left side, the LEFT side. I'm never on the left side of the fairway! I played all 9 holes with 2 balls, the only one I lost was the OTT fugly swing that faded, I just wasn't setting up for the fade by that point. I even hit a little baby draw on one hole! :faintthud

BTW, I shot a 42 for the 9, tied my all time low on this course.

And yes, there will be a shaft cutting party at my house tonight,

 

[Nikonut]

2 questions, please:

where do you add weight on a draw/offset driver ?

if your not especially muscled up, could the lighter swingweight give more swing speed, than the original longer shaft, negating the need for head weight?

I have been choking down, so after reading the post, took the adams xtd a3os in for 1" off.