Does an inch make a difference? Should I order a shorter driver shaft?

[Joshtolens]

I currently cruise at 110 swing speed and when I’m warmed up and pushing it can find myself floating right under 120. But as a mid handicap I of course struggle finding center face the harder I push myself. 

Currently I am playing with an Epic Max LS at standard add length, I love the club it’s plenty forgiving but every now and then I find myself 270+ yards in the wrong direction. I once drove the green to the wrong hole 285 yards out… insanely embarrassing.

If I ordered a Rogue Max LS off callaway preowned. 

1. Would an 1 inch off standard length feel much different?

2. Does anyone know if they account for swing weight? 

3. If I don’t like it can I put my old x-stiff standard length shaft back in? 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Joshtolens

[RickyBobby_PR]

Yes an inch will feel different, what that difference is will vary from person to person

Callaway preowned won’t swingweigh the club and even if ordered new it’s not a guarantee of it being set. If you want it to be swingweighted properly go to a club builder. 
 

you could but you would need to check swingweight if that’s important to you.

If you want to fine tune driver. Do a google search for diy driver tune up and follow the instructions in that thread

[Joshtolens]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Yes an inch will feel different, what that difference is will vary from person to person

Callaway preowned won’t swingweigh the club and even if ordered new it’s not a guarantee of it being set. If you want it to be swingweighted properly go to a club builder. 
 

you could but you would need to check swingweight if that’s important to you.

If you want to fine tune driver. Do a google search for diy driver tune up and follow the instructions in that thread

To be honest after 3 or so years driver feels much more foreign than my irons and even woods still. 
 

If the swing weight discrepancy for a 1 inch difference wouldn’t be a big impact on performance I’m sure the feel isn’t a higher priority for me considering I can try to adjust. BUT if it is a concerning issue I will look into the DIY guide you mentioned; maybe I can find a heavier weight insert from Callaway. 
 

Btw, thank you I’m placing my order now! 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Joshtolens

[Larryd3]

Why not just choke down 1" on the club and see how it works?  

[Joshtolens]

8 minutes ago, Larryd3 said:

Why not just choke down 1" on the club and see how it works?  

I guess I do pretty frequently and it feels fine. But going further down the grip feels very odd. 

I grip right at that hash mark above the logo of the GP MCC midsize. So if I went down 1 inch it would really be like 2 or 1.5 . 

Currently there’s at least a half inch or more above my palm when holding the club. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

42 minutes ago, Joshtolens said:

To be honest after 3 or so years driver feels much more foreign than my irons and even woods still. 
 

If the swing weight discrepancy for a 1 inch difference wouldn’t be a big impact on performance I’m sure the feel isn’t a higher priority for me considering I can try to adjust. BUT if it is a concerning issue I will look into the DIY guide you mentioned; maybe I can find a heavier weight insert from Callaway. 
 

Btw, thank you I’m placing my order now! 

1” is 6 swingweight points. Some people are more sensitive than others to swingweight changes or weigh in general changes

[Joshtolens]

22 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

1” is 6 swingweight points. Some people are more sensitive than others to swingweight changes or weigh in general changes

I ordered it and for the sake of learning the performance differences. I’m going to reserve a sim and compare the stats. 

[JakeSmith2316]

From an anecdotal view I came from testing the Cobra LTDx LS with the Standard 45.5" Shaft and was alright with consistency but wanted to try a 45" shaft and immediately was finding the center more often. I did find that I lost maybe 2-3 Yards a drive on average but the ability to find more fairways has negated that distance loss for me. I also did work on Swing weight as it has the 10g and 3g standard. Put the next heaviest weight in to replace the 10g (a 14g) and it actually was too much change. So I kept the 10g for myself and will stick with that setup for the foreseeable future.

[StrokerAce]

Good luck!

to answer your question - it's dependent on the golfer. 

for me -1/2 inch was enough to find the middle. 

if I understand correctly there are a number of tour players who have shorter-than-normal driver shafts.

For Van Wezenbeeck, cutting a half-inch off of a driver shaft means that weight has to be added back into the head in order to not throw off the swing weight of the club. After being properly weighted in the Titleist Tour Truck, the duo took to the practice range at the U.S. Open to conduct testing.

With his previous 45-inch TSi3 driver setup, Smith was struggling to find control over his ball flight, and he was missing the center of the face too often.

The 44.5-inch driver setup seems to have fixed those issues.

“We looked at strike pattern locations (with the shorter driver), and we found it tightened it up a little bit,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “He’s back to working it both directions off the tee, so centering the strike was helping.”

All things being equal, a shorter driver will tend to reduce swing speed, which could lead to a distance loss. The goal when making driver changes is rarely to hit the ball shorter, but Smith was actually finding that he wasn’t losing ball speed despite the shorter build.

“It can potentially lower swing speed because of the shorter shaft, but what we find with players is if you can control the strike location and it’s more centered, the athlete has more freedom,” Van Wezenbeeck explained. “So we weren’t seeing any ball speed losses. That was the thing, even though we were shorter, we didn’t see a ball speed loss.”