Cut That Driver!

[Slab]

Ok so clearly not for everyone but it’s the best thing I’ve done for my scoring this season

Three off the tee was never going to get me scoring well and yielding a 45.5 driver is plain silly if it’s too big. (fwiw I’m around 5’ 10”) Grip it down didn’t work because I was no longer using it as intended, so while it helped it was never going to provide long term consistency
(& to be fair what other sport would you use a workaround for every strike & carry on using gear that’s too big? No one is stuffing newspaper into their football boots because they’re two sizes too big!)

For months it sat at home and only got out for the range or the odd round (where it inevitably cost me shots)

Gave the driver to club pro who lopped off around 2.5 inches (not measured with a chart or how far off the floor my knuckles drag) Just looked at where I needed to grip to get the control and marked the grip and cut

So I reckon (cos I haven’t measured) I’m now using roughly a 43 inch shaft and in the last few rounds I’m hitting it further, landing it in play and giving myself the chance to score on nearly every hole

I’ve gone from losing at least half a dozen balls a round off the tee (when using driver) to only two lost balls across the last three rounds

If there are implications re balance/weight/flex etc I don’t notice them because the club wasn’t balanced/weighted for me before or giving me the right flex, simply because it was too big. What I do notice is that’s its far more controllable, predictable and manageable

Don’t get me wrong, shortening the shaft did not get me on the fairway, it’s not the answer...but it did give me the right tool to do the job

No idea why cutting is sometimes frowned upon

 

[Hacker Khan]

Good call sir. I have read a few times that the manufacturers obsession with length means they are all lengthening the shafts a bit. But the longer the shaft, the harder it is for the average hacker to hit the sweet spot. So it makes sense to shorten the shafts for a large number of people. It's always better to get it 210 yards down the fairway 70% of the time than 240 yards 30% of the time.

Also I am convinced that all the stuff about balance/flex/kick points is also not noticed and makes a very small difference by a lot of average handicap golfers.

 

[One Planer]

So..... What you effectivley have is a 3 wood with a driver head

I have no issue with cutting a driver down, in fact I'm thinking of taking a little off mine, but 2.5" in excessive IMO.

Has your pro counterweighted the head with a little lead tape? I would have thought there wold be a noticable swing weight difference losing that much off a shaft (... Whether you notice is another thing entirely)?

That said, if it's working, that's all that matters.

 

[Slab]

So..... What you effectivley have is a 3 wood with a driver head

I have no issue with cutting a driver down, in fact I'm thinking of taking a little off mine, but 2.5" in excessive IMO.

Has your pro counterweighted the head with a little lead tape? I would have thought there wold be a noticable swing weight difference losing that much off a shaft (... Whether you notice is another thing entirely)?

That said, if it's working, that's all that matters.

Yup driver is same length as my 3w (& 5w come to that)

First & second thing the pro said was 'are you sure you want this done?

2.5" sounds a lot but its the right amount for me (& my hunchback posture which isn't going to change anytime soon)

I'd love to have compared the before and after for swing-weight, club-head speed & ball speed etc but didn't have ready access to do that so there was an element of a leap of faith involved, but the end result seems to have justified it (lets face it, it was a wasted purchase before getting the snip as I couldn't use it anyway, so from that viewpoint I didn't really have anything to lose) & he did offer to reverse it if I wanted to

 

[nil1121]

best thing to do is get some impact tape and hit say 10 shots with full length shaft, change impact tape on head and grip down 1/2" then hit another 10 shots, keep doing this until you get the best consistent ball strike and then you will know how much you need to cut down your driver by. This is how a clubmaker done it with my son and daughter with their drivers. The boy needed 1 1/2" taken off but the daughter was more consistent with the shaft at full length.

 

[shewy]

think I read somewhere the average driver length on the pga tour is 44.5" so why we should be using something 1-2" longer is beyond me,I going to be ordering a new shaft soon and thinking of making the build 44.5"

 

[CMAC]

I was enjoying my TM superfast burner club, but when I tried my Ping Rapture V2 it felt so much smaller (prob just an inch) and so much more in control.......I've also noticed I hit the middle of the Ping 90% but was a bit eratic with the TM....probably just down to that 1"

@Slab, if you dont notice any difference in swingweight/balance/flex etc and it 'feels' better then you have absolutely done the right thing....for you.

 

[Slab]

Good call sir. I have read a few times that the manufacturers obsession with length means they are all lengthening the shafts a bit. But the longer the shaft, the harder it is for the average hacker to hit the sweet spot. So it makes sense to shorten the shafts for a large number of people. It's always better to get it 210 yards down the fairway 70% of the time than 240 yards 30% of the time.

Also I am convinced that all the stuff about balance/flex/kick points is also not noticed and makes a very small difference by a lot of average handicap golfers.

Yeah I've never been a big hitter (which obviously means I never used the club anywhere near its potential) so weirdly this cut has actually increased the distance I get as I can now swing with more confidence believing the drive will at least land in the same postcode I was aiming for