Thinking about cutting my 3 wood to hybrid length ... - Page 2

Just a suggestion, I have started using the PINg K15 woods.  The heads are big and forgiving, which has made the use of fairway woods much easier for me.  The larger head definitely makes it much easier.  You might give it a try.  I started with the 7 wood; maybe its not what the big-hiters use, but I tell ya its real easy to hit and get up in the air.  Distance is good too.  Once you get good with it, work your way down 5 to 3 wood. 

Again, just a suggestion.  I am with you, the fairway woods can be real intimidating to hit.  Find a club that at least instills confidence when you look down on it.  The K15 line does that for me.

John

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Originally Posted by Fourputt 

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Originally Posted by MikeLowry5 

As you cut down the length the club lie gets flatter.  If that is wrong someone please correct me.  If I am right, you will want to take that into consideration.

Actually it tends to make the lie more upright when he addresses the ball, meaning that the toe will be lower than the heel.  That or he will have to bend over a lot more to keep the sole flat on the ground.  If you take that much off the shaft of a club which already lies correctly, then you have to do something to compensate.  It will also change the swingweight of the club considerably.

 Toe lower than heel = flatter

 Toe higher than heel = more upright

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Originally Posted by inthehole 

Guys - I appreciate the info & it makes sense.       But the bottom line is that for me it is so much easier to hit a shorter club than a longer one.       A 4 or 5 wood is still significantly longer than a hybrid, and maybe it's just mental (in fact, it probably is in my case), but the little head on a 5 wood waaaaaay out there on the end of that long shaft seems so intimidating compared to a hybrid.      The more I think about this, the more I think my problem is definitely mental ... maybe I just need to spend some time at the range with nothing in my bag but that fargin 3 wood & force myself to hit it off the grass.       I really do like the sounds of that 1H - gonna see if I can find one over the winter.

You should have seen the clubheads from 20 years ago.  My 23 year old TaylorMade Tour Driver has a head that is smaller than my current 3W.  Back then the 5W head was the size of a modern hybrid, and much smaller than some hybrids I've seen.  But they also had steel shfats which were shorter than the current graphite fairway wood shafts... there have been a lot of changes in clubs in the last 20 years.  Probably more than in the 40 years prior to that.
 

I am thinking about doing the same thing--fairway head and hybrid-length shaft.  Has anyone ever tried dbuck's suggestion (12/27/10) to choke down a couple inches on your current fairway wood?  That sounds like an easy way to get a rough idea of what you'd end up with, without the cost and effort of actually building the club.  I would try it myself, except I don't have the right fairway wood for the experiment.

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Originally Posted by inthehole 

I can hit a 3 wood off a tee on the rare occasion when i have to, but absolutely can not hit it consistently off the fairway (I've practiced it to death - just no confidence with it).     However, I'm pretty good with my 19° hybrid from the fairway.     I'm seriously thinking about cutting about 3.5 inches off my 3 wood & making it the same length as my hybrid. 

 

I'm sure I'd lose a bit of length, but I think the consistency factor would be worth it.       Just don't know how much more distance I'd gain with a 3 wood the same length as a 3 hybrid ... I would imagine a fair amount, but I could be wrong.

 

Just curious if anybody has ever struggled with their fairway woods as I do & thought about making them into "long hybrids" ... thx

I have been thinking the same. I'm old and broken so I can't get the distance that the 250 yard plus guys here do anyway. However, I'm thinking that shortening the 3 wood to 40 inches, maybe 39.5 (I'm only 5 foot 8 inches) will give me the same basic swing that I use with my hybrids which I hit okay. I'm more interested being in the fairway than being further down the hole off to the right or left. Drive for show, chip/put for dough is what I have heard all my life and it seems to be true. Did you ever do this? How did it work out? I'm not into buying another club since my Taylor Made are fine for me. A shaft and grip replacement/shortening may do me well?

Doc

From the sounds of it you're not hitting any of your fairway wood well if you think the shaft on your 5W is long. A lower lofted hybrid sounds like it would work for you but I wouldn't give up on the fairway woods. I had trouble hitting fairway woods and then I got a 7W. The higher loft and shorter shaft allowed me to hit it well. I got really good with that club then moved to the 3W, now I hit both very well. They are my go to clubs. Cutting the shaft on a 3W just doesn't sound like it would work to your expectations, my opinion. I would try some alternatives first.

I have a hard time understanding why all these questions on what to do with an old golf club?  Want to shorten the shaft or experiment with a sawed-off 3W, what is holding you back?  I would go to my nearest thrift shop, or 2, look around for a 3W of merit but pay no attention to the grip.  Take it home, peel off the grip, measure and cut with hack saw. Apply new grip, wait 1 hour, take to tee box.  Cost maybe less than $10 and with possible fabulous results.  You will learn what you need to learn by personal experience, not from the opinions of others.  

