Rickie to a shorter driver

43.5" driver for Fowler. Seems shorter is the new straighter.

Hey if it results in more consistent hits and better dispersion, why not! Plus it's something we're finding conversation about now which keeps the brand Rickie Fowler relevant when he isn't contending as much as recent past :golfer:

Hey if it results in more consistent hits and better dispersion, why not! Plus it's something we're finding conversation about now which keeps the brand Rickie Fowler relevant when he isn't contending as much as recent past :golfer:

Seems to be helping him contend nicely this week.

Hey if it results in more consistent hits and better dispersion, why not! Plus it's something we're finding conversation about now which keeps the brand Rickie Fowler relevant when he isn't contending as much as recent past :golfer:

Like in the period between seasons, and since his last win in September?

How's it working for Walker since going 42"?

Wasn't his last win Abu Dhabi? Like a year ago? His best finish in a major was 33 last year, 2 missed cuts. Not his goal im sure, and yes, he is playing well this week, which is kind of the point of the thread. He's had a solid 2017 so far, maybe back on the upward trend and the short long stick my work for him

If he's fighting getting stuck, I'll bet the shorter length will help get the club out in front of him. One of Tiger's biggest mistakes was probably going away from a 43.5" driver. Not a coincidence that he started fighting that right miss way more when he went to 45".

I have to admit, even as a player of a 43.5" driver my whole golfing life and a big proponent of shorter than "standard" driver lengths for most golfers, I am really impressed with how well Rickie is hitting that thing and how much carry he's still getting out of it.

Quite impressive. He just absolutely bombed that last one on 18. Holy Moses!! 340 with very little roll. Wow.

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

 

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

 

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

It's an attention getter for sure.

My current driver is at 45.5. Cannot help but wonder what I might gain if I were to lose an inch. Assuring, of course, that it didn't somehow throw off the weight.

Guess that is one beautiful thing about an adjustable driver. I have a couple of spare shafts laying around. I could easily have one cut down an inch and have a Srixon tip installed on one to test it out and play a bit. Could be a fun test to try.

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

 

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

 

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

 

It's an attention getter for sure.

 

My current driver is at 45.5. Cannot help but wonder what I might gain if I were to lose an inch. Assuring, of course, that it didn't somehow throw off the weight.

 

Guess that is one beautiful thing about an adjustable driver. I have a couple of spare shafts laying around. I could easily have one cut down an inch and have a Srixon tip installed on one to test it out and play a bit. Could be a fun test to try.

It will dramatically lower the swingweight if you go an inch shorter. You have to add significant weight to the head to maintain the same "feel" of the head. There are countless threads on doing this.

Adding that weight also makes the shaft play a bit more flexible. If you want to maintain the same flex, and maintain swingweight, and go an inch or more shorter you need to tip trim the shaft at least a half inch and butt trim the rest. If your shaft is playing a bit stiff for you currently, just butt cutting it and adding weight could work out just fine for you.

The cobra team said they worked on 12 driver heads before they found one that Rickie really liked. They add hotmelt to certain specific ares inside the head to increase the weight and fine tune ball flight.

I've just been using good old fashioned lead tape on mine for 3 decades. Works fine, just not so elegant looking.

IMO these guys are probably putting quite a bit of weight in the head which makes them into sledgehammers. The mass probably makes up for the speed lost by length.

IMO these guys are probably putting quite a bit of weight in the head which makes them into sledgehammers. The mass probably makes up for the speed lost by length.

My driver is REALLY heavy - one of the many things I love about it. I can feel the head all the way around and through the swing.

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

 

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

 

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

 

It's an attention getter for sure.

 

My current driver is at 45.5. Cannot help but wonder what I might gain if I were to lose an inch. Assuring, of course, that it didn't somehow throw off the weight.

 

Guess that is one beautiful thing about an adjustable driver. I have a couple of spare shafts laying around. I could easily have one cut down an inch and have a Srixon tip installed on one to test it out and play a bit. Could be a fun test to try.

I went down to a 44 inch shaft when I had my new one put in about a month ago. Been hitting it straighter and actually noticed some distance gain. I'm 5'10 and it seems to be a good fit for me

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

 

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

 

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

 

It's an attention getter for sure.

 

My current driver is at 45.5. Cannot help but wonder what I might gain if I were to lose an inch. Assuring, of course, that it didn't somehow throw off the weight.

 

Guess that is one beautiful thing about an adjustable driver. I have a couple of spare shafts laying around. I could easily have one cut down an inch and have a Srixon tip installed on one to test it out and play a bit. Could be a fun test to try.

 

I went down to a 44 inch shaft when I had my new one put in about a month ago. Been hitting it straighter and actually noticed some distance gain. I'm 5'10 and it seems to be a good fit for me

What did you end up doing about the weight?

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

 

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

 

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

 

It's an attention getter for sure.

 

My current driver is at 45.5. Cannot help but wonder what I might gain if I were to lose an inch. Assuring, of course, that it didn't somehow throw off the weight.

 

Guess that is one beautiful thing about an adjustable driver. I have a couple of spare shafts laying around. I could easily have one cut down an inch and have a Srixon tip installed on one to test it out and play a bit. Could be a fun test to try.

 

I went down to a 44 inch shaft when I had my new one put in about a month ago. Been hitting it straighter and actually noticed some distance gain. I'm 5'10 and it seems to be a good fit for me

 

What did you end up doing about the weight?

