Shortened Driver Shaft

[Sand2121]

I am finally upgrading to a 460cc Driver, the Taylor Made Superfast 2.0.

Dicks Sporting Goods was no help with the purchasing process so I decided to start a thread.

I have been using a Taylor Made 580 (much smaller than 460cc) for quite some time now, and still cranking the ball, I had the shaft cut down about 2-3 inches and I have had great success,

My question is, should I get the TaylorMade cut down to the exact same length I have been having success with, (About 43.5inches) OR because the club head is so much bigger, get the club cut down only a inch or 2 (Stock is 46.5 inches- so 44.5)

Thanks,

Sand

[mosnas]

Well when you cut the shaft down that much it is likely gonna mess with the shaft flex a little bit.  I would suggest buying a shorter shaft and putting it in.  I think the shaft in my driver is about 1.5 inches shorter than taylormade stock and I love it.  It gives you so much more control you end up sacrificing a little bit of distance but if you can handle that then I don't see any reason not to (minus it screwing with the flex)

[Stacey_E]

According to their website, that driver has a D9 swingweight.  That is super heavy by most standards.  It is like they expect you to cut the shaft.  A rule of thumb has every 1" of shaft you remove lowering the swingweight by 6 points.  So taking it to 45.5" should result in a SW of roughly D3.  That is about the norm across the industry, or it was recently.  Another inch would make it....lets see...C7ish and that is in the realm of ladies clubs.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  You can of course compensate by adding 2 grams of head weight to increase one swing weight, 9 grams of shaft weight, OR lessening the grip weight by about 5 grams (per swing weight).  All of that being said, I have ventured into this realm before.  I would personally advise that if a club needs that much modding off the shelf, it may not be right for you.

Contrary to popular magazine articles and whatnot, I'm not convinced that a longer shaft is THAT much harder to hit in the center of the face (given a little practice and patience).  The thing that these articles dont mention, with the whole MOI and COR boom of newer drivers, hitting slightly off center can still give you a playable drive.  With these hot faced, high MOI drivers you can still get a playable poke off the toe or heel, but those dead solid perfect shots are SMOKED down the fairway.  YMMV

[jpalermo]

i play every driver at 44.75" and I would be shocked if anyone could tell the difference in weight or length or flex.

[carpediem4300]

In the last few weeks i had my tm superfast cut down to 43.75" inches and gained a ridiculous amount of control, hit all but one fairway on my last Granted, i will admitt, just cutting the shaft down didnt achieve it on ots own, a few swing changes coupled with it helped