48 replies to this topic

[MEC13]

I continue to see these golf companies pushing out 46" shafts in their drivers saying it increases distance off the tee.  Of course it does when a robot is hitting the ball but taking an inch or two off the club will not take yards off your drive.  I continue to use a 44.25 inch shaft in my driver with no distance losses while seeing plenty of beginners out on the course swinging something that looks like a fishing rod.  Can't wait till the day when they bring back shorter stock shafts.  Everyone will keep them straighter and who knows, maybe speed the round up a little.

[bruinsPATSirish]

What is lost in arc length and club head speed is gained by centeredness of contact, and simply confidence in hitting a good drive.  First thing I tell the members at my course that get a new driver is to cut an inch or two off it.  Good post

[Greyboy]

I have no evidence to back this up, but I've heard several times that many tour players play shorter driver shafts, simply for accuracy.

I for one, am planning to get fit for a new driver this spring and will certainly ask about a shorter shaft in my driver.  I feel much more confident with a shorter driver in hand, and I'm also only 5'9".  I've always played a standard length driver, I bet a shorter one would help my game.

[MEC13]

Greyboy, on 02 January 2013 - 01:19 PM, said:

I have no evidence to back this up, but I've heard several times that many tour players play shorter driver shafts, simply for accuracy.

I for one, am planning to get fit for a new driver this spring and will certainly ask about a shorter shaft in my driver.  I feel much more confident with a shorter driver in hand, and I'm also only 5'9".  I've always played a standard length driver, I bet a shorter one would help my game.

I'm 6' and it just feels uncomfortable using the standard length drivers that are longer than 45". I've noticed many tour players are using 44.5 but I guess it comes down to what you feel comfortable with. Bubba, the longest hitter on tour is 6'3" and uses 44.5 so that definitely says something there.

[soconnor73]

First post here guys so don't be too harsh. I feel like I would be more accurate with the driver taken down a little also (TM Burner stock shaft and length), but do I just go into the Golfsmith and ask them to take it down. Seems they might think I'm crazy. Or is this a normal request?

[bruinsPATSirish]

soconnor73, on 02 January 2013 - 09:43 PM, said:

First post here guys so don't be too harsh. I feel like I would be more accurate with the driver taken down a little also (TM Burner stock shaft and length), but do I just go into the Golfsmith and ask them to take it down. Seems they might think I'm crazy. Or is this a normal request?

Depends how you want them to do it.  You can have the grip removed/replaced and take the shaft down at the top.  This would leave the shafts flex alone for the most part.  The alternative would be to pull the head and cut down the shaft at the tip.  This will make the shaft more stiff, which may be something you would like.

As for cutting down a shaft being a normal request, absolutely, we do it all the time at my shop.

[soconnor73]

What would you think about 1 Inch off both ends? At 46.5 stock that would take it to a more manageable 44.5.

[bruinsPATSirish]

soconnor73, on 02 January 2013 - 10:08 PM, said:

What would you think about 1 Inch off both ends? At 46.5 stock that would take it to a more manageable 44.5.

How are you hitting it now?

[soconnor73]

Decent but I feel as if the plane is too flat because of the length which causes lack of confidence which leads to a whole other set of problems. I'm 5'10". Overall I feel like I'm swinging a mile before I get back to the ball which causes loss of control.

Thanks for the help.

[soconnor73]

Got to go to sleep. I'll check this in the a.m.

[BluehoseGolf]

Im gonna start getting my driver shaft cut down.  I want to hit it straighter off the tee and Im using a 74 gram x stiff shaft, any suggestions on how to keep it in the short grass more?

[parpar41]

chadsullivan17, on 02 January 2013 - 09:57 PM, said:

soconnor73, on 02 January 2013 - 09:43 PM, said:

First post here guys so don't be too harsh. I feel like I would be more accurate with the driver taken down a little also (TM Burner stock shaft and length), but do I just go into the Golfsmith and ask them to take it down. Seems they might think I'm crazy. Or is this a normal request?

Depends how you want them to do it.  You can have the grip removed/replaced and take the shaft down at the top.  This would leave the shafts flex alone for the most part.  The alternative would be to pull the head and cut down the shaft at the tip.  This will make the shaft more stiff, which may be something you would like.

As for cutting down a shaft being a normal request, absolutely, we do it all the time at my shop.

  Re:  "We do it all the time at my shop"   Question for you.  When you pull the head  , do you add weight?  How and How much ?  ( I bought a TM burner superfast 2.0 driver with the (ridiculous) 46.5 inch shaft and would like to have someone take it down to 45 inches, properly.     Please let me what you recommend .

[bruinsPATSirish]

soconnor73, on 02 January 2013 - 10:22 PM, said:

Decent but I feel as if the plane is too flat because of the length which causes lack of confidence which leads to a whole other set of problems. I'm 5'10". Overall I feel like I'm swinging a mile before I get back to the ball which causes loss of control.

Thanks for the help.

Well I mean you really can't go wrong taking down a 46" driver an inch or two... stock shafts really are silly long.  You will most likely be making better contact and better swings.

[MEC13]

Bring it to any golf shop and they'll do it right there for you. I always do it myself but I've also made club making a hobby of mine. If you  don't know whether to take it off the top or bottom they'll ask you there what you would prefer and if you want the flex and weight to be changed in any way.

[Dr. Shankenstein]

I play mine at 44.25 which was cut down from 45.5. For each 1/2" you cut off, you lose 3swingweight points. 3 swingweight points=6 grams. So that is quite a bit of tip weights or tungsten powder or lead tape to apply if you want to keep your original swingweight. Something to consider before loping off shaft.

