Shaft Lenght Reduction-will i lose distance

**Island Par** · November 16, 2008

I am having difficulty being consistent with a 46" shaft driver i recently bought. I hit a lot more consistently with 45" shaft lenght drivers i own.

As this is my first 46" shaft lenght driver, if i decide to reduce the dhaft to 45" will i lose considerable distance from the tee?

**anthonykim3** · November 16, 2008

if you cut it to 45 you will lose 7 yards at the most but become very accurate i personally think you should do it i only losed 4 yards but gained 6 fairways hit a round i am also just 5,6

**The Golfing Polack** · November 16, 2008

Cutting the shaft will decrease head speed which will reduce distance, but not drastically. It will however alter the swing weight of the club. Try choking down on your club for a while and see what works best before you cut anything or swap out shafts.

**Sherlockian** · November 16, 2008

It depends on the distance you are referring to; right and left, or length. I shortened my driver from 44.5" to 43.5" and lost maybe 10 yards in length, but gained 10x in accuracy. On Friday, I hit my driver on all of the par 4s and 5s. I was on the short grass 90% vs 70% previously.

**Stacey_E** · November 16, 2008

I only believe a longer shaft increases clubhead speed IF you are actually swinging it faster. If the shaft feels too long and akward you could actually lose clubhead speed vs. a shorter shaft. This is just a theory of mine with no scientific evidence whatsoever. I know I can go harder at a shorter shaft because the setup just feels way more comfortable.

And if you are hitting the center of the face more consistantly, your average drives will actually go up with a shorter shaft compared to average drives hit all over the face of a longer shaft driver. Plus you will be in the fairway more often. Longer shafts are best for extremely consistant ball strikers and those that count their longest drives and not their average drives as their driver length. Longer shafts are also great marketing tools. For some they will make a driver hit longer. For the ones it actually hurts, they will be back in a few months looking to buy a new driver.

Just don't forget to add some swingweight to the head to make up for the loss in swing weight form the reduction of shaft length. Otherwise you might end up with a shorter driver that you are still hitting all over the face because you can't feel the clubhead. I think a lot of golfs failed when experimenting with shorter shafts by skipping this step. And the loss in swing weight is only slighty due to the loss of part of the shaft weight itself. Most of the swing weight loss is due to the shortening of the fulcrum effect of the club (for a lack of better words). Grip down to the shaft on your sand wedge and you will feel how much lighter the head feels. This is just an extreme example to prove the point that a shorter shaft requires more head weight.

JMHO, Good luck!

**Jay-Bird** · November 16, 2008

Also remember that if you cut a shaft down at the butt end (the grip end) the flex will be the same, but if you cut it from the tip end it will get stiffer.

**Laxplayer201092** · November 16, 2008

Depends...

i have a 45" SQ and a 44" 905R.

Now the SQ is a flat out bomber, but i really never felt comfortable playing it tot he full lenght and it always just felt akward.. so i decided to dick around with my EPIC and chopped it an inch so that the 905 played 44. It really does help, seeing as it and my Sonartec 3 wood are now the same lenght and only 5 degrees apart haha. but its much more accurate, and i am actually starting to pick up some yardage vs the superquad because i feel witt he shorter shaft i am more in control, and can take a better rip at it each time. plus i can still lay back a schoche and lay one in the fairway about 250 with annoying consistency now. well, maybe not all that annoying =P

Overall, im very happy i did it, i will probboly never play a 45 inch again. Plus, 46 inches is a real long driver to begin with, plus when you put taht with a 49 gram shaft, CoughBurnerCough your gonna be pretty off. Atleast i was.

Jaybird, i gotta think about taht one.. If you tip a shaft, i know it will make it stiffer, but if you make anything shorter, wont it become more stiff? i mean, isnt that just basic physics?

**firstcut** · November 16, 2008

Technically yes. That said, I hit a pair of 280's + with a Sumo2 cut down to 43.75" yesterday. My ss is 90-100. I came out of my shoes to do it tho... Would I have hit it 295 with the stock 46" shaft? Who cares.

BTW.. I haven't noticed an increase in stiffness at all. I *know* it's there because physics says so, but I don't notice it. Cut mine from the butt end and think I *might* notice it more from the tip though.

Still trying to figure out if I notice the swing weight change or not. That said, Golfsmith now sells some cool colored "Weight dots" for the head that are virtually unnoticeable. Once you know the swing weight you can screw around with the dots and get a good feeling swing weight for *you*.

Good luck!

**King Cobra II** · November 17, 2008

I'm a club junkie. In August I bought the Hibore XLS, it was okay but it didn't chance my game upside down like I thought it would. In October I bought a 905 R at a close out sale. I love the look of it, but it still didn't change my game that much. Last week I took my old r7 quad and got it re shafted with a V2 cut down to 44 inches, and I love it. I'm more consistent, which means a few things. It means more fair ways, and a higher average drive. I may lose 10 yards on a perfect hit with the shorter shaft but I'm no longer hitting huge slices. I'm glad I did it, you won't regret it!

**Island Par** · November 17, 2008

Thanks Guys, I guess I'll give it try. The driver I am talking about is a nickent 3DX square driver. Will switch the head to my graman ul640 45" shaft and give it a try.

**mancest** · November 17, 2008

I am no club guru, but I will say, that the longer the shaft the faster the clubhead speed will be based off of the same swing (greater arc, faster speed at the end of said arc) and if you are to hit it on the sweet spot then you should see greater distance with a longer shaft.

But, are you more likely to hit it on the sweet spot with a shorter shaft?

I would, but that is me.

Whatever you do, have somebody that knows what they are doing make any changes for you.

**Sherlockian** · November 17, 2008

I agree with mancest about getting someone to do the work on the club. I had a spare GBBII 415(actually have 3) that I cut down, so I wasn't going to be without a driver if I screwed up. Once I decided I liked the shorter shaft and it helped my driving, I took it to a club builder to have it fitted for me and reshafted. These results are from my range session this afternoon. I only took the driver and hit 42 balls. I used the Strike'nSwipe impact labels to check my clubface-ball contact. Usually with the longer driver I was getting about 20-25 balls in the center of the clubface. Today, 40 out of 42 were in the center and the other 2 were only slightly toward the toe. Now not all of these flew straight and long, but the spread is a lot smaller. The more I am hitting the driver, the more my distance is improving. Now that I have confidence in a driver, I can now work on my swing to gain more consistency and power.

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