Drive short shaft experiment has merit.

**Sherlockian** · November 13, 2008

Last night, I was reading a current article on Anthony Kim and his gripping down clubs. He is 5'10" and essentially plays his driver at 42'. I am 6' and still play steel shaft small cc drivers(Steelhead) most of the time, but the article provoked me to try and experiment. I have 2 GBBII 415cc drivers with Aldila NV shafts, one regular and one stiff. I ended up cutting the stiff shaft down to 43.5". I stopped by the driving range on the way home today and all I can say is, wow. I had the consistency/accuracy of my 3wood and a little more distance than my normal driver. I am not a long hitter by any stretch of the imagination. Without carry added in, I usually hit my drives around 240. The short shaft driver added around 10 yards, and 7 out of 10 were landing in the same area. The other few were only slightly left(my normal flight is a draw). Most with roll ended up around the 275 marker, I have never hit balls that far repeatedly. I am looking forward to giving the shorty a go on the course Friday. The fall winds have been killing my tee shots with the 3 and 5 woods, to the point I have been hitting alot of low 2 irons.

Has anyone else had the same experience?

**AK jr.** · November 13, 2008

i havent had the same experience and i havent tried that yet, but i did read the article. i would think it would benefit the longer hitters too, cuz obviously anthony does it. i might check this out soon

**obsessedgolfer** · November 13, 2008

Last night, I was reading a current article on Anthony Kim and his gripping down clubs. He is 5'10" and essentially plays his driver at 42'. I am 6' and still play steel shaft small cc drivers(Steelhead) most of the time, but the article provoked me to try and experiment. I have 2 GBBII 415cc drivers with Aldila NV shafts, one regular and one stiff. I ended up cutting the stiff shaft down to 43.5". I stopped by the driving range on the way home today and all I can say is, wow. I had the consistency/accuracy of my 3wood and a little more distance than my normal driver. I am not a long hitter by any stretch of the imagination. Without carry added in, I usually hit my drives around 240. The short shaft driver added around 10 yards, and 7 out of 10 were landing in the same area. The other few were only slightly left(my normal flight is a draw). Most with roll ended up around the 275 marker, I have never hit balls that far repeatedly. I am looking forward to giving the shorty a go on the course Friday. The fall winds have been killing my tee shots with the 3 and 5 woods, to the point I have been hitting alot of low 2 irons.

Wow, a 17 handicap that can hit a 2 iron stinger you have gained my respect

. I cant even hit my 3 iron

. But on the topic of cutting down your driver, I think it has some merrit but I think it would be better if you just put a 3 wood shaft in a driver head, so it wouldnt screw around with the flex that much.

**Sherlockian** · November 13, 2008

Yeah for some reason, I have always been able to hit the long irons well. I may not get the distance a lot of guys do, but I hit them solid. When I was in high school, I caught alot of flack because my only wood was a 3. The 1 and 2 irons were my tee box clubs back then. My handicap is primarily a result of poor decision making. I just started back playing the game after many years of a "relaxed" lifestyle. I have a problem trying to hit shots that I could in the 90's when I carried a 7 index. At some point I will realize I am almost 20 years older, and my much heavier, less flexible body can't play like it used to.

About changing the shaft characteristics/flex, I cannot tell any difference in feel or impact, only control. I don't feel that the NV85 is affected as drastically as some shafts would be. Also this was an knee jerk/right now type of experiment on a driver that I rarely pulled out of the closet.

**hamletsdead** · November 13, 2008

Didn't cutting down the shaft dramatically change the swing weight? If you cut it down from 45" to 43.5" then didn't you go from something like D2 to C6?

I tried that with a Callaway Hyper X driver and didn't like how it felt at all. One of the clubmakers I know said I needed to add lead tape back to the clubhead to re-balance the club, but it was kind of a pain. I'm thinking of just having a shorter driver made to fit me and see how I like it.

**Shindig** · November 13, 2008

Yeah, I was planning to do this last Sunday, and I started par-par. Then I hit a hook on the par-3 third and my mental state evaporated, so I forgot to do this for a few holes. I remembered off-and-on the rest of the day to do this, and the few good shots I remember were the result of this.

Of course, my friends won't believe I'm doing it to get better. They'll believe I'm doing it because AK does it. But if I get better, I don't care what they think my motivation was.

**Sherlockian** · November 13, 2008

I am not a "tech" golfer, I don't get all the little nuances associated with clubs such lie angle, swingweight, dispertion, torque, mid-kick flex, MOI, etc. I worry about my swing and striking the ball. I let the golf shop and clubmaker worry about the technical side of the clubs. I am sure the swingweight changed, but I can't tell. The point was that I am hitting the club better, longer, and more accurate than I ever have. If the short driver continues to help/please my game, I will be visiting the the shop to get one fitted correctly.

**Sherlockian** · November 13, 2008

After playing the shortened driver today, I am sticking with the short shaft. I played one round today and for the first time ,since I picked the game back up, I played my driver on all the 4 and 5s. There were a few bad shots, but overall I was hitting the driver 10 times better than before. I now have confidence with a large volume driver (415cc vs 205cc). After the round, I went to my local shop with the driver to get a better fit on the shaft. After a little hitting on the "golf tron", we decided on a 43.5" TT Dynalite stiff STEEL. With this shaft and length, I am renaming the club: Great Big Bertha TIHEAD II.

I also picked up a cool American Bison(Buffalo to some) headcover for it.

rwise44 · November 13, 2008

I will have to try this. I am also over 6 foot tall. Right now, my goal is accurate driving.
Did you just choke up or did you actually have the shaft shortened?

**dmband8985** · November 14, 2008

i've tried choking up on my driver with varying results...i think the characteristics of the shaft have a lot to do with the success of this. but i have found tremendous success with my longer irons chocking up. i've long known that my 8 iron is my favorite club...when i set up it feels just perfect and natural and i can carry 155-160 with a slight draw pattern. i started experimenting choking on clubs longer than my 8i trying to emulate the same length so that i can make roughly the same stroke and what do you know i'm hitting every iron in my bag cleanly and perfectly at a very high percentage. what i've noticed most is the shorter length give me more confidence to hit down on the ball and really apply pressure on the ball.

i'm planning on building a snake eyes driver, i might build it with a shorter shaft so i can finally get that control with the driver i've been looking for.

**bogeyhitter25** · November 14, 2008

Yeah, I was reading the same article in "Golf Magazine". The choking up doesn't work for me really.

**golf rules** · November 14, 2008

Really, I think it works great as well and I feel like I gain alot of distance and control doing so as I am making better contact more often.

Now if I could only put................

**Shindig** · December 9, 2008

Yeah, I was planning to do this last Sunday, and I started par-par. Then I hit a hook on the par-3 third and my mental state evaporated, so I forgot to do this for a few holes. I remembered off-and-on the rest of the day to do this, and the few good shots I remember were the result of this.

I wrote this a few weeks ago and barely touched a golf club since, until this morning. I went to the range and hit a small bucket, gripping down on my irons. I also used the wedges and my "new" 5-Wood, although I didn't end up taking out the 3-Wood or the driver. In any case, I really like the way this worked. I hit a few really thin - literally hit just the top half of the ball. But for those, I feel I was way too far from the ball at setup.

In any case, I really liked the way this felt. I'm going to experiment with this a bit more.

**mako224** · December 9, 2008

I grip down when the hole calls for a draw as it makes it easier to draw the ball. I don't notice much difference in distance choked down.

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Drive short shaft experiment has merit.

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