How long is your driver shaft (thats what she said)

[erock9174]

Aldila 43.5"  - I'm 5' 3.5"

[Shanks A Million]

Quote:

Originally Posted by i-Guy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanks A Million

If someone tells you that a longer driver will give you more distance, ignore anything else they may say, they have lost credibility. You can add 4" of shaft to your driver, and you will get about 7 extra yards. You will probably also lose 20-40 yards due to off center hits.

Wait I am confused by this post...maybe I am not reading it corretly but didn't you say "If someone tells you that a longer driver will give you more distance, ignore anything else they may say, they have lost credibility." and then right after that you made the comment as follows "You can add 4" of shaft to your driver, and you will get about 7 extra yards." ...don't those two statements contradict each other...because in fact it is true that a longer shaft will get you more distance...period...now I think what you were getting at was that even though that is true it does not always work out that way becuase it is harder to square up a longer shaft so a higher handicapper would probably be better off swinging a shorter shaft and trying to hit the middle of the clubface...am I in the ball park?

Nope, didn't contradict myself one bit.  What I meant was that adding length to your shaft is absolutely useless, as even 4" extra will only yield 7 extra yards on a perfect strike.  The average person loses something like 20-30 yards with a 46" driver over a 44" one.  My driver is 44", and I hit it about 35 yards farther than when it was a 46" driver.

[dbwood]

Lead or tungsten powder held in place by a cork is widely done.  You can also pull the shaft and add a tip/hosel weight or inject glue through the hosel onto the bottom of the club head.  Glue can be injected through the port/hole on the sole of the head, (some have them, some don't).  Lead tape is the cheapest way to experiment, you can easily adjust the weight or  remove it.  When you get the weight you like you can leave it that way, (what I do) or use one of the visually cleaner methods to make it permanent.  You can put on a lighter grip which will offset the swing weight to some degree.

Another thing to think about is wether the swing weight change will be better or worse or make any difference.  Some Callaway drivers used to be C8, some TaylorMade's are D4.  My R9 is 45.75" and D4, if I cut 1" off it should drop to about C8.  But I choke down 1.25" or more, so if I grip towards the end of the shorter club my actual felt swing weight, (lets call it "dynamic swing weight") will not have changed at all even though on the scale it will be different.  I've got a SMT on a Enzo shaft that's cut to 43 5/8" and measures C2, I put on tape up to D0 but I took it off because I like it better at C2, so it's all about what it feels like.

I'm getting new shaft tips for my R9 to experiment on some shafts I have, I love playing around with this stuff.

Originally Posted by WUTiger

When you trim a club shaft, it changes the swing weight. If I trim my driver from 45.5" to 44.5", it would bring down the swingweight from D5 to about D0 or C9.

Some golfers say you can pour lead powder into the shaft to increase the swingweight. Do such people get their driver reshafted with lead powder in the clubhead, or just pour it down the shaft and shove a cork piece in behind to stabilize it?

[glock35ipsc]

My stock Diablo Edge was 45.5".  I tried gripping down various distances at the range, and found that I had much better control if I gripped down 1.5".  So I cut 1.5" off the butt end, and installed a WinnLite 5LM grip, which is about 30g lighter than the OEM Cally grip (55g).  I used the lighter grip instead of adding weight to the head.  I haven't had the swingweight checked, but it feels great.  Control is much better, I hit more fairways, and if anything I have gained a little distance.

[Arsenal8807]

44.25 Aldila RIP shaft in my 910 D3 and my control is better, distance is further, because I'm catching it just right in the center now.

[B-Con]

44 inches. I got it with a 46" shaft and had it cut down. It's so much easier to hit at 44", and I haven't sacrificed any distance.

[erock9174]

Since most people seem to be cutting their shafts down I had a question.

How much can you cut a shaft down on a driver before the flex becomes stiffer?

For instance, I am thinking about buying a Cobra S2 regular flex driver which is 46".  My current driver is 43.5".  If I cut it down to match that length should I buy a senior flex to counteract any extra stiffness brought about from cutting down the club 2.5" ?  Or just stick with a regular flex?

My swing speed is sort of slow 80mpg on average with a driver and 75 with irons.  So if the flex becomes too stiff, the club will not work for me.

[max power]

45" in both my Titleists and 45.75" in my Nike.  I choke down slightly on the Nike so probably playing at about 45.25".  Anything 46" or longer feels too long, but honestly, less than 45" feels too short.

[TaylorMadeTaylor]

My current fubuki is playing 44" (I'm 5' 11"). Hits good but I think I'm going to order my R11 at like 45.75". The swingweight on my R9 feels a little light and I feel like it's too short.

[glock35ipsc]

Something interesting I just read.......  Bubba Watson plays a 7.5* Ping G15 with a 44.5" shaft.  He averaged 316.6' his past weekend.

[BDMplayer910]

Originally Posted by glock35ipsc

Something interesting I just read.......  Bubba Watson plays a 7.5* Ping G15 with a 44.5" shaft.  He averaged 316.6' his past weekend.

Bubba is like 6' 4" I believe, and he generates so much clubhead speed that he doesn't need a longer shaft. I watched him hit balls at Whistling Straits right before he went out for the playoff at the PGA Championship, it's unbelievable.

[596]

Swing speed has alot to do with needed shaft length.  As stated above, good olde Bubba is tall and has a SS of a god awesome amount.  I could play forever, work on swing speed and never get close to that speed.  So I need to add shaft length, additional loft and lighten stuff up to add some swing speed and gain some needed yardage.  You really can NOT compare your equipment needs and club specs to that of the Pro's.  They are from an alien world and play in a different dimension then you and I.

BTW - Bubba plays a 7.5* loft, his launch angle is near 14-15 degrees (per the Ping Rep)......I can hit worm burners off the tee all day long with that loft.  I need a 12* to be able to get my launch angle near 12-13*.

[Stretch]

It's been posted before but I think could stand to be repeated. For a 90 mph swinger (fairly average except on the Internet) a 46" driver will generate 0.8 mph additional ball speed over a 42" driver*. Good for maybe two yards extra carry. Guess which one will find more fairways in the hands of actual golfer?

* Robot testing.

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by Stretch

For a 90 mph swinger (fairly average except on the Internet)

Thanks for the laugh!!  It is true though.  And I agree that the shorter one will likely find more fairways.  I am a little tempted to experiment with mine being even shorter this year.

[glock35ipsc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 596

You really can NOT compare your equipment needs and club specs to that of the Pro's.  They are from an alien world and play in a different dimension then you and I.

I absolutely agree!  The thing that caught my attention in this particular article was the way they mentioned his shaft length:

Quote:

"What most people don't know, however, is that Watson uses one of the shortest driver shafts on the PGA Tour , a 44.5-inch Grafalloy BiMatrx prototype."

along with:

Quote:

Watson once had Ping build him a 48-inch, 5.5-degree driver "That didn't work at all," Watson told Golf Digest. "It threw my timing off, and I didn't hit the ball much farther even when I nailed it.  Most players should, if anything, try a shaft half an inch shorter than what's in their driver. Tiger Woods at his longest used a relatively short 43 1/2-inch driver, with a steel shaft to boot. You'll find it easier to hit the sweet spot with a shorter shaft, and you can go after tee shots without losing much control."

[dbwood]

I've read repeatedly that if your cutting off off the butt end it doesn't affect the flex enough to worry about, but I'm curious about it as well.  The only way to really know is to put the club a freq analyzer, but a rough guide would be that the flex is affected in a 1 to 6 ratio where 1" off the tip affects the flex as much as 6" off the butt, (from a post about a 2002 study on shafts on the Tom Wishon club makers forum).  That's a real rough guide since shaft profiles vary so much but it seems to reinforce the idea that you don't need to worry about it changing as much as half a flex.  If you put any weight on the head to bring the swing weight back up you will soften the flex so that would affect things as well.  All in all I think it's easy to get too anal about theory and it's better just to cut it off and find out.

If your buying the Cobra new maybe Cobra can custom size and do the math for a nominal service charge.

Originally Posted by erock9174

Since most people seem to be cutting their shafts down I had a question.

How much can you cut a shaft down on a driver before the flex becomes stiffer?

For instance, I am thinking about buying a Cobra S2 regular flex driver which is 46".  My current driver is 43.5".  If I cut it down to match that length should I buy a senior flex to counteract any extra stiffness brought about from cutting down the club 2.5" ?  Or just stick with a regular flex?

My swing speed is sort of slow 80mpg on average with a driver and 75 with irons.  So if the flex becomes too stiff, the club will not work for me.

[596]

" It's been posted before but I think could stand to be repeated. For a 90 mph swinger (fairly average except on the Internet) a 46" driver will generate 0.8 mph additional ball speed over a 42" driver*. Good for maybe two yards extra carry." ""

But, in addition to increasing the driver length (and I agree, that JUST changing length without any other factors will not do that much) what if the longer driver is also "lighter" (both head and shaft) = higher SS?  And....also allows a higher launch angle, with less effort, (I proved this a few weeks ago at a demo day) to be able to swing more freely,  which allows, hopefully, more carry and roll combined.  Now my driver with a 1.5" longer shaft, less overall weight, higher loft, stiffer shaft, lower kick, "could" be longer and more accurate then my current driver.

I'm not arguing or saying you are wrong, just stating what hopefully I'm about to find out this weekend when my new driver arrives tomorrow.

[Stretch]

It may work for you. I certainly hope so! Nothing more fun than getting a new club and running off to the course or range to see what it can do...

For me personally, though, going from a 45.75" driver to a 45" one has been an unequivocal success. I hit it noticeably longer (although this may well be because it is also better fitted to me in other respects) and much, much straighter. Today I hit 13 of 14 fairways -- and drove through the other one.