Ruined my driver shaft

[Gary Kay]

I thought I could make my driver a fairway splitter but ended up ruining it. I have a TM first generation RBZ with stock Matrix Ozik shaft (bonded regular flex). What I did was shorten it from 46 to 44.5 inches (off the butt end). There was no accuracy gain and in fact I ended up with a bigger fade than I care for. Worse yet, I lost a good ten yards if not a little more. I really liked the look of this club, the feel of the head, and sound.  I'm thinking of getting a new shaft for it, but don't want to spend to much (probably not much more than 50.00 or so). I'm also thinking about going to a senior flex since my swing speed is only about 79 to 81 mph now. I've read that a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue 45 might fulfill my needs, but I don't know much about aftermarket shafts. I'd appreciate any comments about this shaft or suggestions on others I should consider. Thanks. 

[Lihu]

6 minutes ago, Gary Kay said:

I thought I could make my driver a fairway splitter but ended up ruining it. I have a TM first generation RBZ with stock Matrix Ozik shaft (bonded regular flex). What I did was shorten it from 46 to 44.5 inches (off the butt end). There was no accuracy gain and in fact I ended up with a bigger fade than I care for. Worse yet, I lost a good ten yards if not a little more. I really liked the look of this club, the feel of the head, and sound.  I'm thinking of getting a new shaft for it, but don't want to spend to much (probably not much more than 50.00 or so). I'm also thinking about going to a senior flex since my swing speed is only about 79 to 81 mph now. I've read that a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue 45 might fulfill my needs, but I don't know much about aftermarket shafts. I'd appreciate any comments about this shaft or suggestions on others I should consider. Thanks. 

Yes, the shorter shaft will get you shorter distances especially if you already make contact with the center of the club face with the longer shaft to begin with.

I have a playing partner who went to a 48" shaft, but he also finds the center of the face at 80mph. The new shaft seems to give him about 20 more yards from his 45" one. I think he went up to a regular or stiff flex when he extended it. They used a shaft extender and a stiffer shaft to get the extra 2.5" on his driver.

I choke up 2 inches on my club and it works fine for me. I suppose I could shorten it and get better performance with a better fitting grip? IDK, but shorter gives me more control. It hits shorter this way, but I'd rather be less wild. . .

[Gary Kay]

I was choking up on the club as well and then decided to just hack it off. The club just didn't work the same after I chopped it up. I'll probably start with a stock 46 incher again and if I do shorten it, it will be in much smaller increments. When I first got it (5/6 years ago) I was swinging away and developed a nasty hook. I corrected that with some lessons and slowed down my swing a little to improve accuracy. My swing speed has gone down about a 1 mph a year since I got the club (I'm a 68 year old) and it will probably continue to decline hence my considered change to a senior flex shaft.

[Buckeyebowman]

Club shafts are a weird business! Sometimes you shorten them and they work great. Other times you shorten them and they're horrible! I've had it go both ways! Shortening a shaft will make it stiffer. That's what might have monkeyed up the results for you. With your clubhead speed I'd definitely consider a senior shaft.

[Club Rat]

22 minutes ago, Gary Kay said:

The club just didn't work the same after I chopped it up.

put a shaft extension on the butt end and cut to desired length.
they come in various lengths and inexpensive and easy to install.
you will need to re-grip the club.

[MarvChamp]

2 hours ago, Gary Kay said:

I'm also thinking about going to a senior flex since my swing speed is only about 79 to 81 mph now. I've read that a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue 45 might fulfill my needs, but I don't know much about aftermarket shafts. I'd appreciate any comments about this shaft or suggestions on others I should consider. Thanks. 

Hi, Gary Kay! I'm a senior with a slow swing speed. I don't pretend to know much, but here's my experience. My primary driver has a Project X 4.5 (senior range). I also shortened it 1 in. at the suggestion of a professional fitter. I am a bit longer and certainly accurate. I can recommend the Project X 4.5.

Also, I can recommend the Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana 74vSL (or the designation for driver). I have been VERY happy with those two shafts, the weight, controllability, and typical height of the ball when hit.

Finally, I discovered that you can get premium "pulls" from new clubs at a great price, if you search eBay. Best of luck with your search. -Marv

[bste]

Hi Gary, go on @golfworks.com they have a large selection of shafts, and a fitting guide. You can check your recommended shaft flex and kick point.

Low for higher flight, mid for lower flight.

Hope this helps

[Typhoon92]

11 hours ago, Club Rat said:

put a shaft extension on the butt end and cut to desired length.
they come in various lengths and inexpensive and easy to install.
you will need to re-grip the club.

 

+1

[MarvChamp]

13 hours ago, Gary Kay said:

I've read that a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue 45 might fulfill my needs,

Gary Kay, I meant to add: I have this shaft in a hybrid. It feels stiff and inflexible to me. Adain, this is just my experience. Try to test out several shafts. -Marv

[Gary Kay]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Rather than try to save the shaft with an extender (good idea though) I think I'll replace it. This gives me an opportunity to try a softer flex. I've heard you have to be careful when going to a senior flex as the club can get kind of whippy (which I would want to avoid). Marv, do the Project X or Mitsubishi shafts you recommend avoid this tendency? Secondly, based on the research I have done, I do not believe that shortening the shaft from the butt end makes it any stiffer. The shaft does, however, stiffen if you trim from the tip. I did read that trimming from the butt can have a subtle impact on the flex point of the shaft (gets closer to the hands) and some golfers can feel that change or witness some differing flight characteristics. Thanks again for the help.

