cutting down driver shaft

[bbedell]

I recently picked up an Adams 9032LS driver. The stock shaft on this driver is 45.25" long. I have read so much on this forum and in other magazines about shorter driver shafts and am looking to get my shaft shortened to around 44.5".

My question to others who have done his is how much of a difference did you notice in distance? Does 3/4 of an inch figure to reduce my driving yardage by a noticeable amount? Thanks for any help.

[Gerald]

Like you said ..... same question, same answers ....... 3/4" isn't going to change much, about 1,5 points in swingweight (D3 to D1) and a full inch is maybe 10 yds less, making a better contact is maybe 10 yds more .... all we can say is ..... it will not differ a lot, but you might be hitting the sweetspot more.

[trickymicky69]

Are you shortening from just the butt end? I was thinking of doing this and not adding any swingweight just to see the effect

[Fat Slice]

I had the pro shop cut 2" off the butt of a shaft of an old R7 driver, down to 43". I took it out yesterday and hit more fairways than usual. I still get plenty of distance, just not the rare giant drive. My misses are milder and I am making better contact. I call the driver "Tattoo" and am having my wife paint his head on the top of the club.

[Shanks A Million]

Like you said ..... same question, same answers ....... 3/4" isn't going to change much, about 1,5 points in swingweight (D3 to D1) and a full inch is maybe 10 yds less, making a better contact is maybe 10 yds more .... all we can say is ..... it will not differ a lot, but you might be hitting the sweetspot more.

10 yards? Hah, love that myth. Cutting down the driver results in a loss of 2 yards per inch. Even TaylorMade's own advertisements say that the extra .5" on the Burner Superfast results in 1 extra yard. Most golfers will actually gain more like 5-10 yards per inch in distance from hitting it closer to the sweet spot. So, in reality, you'll likely gain distance by cutting it down.

I play a 44" driver, and I would say on a good solid strike, I've lost maybe 5 yards from 46", but the good solid strikes happen 5 to 10 times more often.

[bbedell]

thanks shanks, great insight

[alomar123]

Yep my R9 was shorten and I have had excellent results because of it

[msd3075]

Lenghtening a shaft to gain distance/SS is a complete gimmick. As others have said, distance comes from hitting the ball properly on the sweet spot. A longer shaft makes it noticably more difficult to hit the ball solid, and any slight SS gain from a longer length will be more than offset by ball stirking inconsistency.

There is a huge obsession for most golfers to hit the ball further, but most golfers need to focus on accuracy/consistency and not all out distance. they'd see their scores/handicaps dwon dramatically if they just focused on hitting fairways and not bombs.

[trickymicky69]

I had the pro shop cut 2" off the butt of a shaft of an old R7 driver, down to 43". I took it out yesterday and hit more fairways than usual. I still get plenty of distance, just not the rare giant drive. My misses are milder and I am making better contact. I call the driver "Tattoo" and am having my wife paint his head on the top of the club.

Did you add swingweight?

[Fat Slice]

No...should I? In the grip area?

[Cornbread]

There is a huge obsession for most golfers to hit the ball further, but most golfers need to focus on accuracy/consistency and not all out distance. they'd see their scores/handicaps dwon dramatically if they just focused on hitting fairways and not bombs.

"dwon" ???

[bbedell]

What effect would cutting the tip rather than the butt have? I heard someone talking about taking 0.5" off of the tip, rather than 0.75" off of the butt because the shaft he had was mid spin and he wanted low spin. How exactly would cutting the tip affect the shaft's performance?

[Danattherock]

Most golfers will actually gain more like 5-10 yards per inch in distance from hitting it closer to the sweet spot. So, in reality, you'll likely gain distance by cutting it down.

I couldn't agree more. Hit the sweet spot, ball goes further. If a shorter driver is what it takes, go for it. Seems Tiger used a 43.5" driver with great success. I say go for it man. Knock her down to 43.5-44" or something and give it a go. Don't take 1/2 inch off and expect to find more short grass. I would consider taking the 45.25" driver down to 44" at least, maybe even 43.5". You can always get an extension put in for about $6 and go back up.

-Dan

[rego]

Do it, I cut my Rapture V2 down to 44.25. Best thing I've ever done, Does make a touch lighter, but you will make much better contact and hit more fairways. I've just added some lead tape to get the swingweight back.

[Danattherock]

While you are playing around with the driver, check out the shaft stabilizers with AMT on the Balance Certified website. Three NASA scientists formed the company. They also invented the popular UST frequency filtered putter shaft. I got the shaft stabilizer in my driver two days ago. It has adjustable tungsten weights that you move to suit your swing. Very clever suff, fits inside the grip, complete kit and installs in 2 minutes. I am impressed and looking forward to playing around with the weight locations this week. It really changes the feel of the driver. My initial impression is a very favorable one.


-Dan

[TaylorMadeTaylor]

I chopped an inch off of my R9 with good results. I find it alot easier to hit the sweet spot and didn't lose a single yard.

[binga7]

If i was to cut from the butt end, when re gripping the club, how many layers of tape do you put on. My hand is 8 inches long and middle finger 3.75 inches

[Joeyvee]

I cut mine a half an inch and didnt notice much difference at all. MAYBE I toe it a bit less. Not sure. As far as weight .5 inches of graphite shaft weighs like I dunno. Probably a lot less than 6 grams or so. You can feel that? Really? Someone here thinks they can feel an <6 gram difference? Maybe. I dunno. The whole 44.5 inch shaft weighs 75 grams. I threw an extra wrap of masking tape on the shaft and figured it evened out. I still choke down some too.
And yeah. I did mine myself. I really don't think it's a big deal. I wouldn't do my own brain surgery but chopping .5 inch off of a drivers really not a big deal. If you dont like regripping or whatever then yeah. Take it to a shop. But i dont use glue or solvents or sticky tape so regripping for me is super fast and easy. (AIR )