Jump to content
Check out the Spin Axis Podcast! ×
Check out the Spin Axis Podcast!
IGNORED

Choking Up vs. Shorter Shaft

snoodlelvr
 Share
Note: This thread is 6350 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

snoodlelvr Member

snoodlelvr

Posted
Posted
I'm curious on opinions regarding choking up on driver against having a shaft cut down by a bit. I'm relatively short (5'6"), and it goes without saying that I have much more control when I choke up about 1-2" (the shaft on my burner is a bit long at 45.75"). As I'm still in the process of refining my ability to hit the driver, I'm hesitant to cut it down as I don't want to sacrifice potential distance for when I'm grooving it a bit better. I know the best thing will be to go for a professional fitting, but I'm curious to hear thoughts on this short of that.

Thanks,
Andy

Wuzzinmebag:

Driver: Burner Draw 10.5°, Reg Flex
Hybrid: Rescue Dual 19°, Reg Flex
Hybrid: Rescue Dual 22°, Reg Flex4-GW: S9, Nippon 900 XH Steel ShaftSW: 588 DSG, 56°; 14° bouncePutter: White Hot XG #3 33"igolf GPS caddie(Somewhat) lowering that handicap one round at a time...


rudygu Dedicated Member

rudygu

Posted
Posted
I'm curious on opinions regarding choking up on driver against having a shaft cut down by a bit. I'm relatively short (5'6"), and it goes without saying that I have much more control when I choke up about 1-2" (the shaft on my burner is a bit long at 45.75"). As I'm still in the process of refining my ability to hit the driver, I'm hesitant to cut it down as I don't want to sacrifice potential distance for when I'm grooving it a bit better. I know the best thing will be to go for a professional fitting, but I'm curious to hear thoughts on this short of that.

Unless you are already consistently hitting the sweet spot on your driver you will probably gain distance by shortening the shaft. I can't remember the rule of thumb for distance loss per inch cut, but it's not that much. There are plenty of Tour players using drivers shorter than 45".

Shortening the shaft will make it play a few swingweight points lower, so if you are sensitive to this it may be something to consider. Also, the shaft will probably play slightly stiffer. Everardo could help you more with these particular issues...
Callaway FT-9 Tour I-mix 9.5° Driver (Fujikura Zcom Pro 65 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 15° 3w (Exsar FS2 stiff)
Bridgestone J36 19° Hybrid (Aldila VS Proto 80 stiff)
Adams Idea Pro 23° Hybrid (Aldila VS Proto 80 stiff)
Adams Idea Pro Forged 5-pw Irons (DG Black Gold stiff)Nike SV Tour Black Satin...

golf_junkie27 Great Member

golf_junkie27

Posted
Posted
Andy,

I just had my driver trimmed almost half an inch. It's performing exactly at the CPM and Flex that I was fitted for. Additionally, the swingweight did not change. It's still D7. I'm hitting the ball consistently better and have not lost any distance.

I recommend going to your fitter and having this done.

FWIW, I'm six feet tall and my driver length is 44 3/8 inches.

Titleist 905T Accra SC75 M4 Shaft

Nike SQ 4W Accra T70 M4 Shaft
HB001 17* Hybrid with Mitsubishi Diamana Thump X Stiff Flex
Baffler Pro 20* Accra Axiv 105 Tour Hybrid Shaft

Taylor Made 24* Burner Accra Axiv 105 Tour Hybrid Shaft

Mizuno MP-32 5-PW Black Oxide Finish Project X 6.0 Shafts

Vokey 52* Oil Can Finish TTDG S400 Shaft

Cleveland 588 60* TTDG S400 Shaft

Rife Bimini Blade Putter

 

Ball-White and Round

 


  • 3 months later...
Everardo Great Member

Everardo

Posted
Posted
Unless you are already consistently hitting the sweet spot on your driver you will probably gain distance by shortening the shaft. I can't remember the rule of thumb for distance loss per inch cut, but it's not that much. There are plenty of Tour players using drivers shorter than 45".

