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What happens if I put 3W shaft in driver?


tdc1

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I’m not enough of a gear head to know the possible ramifications of changing driver daft with 3W.

Both driver and 3W are Ping G425 Max with stock Ping Alta CB shafts in R flex.  I know the 3W shaft is heavier than driver shaft (62g vs. 57g) and shorter 43” vs. 45 ¾”).  Both are supposed to be Mid-High launch.

What might I expect to see/feel?

Thanks.

(Yeah, I’m going through a rough stretch and grasping at straws.)

Driver:  Ping G425 Max (10.5º; Regular )

Fwy:  Cobra King SZ (3; Regular); Ping G410 (5; Regular)

Hybrids: Ping G410 (22º and 26º; Regular)

Irons: Cleveland Launcher XL (6-U)

Wedges: Ping Glide 3.0 (54º/12º), and Ping Glide 3.0 Eye2 (58º/8º)

Putter:  Ping Karsten Anser X

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I mean, there are a bunch of theoreticals that we could hypothesize about, but if already have both, might as well give it a try and see what happens. 

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Basically a bunch of unknowns as it will depend on how you react to the differences.  You basically could hit it better, hit it worse, or hit it the same.   Sometimes shorter is easier to control and helps you hit the center of the face more consistently.  Sometimes it moves everything to the toe.   Heavier could help you smooth out your swing and create better impact or it could be too heavy and slow your swing so we down so much you lose 20 yards or more. 
 

as was said, easy enough to try since you have both shafts and pretty sure it is the same adapter.  

Driver:  :ping-small: G400 Max 9* w/ KBS Tour Driven
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17 minutes ago, tdc1 said:

I’m not enough of a gear head to know the possible ramifications of changing driver daft with 3W.

Both driver and 3W are Ping G425 Max with stock Ping Alta CB shafts in R flex.  I know the 3W shaft is heavier than driver shaft (62g vs. 57g) and shorter 43” vs. 45 ¾”).  Both are supposed to be Mid-High launch.

What might I expect to see/feel?

Thanks.

(Yeah, I’m going through a rough stretch and grasping at straws.)

Just curious you want to swap out the driver shaft? If you want to see the effect of a shorter driver shaft - why not just choke down on it. FYI, my fitter ordered my 410 driver 1/2" shorter and it's worked well for me. 2+ inches shorter would be a bit extreme - at least for me. .As to the weight - I know I can't tell the difference of 5 g in the feel of a club.  

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I play a 43" driver (tipped an inch and then butt cut 1.5 inches) and I am 6 feet tall with a, to me and my coach, normal swing. Personally, I think most people (that aren't scratch or better golfers) would benefit from a shorter driver shaft. It is funny when OEMs come out with their "most forgiving driver ever" but the shaft is 46 inches long. To me, forgiveness is a combination of a large head with rear weighting and a shaft you can control both from a flex standpoint and from a length standpoint. 

Summary - I used to be all over the place with my driver and then I dropped it 2 inches and, voila, I could hit the center of the clubface again. I lost a little bit of clubhead speed but carry is mostly the same due to better contact. 

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20 hours ago, vandyland said:

Summary - I used to be all over the place with my driver and then I dropped it 2 inches and, voila, I could hit the center of the clubface again. I lost a little bit of clubhead speed but carry is mostly the same due to better contact. 

260 in the middle beats 280 in the gorse. 
 

I play 44” hitting the middle of the face every time sure beats the little speed I could gain. I honestly deplore you to try a shorter shaft really really works*. 

 

*for me

"C'mon be good"

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So, results of range work and a couple rounds with 3W shaft in driver.

(1) some increase in accuracy.

(2) noticeable loss in distance.

(3) significantly lower launch/ball flight.

As a result, going back to regular driver shaft (and trying to get of my own way).🤞

Driver:  Ping G425 Max (10.5º; Regular )

Fwy:  Cobra King SZ (3; Regular); Ping G410 (5; Regular)

Hybrids: Ping G410 (22º and 26º; Regular)

Irons: Cleveland Launcher XL (6-U)

Wedges: Ping Glide 3.0 (54º/12º), and Ping Glide 3.0 Eye2 (58º/8º)

Putter:  Ping Karsten Anser X

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3 minutes ago, tdc1 said:

So, results of range work and a couple rounds with 3W shaft in driver.

(1) some increase in accuracy.

(2) noticeable loss in distance.

(3) significantly lower launch/ball flight.

As a result, going back to regular driver shaft (and trying to get of my own way).🤞

Still cool you tried it and now you know the results 👍🏻

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8 hours ago, Nolan220 said:

Still cool you tried it and now you know the results 👍🏻

Thanks!

Driver:  Ping G425 Max (10.5º; Regular )

Fwy:  Cobra King SZ (3; Regular); Ping G410 (5; Regular)

Hybrids: Ping G410 (22º and 26º; Regular)

Irons: Cleveland Launcher XL (6-U)

Wedges: Ping Glide 3.0 (54º/12º), and Ping Glide 3.0 Eye2 (58º/8º)

Putter:  Ping Karsten Anser X

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On 6/3/2021 at 2:19 PM, vandyland said:

I play a 43" driver (tipped an inch and then butt cut 1.5 inches) and I am 6 feet tall with a, to me and my coach, normal swing. Personally, I think most people (that aren't scratch or better golfers) would benefit from a shorter driver shaft. It is funny when OEMs come out with their "most forgiving driver ever" but the shaft is 46 inches long. To me, forgiveness is a combination of a large head with rear weighting and a shaft you can control both from a flex standpoint and from a length standpoint. 

