Clubs just shortened by 1/2", now having problems.

[JollyRN]

Hey guys! Been lurking for a while, first time poster. Here's my golf (horror) story:

So I took a 30 minute lesson from an instructor nearby. I hit some balls for him, not too bad. He adjusted my grip, and right off the bat, bam....... straight and very nice loft with my 8 iron. A good 140 yards or so. I repeated this 3 more times in a row, with much, MUCH higher consistency. Same with my 7 iron, 6 iron, 5 iron. Also I'm hitting down on the ball, leaving a divot in front of the ball damn near every time. Really great swings he said.

He noticed my clubs might be a little too long, so he measured me, and I was on the border of having my club shortened by half an inch or a whole inch. We opted for the half inch adjustment. This was two days ago.

OK... so I'm excited, I reviewed my notes, practiced my grip..... and jetted from work today to receive my new clubs. Took them outside to the range, lined up, went to tee it off..... uh, ok well its just been a couple of days, lets try it again. Tee up...hook to the left. No divot. Hit to the right, big divot behind the ball. Could never leave a divot in front of the ball. I know I'm not striking down on it correctly. I tried to adjust my knees...... no help, hooked it. Re-adjusted my grip after EVERY shot, like he taught me. So after about 150 balls (I counted the number of times on two hands that I hit them like I did the day before last) I pulled out my 52, 56, and 60 wedges.

These are still standard length wedges, and I hit them all perfectly like I've always been doing. Appropriate distance, great loft, divot in front.

So..... am I crazy to think I should have left the clubs standard length even though they looked like they needed to be adjusted? I'm going to talk to him tomorrow first thing because I'm off work. Just seeing what you guys might think I need to say to him when I get there.

Thanks for your help!

[ultimategolfer]

I teach and fit clubs full time owning my own teaching academy. I lengthen clubs majority of the time never shorten. Standard clubs fit a male 5'8" to 5'9" taller than that your clubs should be longer. If you want standard clubs back have him put extensions in and the current grips back on...that is how its done you will never know.

A normal fee of saving the grips and extensions should cost $6 to $10 per club. Since he made the recommendation and it did not work maybe he can eat the cost or give you range credit if you have to pay for them to be done.

[JollyRN]

Yeah. I'm 5'8" and 3/4ths. So I'm exactly in the average range. I mean I havent been golfing long at all, have been to the range a few times when I was younger, but I have good intuition and something just isn't right. It doesn't feel natural with my left hand at the edge of the club..... it feels like I have less control. I guess I prefer choking up because I have a better grip on the narrower part of the club! I always seemed to naturally choke up to the same place anyway.

Thanks for giving me some peace of mind! I was really starting to get frustrated today, lol.

[newtogolf]

Not sure why your instructor suggested your clubs be shortened unless you have very short arms, especially since you were hitting the ball well.  Did you ask him why he felt the shortening would help you?

What is confusing is the clubs lengths vary so while the PW might be shorter than you're used to, it still should be longer than your sand wedge which you said you hit properly.  You're 9i should be the length your PW was before shortening so I'm not sure why you'd have problems with all your irons now.  You might have to make an adjustment to how you address the ball so you get the club in the right position for the bottom of the swing arc.

FWIW, My instructor is the opposite, he believes standard clubs are typically too short and thinks everyone should lengthen them by at least 1/2"

[JollyRN]

Lol.... I don't know my index, which is why I put 99.9    :p

[max power]

No reason 1/2 inch shortening would destroy your ability to hit the ball.  I've got a couple sets of 1980's blades-they're definitely shorter than my modern sets, no issues hitting them or even switching back and forth.  I set up behind the ball based on how long the club is in my hands; and your clubs all vary in length as it is.  I've used my wife's shortened set a few times (2" or so) and still hit the ball the same.

And just look up "golf handicap calculator" and you'll find a tool that makes it easy to calculate your handicap.