Driver shaft cut down to 43'' trial run

[kikouno]

Hi all,

After owning a Rapture 10.5 driver (the original one) for a few years now and only taking it out of the bag for the two widest fairways on my local course I decided to cut the shaft down to 43'' from 45''.

Even at the range where there's no pressure I could only manage 20%-25% accuracy, just couldn't control it at all...

So after reading several posts on here about driver lengths I decided to remove 2'' from the butt of the shaft.
Armed with solvent and a tool similar to the V-Groove Grip Remover I safely removed the grip, cut the shaft and recycled the old grip. (This was last weekend)

So, yesterday I took the "new" driver out on the course and I couldn't believe how much easier it was to hit the "beast". The ball flight was so much more penetrating and I gained 20-30 yards (although this is simply because I can now control the driver and actually hit it! Before I was unable to generate clubhead speed and if I did, the clubhead definitely wasn't square at impact.


Ok... so it's only been one round but I can't argue with the results, I still have shots which do go right...way right...but with much less frequency than before.....


I was contemplating getting a new more "forgiving" driver and was looking at the latest sticks hoping to get better results, although what would be the point of getting a new driver and coffing up upwards of £200 for a new stick which would again be too long for me?

I don't want to advocate people cutting down their driver shafts if they can't control their shots although as it's been widely discussed, the older shafts used to be 43'' before marketing ploys by the big manufacturers claiming longer distances with longer shafts, why should amateurs such as myself have to use longer more difficult to control drivers? It's been said tour pro driver size averages are around 44.5'', why should the rest of us use longer drivers than the tour pros?

Anyway just wanted to share my feedback on here as I've learnt a lot simply by reading forum posts.

Cheers

 

[Darlophil]

I had mine cut down to 44 inches and I've not looked back. Accuracy has greatly improved and any bad shots are from truly terrible swings.

 

[Alex1975]

Interesting stuff. Keep us updated how it goes in the future.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I used to have a shorter driver shaft, worked really well.

On my new one I just grip down the shaft instead, arguments for both methods really.

 

[kikouno]

Hi all,

Just an update on my second round with the shorter driver.

The shorter shaft is definitely making a difference on the ball trajectory, from 20%-25% fairway accuracy with the longer shaft to about 60%-70% accuracy now. I had a couple of drives which went wayward but it was at the end of the round and I'll blame it on fatigue for now

The ball flight is very penetrating with quite a lot of roll because of the 10.5 degree head. I guess if I had more loft, let's say a more friendly 12degree I could get the ball to stay in the air longer and hit it further. But all in all I am very happy to have cut down the shaft ahead of buying a new driver which probably would have not helped me at all.

 

[DaveM]

Just as an add on. After reading this thread, had a thought(need to lie down in a darkened room). I have an old "hippo driver" in the loft. Think I will dig it out, it's never been used. Ok got it out. It's head is about 3 wood size (looked enormous in the old days) shaft is 43inchs 12 degree loft. Sounds a bit like a SLDR mini. I have a spare slot in the bag might just give it ago!

 

[the_coach]

Hogan used a driver (steel shaft) that was 43 & 1/4 inches & for those days could still move it out there a ways. Nicklaus for a deal of his early & mid career used a driver that was 42 & 3/4 inches again steel shaft, he wasn't short either & both could find the fairway pretty good.

 

[3565]

I had a 45.1/2" inch driver and got fitted for a Wishon 919 11* 44" which I hit 2 shots with impact tape on and knew instantly they were dead centre hits and there wasn't a mark outside of the red centre circle from the 2 balls I hit.

More players should shorten their drivers.

 

[MGL]

Average PGA driver length is 44.5". The simple fact is that distance sells drivers and that's why most off the shelf ones are built longer, for what I call the 2 out of 10 shots, where it comes out the middle. Most people would benefit from playing a shorter length - in fact a lot of people grip down without even realising they are doing it.

 

[Fish]

My SLDR with the Matrix 7m3 Black Tie shaft is cut down to a 3w length and is my new love. I was going through loads of shafts in my fitting at the Belfry with TaylorMade until Liam said, "try this", and bingo, it was the length of the shaft which was causing me issues, but now......well....that's history :smirk: