Shorter Shafts??

[Northmoose]

My regular golf partner got fitted for new irons over the winter and they were an inch shorter than stock.  I cut down his driver, three wood and hybrids by an inch this spring and he hits his driver and three wood significantly better then he used to and it fixed his slice 

[Tim Bozarth]

I have been shortening my Driver shafts from 45+" to 43.5" for years and find more fairways and exact same distance as stock length.

BTW this is same length that Tiger woods played during his prime years.

[BostonSal]

58 minutes ago, Tim Bozarth said:

I have been shortening my Driver shafts from 45+" to 43.5" for years and find more fairways and exact same distance as stock length.

BTW this is same length that Tiger woods played during his prime years.

The current model 307cc TaylorMade driver comes standard with a shaft about that long.

It's a fairway finder and long enough from my point of view.

I still bag a driving iron for the really scary tee shots, though.   Better safe than sorry.

[Golfnut0226]

On 5/11/2020 at 8:40 PM, Guest Delete said:

Shortening the shaft will make the lie more upright, lower the swingweight, make the club slightly lighter, and could make it play a fraction stiffer. 

Being short usually means making the lie flatter with standard length clubs.

If you feel you have to make adjustments to get good strikes, have perfect timing, or just feel inconsistent, then getting fitted for shorter shafts may help. 

On good way to know a club is to long is how you stand. If you feel like you have to stand almost straight up and swing out to the ball, only to have the toe of the club sticking up in the air at impact then the clubs are too long.

 

Also, checking your divot for the heel digging in will show you. The goal is the divot to have the club enter and exit as square as possible. 

This reason you state is why I play mine shorter. My irons are 4 deg flat and naturally with fairway clubs you are stuck with the factory lie unless you shorten the length. It's about the only way I can make up for what I need. Shortening a club "flattens" the lie.

[Badams69]

As someone about your height exactly but with a 6" wingspan over height differential, I can from 35+ years experience tell u:

1. If u find yourself hitting the ball a bit fat more often than thin it wouldn't hurt to find a choke up length that works well across multiple range sessions. Last thing u should worry about it distance. It is insanely overrated to hit an 8 or a 7 iron 3-5 yds shorter or longer. Precisely why u have several irons to choose from in your bag.

IMPORTANT and it will make more difference than most would imagine ....Work in 1/4" or 1/3" rather than 1/2" increments. It correlates better with grooves spacing  and hosel to sweet spot relationshipas well. 

2. If u find a length that coordinates better with your distance from the ball to hands .... your plane will improve naturally. Your contact will improve beyond comprehension compared to now. Your distance likely will imorove as u will gain in smash which improves ball speed ....which also follows from reduced variation of strike ....which begets accuracy and consistency of said accuracy which begets strokes gained frequency which begets workability which begets better recovery shots which begets and u will be-gets PAID when u kick their hindquarters over and again! 

 

I've NEVER lost yardage from any shorter of irons change in as everything improved instantly after roughly 20 swings.

Conversely though is driver. Up to 45.75" it improves across the board absent a poor shaft/head setup for me. But that surely can vary as I've driven the ball well with 43.75 up to the 45.75 mentioned. And poorly with each if bad setup. I see zero downside here for you! 

 

Just my 35 cents 

 

[bluesmandan76]

On 4/26/2020 at 2:05 PM, Pupini said:

Hey guys - 

Considering shortening my golf shafts. I'm short 5'4" and currently use standard length shafts. What would happen to my distance if I shorten the clubs. I am a 12-14 handicapper and hit an 8 iron about 155. I would gladly give up some distance if I would see an increase in accuract (which I expect). I just don't want to lose a full club. My thought is cutting 1/2 inch off. - Thanks.

I'm like you. 5'4". I play my clubs 1/2" short and ALSO have the lie adjusted several degrees flat. You will not see any loss of distance with just 1/2 inch. Now if you take 3-4 inches off, yeah, you'll see about half a club or so. But half an inch will do very little, except make the club marginally easier to play. Getting your lie adjusted is FAR more important. 

[B_R_A_D_Y]

Doesn’t increased control from choking down come from the change in leverage you get from that 1/4-1/2” of grip sticking out? Aside from less distance, that’s the other reason we were told to choke down. Seems like going back to gripping the club at the butt, even if it’s shorter, is not as controllable as choking down. 

Are these steel or graphite? Doesn’t butt trimming make a shaft more flexible? Or is that just steel? Or is that only for taking off an inch?

Looks like I don’t have any answers, just questions.

[Constantine]

Get fitted by a professional dummy!

