Physics of Shaft Length Question

[BWChuck]

I was really mind wandering today, and just have a few questions about the physics of shaft length (leverage, in my mind).

These are my assumptions :

1.  The longer the shaft, the faster the club head speed will be (assuming all body motions are the same).

2.  Clubs are lengthened and de-lofted at approximately the same rates because it creates the optimal distance based on the same body motions (swing each club).

Here are my questions:

1.  How much distance would you lose (percentages, because everyone hits their clubs different distances), if you took your 4 iron head and put on your PW shaft?

2.  Why don't club makers/manufacturers make club sets with less than 1/2 inch progressive differences in shaft length (i.e. 1/4, 1/8, 1/16) for newer golfers that obviously need to focus on accuracy rather than distance?

Thanks for reading.

[ndb8fxe]

IMO:

1.  I think you could answer your first question by choking down on your 4 iron to PW length and hitting some balls with it.

2. Beginners can still choke down on the club and still have a good club when their game improves without needing to re-shaft each club.

[WUTiger]

Assumptions: 1. You're bumping up against reality here. Long Tom driver has 48" shaft, the longest legal length for USGA.

Historic background : This article recounts the 2002 battles on driver head size and shaft length (courtesy Golf Digest ):

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_3_53/ai_84351273/

Questions

1. Assuming half-inch increments between club shafts, you would have a 4i shaft three inches shorter than normal. This would be a super hardstep also, really increasing the stiffness of the shaft. And, you might have trouble getting shots hit with a 4i loft airborne because of the short, xxx . stiff shaft. Launch angle has a big impact on shot distance.

The GoldWorks suggests this rough planning rule for determining distance between irons: If you swing a 7 iron and hit the ball 150 yards, a 6 iron that has 4* stronger loft and a half-inch longer shaft should yield a distance increase of 10 to 12 yards. This assumes you have the same model in both shaft and clubhead.

Players with 105 + + yard clubhead speed might get a greater gain. Smaller, lighter players might get less, because they can't generate enough leverage/clubhead speed to pick up 10 or so yards.

2. Why not less than half-inch increments for beginners??? You would end up with a whole separate universe of clubs for beginners. You can achieve help for beginners using other means. The petite clubs for smaller women, and many children's sets, feature an iron mix of 5, 7, 9, SW. Because these golfers generate less clubhead speed than the engineer's average golfer, they can skip a club and end up with about 10 yards difference between, say, 7 and 9. (Ties into smaller, lighter in Q1.)

Also, I don't see this as a tradeoff between accuracy and distance. Rather, players who generate lower clubhead speed need more flexible shafts and, for woods and hybrids, greater loft in order to get the ball airborne. Internal clubhead design also plays a big factor, something you might add to your model.

To OP: What sparked your mind to wander? Did you get rained out at the course?