Shorter driver shafts

[MikeLowry5]

2 yards, actually, on a dead center hit. That's it, 2 yards per inch. Not as much as most people think.

I am cutting mine down to 44" today, currently it is 46". I would like to go down to about 43" as I took some measurements but scared it might be too much. The shaft is a 60g stiff flex. After taking off 2" how much stiffer is it going to play?

[Shanks A Million]

I am cutting mine down to 44" today, currently it is 46". I would like to go down to about 43" as I took some measurements but scared it might be too much. The shaft is a 60g stiff flex. After taking off 2" how much stiffer is it going to play?

From the butt end, not much, maybe a soft X. If you tip it 2", it's going to be like a XX. Either way, you'll probably be OK if you take it from the butt end. The R9 is a fairly high spin head, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal, unless you already hit it too low.

[slide13]

stupid question but to what point at the bottom of the club is the shaft length measured? I had an 1" taken off of my '07 Burner last year and liked the change...I can't remember where it started and I would like to measure to see where it is at now but I'm not sure exactly where to measure to.

[ET-Taylor]

i had the R9 460 with the 45.75 inch shaft on it now i play the 909D2 with the 45 inch shaft and my misses are much tighter than they were before

[MikeLowry5]

From the butt end, not much, maybe a soft X. If you tip it 2", it's going to be like a XX. Either way, you'll probably be OK if you take it from the butt end. The R9 is a fairly high spin head, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal, unless you already hit it too low.

Do 150 yard duck hooks count as too low

if it does, I'm hitting it super low right now!

[Shanks A Million]

stupid question but to what point at the bottom of the club is the shaft length measured? I had an 1" taken off of my '07 Burner last year and liked the change...I can't remember where it started and I would like to measure to see where it is at now but I'm not sure exactly where to measure to.

From the heel, up to the grip butt. That's the "playing length". Basically, from the floor to the end of the grip.

[Titleist_ProV1x]

I'm surprised that everyone hasn't cut their driver down to at least 44.5" by now, Usually the ones that don't are yelling "FORE" of the tee....

[kilbyman]

I'm having problems with chunking my 43" shafted fairway wood. Is this too long for this type of club? (in my sig) Guess I could always choke down an inch or two (did this in baseball)

[Titleist_ProV1x]

I'm having problems with chunking my 43" shafted fairway wood. Is this too long for this type of club? (in my sig) Guess I could always choke down an inch or two (did this in baseball)

No, it sounds more or less like you need to move the ball forward more to me, and keep your head or left cheek behind the ball

[Texas solo]

Something that has not been considered here....

I have considerable experience in the field of archery. Shaft stiffness or "spine" is affected by 3 things, O.D. of the shaft, wall thickness of the shaft material, and .....shaft length. Shortnening any shaft, of any type, will increase the spine (stiffness). I can calculate the amount of change that will occour in a given arrow shaft, but I have no idea how it would affect a golf club shaft. But, it WILL get stiffer if you shorten it.

Try this: hold your shaft with hands about 36" apart and flex the shaft. Next, move your hands closer together and try it again. The shorter distance between the hands was a lot stiffer, wasn't it?

The amount of change in shaft stiffness might be neglibable when removing an inch from a 46" shaft, but I'm just saying...

[MikeLowry5]

Took the R9 to Golf Galaxy tonight and the guy all but would not let me start out taking it from 45.5" to
44" He told me to take it down .75" to 44.75" and I finally agreed as long as he would do it then and let me try it out tonight.

Put me on the simulator and I was hitting a push with a tiny draw, 99-105 ss, 158mph ball speed area, low launch angle. Carry distance was in the upper 268-278 yard range which is a bit longer than I would have expected.

Immediately took it to the range, bought a small bucket and got after it. Hit the ball well on a few, more than I have been but the launch was still lower (30'-35' off ground") and very flat but carry was good. All my misses were lower straight draws and pull hooks as the case has been lately

[Shanks A Million]

Took the R9 to Golf Galaxy tonight and the guy all but would not let me start out taking it from 45.5" to

Um... What? That machine was a

little tweaked you think? Maximum carry even possible , assuming a perfect strike on a 105 mph swing, with a perfectly optimized launch of 13.8° is 258 yards. You can never trust those machines to be at all accurate. Assuming you were even able to hit just one 'perfect' drive, you'd still be looking at 258 carry, but most of them would be more into the mid 240s. I swing 110, and my average carry is 246.

[MikeLowry5]

Um... What? That machine was a

I took about 10 swings, looked at the ball speed and swing speed. The ball traveled much higher than my normal flight on the simulator. I play a 10.5 degree but I'd assume my launch angle is not 13.5 degree, normal ball flight with this driver is lower/flat flight.

Main thing I was looking for was hitting the center of the face more often. Not too keen on how much easier it is to hook.

[GunnessHead]

New to the forum. Great reading so far. This topic is great and I would like an opinion to my driver situation. I have a 2008 TM Burner with a stock 50g stiff shaft. I love the distance but my control is lacking. I tend to leave the face slightly open 9/10 swings and I end end up hitting fades instead of draws. I bought the thing at Dicks and went in to have it re-shafted. They are recommending a 75g stiff or stepping up to an x-stiff shaft. Do you think I should try cutting down this shaft an inch or 2 first before buying a whole new shaft/grip or just ditch the stock shaft altogether and also cutting down the new one?

[Meddle]

I just got my Burner shortened down to 44''. I wanted to throw some lead tape on there to get the weight of it around D-2 or D-3, and it took an entire pack of it. It was down to C-5 after the cutting. There's like 8 layers of tape on that thing now.

[Shanks A Million]

New to the forum. Great reading so far. This topic is great and I would like an opinion to my driver situation. I have a 2008 TM Burner with a stock 50g stiff shaft. I love the distance but my control is lacking. I tend to leave the face slightly open 9/10 swings and I end end up hitting fades instead of draws. I bought the thing at Dicks and went in to have it re-shafted. They are recommending a 75g stiff or stepping up to an x-stiff shaft. Do you think I should try cutting down this shaft an inch or 2 first before buying a whole new shaft/grip or just ditch the stock shaft altogether and also cutting down the new one?

Try tipping it an inch first. That will also give you a higher launch with less spin, always a great combo. 50g is awfully light though, I will agree with that.

[Meddle]

Might as well try tipping it first, won't cost any more than $5 to do.

[MikeLowry5]

Try tipping it an inch first. That will also give you a higher launch with less spin, always a great combo.

Cutting off the tip gives you a higher launch? I thought it was the other way around?