[Guam135i]

Club fitting was the best decision I did. I used to play a 44" driver and I am 6' it was consitent but lost some distance which was okay. I got fitted in August and they set me up with a 45"  driver with the correct shaft, head, loft lie and grip and I gained yardage and am now more consistent than playing my 44" driver. Just my 0.02 cents

Edited October 23, 2021 by Guam135i

[Marius Grigore]

I'm 5.7 and I tested 4 lengths in my driver (43.5 / 44.5 / 45 / 46) and 2 in my irons (standard and half inch shorter). All what I can tell the only and the most important thing is your swing! I have the same distances with all shafts and the same bullshits with all of them for the driver. I chose one of them just for the feeling. For the irons is the same story! Finally I chose to standard length in all my clubs. I change my grips moving from regular size to midsize so I can grip down the clubs when I need and for a better control. My only advice is to use the same lengths in all your clubs and visit a custom fitting centre for a good adjustment of your clubs. And don't forget to take few lessons before custom fitting, you will understand why, don't worry. Good luck!

[cnosil]

10 hours ago, B_R_A_D_Y said:

Doesn’t increased control from choking down come from the change in leverage you get from that 1/4-1/2” of grip sticking out? Aside from less distance, that’s the other reason we were told to choke down. Seems like going back to gripping the club at the butt, even if it’s shorter, is not as controllable as choking down. 

Are these steel or graphite? Doesn’t butt trimming make a shaft more flexible? Or is that just steel? Or is that only for taking off an inch?

Looks like I don’t have any answers, just questions.

In my opinion:

Maybe choking down changes the leverage that increases control;  but I would say that you really don't get more "control",  you in theory get less club speed with the same control.   Since the ball goes a shorter distance, the same face angle results in a ball that is less offline.  is that more control?    Short may also enable you to swing the club better and get the path and face angle numbers to have less deviation.   That would be more control.  

Trimming shafts; in theory, makes them stiffer not softer.  Trimming the butt end an inch really doesn't make a significant difference in flex in either graphite or steel.  

Ultimately we shorten or lengthen a shaft to improve contact conditions and there isn't a single answer, the answer depends on the player and the players specific needs.  

 

 

[B_R_A_D_Y]

Thx cnosil.

[ElmMan]

I am  5'6" and  I  cut down my irons 1/2 inch about 6 years ago. It was one of the best things I've done.

Other than that, I agree with most of the other comments and suggestions. 

[Cblade]

I'm 5'6" and use standard length shafts. Due to lower back inflexibility the shorter the shaft the less clubhead speed I can manage. I also have problems with mechanics as well so I don't have a lot of accuracy, especially with half swings like with the wedges.

I recently dropped my 4 iron for a 4 hybrid because I can make a much more comfortable swing with longer clubs, ie get my weight on my right side which lets me generate easy clubhead speed and better accuracy.

I am am still putting together my gamer set but hope to be a single digit hc w/in the year. My strategy will be hitting it long off the tee and hope I can hit a short iron or wedge close enough to make a putt or two.

[AndySP]

On 10/23/2021 at 8:48 AM, cnosil said:

Trimming shafts; in theory, makes them stiffer not softer.  Trimming the butt end an inch really doesn't make a significant difference in flex in either graphite or steel.  

I think I read that the reverse is true. On almost every shaft, no matter whether it is tip-stiff or otherwise, the butt end will be the stiffest part of the shaft because of the diameter. By cutting off the stiffest part, the overall profile becomes ‘softer’ than it was originally. 

Same reason why cutting off from the tip end makes a shaft become stiffer overall as well.

That aside, I am short, around 5’5 but with long arms, and I cut off at least a whole inch on every club in my bag, save the driver. It’s a bit of a pain to get the SW back to normal, but I feel I get in better posture over shorter clubs, especially wedges and shorter irons. I think the added weight helps to offset some of the swing speed losses as well.

[dlow206]

1 hour ago, AndySP said:

I think I read that the reverse is true. On almost every shaft, no matter whether it is tip-stiff or otherwise, the butt end will be the stiffest part of the shaft because of the diameter. By cutting off the stiffest part, the overall profile becomes ‘softer’ than it was originally. 

It is true that the butt is the stiffest part of the shaft on all shafts (except maybe Bryson's putter shaft. that thing is 0.580" at the tip lol)

However, butt cutting has minimal impact on how stiff or soft the shaft will play. 

[MC Mark]

I too am short. I am almost 5’6”.  I have had shorter clubs for about 25 years or so. Distance hasn’t been effected because of it at all. It sounds like we hit our 8 iron about the same distance. 

 

I would encourage you to get fit because the lie and the length work together to get you on the proper swing plane. It is more about the dynamic lie during your swing rather than the static lie when you are standing over the ball that determines what fits best. As you know, every club manufacturer has different specs (lie, loft, length).  With that said, you can go to most big box stores (e.g. PGA Super store) and get fit using the Mizuno shaft analyzer.  I have done this, it was really helpful.  They take static measurements, then have you hit 3 balls with the club that has the analyzer attached, it processes the data, and let’s you know what your head speed, tempo, toe down, kick angle, and release factor.  Then it tells you the top shafts that are for you, the flex, length, and lie they should be. Now the lie (i.e. + .5 degrees) and length (i.e. + .25”) are in relation to Mizuno’s club specs so you may need to adjust accordingly.

 

I think this would be a good place to start. Let us know how it works out for you.