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Question about cutting a driver down and swingweight


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I must start out by saying that I have noone around here within a reasonable distance that I can really trust to do this correctly for me.

I am 5'5" tall and have a fairly steep swingplane.  My irons which were custom fit, and I hit beautifully,  ended up being 1.25" shorter than standard, 2.5* upright. My current driver is 46" long and has a D5 swingweight and has the standard Callaway grip which weighs 55g.  With my height and fairly steep swingplane, I am having a lot of problems with this driver.  I want to have it cut down to 44.5" to pick up some consistency, which is where my old driver was, but I'm concerned with changing the swingweight too much and screwing up the driver.  (been there, done that).

If I cut 1.5" off the driver and regrip it with my standard Winn Hero grip that weighs 25g, approximately how much weight should I add to the head of the driver to maintain a reasonable swing weight?  And where would be the optimal place to place the lead tape assuming I have a reasonably straight ball-flight?

Thanks for any advice in advance.  If I can get more consistent off the tee, I can start shooting in the 70's... assuming I hit the irons as good as I have been lately.

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Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

I must start out by saying that I have noone around here within a reasonable distance that I can really trust to do this correctly for me.

I am 5'5" tall and have a fairly steep swingplane.  My irons which were custom fit, and I hit beautifully,  ended up being 1.25" shorter than standard, 2.5* upright. My current driver is 46" long and has a D5 swingweight and has the standard Callaway grip which weighs 55g.  With my height and fairly steep swingplane, I am having a lot of problems with this driver.  I want to have it cut down to 44.5" to pick up some consistency, which is where my old driver was, but I'm concerned with changing the swingweight too much and screwing up the driver.  (been there, done that).

If I cut 1.5" off the driver and regrip it with my standard Winn Hero grip that weighs 25g, approximately how much weight should I add to the head of the driver to maintain a reasonable swing weight?  And where would be the optimal place to place the lead tape assuming I have a reasonably straight ball-flight?

Thanks for any advice in advance.  If I can get more consistent off the tee, I can start shooting in the 70's... assuming I hit the irons as good as I have been lately.

First of all, I'd say don't bother with lightweight grips unless you like them. And I'd cut your driver even shorter, maybe as short as 43.5" if you're playing irons that short. Consider 44", I play a driver at about C8/C9 and 44.5" and I'm 6 feet tall. I could add about 4-6 grams to get it into the D range, but it's not that big a deal, especially when it's shorter. I'd imagine a low swingweight is more problematic at 46" than 44".

This tool should let you see what kind of numbers you're looking at, I can't comment on where to put the weight but you might be able to get away with replacing the weight plugs or tip weights if there are any.

http://www.hirekogolf.com/hireko/graphics/orderportal/modules/swingweight.html

In My Bag:

Adams Super LS 9.5˚ driver, Aldila Phenom NL 65TX
Adams Super LS 15˚ fairway, Kusala black 72x
Adams Super LS 18˚ fairway, Aldila Rip'd NV 75TX
Adams Idea pro VST hybrid, 21˚, RIP Alpha 105x
Adams DHY 24˚, RIP Alpha 89x
5-PW Maltby TE irons, KBS C taper X, soft stepped once 130g
Mizuno T4, 54.9 KBS Wedge X
Mizuno R12 60.5, black nickel, KBS Wedge X
Odyssey Metal X #1 putter 
Bridgestone E5, Adidas samba bag, True Linkswear Stealth
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I don't care about the weight of the grip that much, it's just that I'm partial to the Winn Hero grips.  As a disabled veteran, I like the camo and the money that goes to charity, plus they feel great.  I am a novice at club weights, but very willing to learn.

I just want my drive to be consistent....... lol

I will try to find all the numbers and use that calculator you posted and post the numbers to see what people think.

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You lose three swingweights for every half-inch you trim from a club's shaft. So, you would lose 9 swingweights from trimming 1.5" off the shaft.  You can increase the swingweight by going with a lighter grip - a clubfitter who understands balance ratios could figure out what a  25-gram grip would do.

Also, some swingweight machines contain small trays you can insert above the head and butt. You would then put any weights or grips into the trays to get a good estimate on how much a grip would increase or decrease the swingweight.

Many traditional standard-size grips weigh in at 58-60 grams.

Focus, connect and follow through!

  • Completed KBS Education Seminar (online, 2015)
  • GolfWorks Clubmaking AcademyFitting, Assembly & Repair School (2012)

Driver:  :touredge: EXS 10.5°, weights neutral   ||  FWs:  :callaway: Rogue 4W + 7W
Hybrid:  :callaway: Big Bertha OS 4H at 22°  ||  Irons:  :callaway: Mavrik MAX 5i-PW
Wedges:  :callaway: MD3: 48°, 54°... MD4: 58° ||  Putter:image.png.b6c3447dddf0df25e482bf21abf775ae.pngInertial NM SL-583F, 34"  
Ball:  image.png.f0ca9194546a61407ba38502672e5ecf.png QStar Tour - Divide  ||  Bag: :sunmountain: Three 5 stand bag

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Well, I found out this morning that when the Pro Golf closed here in town, the club fitter, along with all of his equipment are now at one of the courses on Ft. Bragg.  So I went during lunch and dropped my driver off with him to have it shortened, new grip installed and the swing weight verified.

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In theory you could compensate for the loss in swingweight and increased stiffness by adding lead tape to the clubhead.  You have a really nice driver, so I would be hesitant to do it.  My advice would be to have some place ship it back to Callaway and have them do the work for you.  You should be able to tell them what length, swing weight, and frequency you want.  They may suggest reshafting though.

Driver:  Callaway Diablo Octane 9.5*
3W:  Callaway GBB II 12.5*, 5W:  Callaway Diablo 18* Neutral
3H:  Callaway Razr X, 4H:  Callaway Razr X
5-PW:  Callaway X Tour
GW:  Callaway X Tour 54*, SW:  Callaway X Tour 58*
Putter:  Callaway ITrax, Scotty Cameron Studio Design 2, Ping Anser 4

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Got the driver back this afternoon, and he showed me that without adding any weight, with just the grip change the swingweight is now D1.  I swung it a few times, and didn't notice a big change in the perceived weight of the driver, so I held off of adding any weight to it and will take it out for a test run tomorrow.

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Well, the results are in, and looking promising.  I noticed absolutely no distance loss from going to 44" and actually hit 2 of my longest drives on holes today.  I would suspect that's from making better contact with the shorter driver.  Here's my round today, and the driver wasn't bad.  About half of the missed fairways were just off the fairway, still in easy play and one was because I went straight through a dogleg left. My irons started off a little rough, but I really picked it up near the end of the round with them.  My putting sucked as it has usually lately, and cost me quite a few strokes.

scorecard1.jpg

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Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

Well, the results are in, and looking promising.  I noticed absolutely no distance loss from going to 44" and actually hit 2 of my longest drives on holes today.  I would suspect that's from making better contact with the shorter driver.  Here's my round today, and the driver wasn't bad.  About half of the missed fairways were just off the fairway, still in easy play and one was because I went straight through a dogleg left. My irons started off a little rough, but I really picked it up near the end of the round with them.  My putting sucked as it has usually lately, and cost me quite a few strokes.

That looks like a pretty good card. No penalties, only the one bad score on one of the easiest holes on the course... Just need to polish that iron play and get more GIR and tighter approaches. If you got down to 30 putts, which would be pretty freaking good, you'd be down to single digits. Eliminate the 3 putts and hit the green on #10, same deal. Driving honestly looked pretty good and you're at almost 70% accuracy with the driver alone.

Quite the test run, I should say.

In My Bag:

Adams Super LS 9.5˚ driver, Aldila Phenom NL 65TX
Adams Super LS 15˚ fairway, Kusala black 72x
Adams Super LS 18˚ fairway, Aldila Rip'd NV 75TX
Adams Idea pro VST hybrid, 21˚, RIP Alpha 105x
Adams DHY 24˚, RIP Alpha 89x
5-PW Maltby TE irons, KBS C taper X, soft stepped once 130g
Mizuno T4, 54.9 KBS Wedge X
Mizuno R12 60.5, black nickel, KBS Wedge X
Odyssey Metal X #1 putter 
Bridgestone E5, Adidas samba bag, True Linkswear Stealth
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Yeah, typically I'm really good at #10, but the pin was forward today and the tees were forward, so it was playing about 130 yards.  I hit a flubbed 9 iron, and then bladed a wedge over the green, then hit a mediocre 3rd on a tough green and 2 putted.  It was just one of those holes.......... lol  Typically my irons are pretty good for my handicap, but I just wasn't hitting them crisp today.  Heaven forbid I hit driver and irons well in the same day.............. lol

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Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

Yeah, typically I'm really good at #10, but the pin was forward today and the tees were forward, so it was playing about 130 yards.  I hit a flubbed 9 iron, and then bladed a wedge over the green, then hit a mediocre 3rd on a tough green and 2 putted.  It was just one of those holes.......... lol  Typically my irons are pretty good for my handicap, but I just wasn't hitting them crisp today.  Heaven forbid I hit driver and irons well in the same day.............. lol

You can always cut an inch off all your irons and wedges if all else fails... Ditto for the putter. Well, maybe not. But it works for the driver anyway. With par 3s, it seems like every pin is a sucker pin sometimes.

In My Bag:

Adams Super LS 9.5˚ driver, Aldila Phenom NL 65TX
Adams Super LS 15˚ fairway, Kusala black 72x
Adams Super LS 18˚ fairway, Aldila Rip'd NV 75TX
Adams Idea pro VST hybrid, 21˚, RIP Alpha 105x
Adams DHY 24˚, RIP Alpha 89x
5-PW Maltby TE irons, KBS C taper X, soft stepped once 130g
Mizuno T4, 54.9 KBS Wedge X
Mizuno R12 60.5, black nickel, KBS Wedge X
Odyssey Metal X #1 putter 
Bridgestone E5, Adidas samba bag, True Linkswear Stealth
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My irons are custom fit, 1.25" short and I absolutely love them most of the time.  My putter is 33.5", I just can't read greens to save my life.  I am trying to free up a Saturday to go work with David Orr in one of his Aimpoint courses to help out my putting and green reading abilities.

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Honesty, i just like choking down, it gives me more flexibility, and i feel more comfortable.. So my driver is 45", i choke down to about 43.5-44"

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Originally Posted by saevel25

Honesty, i just like choking down, it gives me more flexibility, and i feel more comfortable.. So my driver is 45", i choke down to about 43.5-44"

For some reason, I have never been comfortable choking down on clubs, and since I'm a short dude, I would have to choke down on everything.  For some reason, if I'm not holding the very end of the club, it feels very odd to me and uncomfortable.

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  • 8 months later...

I want to reshaft my driver but go shorter to increase accuracy. Everything ive heard or read suggests shorter is better, so i thought id give it a try. I currently game a 46.5" wilson dxi 10.5, with an S flex pro launch red and midsize golf pride new decade grip.


I'm getting the bimatrix tour prototype shaft and I want to play it at 44.5" but an concerned about the sw change and want to avoid the tape solution if possible.

Can I maintain swing weight (or lessen impact on feel) by adding 10g tip weight and switching to the standard GP grip which is about 10g lighter? (shafts are similar +/- 1g difference).

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Note: This thread is 4061 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!

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