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Originally Posted by joekelly 

I have a hard time understanding why all these questions on what to do with an old golf club?  Want to shorten the shaft or experiment with a sawed-off 3W, what is holding you back?  I would go to my nearest thrift shop, or 2, look around for a 3W of merit but pay no attention to the grip.  Take it home, peel off the grip, measure and cut with hack saw. Apply new grip, wait 1 hour, take to tee box.  Cost maybe less than $10 and with possible fabulous results.  You will learn what you need to learn by personal experience, not from the opinions of others.  

The problem with that is just cutting the shaft is going to make it stiffer, not to mention that an old 3-wood isnt going to perform like a newer 3-wood because shaft technology is so much better these days.

Personal experience is great but sometimes you need to learn from people who are more knowledgable than you are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by inthehole 

I can hit a 3 wood off a tee on the rare occasion when i have to, but absolutely can not hit it consistently off the fairway (I've practiced it to death - just no confidence with it).     However, I'm pretty good with my 19° hybrid from the fairway.     I'm seriously thinking about cutting about 3.5 inches off my 3 wood & making it the same length as my hybrid. 

 

I'm sure I'd lose a bit of length, but I think the consistency factor would be worth it.       Just don't know how much more distance I'd gain with a 3 wood the same length as a 3 hybrid ... I would imagine a fair amount, but I could be wrong.

 

Just curious if anybody has ever struggled with their fairway woods as I do & thought about making them into "long hybrids" ... thx

It's more likely than not because you hit your hybrid like an iron, the way one should. With a fairway wood I hit down on the ball also. I never try to sweep a ball off the grass with a fairway wood.

It may not be as much of a downward swing but it is more that, than a sweeping swing. In doing so you have to find the new sweet spot for your ball placement. Start dead center of your stance and work from there.

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Originally Posted by onthehunt526 

I think if you wanna cut your 3w down, try 5w length

All of my woods, Driver and fairway woods were cut to 39.5 inches (I'm short, 5 foot 8 inches) and since then my driver does right and my fairway woods perform as well or better than my driver. I have to do my part and this is the only weakness in my game. If I don't do what I'm expected to do in swing the club generally right, it won't matter what club I have in my hands. The club can't adjust for a miss-cue by a golfer's swing. It's like hitting my hybrids when I use my woods now. I'm no better than a bogie golfer on a good day, but at my age and physical condition, that's not a bad place to be.

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Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer 

The problem with that is just cutting the shaft is going to make it stiffer, not to mention that an old 3-wood isnt going to perform like a newer 3-wood because shaft technology is so much better these days.

Personal experience is great but sometimes you need to learn from people who are more knowledgable than you are.

cutting the shaft off 2 to 4 inches is not going to affect a trial effort for a weekend golfer (one that plays 36 or more rounds a year). the greatest difference one feels after chopping off a FW shaft is that you suddenly feel as if your hands have more control over the club. 99% of folks here play golf for fun. MAYBE one percent make their living playing the tour, but I'm going to question that for posters here. We're recreational golfers. If something works for you, it may not work for anyone else in the entire world, so what? If it works for you then you are a fool to not do it. Golf is a hard enough game as it is, having to have a perfect or near perfect swing EVERY SINGLE TIME WE SWING THE CLUB. So, if it helps, go for it. No one else has to use someone else's clubs anyway so it's not important what someone else thinks if it works for you. All of mine are now @ 39.5 inches (driver through my FW woods) They hit so much better now I am actually shocked at all the hype out there about 46 inch drivers and such. Pros can benefit from it, but the recreational golfer, not so much. IMHO

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Originally Posted by DocParty 

cutting the shaft off 2 to 4 inches is not going to affect a trial effort for a weekend golfer (one that plays 36 or more rounds a year). the greatest difference one feels after chopping off a FW shaft is that you suddenly feel as if your hands have more control over the club. 99% of folks here play golf for fun. MAYBE one percent make their living playing the tour, but I'm going to question that for posters here. We're recreational golfers. If something works for you, it may not work for anyone else in the entire world, so what? If it works for you then you are a fool to not do it. Golf is a hard enough game as it is, having to have a perfect or near perfect swing EVERY SINGLE TIME WE SWING THE CLUB. So, if it helps, go for it. No one else has to use someone else's clubs anyway so it's not important what someone else thinks if it works for you. All of mine are now @ 39.5 inches (driver through my FW woods) They hit so much better now I am actually shocked at all the hype out there about 46 inch drivers and such. Pros can benefit from it, but the recreational golfer, not so much. IMHO

