Driver with 3-wood shaft experiment

[onthehunt526]

I posted this in the Driver Shaft Length Creep thread, but I'm hoping @iacas doesn't bump it because it is only slightly related to that topic... I thought it deserved it's own thread.

I went to Dick's today with my wife and daughters, (Alina was hilarious, "you need to beat your zeroes dad") I tried an experiment to prove a point. In the last two M lines of fairways/drivers the M1 fairways have an adjustable hosel as do the M3 fairways. So I wondered if the adapter in the fairway was the same as the driver. It turns out that they are. 

So I did a little experiment to prove a point to myself and a couple golfers who said they need a longer driver. I hit 10 shots with a normal standard 45" shaft on a Taylormade M3 driver with a 9° head and 10 shots with 3-wood length shaft (43") on the same head. The adapters obviously worked. 

The 10 shots with the 45" shaft (I'm a decent player so my misses aren't horrible) were in different areas of the face, mostly high toe. I had higher spin numbers, and the ball wasn't going much anywhere even with a 103.5 mph clubhead speed, my ball speed was only 138 mph. Smash factor sucked... Carry 228 yards.

The 10 shots with the 3-wood shaft blew my mind (even on the shittiest launch monitor I have ever used in my life). I only had 98.4 mph clubhead speed, but my average ball speed was 144 mph on average (yeah 1.45 smash factor with 2 miss-hits) 4 of those shots were a perfect 1.50 smash factor... absolutely dead nuts... I actually had one of my shots at 101 mph, launched at 21°, 151.5 mph ball speed spinning at 2400 rpm, just a rocket shot out of the cannon... 256 carry, 280 total... an absolute bomb. This is just my experience. I just seemed to me that the all 10 shots stayed within a 30 yard wide area... and were just blistered...

The Taylormade M1 line and M3 lines are compatible with this test, there may be more adjustable hosel fairway/driver families you can do this with. 

Personally, I think splitting the difference for most of us would be fine. 1 inch shorter than the normal 45" makes a difference. 2 inches is a little scary but it proves a point. Don't believe all the marketing hype of how the 45" driver is long. They are but they aren't consistent. If your a good ball striker 45" might be okay, but for the rest of us... We should be talking with our fitters and considering shorter.

[dbuck]

I have one of those Taylormade SLDR Mini Drivers from a couple years back that I hit nearly as far as my regular drivers. Shorter shaft and more loft.

[cooke119]

5 hours ago, dbuck said:

I have one of those Taylormade SLDR Mini Drivers from a couple years back that I hit nearly as far as my regular drivers. Shorter shaft and more loft.

So do I, though I haven't used  it in a while.

[onthehunt526]

The mini-drivers were kind of a cross between the forgiveness of a driver with a shorter shaft and the loft of a 3-wood or in some cases 4-wood with a 250 or so cc head. That was not this experiment at all @dbuck and @cooke119 this was a 440cc M3 head (It was the first driver I grabbed) on a M3 3-wood shaft. The swingweight was probably off by about 12 (actually maybe not that bad). But was basically a 43" M3 440 9° Driver. It's a different discussion entirely than how a "mini-driver" perform. Though it is related.

[arturo28mx]

For me a 43.5 “ shaft is the best

[onthehunt526]

12 hours ago, arturo28mx said:

For me a 43.5 “ shaft is the best

I'm at 44" with my Driver and I'm 6'5".

Out of curiosity, is your longest fairway wood also shorter?

My 4-wood is 42". I did this for more solid contact as well.

If you have a Dick's or Golf Galaxy, PGA Tour Super Store, any place with adjustable hosel fairway wood and driver demos with a launch monitor. Ask the sales person if you can do this. It will not hurt anything. Get a little warmed up and stretch, hit 5 shots with the normal driver shaft and 5 with the 3-wood shaft and post your results here. 

[HJJ003]

I will be replacing my driver shaft soon...not sure yet what I will be using lengthwise. I already have a 3-wood that I hit fairly well so I think it will def need to be longer than that.

