Story and Question About Shaft Length…

[OMGolf]

Once I got paired-up with an interesting gentleman. He was a professional drag-racer (not the library kind, the normal kind). Based on our conversation (we shared a cart) I tend to believe this. Very nice guy, enjoyable round. He was powerfully-built and I believed him that he worked out every day. Kind of a prima Donna type, but I enjoy being around different people for limited periods of time. 

Anyway, he was given some fancy Titleist clubheads by some fancy person and had them put on very long shafts. He asserted that the pros don't actually hit longer than us because they use longer shafts. He said "compare my PW to your 6-iron." I did and they were exactly the same.

His story always struck me as baloney on the surface, and every person I've told it to has agreed. I'm 6'1" and play standard lengths, he was maybe 5'10".  

I've always wondered if there is some secret long-shafts club out there or of he just had a fun time pulling my leg somehow. 

Thoughts? 

[Cantankerish]

I think I must be misreading this or something:

14 hours ago, OMGolf said:

Anyway, he was given some fancy Titleist clubheads by some fancy person and had them put on very long shafts. He asserted that the pros don't actually hit longer than us because they use longer shafts. He said "compare my PW to your 6-iron." I did and they were exactly the same.

I am unsure of the meaning of this paragraph.

Anyway, I have heard of people getting their shafts shortened to improve distance.  That said, just in terms of simple physics, there is no denying that longer shafts enable a faster club head and therefor longer ball flight.  I mean, there are limits to what is allowed.  But Dechambeau has got people talking about all irons with the same length.  His wedge may have been of that design.

Whatever.  The fact is that we all have something like an ideal, personal club length.  "Longer is better" is nothing approaching universal.

[OMGolf]

Sorry for the confusion - his shafts were all 1-2" longer than standard length. My 6-iron was the same length as his PW. His 6-iron was probably the length of my 3-iron. He looked really weird at address with his irons sticking way out.

[Mr22putt]

3 hours ago, OMGolf said:

Sorry for the confusion - his shafts were all 1-2" longer than standard length. My 6-iron was the same length as his PW. His 6-iron was probably the length of my 3-iron. He looked really weird at address with his irons sticking way out.

The guy sounds like a POSER.

I assume he didn't choke down on his clubs.

Just because an iron is longer than standard..... doesn't mean it will hit longer if it isn't struck well.

[OMGolf]

26 minutes ago, Mr22putt said:

The guy sounds like a POSER.

Yeah, that was my conclusion as well. He referred to himself as "a celebrity" which kind of made me laugh. But whatever, no skin off my back.

26 minutes ago, Mr22putt said:

I assume he didn't choke down on his clubs

That's right. He also described himself as a "scratch golfer" but later said that he usually considers a put hit within one flagstick length of the hole was considered "in." That struck me as unusually creative scoring!

[WUTiger]

A long time ago, I hit a tee shot and snapped the steel shaft of my driver about 6 inches above the hosel. I got it reshafted with a True Temper tipped for S-flex - same as original shaft. But just for fun, I had the clubsmith butt-trim the shaft for 46", about 2.5" longer than standard.

Good news and bad news. The good news was that I could hit that shaftier persimmon driver a long way, about 270 yards on solid hits. The bad news was about a third of my tee shots went a long way into the woods, in some cases requiring me to chip sideways back to the fairway.

After two months of fun and fizzle, I had the clubsmith trim the shaft back to 43.5". I found a lot more fairways the following season.

Takeaway: longer shaft better for distance, shorter shaft easier to control. Challenge is to find the happy medium.

Edited December 12, 2019 by WUTiger

[pganapathy]

My R5 driver has a slightly longer stiff shaft than my Cleveland HiBore driver which is a regular shaft.  Despite my higher club head speed (when I measured it 10 years ago with the HiBore (105 or so mph), I I still hit my Hibore driver better. I think it has to do with control and hence better smash factor. 

[Mr22putt]

19 hours ago, OMGolf said:

Yeah, that was my conclusion as well. He referred to himself as "a celebrity" which kind of made me laugh. But whatever, no skin off my back.

That's right. He also described himself as a "scratch golfer" but later said that he usually considers a put hit within one flagstick length of the hole was considered "in." That struck me as unusually creative scoring!

As you know...there are so many POSER's and vanity cap golfers...they are fun to laugh at.

[arturo28mx]

Use the longest possible shaft that you can hit consistently in the center of the clubface

[Victor Olivares]

During an experiment, I installed my driver shaft (Ping G400 SFT) onto my 3 wood (Ping G400 SFT) and noticed more efficiency. I gained 15 to 20 yards off the tee and my fairway shots required less effort.  

As a result, I currently have my 3 wood at +1.125” longer than stock given me a even gap in shaft on my driver to 3 wood to 5 wood.

[Gman99]

Newbie alert!

I was wondering why people would get their clubs fitted and end up a with set that are 1 or 2 inches shorter than standard? Wouldn't gripping down on standard length give the same effect, without affecting future resale value?!

 

[luchnia]

On 12/24/2019 at 9:19 AM, Gman99 said:

Newbie alert!

I was wondering why people would get their clubs fitted and end up a with set that are 1 or 2 inches shorter than standard? Wouldn't gripping down on standard length give the same effect, without affecting future resale value?!

 

Welcome.

I think it is all about feel when you grip down. I simply cannot grip down on my irons as they don't feel right to me when I swing. I do have a driver that I grip down on and I plan to get it shortened because it doesn't feel the same gripping down. I have a driver that is shorter and it feels so much better. So it really all depends on the person.