Driver shaft length. What's being tried

[jkpigott 67]

Curious to see how many are looking at driver shafts shorter than stock and what their experience has been.

Looking at the new stuff in 2019 and 2020, shafts are running 45.5 to 45.75.  Pretty tough to get consistent squared up center-face contact for anyone a 10 and up. Suspect mfrs are going this way to improve club head speed, but ball speed will suffer if you're not making good contact. So will accuracy.

From what I read and hear on various pods, most on tour are well shorter than stock - most around 44.25 to 44.5. Rickie leading the way at 43.5.

Retail doesn't make it easy from the demo carts I've seen.  Most shafts that are different from stock are longer not shorter.  Cobra an exception with their Tour Length (44.5").

I started with shorter driver several years back.  peak distance was a little shorter but fairways hit jumped and was usually very close in distance to stock driver.

Thoughts?

[cnosil 14,639]

Original shaft was 45.75.;  I was playing 44.25 and now play 44.5 with the shaft I just acquired.   I didn't adjust swingweight and have no loss of feel or distance and strike the ball better.  

Here is a thread discussing driver length:

 

[Sparky14 38]

I stick with 45.5". For some reason, if I go 44.5" or shorter, it completely falls apart. At 44", all my drives go low and left with no distance at all, my head hurts, and I get the runs. 44" is bad.

[silver & black 5,569]

I'm used to 44.5" and my new driver is 45.75". I'm going to leave it alone for a while, but if I don't start hitting it more consistent, I'm going to shorten it.

[RickyBobby_PR 4,843]

I play anywhere from 45.25 to 46. Unless the fitter recommends a shorter shaft I play whatever the stock length is 

[Camille Bissarro 77]

Never satisfied with a decent thing, I think I've finally wrecked a Diamana ahina 60 S by chopping it too much (the Tiger/Ricky Fowler 43.5" experiment gone wrong...where's that missing .5"? I measured twice, I swear).

Previously I'd cut it to 44.5", built it back using a shaft extension, then cut it again. Now the contact sounds all wrong, the swing feels all wrong, and the ball flies all wrong.  Fortunately eBay abides (enables? incites?) a multitude of tinkerer's crimes. New shaft arriving in a few days.

I suppose it would be the smart thing just to get fit for a driver shaft by someone with more than 3/32 of a clue, but until shops open back up again...

[MattF 9,527]

I lopped an inch off mine last year to 44.75" and was hitting the driver well. So far this year it's been terrible...I'm going to look at some driver lessons.

[B.Boston 8,500]

I’ve played my old G30 at 44.5 since I got it. No issues for me with distance.

Currently the M5 I picked up is 45 inches. I’ll keep it that was as that’s the length I was hitting at my fitting anyway. We will see how that is early in the season and I’ll cut it down if needed when I regrip it.


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[PMookie 11,861]

I would LOVE to try the new Cobra driver at the “Tour Length” they offer. It would be really interesting to compare distance and accuracy vs my driver at 45.25”! I know center-face contact is what will keep it hanging with the longer club, but after watching so many TXG videos, there are a LOT of factors that go into shaft selection so one CAN make center-face contact. It would require a fitting, for sure.

Interestingly, I haven’t heard a PEEP about the “Tour Length”. I need to look through YouTube. So far no one’s mentioning it in there initial testing.

(And NO, I’m not looking to get rid of the Honma! Good gracious.)

[B.Boston 8,500]

I would LOVE to try the new Cobra driver at the “Tour Length” they offer. It would be really interesting to compare distance and accuracy vs my driver at 45.25”! I know center-face contact is what will keep it hanging with the longer club, but after watching so many TXG videos, there are a LOT of factors that go into shaft selection so one CAN make center-face contact. It would require a fitting, for sure.
Interestingly, I haven’t heard a PEEP about the “Tour Length”. I need to look through YouTube. So far no one’s mentioning it in there initial testing.
(And NO, I’m not looking to get rid of the Honma! Good gracious.)

I think most places like TXG stock shafts to be 45 inches installed. So they lay somewhere between cobra stock and tour length. So everything Matt tests is @45 and they added head weight to it kind of making it a TL version.


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[jkpigott 67]

I actually learned about the tour length by accident.