[bruinsPATSirish]

parpar41, on 02 January 2013 - 10:30 PM, said:

chadsullivan17, on 02 January 2013 - 09:57 PM, said:

soconnor73, on 02 January 2013 - 09:43 PM, said:

First post here guys so don't be too harsh. I feel like I would be more accurate with the driver taken down a little also (TM Burner stock shaft and length), but do I just go into the Golfsmith and ask them to take it down. Seems they might think I'm crazy. Or is this a normal request?

Depends how you want them to do it.  You can have the grip removed/replaced and take the shaft down at the top.  This would leave the shafts flex alone for the most part.  The alternative would be to pull the head and cut down the shaft at the tip.  This will make the shaft more stiff, which may be something you would like.

As for cutting down a shaft being a normal request, absolutely, we do it all the time at my shop.

  Re:  "We do it all the time at my shop"   Question for you.  When you pull the head  , do you add weight?  How and How much ?  ( I bought a TM burner superfast 2.0 driver with the (ridiculous) 46.5 inch shaft and would like to have someone take it down to 45 inches, properly. Please let me what you recommend .

Are you doing it yourself or are you going to take it to a shop and tell them exactly what you want?  If you take it to a shop and tell them you want 1.5" off of it, depending on how good the guy is then he should do it the right way and ask you where you want it taken off, stiffness, etc. like we do at my shop.  Honestly, if the guy was just a schmoe going through the motions, he would probably just remove the grip, take it off, and put it back on or a new grip and call it a day.  If you tell them you want to maintain the same swing weight whilst taking down the shaft then hopefully they would find the swing weight, take down the shaft, and then add weight with either a tip weight/lead tape/hot melt etc to bring it back to D3, D2 or whatever it was.

Edited by chadsullivan17, 02 January 2013 - 10:57 PM.

[bruinsPATSirish]

MEC13, on 02 January 2013 - 10:44 PM, said:

Bring it to any golf shop and they'll do it right there for you. I always do it myself but I've also made club making a hobby of mine. If you  don't know whether to take it off the top or bottom they'll ask you there what you would prefer and if you want the flex and weight to be changed in any way.

+1

[bruinsPATSirish]

Dr. Shankenstein, on 02 January 2013 - 10:49 PM, said:

I play mine at 44.25 which was cut down from 45.5. For each 1/2" you cut off, you lose 3swingweight points. 3 swingweight points=6 grams. So that is quite a bit of tip weights or tungsten powder or lead tape to apply if you want to keep your original swingweight. Something to consider before loping off shaft.

You are very right. Another reason the driver weight kits are nice in the newer models.

[Augster]

?

My post about Sub70 clothing gets moved but this stays?  Odd day at WRX.

[hmx3]

Most stock length of drivers are about 46".

Cutting down a driver shaft for 1" means 6 SW points and replacement of 12 gramms, otherwise the shaft plays a lot stiffer.

But the overall feel of the club is gone and often the performance suffers.

Cutting down a shaft is easy, but the result may vary.

[MEC13]

And this is what brings me back to my original point of why companies need to start offering stock shafts that are not 46".  There are a lot of beginner golfers out there that do not know about swing weight and stick to using a driver with a 46" shaft.

[MarkFromTheUK]

Over the last few months I have developed an annoying habit of hitting my driver very slightly out of the heel. My pro has suggested that I take 0.5" off my driver shaft to cure it. I'm not so sure. Does this course of action sound logical?

[Greyboy]

MarkFromTheUK, on 03 January 2013 - 08:21 AM, said:

Over the last few months I have developed an annoying habit of hitting my driver very slightly out of the heel. My pro has suggested that I take 0.5" off my driver shaft to cure it. I'm not so sure. Does this course of action sound logical?

It's hard to predict the future, but it sure would have helped a few months ago!! jk

[bruinsPATSirish]

MarkFromTheUK, on 03 January 2013 - 08:21 AM, said:

Over the last few months I have developed an annoying habit of hitting my driver very slightly out of the heel. My pro has suggested that I take 0.5" off my driver shaft to cure it. I'm not so sure. Does this course of action sound logical?

Straight up, IMO, taking a 1/2 inch off your driver will be more helpful than harmful.  You will be making better contact and that IMO is more important than anything else.

[lsf_21]

My driver is now ~44 inches. My drives are longer, straighter, and just more consistent.

It helps that the ZL encore head is awesome.

[MEC13]

43" shafts in the RBZ 5 wood and 46" shafts in the RBZ driver.  Taylormade said they added another 10 yards to our drives.  Wonder where those 10 yards came from.  New technology?  I don't think so.

[mws92]

Bubba Watson plays 44.25" and Scott Stallings plays 43.75".

Enough said.

[bruinsPATSirish]

MEC13, on 03 January 2013 - 07:20 PM, said:

43" shafts in the RBZ 5 wood and 46" shafts in the RBZ driver.  Taylormade said they added another 10 yards to our drives.  Wonder where those 10 yards came from.  New technology?  I don't think so.

But at look at their numbers! He can hit a 7 wood 260! It's awesomeeeeeeee!

[bruinsPATSirish]

mws92, on 03 January 2013 - 08:45 PM, said:

Bubba Watson plays 44.25" and Scott Stallings plays 43.75".

Enough said.

Amen.

[tander69]

I can't hit it further than Bubba or Scott, but I did cut down my shaft on my Adams 9064 to 44" and added the weight back to the heel with the stick on weights and now I am very accurate and can actually hit it further. I really recommend it to the average golfer. I just got a Adams Speedline 11 driver and plan to do the same with it.