[MarvChamp]

9 minutes ago, Gary Kay said:

Marv, do the Project X or Mitsubishi shafts you recommend avoid this tendency?

Yes...Neither is whippy to me, and I have felt some that are. The Aldila DVS seems more flexible in Regular flex, though I like it in a hybrid. Anyway, as was said, you might check out Wishon's writings and others. I like a low or mid-low kick point.

As for torque, I am not good enough to comment; I just know what I like when I try it. Wishon said it isn't much of an issue because club manufacturers "build in" the torque according to flex:  "And typically for the R, A and certainly L flex shafts, the shaft makers design the shafts with a higher degree of torque. This is because the slower swinger puts less twisting force on the shaft and thus the shaft does not need to have a lower torque."

Now, I am WAY beyond my pay grade...What I really know is that you can't trust the shaft label as to flex. Good luck. -Marv

[Buckeyebowman]

3 hours ago, MarvChamp said:

 

Now, I am WAY beyond my pay grade...What I really know is that you can't trust the shaft label as to flex. Good luck. -Marv

Might be the best comment in this thread!

[Pretzel]

On 4/30/2017 at 2:38 PM, Gary Kay said:

Secondly, based on the research I have done, I do not believe that shortening the shaft from the butt end makes it any stiffer.

It will become stiffer, just in a different way. The butt stiffness of the shaft will increase, while the mid and tip sections of the shaft will remain mostly unchanged. 

To give you an example, here is a graphic giving you the bend and torque profiles of the Tour AD TP shafts:

Basically the higher the curve is, the stiffer the shaft is at that section. Torque has to do with the resistance to twisting that the shaft has.

A particularly curious shaft is the Grafalloy Bi-Matrix, a steel and graphite combination shaft, that has wildly different bend profiles between the regular and stiff flexes and their extra stiff flex:

 

As for your shaft, the Matrix Ozik, I was unable to find any sort of bend profile for it that you could use as a comparison in your search for a new shaft. That said, the small amount of butt trimming you did shouldn't have done much at all to the stiffness of the shaft, even though it did undoubtedly change at least somewhat by you trimming it.

Could it possibly be that you are uncomfortable with the driver now compared to before when you gripped down? You trimmed an inch and a half off the driver, which is no small amount to get rid of and it's likely you hadn't choked that far down the shaft when it was longer. I made a change from a 45" driver to a 44.5" driver and the difference seemed pretty noticeable to me, so a full inch and a half will almost certainly require at least some adjustment period.

[Gary Kay]

16 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Could it possibly be that you are uncomfortable with the driver now compared to before when you gripped down? You trimmed an inch and a half off the driver, which is no small amount to get rid of and it's likely you hadn't choked that far down the shaft when it was longer. I made a change from a 45" driver to a 44.5" driver and the difference seemed pretty noticeable to me, so a full inch and a half will almost certainly require at least some adjustment period.

You're probably correct in that I was not choking down as much as I thought I was. After I cut it down it was the significant loss of distance that troubled me the most. Stiffness or feel was not an issue. There's no doubt that the shorter club resulted in a slower swing speed and reduced distance..... more than I thought would have occurred. I've convinced myself that I will go with a A/M/Senior flex shaft due to my slowing swing speed. I'm currently researching what would be my best torque range. The issue I have now is that the RBZ has a .350" hosel and most of the shafts I'm interested in only come with .335" tips. I've emailed GolfWorks to see if they have a hosel adapter and if a shim is needed. Thanks for the graphics. I will make it a point to study them. 

[proto]

yea when u cut a shaft down u will loose some yards. u can always get a inch or added back on ur shaft so u didn't ruined it. jus go get some length added on 

[cnl390]

This is a very interesting thread.  I currently play a Ping G SF tec with an Alta 55 SR Flex that I cut down 1.25 inches.  I really like it, average about 220, and am more accurate after cutting it. But, like a lot of golfers I am always wanting something new and would like to experiment with a new shaft.  I am 63 and have a swing  speed around 95.  Any suggestions?

[Rochester]

I have a Ping G15 9-degree driver that is 45.75 inches with a Prolaunch Red Regular shaft. I've been very pleased with it, but all of a sudden, late last summer I was slicing it like crazy. I've read that shorter drivers with higher loft give more control, and are less likely to slice/hook. I was afraid to shorten the shaft because of concerns about swing weight. (A friend of mine shortened his G25 driver and I hated it.) I was in Golfsmith (before they closed), and saw a used 12-degree Bertha Mini driver. Figuring that because it had more loft and would be a shorter club, maybe I would get rid of the slice with it. It was 44-inches with a Mitsubishi Bassara E55 stiff shaft. I also have a G15 4-wood that I wasn't slicing, so I thought maybe this was the ticket. It didn't make much difference.

Luckily, I figured out why I was slicing with my driver, and was going to sell the Mini driver on E-bay, but I had another Prolaunch Red shaft sitting around and thought I'd give it a whirl in the Mini Driver before selling it. Interestingly enough, I hit the mini driver, set at 12 degrees, at 1.75 inches shorter than the G15, about the same distance as my driver (approx. 240-250 yds) but with a little draw. It's more consistent, and it fits in my trunk better!  So... the driver is sitting in the garage.

I think that when I replace the driver, I am definitely going to get fit this time, and seriously consider a shorter driver with more loft.

 

 

[arturo28mx]

Cutting down the shaft by 1.5" affects swingweight a lot. A club that feels too light may mess up your swing.