Was hitting F9 from a demo cart. Put in the 63g Hazardous yellow. Then after hitting so well, put it side by side with an M6. Seeing how much longer the M6 was, I thought maybe I had put a 3-wood shaft in the F9 driver head by mistake.

Spoke to the Cobra specialist in-store and he said "oh yeah, that's a Tour Length shaft". Since then found it in the catalog. Noticed this week it is also called out on their web site.

Seeing the discussion above, I have created some franken-sticks through chopping and adding back.  Have never been thrilled with any of them.  But getting one new with the right length and weight has been great.  Just wish more mfrs put shorter options in the demo carts for fitting at the major retailers accessible to the masses.  I would be very surprised if TXG, Club Champion or Tru Spec did not have these shorter shafts as an option, but maybe I'll ask.

 

[John W Sutch 94]

Playing Cobra Speedzone with tour length UST Helium shaft. R flex. Works great. More center face strikes than with longer shaft (too many off the heal) Went to shorter shaft with previous Calaway Fusion also UST shaft which also worked well. Getting 20 yd more distance with the Cobra and better dispersion.

[BelowParGolf 34]

Shaft length in my driver is 44.5". I am also a shorter person at 5'5". I was fitted for mine at club champion and it produces excellent results when struck in the center (obviously!) however I struggle to find the center of the face and to be honest I am all over the place. I make excellent consistent contact with my 3 wood and because of this I was considering getting a 13 degree 3 wood to replace my driver. My current 3 wood is 15 degrees. Just curious if any one has tried this in lieu of shorter shaft length in driver and if so what were the results? I was thinking a little shorter but a lot better dispersion?

[MattF 9,527]

12 hours ago, BelowParGolf said:

Shaft length in my driver is 44.5". I am also a shorter person at 5'5". I was fitted for mine at club champion and it produces excellent results when struck in the center (obviously!) however I struggle to find the center of the face and to be honest I am all over the place. I make excellent consistent contact with my 3 wood and because of this I was considering getting a 13 degree 3 wood to replace my driver. My current 3 wood is 15 degrees. Just curious if any one has tried this in lieu of shorter shaft length in driver and if so what were the results? I was thinking a little shorter but a lot better dispersion?

You could get a fairway shaft for your driver and see how you go.

[MALyons31 198]

@jkpigott oh man. I can absolutely speak on this topic, being that just a few weeks ago I got a new driver with a shorter shaft. Let me tell you, it made all the difference in the world.

Recently, for the first time I went for my first ever club fitting. When it was time to pull out my driver, the fitter asked me “How are you hitting the driver, how does it perform for you?” I told him, I leave it out to the right a lot and I don’t seem to get much distance with it and this is a Taylor Made M2 Dtype driver with a stock shaft. I was hitting my driver about 240 yards total and that was a good shot. So he pulls my driver out of the bag and does some measurements and immediately says, Man, this driver is way to long for you measuring at 45.75 inches. 
Long story short, he fitted me for a Taylor Made Sim Max Dtype with a 45 inch VA Vylyn Shaft and now I am absolutely smoking the ball off the tee. Once I got it home and got used to it, I’ve been carrying around 265. I’ve hit some 275-285 yard total shots. I couldn’t believe it. What a difference. 
For me, shortening the shaft helped me gain distance because as you said, I’m finding the center of the club face more because it’s easier to control. After doing so research about it, I found that I’m STILL above the tour average in driver length being 44.75” inches. 

[B.Boston 8,500]

9 minutes ago, MALyons31 said:

@jkpigott oh man. I can absolutely speak on this topic, being that just a few weeks ago I got a new driver with a shorter shaft. Let me tell you, it made all the difference in the world.

Recently, for the first time I went for my first ever club fitting. When it was time to pull out my driver, the fitter asked me “How are you hitting the driver, how does it perform for you?” I told him, I leave it out to the right a lot and I don’t seem to get much distance with it and this is a Taylor Made M2 Dtype driver with a stock shaft. I was hitting my driver about 240 yards total and that was a good shot. So he pulls my driver out of the bag and does some measurements and immediately says, Man, this driver is way to long for you measuring at 45.75 inches. 
Long story short, he fitted me for a Taylor Made Sim Max Dtype with a 45 inch VA Vylyn Shaft and now I am absolutely smoking the ball off the tee. Once I got it home and got used to it, I’ve been carrying around 265. I’ve hit some 275-285 yard total shots. I couldn’t believe it. What a difference. 
For me, shortening the shaft helped me gain distance because as you said, I’m finding the center of the club face more because it’s easier to control. After doing so research about it, I found that I’m STILL above the tour average in driver length being 44.75” inches. 

that's awesome!  25 yards gained from finding the right combo.. I have to imagine with the VA Vylyn you've seen improvements over the stock shaft too as far as accuracy goes?  I feel like those old TM stock shafts were pretty whippy.