[arturo28mx]

My Titleist 7 wood is 42", my 5 wood 42.5", my 3 wood 43", so for me it only makes sense that my 12 degree driver be at 43.5". Plus I have more control.

[Z1philb]

About 4 months ago I replaced my Ping G LST driver 46” and my Beloved Sonartec 3 wood with a GX-7 which is 43” in length.  My driver length is about the same but hitting more fairways with GX-7.

[freshmanUTA]

LSW preaches centered contact and a shorter shaft helps a lot of people hit middle more often.

[JxQx]

I was actually thinking of doing this as well. I got the idea when I seen a video on youtube where Peter Finch also swapped a 3 wood shaft into a driver. He lost almost no distance but had a lot tighter dispersion. 

[iacas]

One of the biggest things to look for is that a 3-wood shaft is often going to be a good bit heavier. So watch that.

[onthehunt526]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

One of the biggest things to look for is that a 3-wood shaft is often going to be a good bit heavier. So watch that.

In my case when I did the experiment. The 3-wood shaft was the same shaft as the driver... (The Tensei Tiger's shaft)... So I don't know if there is a weight difference or not.

[tomvk77]

My driver shaft is at 44.25. i kind of have the same with a 45" shaft i tend to hit the ball a bit on the heel. With a shorter shaft i hit it more out the middle. 

I came with these flightscope results. Need to say there was a heavy face wind and it was -6 degrees celcius

Spoiler

 

Driver Driver 1

Shot	Carry (yds)	Roll (yds)	Total (yds)	Lateral (yds)	Ball (mph)	Club (mph)	Smash	Time (s)	Spin (rpm)	Spin Axis (°)	Club Path (°)	Swing V (°)	Swing H (°)	Launch V (°)	Launch H (°)	DescentV (°)	Height (ft)	FTP (°)	FTT (°)	AOA (°)	Dynamic Loft (°)	Spin Loft (°)	Low Point	Shot Type
Avg	199.1	13.3	212.4	5.9 R	144.5	98.9	1.47	5	3152	1.6 L	1.8 R	53.4	7.1 R	9.9	1.6 R	31.1	58.5	1 L	0.8 R	7.1	9.6	3.7	-1′5″	-
Dev	10.5	3.1	9	19.8	2.4	3.1	0.06	0.4	429	15.2	0.7	1.1
1	194.6	16	210.5	10.7 L	141.2	-	-	4.8	3050	29 L	-	-	-	11.8	5.4 R	29.5	57	-	-	-	-	-	0	Hook
2	202	13.7	215.6	43.1 R	142.5	103.6	1.38	5	3999	23.2 R	2.4 R	51.9	7 R	6.1	2.5 R	28.2	50	0.2 R	2.5 R	5.9	6.1	0.3	-1′5″	Slice
3	214.9	12.3	227.3	0.1 L	147.2	97	1.52	5.3	3223	4.1 L	1.9 R	54.2	8.3 R	10.5	1.4 R	32.5	67	0.5 L	1.3 R	8.8	10.6	1.9	-1′2″	Draw
4	208.6	9.1	217.7	19.8 R	147.3	97.5	1.51	5.5	2840	2.4 R	1 R	54.7	8.3 R	13.5	4.7 R	38.6	80	3.9 R	4.9 R	10.2	13.6	5.1	-1′1″	Push
5	184.2	18.1	202.3	2.1 L	143	95	1.51	4.3	3172	0 L	2.6 R	52.4	6.6 R	7.8	0.6 L	24	40	3.4 L	0.8 L	5.2	7.9	4.4	-1′6″	Straight
6	190.6	10.8	201.4	14.3 L	145.6	101.4	1.44	4.9	2627	2.1 L	1.1 R	53.7	5.2 R	9.6	3.6 L	33.5	57	5 L	3.9 L	5.5	9.9	6.6	-1′5″	Pull