Cut down driver

Hey all,

My 9yo daughter uses US Kids UL clubs at the moment. I see a lot of you on here have OEM drivers for your kids that are cut down. I have never experimented much with club building but I have a question. My wife has this ladies Taylormade driver that is a few years old but really nice. It is a ladies flex shaft, and I think 12*. It isn't getting any use so I was thinking about cutting it down for my daughter. Based on US Kids specs I think I would have to cut the adult driver down 7-8 inches. Is this normal and can it be done while maintaining the weight balance of the driver? Might be a dumb question but I don't know a lot about this stuff.

Also - you would cut off the grip end of the club, not head end, correct? I will have a shop do it but just curious.

Cut from grip end. Not sure about balance/swing weight, but think it has to change. My 8 YO has used a a cut down XR16/recoil (ladies) since age 7 with good success. it’s a lot of trial and error at the younger ages with OEM stuff. If it’s not being used, nothing to lose- cut it and see how it works.

You might be able to get away with cutting down a bit less.

What model is it? If you can increase the loft and/or remove the weights that might help too.

When my son was young, I used to cut down an oem driver to about 2” longer than uskg length.

Look at getting a better set for them like the tour series or Flynn golf. If your looking to compete better in US Kids cut down the driver it probably be okay and you will see a big bump. The us kids tour driver though is good and will help them develop just not if your competing because you will be out driven on a lot holes.

Honestly the bigger issue is make sure they have well fit irons. Be very very mindful of that the biggest mistake I did years ago is wait for instructor to tell me and a lot times they think you will not want to spend money on clubs so they tell you to hold off. If your playing a lot tournaments the equipment needs to fit And it is a small cost to pay.

Also if you cut the driver shaft always from the grip end the cutting the tip will change it a lot more then cutting the grip end. If shaft is too stiff you just not going to see as much height probably will not matter much in a local us kids to be honest.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I ended up taking about 5 inches off the driver and having her choke down a bit. We played some today and honestly surprised about how much of an improvement it was from the UL kids UL. She loves the feel too. I was wrong previously and the driver is 10/5* but is adjusted to about 12*. Problem is she could still use more loft and it now sits really upright. In any event she likes it and hits it better than what we had and I will probably look at getting her into something similar with a bit more loft. A great experiment for just the small cost of having a shop cut it down.

Tiger - curious if you could explain a bit more about getting irons well fit. Do you mean beyond getting them a decent Flynn or US Kids TS set based on height? Do some of the juniors play OEM irons fitted with a junior shaft? I have always heard the USK and Flynn irons were great for kids but the woods were lacking.

It’s hard to find OEM drivers that are lightweight and have enough loft for younger kids. The Callaway Epic line has a 13.5* model + the adjustable hosel for another 1.5* to get you 15* of loft. It’s 200g with the weight removed (I asked Callaway). Your 9 year old might be able to handle that. Next would be the Cobra junior driver with 14* of loft at its highest setting (182g without weights). The Callaway XR is another lightweight option at 13.5*.

> @Hardrain said:

> Thanks for the feedback everyone. I ended up taking about 5 inches off the driver and having her choke down a bit. We played some today and honestly surprised about how much of an improvement it was from the UL kids UL. She loves the feel too. I was wrong previously and the driver is 10/5* but is adjusted to about 12*. Problem is she could still use more loft and it now sits really upright. In any event she likes it and hits it better than what we had and I will probably look at getting her into something similar with a bit more loft. A great experiment for just the small cost of having a shop cut it down.

>

> Tiger - curious if you could explain a bit more about getting irons well fit. Do you mean beyond getting them a decent Flynn or US Kids TS set based on height? Do some of the juniors play OEM irons fitted with a junior shaft? I have always heard the USK and Flynn irons were great for kids but the woods were lacking.

What I mean by fit well is by sticking religiously with US kids height on the irons never have them off by more then one color. It sounds simply enough but when kids grow fast your buying a new set every 6 months and still checking every month that nothing is way off. Don’t be afraid to experiment if you need a club builder ask around and find someone who understands kids. They will be a huge help. With a young junior you pretty much learn to become your own fitter very quickly because the average person will think any kids club will do most OEM juniors sets are complete junk. Lots of stuff online around here and youtube that can help anyone who needs it.

> @Kcct82 said:

> It’s hard to find OEM drivers that are lightweight and have enough loft for younger kids. The Callaway Epic line has a 13.5* model + the adjustable hosel for another 1.5* to get you 15* of loft. It’s 200g with the weight removed (I asked Callaway). Your 9 year old might be able to handle that. Next would be the Cobra junior driver with 14* of loft at its highest setting (182g without weights). The Callaway XR is another lightweight option at 13.5*.

Never trust what the OEM tells you in terms of weight. Cobra will tell you the F9 is 199 when I've seen in it a scale for 190 with weights. We had a ping that was supposed to be 205, it was 194. Lots to factor dealing with head weights and the process they are built. Why when possible if you are in love buy the demo you are hitting.

On 10/5/2019 at 4:51 AM, Hardrain said:

My wife has this ladies Taylormade driver that is a few years old but really nice. It is a ladies flex shaft, and I think 12*.

I had a similar situation. I cut down a SLDR - man did my kid hit that one so much worse than his USKG TS3 driver! Partly my mistake not to check what kind of driver that Taylormade SLDR was, turns out its a really difficult driver, small sweetspot and difficult to get up. So do your research before the cut!

I see nothing wrong with tipping it 7-8 inches.....

Man talk about reviving an old thread