True, last I saw the average driver length on the PGA and other male tours was 44 3/8" so a premium should be placed on making solid consistent contact first

Shortening the shaft will make it play a few swingweight points lower, so if you are sensitive to this it may be something to consider. Also, the shaft will probably play slightly stiffer. Everardo could help you more with these particular issues...

The swing weight can be easily accounted for by counter balancing

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades
1

ks8829 Great Member

ks8829

Posted
Posted
I would choke up on the driver and slowly move back up as you become for confident with the driver. The lenght of the shaft will aid in your distance.

Titleist 910 D2 9.5 Driver
Titleist 910 F15 & 21 degree fairway wood
Titleist 910 hybrid 24 degree
Mizuno Mp33 5 - PW
52/1056/1160/5

"Yonex ADX Blade putter, odyssey two ball blade putter, both  33"

ProV-1


bigoak Dedicated Member

bigoak

Posted
Posted
the rule of thumb was 1 in = 8 swingweight points. counter weights will just make it worse. Weight plugs can be placed in the tip if necessary. Choking up is a good idea. Look at professionals and you'll see that most choke up on everything.

Taylormade Driver HT
Taylormade 3 HT

Mcgregor 7w
Vulcan irons 5-P
Solus 53 61

Vokey 56

Scotty Caneron Flange/ Ping Cushin

Srixon ZStar

71 gold tees

bring cash


CG031 Great Member

CG031

Posted
Posted
I'm 5'7" and I got my g10 cut down to 44.50" and my Cleveland Launcer 3 wood cut down an inch as well. Working out great so far. More control for sure.

Driver Ping G10 10.5*
Hybrids Ping G5 (3) 19* Bridgestone J36 (4) 22*
Irons Mizuno MP-57 5-PW
Wedges Srixon WG-504 52.08 Bridgestone WC Copper 56.13
Putter 33" Scotty Cameron Studio Select #2


Richie3Jack Well Established Member

Richie3Jack

Posted
Posted
I would choke up on the club. The problem with cutting the shaft is it can really effect swingweight and shaft flex, especially if you get a lazy clubfitter or a clubfitter who doesn't know what they are doing. If you're playing well by choking up on the club, just stick with what's working.





3JACK

oreodawg1 Established Member

oreodawg1

Posted
Posted
Okay I'm pretty short just like you...well i'm about 5'3" maybe 4" on a good day but around there. I bought a driver and had it cut down to 44" thinking since I am short I need a shorter club. Well I hit it good, and straight, but I wanted more distance(I was averaging about 250). I changed to a Ben Hogan 8.5 stiff shaft 70g driver with a 45" shaft. I still hit just as straight, and I gained quite a bit of yardage(now I average about 275). To me it didn't make a big difference. I do feel like I have a little more control with the shorter driver, but as long as I keep it in the fairway thats good enough for me. So choke up for now, and start moving back as someone said. Hope this helps.

Driver: Nike Sumo 5000 8.5 stiff V2 shaft
Woods: IDrive 3 & 5 square (Callaway Clone)
Irons: Callaway X Forged 3-PW w/Rifle 5.5
Wedge: Titleist Vokey 2009 spin milled 52 degree Adams 60 degree
Putter: Maxfli BlackMax TwoBag: Nike Sasquatch Tour Stand BagBall: Whatever is in my bag that day


Note: This thread is 6350 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up

  • TST Partners

    PlayBetter
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FitForGolf
    FlightScope Mevo
    Direct: Mevo, Mevo+, and Pro Package.

    Coupon Codes (save 10-20%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack/FitForGolf, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope. 15% off TourStriker (no code).