Summary - I used to be all over the place with my driver and then I dropped it 2 inches and, voila, I could hit the center of the clubface again. I lost a little bit of clubhead speed but carry is mostly the same due to better contact. 

Forgiveness is alps about rescuing the amount of offline a bal goes when not hot on the center especially in the common miss areas of high toe and low heel. Maintaining as much ball speed as possible and minimizing the difference in spin compared to center contact.

For you the back weight works but for others weight in the front will be more forgiving with the reduction in spin compared to weight in the back of the head

Driver: PXG 0811 X+ Proto w/UST Helium 5F4

Wood: TaylorMade M5 5W w/Accra TZ5 +1/2”, TaylorMade Sim 3W w/Aldila rogue white

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On 6/3/2021 at 11:58 AM, cnosil said:

Sometimes shorter is easier to contro

 

On 6/3/2021 at 12:06 PM, tony@CIC said:

FYI, my fitter ordered my 410 driver 1/2" shorter and it's worked well for me.

 

On 6/3/2021 at 12:19 PM, vandyland said:

 

Summary - I used to be all over the place with my driver and then I dropped it 2 inches and, voila, I could hit the center of the clubface again.

I'm seeing a pattern here...you?  I think there is much to be learned from the LPGA players and not just on drivers. Tom Wishon has long stated that increasing shaft lengths over the years is not helping the majority of amateurs.  Also, keep in mind that a good many PGA players are playing "tour length" (shorter) driver shafts.

 

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These two topics back to back are cracking me up.

 

If there is a lot to be learned from the lpga we should all lengthen our driver shafts. Most of them do.

Just go get fit and don’t guess but at least the OP doesn’t have to ruin anything to find out if it will work for him - A plus for that. 

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SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

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Most pros are using drivers at least 45" these days. It used to be that shorter lengths were the rage. But now, with distance at such a premium, that trend no longer applies. Just go look at the WITB section of this site. The pros have figured out how to tweak the equipment to keep dispersion reasonable to gain any extra distance. 

For me, I play a 44.5" driver and have never gamed 45" or longer for any significant time. It works for me, as I hit the center of the club more often and don't lose that much distance (still swinging at 110mph or do at 50). I am also 5'8" and grew up playing a 43" driver and used to have a much more upright swing, which made longer shafts almost impossible to play. So, it is just what 8s comfortable for me. 

I was playing a 2017 M2 and had to use a much heavier back weight to get a reasonable swing weight for feel. I am now playing a SIM and still experimenting with weighting. I changed out the 11.5g backweight for a 17g. Then I changed the slider out from 10g to 14g. I found that the extra weight up front just takes too much spin off. So, I swapped the weight back out and added 4g of lead tape on the inertia generator to get the swing weight I wanted. Before I bought the weights, I had added lead tape along the IG to get the swing weight and feel I wanted. 

Most OEMs have lightened the head weights to get the longer length drivers into a reasonable seingweight range. If you want to go shorter and maintain any kind of feel, you have to add weight to the head,  so buy lead tape and experiment. I do keep a 45" shaft around as a spare, but I don't really notice a difference in distance or even dispersion if I am swinging half way decent.  I have thought of buying one more shaft and having an over length (45.5" or longer) to experiment with for longer courses. So, the after market weights and lead tape come in handy.   

Lesson in all this: there is no one size fits all and experiment to see what works for you.

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I've got a fair bit of experience with this idea.  I've been playing a 43" - 43.5" driver for a few years now.

If you're going to give this a valid experiment, you need to add weight to the clubhead to match up with the theoretical 3w that shorter shaft would be plugged in to.  3 wood clubheads are heavier, the shafts are tipped for fairway wood installation to compensate for the heavier weight, blah blah blah.  If you want as close to apples to apples, you need to bring up the headweight.

You will almost certainly hit the center of the face more often, but whether it offers overall improvement is very individualized.  One reason for that is how club length affects swingspeed.  In theory, adding length to the club should increase swingspeed, and for a robot, it certainly would.  For humans, each of us has his/her own point of diminishing returns, where adding length to the club does nothing, and can even subtract swingspeed.

Another variable is how much your impact improves with the shorter club length.  Any distance improvement would be created by the combination of swingspeed change and contact improvement.  If you drop too much speed, it's no bueno, and so on.

If going all the way down to a 3w shaft works somewhat, but only somewhat, one idea you should explore is going somewhere between the driver as it's currently constituted and the length you had with the 3w shaft.  Again, we're all different, we all maximize our game at different points.  It could be worth a shot.  <shrug>

In the nature of a FWIW....  one reason this works for me is that my maximum swingspeed appears to be at a club length somewhere shorter than 43.5".  In a fitting a few years ago, I swung a 44.25" (or 44-1/8") driver 3 mph slower than a 43.25" driver with steel.  🤔    It works for me, it may or may not work for you, but I kind of doubt I'm alone in the universe; there has to be someone else in this sandbox, LOL.
 

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3w:  Cobra King LTD, RIP Beta 90, 42" -or- Stage 2 Tour, NV105 X, 42.5"
2h or 3h:  TaylorMade Stage 2 Tour, Aldila NV105 S -or- RIP Alpha 105 S
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