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I’m gonna start this up again. I bought me an old Controller driving iron last week (17 degrees of loft), and I love it. I’ve hit probably 20 shots with this club so far, and I’m hitting it lower and straighter than most shots with my fairway woods and hybrids. I’m averaging around 200 yards with solid contact, and it feels great coming off the face. It’s also been windy in Durham lately, so the driving iron has been helping me. As I see it, the only setback is that I can only seem to hit it off the tee. I’ve tried hitting it off the deck, with not positive results. Off the tee, I’m hitting it great. The course I played yesterday is super narrow off the tee, and the driving iron performed well. 

Based on what you are saying it sounds like I might be headed in the right direction. The shaft I have my eyes on will play at 47.5 inches. It is 10 g lighter and more flexible. Right now I am playing a taylormade M6 driver. It does not have slider weights, but it does have a weight at the back which is interchangeable. The stock factory weight is 3.5 g, and they do make an aftermarket 2 g weight, or I can just take out the 3.5 g and see how that works.

You don't need a fitting for this and honestly I don't think I would trust a fitter to get you any better off than you can achieve by yourself. I put a youtube link on here a couple months ago to my video about building an extra long driver. An extra long driver is not a one and done deal, even more so than the rest of the bag (which is coincidentally why I don't believe in most modern fitting practices). It's trial and error and making small tweaks to the set up. What I can recommend are a couple things to increase your chance of success. First make sure you have a driver head that you can remove weight from. Slider weights or weight screws doesn't matter but you need to be able to lighten the head when going from 45 and change to 47 or 48 both for swing weight and shaft stability. Second, go with a lighter shaft than you typically use, say 5-10g. Third I would say go with a softer shaft over a stiffer one. The worst thing you can do with an extra long driver is rush the downswing from the top. This is why you see so many people lose the ball right or not pick up any club head speed. A softer shaft in general will allow for a smoother transition as you can feel the load of the shaft and don't need to force it.

That is exactly what I was thinking. Since all the reviews I have seen indicate that with a longer shaft the swing weight is increased and at a certain length swing speed is actually diminished, I was thinking of trying a longer, but more flexible and lighter shaft to see if I can mitigate the additional swing weight and pick up a little swing speed and a few more yards. I have also read that the additional swing weight could shallow your swing a bit, which depending on your swing might not be a bad thing. I imagine there could be some club fitters out there who are reading this thread and rolling their eyes, but hey, what the heck! There are some pretty decent older shafts out there at low prices that one can experiment with. We might as well have a little fun as the world implodes around us! LOL.  

Lessons (2/20 1st lesson)and practice in the offseason(2/21 start). Continue lessons but more spread out in season.  Buy a full mat to use in backyard with net. Actually practice what is shown to me in lessons.  Stop being that awful at golf!