  • Posts

    • iacas
      Mizuno Jpx One Driver & Fairway Woods

      By iacas · Posted

      Nah, man. People have been testing clubs like this for decades at this point. Even 35 years. @M2R, are you AskGolfNut? If you're not, you seem to have fully bought into the cult or something. So many links to so many videos… Here's an issue, too: - A drop of 0.06 is a drop with a 90 MPH 7I having a ball speed of 117 and dropping it to 111.6, which is going to be nearly 15 yards, which is far more than what a "3% distance loss" indicates (and is even more than a 4.6% distance loss). - You're okay using a percentage with small numbers and saying "they're close" and "1.3 to 1.24 is only 4.6%," but then you excuse the massive 53% difference that going from 3% to 4.6% represents. That's a hell of an error! - That guy in the Elite video is swinging his 7I at 70 MPH. C'mon. My 5' tall daughter swings hers faster than that.
    • M2R
      Mizuno Jpx One Driver & Fairway Woods

      By M2R · Posted

      Yea but that is sort of my quandary, I sometimes see posts where people causally say this club is more forgiving, a little more forgiving, less forgiving, ad nauseum. But what the heck are they really quantifying? The proclamation of something as fact is not authoritative, even less so as I don't know what the basis for that statement is. For my entire golfing experience, I thought of forgiveness as how much distance front to back is lost hitting the face in non-optimal locations. Anything right or left is on me and delivery issues. But I also have to clarify that my experience is only with irons, I never got to the point of having any confidence or consistency with anything longer. I feel that is rather the point, as much as possible, to quantify the losses by trying to eliminate all the variables except the one you want to investigate. Or, I feel like we agree. Compared to the variables introduced by a golfer's delivery and the variables introduced by lie conditions, the losses from missing the optimal strike location might be so small as to almost be noise over a larger area than a pea.  In which case it seems that your objection is that the 0-3% area is being depicted as too large. Which I will address below. For statements that is absurd and true 100% sweet spot is tiny for all clubs. You will need to provide some objective data to back that up and also define what true 100% sweet spot is. If you mean the area where there are 0 losses, then yes. While true, I do not feel like a not practical or useful definition for what I would like to know. For strikes on irons away from the optimal location "in measurable and quantifiable results how many yards, or feet, does that translate into?"   In my opinion it ok to be dubious but I feel like we need people attempting this sort of data driven investigation. Even if they are wrong in some things at least they are moving the discussion forward. And he has been changing the maps and the way data is interpreted along the way. So, he admits to some of the ideas he started with as being wrong. It is not like we all have not been in that situation 😄 And in any case to proceed forward I feel will require supporting or refuting data. To which as I stated above, I do not have any experience in drivers so I cannot comment on that. But I would like to comment on irons as far as these heat maps. In a video by Elite Performance Golf Studios - The TRUTH About Forgiveness! Game Improvement vs Blade vs Players Distance SLOW SWING SPEED! and going back to ~12:50 will show the reference data for the Pro 241. I can use that to check AskGolfNut's heat map for the Pro 241: a 16mm heel, 5mm low produced a loss of efficiency from 1.3 down to 1.24 or ~4.6%. Looking at AskGolfNut's heatmap it predicts a loss of 3%. Is that good or bad? I do not know but given the possible variations I am going to say it is ok. That location is very close to where the head map goes to 4%, these are very small numbers, and rounding could be playing some part. But for sure I am going to say it is not absurd. Looking at one data point is absurd, but I am not going to spend time on more because IME people who are interested will do their own research and those not interested cannot be persuaded by any amount of data. However, the overall conclusion that I got from that video was that between the three clubs there is a difference in distance forgiveness, but it is not very much. Without some robot testing or something similar the human element in the testing makes it difficult to say is it 1 yard, or 2, or 3?  
    • coachjimsc
      Wordle Daily Puzzle

      By coachjimsc · Posted

      Wordle 1,668 3/6 🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    • boogielicious
      Wordle Daily Puzzle

      By boogielicious · Posted

      Wordle 1,668 3/6 🟨🟩🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Should have got it in two, but I have music on my brain.
    • iacas
      Wordle Daily Puzzle

      By iacas · Posted

      Wordle 1,668 2/6* 🟨🟨🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.

  I accept