There is some truth to this.  if you don't play a lot of golf, your results are going to suck even if you have the perfectly fitted clubs.  but there has been a TON of misinformation spread in this thread.   What a lot of people don't realize is that the driver is the lightest clubhead while the wedge is the heaviest.  At one point early in this thread, the op mentioned that the 3 wood had more mass than a 5 or 7 wood which is why he was theorizing cutting down the 3 wood would work.  in reality the 3 wood is lighter than a 5 or 7 wood.  when you cutdown a club so dramatically there will be issues with feel as it relates to your other clubs.  I recently put a 15* hybrid back into my bag.  I play a 13* 3 wood that I can hit 260-275 off the tee but i was looking for something closer to 4 wood distance.  The Alpha rf gx3 15* hybrid is perfect.   it gives me a solid 230-245 off the tee with damn good accuracy because the club is so short its easier to control and to hit off the sweet spot.  I would look to a low lofted hybrid before I would cut a 3 wood 3 inches short of standard.  if you do want to cut a 3 wood that short, you should go with a much heavier shaft to maintain proper feel.  A steel shafted super short 3 wood could work.  Many people play "Thriver" which is a high lofted driver head shafted at 3 wood length.  you could do something similar with your 3 wood.

Don't disagree with anything you have noted. I just don't feel any difference in any of my irons (irons vs irons) or woods (woods vs woods) or hybrids (hybrids vs hybrids).

It may just be because I have a strong upper body and work out with hand bells daily. The rest of me is shot, back, knees, shoulder to a small degree.

None of them ever feel heavy or light, they just swing the same being nearly all the same length. But remember I'm just returning to golf after nearly 20 years away from the game so my feel may change or affect my play later on down the line.

I would like to add my recent experience with this fairway woods discussion. I have been playing about a year and early on I bought a 3&5 wood from Cleveland, their ultra light model. I could never hit those off the turf and to this day I can't hit them off the turf. I see other guys I play with hitting the crap out of their fairway s. I'm thinking I just can't do it for some reason. I have learned to hit my irons and a 34& 5 hybrid but never the woods.
 After some advise from this forum, I bought a used but almost new TEE 4 wood, 16.5 loft. I can hit the sh1t out of this club right off the grass, fairway or first cut rough.

 So now I'm thinking it the club not the clubber. I visually compared the two different clubs. The Clevelands have a curved transition from the bottom of the club face to the sole of the club, sort of a rounded bounce angle. It is pretty obvious why I couldn't hit those Clevelands off the turf.

  So what I'm trying to get at is try some different clubs, it may not be your swing.

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by madolive3 

I would like to add my recent experience with this fairway woods discussion. I have been playing about a year and early on I bought a 3&5 wood from Cleveland, their ultra light model. I could never hit those off the turf and to this day I can't hit them off the turf. I see other guys I play with hitting the crap out of their fairway s. I'm thinking I just can't do it for some reason. I have learned to hit my irons and a 34& 5 hybrid but never the woods.
 After some advise from this forum, I bought a used but almost new TEE 4 wood, 16.5 loft. I can hit the sh1t out of this club right off the grass, fairway or first cut rough.

 So now I'm thinking it the club not the clubber. I visually compared the two different clubs. The Clevelands have a curved transition from the bottom of the club face to the sole of the club, sort of a rounded bounce angle. It is pretty obvious why I couldn't hit those Clevelands off the turf.

  So what I'm trying to get at is try some different clubs, it may not be your swing.

.

forgot to add. The Tour Edge  Exotics as well as some of the other 3 woods that I looked at in the pro shop, have a very sharp sole to club face transition. I am sure that this made the difference for me being able to hit that 4 wood off the deck.

Been moving to Senior Flex shafts and it's made a heck of a difference for my old arse.

Still have shorter than average club lengths.

Hybrids are an easy hit for me off the tee with or without a tee, or in the fairway. I personally like to hit them off the tee box without a tee. They don't need it.

Don't have any fairway woods since I have hybrids.

My driver now is a Cleveland Launcher, 12 degrees. It's like a scud missile, yet I do not get any more length than I used to. Still the 200 to 230 total carry but I'm always in the fairway.

Hybrids can reach 200 total carry without any trouble and they can actually stick the green and stay put.

Haven't had the need for any irons longer than my 6 iron with my hybrids.

Next set will be completely hybrids with senior flex shafts.

Don't use any pitching wedge inside 20 yards, my seven iron chips and rolls better than I can pitch and it's saved me many strokes.

Never on the beach so I can't tell you anything about my sand wedge since I don't have to use it.

My 6 through 9 are same length clubs.

My hybrids are all the same length yet longer than my irons.

My driver is 40.5 inches.

I'm not in the class of guys here knocking the ball 260-300+ and will never be. That's okay, I'm old, play for free locally all I want, whenever I want.

This is a great forum for info, it really is.