[wowski_golf 8]

I have played a 45" for a long while. Went to a 44.5" in Uni for a season when I Was having major tee ball errors. It helped me get my Confidence back and made me change focus to hitting fairways over hitting it past competitors. 

These days I have a Mini driver at 43.75" I put it in the bag for those 5-6 hole late night outings to keep my mind sharp off the tee box

[jkpigott 67]

On 4/24/2020 at 5:34 PM, BelowParGolf said:

Shaft length in my driver is 44.5". I am also a shorter person at 5'5". I was fitted for mine at club champion and it produces excellent results when struck in the center (obviously!) however I struggle to find the center of the face and to be honest I am all over the place. I make excellent consistent contact with my 3 wood and because of this I was considering getting a 13 degree 3 wood to replace my driver. My current 3 wood is 15 degrees. Just curious if any one has tried this in lieu of shorter shaft length in driver and if so what were the results? I was thinking a little shorter but a lot better dispersion?

Might also want to look at the Taylor Made Original One Mini Driver. Lofts offered in 11.5 and 13.5. Std length was 43.75" which is slightly longer than today's typical top-end 3-woods which run about 43.25. And yes, I've seen a lot better dispersion with shorter shaft in driver. Size of 3-wood head (smaller) would provide somewhat less forgiveness in terms of both ball speed and I suspect accuracy, but sure is worth a try.

[jkpigott 67]

On 4/25/2020 at 8:48 AM, MALyons31 said:

@jkpigott oh man. I can absolutely speak on this topic, being that just a few weeks ago I got a new driver with a shorter shaft. Let me tell you, it made all the difference in the world.

Recently, for the first time I went for my first ever club fitting. When it was time to pull out my driver, the fitter asked me “How are you hitting the driver, how does it perform for you?” I told him, I leave it out to the right a lot and I don’t seem to get much distance with it and this is a Taylor Made M2 Dtype driver with a stock shaft. I was hitting my driver about 240 yards total and that was a good shot. So he pulls my driver out of the bag and does some measurements and immediately says, Man, this driver is way to long for you measuring at 45.75 inches. 
Long story short, he fitted me for a Taylor Made Sim Max Dtype with a 45 inch VA Vylyn Shaft and now I am absolutely smoking the ball off the tee. Once I got it home and got used to it, I’ve been carrying around 265. I’ve hit some 275-285 yard total shots. I couldn’t believe it. What a difference. 
For me, shortening the shaft helped me gain distance because as you said, I’m finding the center of the club face more because it’s easier to control. After doing so research about it, I found that I’m STILL above the tour average in driver length being 44.75” inches. 

That's great to hear. In looking back on the topic, most of the struggles seem to be with shaft cut-downs which messes up a lot of the engineering.  Been there, done that.

Getting a driver with correct length when built seems much more likely to offer success.  So your big gains came in distance.  What happened to dispersion? Better? Worse? Same?

[MALyons31 198]

22 hours ago, jkpigott said:

That's great to hear. In looking back on the topic, most of the struggles seem to be with shaft cut-downs which messes up a lot of the engineering.  Been there, done that.

Getting a driver with correct length when built seems much more likely to offer success.  So your big gains came in distance.  What happened to dispersion? Better? Worse? Same?

Definitely better. Night and day. With my old driver, If I got a good hit on it, I still wasn’t exactly sure where it was going and my misses were horrible. New driver, ball flight is way more consistent, usually mid to high launching draw. When I put a good hit on it, I can expect that almost every time. I don’t know the exact yards of dispersion with it, but I went out to the fairway behind my house last night and hit 5 balls. 3 of the 5 were within 15 yards of each other, all in the 265-275 range. Other 2 wernt exactly ideal strikes. Left them a little shorter, probably about 250 but also on the left side in the rough but still very playable.