So, I went from the stock shaft in my Cobra F6, which was a 60g Matrix to a 65g ProLaunch Red. To be honest, I didn't notice any weight difference. If anything, it might have slightly more weight

This can only be good news. The more pros that go shorter, the more the talking heads on the coverage tell us about it, the more awareness there is from consumers about the benefits. Which at the end, should hopefully result in more options for us as consumers.

I think it's silly that I can't demo a driver in store at 44.5". I know it can be ordered that way from some OEMs, but you should be able to demo different lengths like you demo different shafts and lofts. Fitting carts should carry 3 different head weights that can be played at ~45,~44 and ~43".

This can only be good news. The more pros that go shorter, the more the talking heads on the coverage tell us about it, the more awareness there is from consumers about the benefits. Which at the end, should hopefully result in more options for us as consumers.

 

I think it's silly that I can't demo a driver in store at 44.5". I know it can be ordered that way from some OEMs, but you should be able to demo different lengths like you demo different shafts and lofts. Fitting carts should carry 3 different head weights that can be played at ~45,~44 and ~43".

Dead on reply!!!!

It was impressive to say the least. Could not help but wonder how much his height played a role in the swing coach's recommendation to cut his driver down a bit.

 

Regardless it is amazing how well he is hitting the ball. Really hopes he keeps things under control and dialed in tomorrow.

 

I think it has to be a positive change given his height, however, his coach, butch harmon, has also encouraged at least two of his other students, Gary woodland and Jimmy walker to go shorter with the driver as well, and they are both over 6 feet.

 

Apparently he's been preaching shorter for over a year now.

 

It's an attention getter for sure.

 

My current driver is at 45.5. Cannot help but wonder what I might gain if I were to lose an inch. Assuring, of course, that it didn't somehow throw off the weight.

 

Guess that is one beautiful thing about an adjustable driver. I have a couple of spare shafts laying around. I could easily have one cut down an inch and have a Srixon tip installed on one to test it out and play a bit. Could be a fun test to try.

 

I went down to a 44 inch shaft when I had my new one put in about a month ago. Been hitting it straighter and actually noticed some distance gain. I'm 5'10 and it seems to be a good fit for me

 

What did you end up doing about the weight?

Tape. unless you want to make it permanent with hot melt.

Yup, I have a roll of tape. (What real golfer doesn't, right?)

I know in the past when I played around with a driver I had spare I basically tried it sans any weight, added a little at a time, and got it "dialed in".

Funny thing about that experiment.

I actually purchased an uncut shaft and wanted to create the longest driver I had ever owned. It was an older FT9 Tour and I ended up with a 46.5 inch bomber. That was completely unpredictable. LOL

When I did connect in the sweet spot, about 10 or 20% of the time, it sure was FUN!

For awhile I would take that driver to scrambles and would pull a wedge. If we needed my drive in play I would hit my gamer at the time, an original Rbz Tour. But if everyone else was already in play - game on!!!

This can only be good news. The more pros that go shorter, the more the talking heads on the coverage tell us about it, the more awareness there is from consumers about the benefits. Which at the end, should hopefully result in more options for us as consumers.

 

I think it's silly that I can't demo a driver in store at 44.5". I know it can be ordered that way from some OEMs, but you should be able to demo different lengths like you demo different shafts and lofts. Fitting carts should carry 3 different head weights that can be played at ~45,~44 and ~43".

I demoed my 917 and the Epic last month and I used 3 wood shafts, plus a few old shafts I already owned. I also brought my own lead tape and added about 12 grams to the heads low on the heel and toe like would if i owned the club. I Hit them both with multiple different shafts.

Fortunately for me, I like my driver shafts at 43.5" so the 3 wood shafts work great.

Once you play your driver shorter for a while, you will have some shorter shafts lying around anyway, sometimes with the same tips of the clubs you want to demo. You can always bring them with you.

As fast as a lot of these guys are swinging now, this isn't overly surprising I think. Stenson is the one big shining example, but when these guys are pulling 3 wood instead of driver on the tee they are really only losing forgiveness on off center strikes not much in distance, so to that end a shorter driver makes a lot of sense.

My dad has always loved the idea of a short driver....got his cut down to 42", and now I play a 43.5. Helps me hit more fairways so I'm a pretty big proponent of short drivers.

Can't wait for Rickie to bring home the Honda title tomorrow. He looks good...

IMO these guys are probably putting quite a bit of weight in the head which makes them into sledgehammers. The mass probably makes up for the speed lost by length.

 

My driver is REALLY heavy - one of the many things I love about it. I can feel the head all the way around and through the swing.

That's what she said..... Sorry. had to get that joke in there... HAHAHA.

Is there a good place to try a short driver before I go take a saw to shaft?

Anyone know if Fowler added a bit of loft to this new, shorter driver?

Cobra also said they had to increase the loft of the head as a shorter shaft will make the ball launch lower.

Cobra also said they had to increase the loft of the head as a shorter shaft will make the ball launch lower.

Thanks for that. Thought that might have been the case.

I remember cutting a driver an inch down to 44.5 but the swing weight was so different it felt horrible. It was an r7 so I added some heavier weights but it never felt the same. I guess total weight matters as well. I haven't done it again. I would like to though. It felt more comfortable at address.