Who is playing 44.5” driver?

[eppey]

Been playing 44.5 since the beginning of last year. It was the best thing I did with the driver. Although it was a mess until I got the swing weight back to where I like it at D2. I hit it straighter, with more control and if I've lost yards I haven't noticed. I hit 13 of 14 fairways my last round and am consistently 11+ fairways. Unless that changes, I'm not looking to make any changes.

[TheLarch]

9* Ping G30 with a 44.5* Graphite Design YS-7 Nano Reloaded shaft works pretty well for me. Surprised I don't seem more of these shafts in play.

[Pigems]

I’m in the 44.5” club, I also play a 42” 3 wood and my irons are 1/2” shorter as well. I’m only 5’9” :)

[Gtyler14]

I’m 6’1” and I play 44 most of the time sometimes I tinker with 44.25-44.5 but I like the shorter driver because I hit the center or close to the center more often than I do with a longer driver. With a 45” I would hit the face, toe, heel, center low, there just wasn’t anything consistent so since switching to 3 years ago my driving is so much better.

[wkuo3]

Man....all you guys with long drivers. Jeez.

 

I’m at 43.5” for 25 years and counting.

 

I played 43" -44" persimmon driver more than 3 decades ago. Can still bag them these days just have to accept a tee shot of 210 yards.

[Belmont148]

6'1", play +1/2" in irons. Woods hybrid and driver are all shortened. 44.5" in driver and I added 12g to the head. No distance loss. Actually gained because I find the middle 80-90% of the time.

[jrr]

Have a Epic sz 10.5. had to move it up to 12.5 to hit it with some consistency. Sent it to Peoples and Will said cut it to 44.5" and hot melted it to 202g and took the lefts out of it. Consistently hit with an inch of dead center. Now down to 9* and controllable fades. I also play my irons +.5". Can't explain it it just works.

[citizenfore]

Still gaming a Nike vr str8 fit tour set at 11 degrees. Liked it with a 46” aldila voodoo shaft it came with, but was a bit wild. Changes to a 44” project x driver shaft and love it. More consistency and less wild misses. No distance loss noted and like others above probably a big t better due to more consistent strikes. I’m 6’4” and have no issues with the set up. Built an old callaway deuce warbird with a similar set up for the Sunday bag and it is also a beast.

[dcopp7]

I just reshafted a Ping G5 to 44.5". Seems to work well. 327gr overall weight. Stock head was 198gr. Lead tape made it 200gr. My irons are +0.5". I am 6'2"

[evoviiiyou]

I play 44.75” and like about a quarter inch above my left hand for grip. Really works for me vs the longer drivers out. I also play my 3metal at 42.5” and all irons are minus 1/2” 4 degrees flat.

 

If staying in the short grass is a focus of your game, it’s for sure not going to hurt anyone.

 

For giggles I played my buddies 45.75” M4 with even flow 55 S and it went really far compared to my gamer, I hit zero fairways with that stick that round. Immediately answered my question if the length I was giving up worth it and the answer was absolutely not.

[VA_Astra]

Played 9 on my home course today, first time with new shorter driver.....I dig it!!! Much straighter and i hit to normal if not longer distances as last year.

[wrmiller]

All of my drivers are now 44". Three woods are 43". One of the best moves I've done.

[KRW59]

I'm another 1/2" over length iron player , 44 1/2" driver player.

 

Howard Jones recommends 44.5" as a starting point for fitting driver

length , for those playing .5" over in their irons. He knows his stuff.

[Lefty431]

Just switched to 44.5" in my rogue sub zero... actually picked up 4 mph club head speed, and better accuracy!

[Johnny T]

Went to 44" after a fitting this winter. Also went with a heavier shaft. Definitely more consistent and picked up a bit of distance, although not really enough to matter.

 

 

[Lefty431]

I should add I also went heavier!

[swoll cracker]

I just cut a Diamana S+ to a playing length of 44.5" for my Rogue SZ. I've been playing my drivers at 45" for a long time but thought it might be worth a shot. Early results are good. I'm getting a little more consistent ball flight. I dont think I'm giving up any distance but thats a little too early to tell. I've got a tournament next week and I'm confident enough to put the 44.5" driver into play.

[Z1ggy16]

Me. It's much more controllable than 45 or 45.5.

[KAndyMan]

Got an old Nike SQ driver i cut to 44" and painted pink (to match a driver i built for my 2 year old daughter). Winters are too long in MI.... Anyways after playing with SW for a bit i took it out one day and go figure the think is a rocket launcher. My buddies thought it was the cutest thing ever and had a few laughs till they realized they were getting outdriven by a good 20-30yds every time. After few rounds with pinky i cut down my gamer and of course it made no difference to that club and the pink Nike is still the longest/straightest driver i have. SMH And im not spending the time to repaint the thing

[Mack83]

44" for me in my 915D2. Down from 45". Much more consistent. My 45" drives were slightly long when good, but very inconsistent. 44" drives are longer on average, better ball flight and more fairways hit. Took me a little bit of an effort to correct weights to get back to desired swing weight. 17g and 19g allows me to change between D2 and D3. All is good, not going back. I did not trim tip length. Butt trimmed only. Worked for me.

[nova-a-aron]

For those playing shorter driver shafts, do you recommend going up in weight...say shaft in 70 gram range?

[jgard320]

Rogue SZ at 44. What I lose in SS, I make up for in ball speed. I’ve played as low as 43.25, but 44 seems to be my point of diminishing returns.

[jgard320]

For those playing shorter driver shafts, do you recommend going up in weight...say shaft in 70 gram range?

 

Swing weight is a bigger factor for me. At 44, I had to add 13 grams to my sz head to get to d5, where I prefer to play. I prefer a 70 g shaft regardless of length.

[platgof]

Picked up a new R15 and cut it to 44 1/2" , and did very well with it. I will take consistency over length any day.

[Johnny T]

For those playing shorter driver shafts, do you recommend going up in weight...say shaft in 70 gram range?

 

 

Cant say for sure. I had tried heavier (70g) driver shafts in the past and had mixed results. When I did my fitting, the fitter early on clued in that I should be in a shorter and heavier shaft. I think the heavier shaft had something to do with my tempo...heavier to try to smooth me out. Much like jgard320 said, swingweight may be the bigger factor. I think my fitting resulted in a D4 or D5 swingweight. If you had told me that before going in, I would have said you were crazy. But now that I'm playing it I cant' see myself going away from it.

[dongn5]

Been using a 44.5" driver basically my whole life. Got fitted for a 45" M2 with Kuro Kage XT last year but I couldn't get used to it. Ended up cutting it down to MY standard length and it felt like home again. My accuracy, solid contact and distance came back. Sometimes I'll even choke down a little more, and for some reason I get even more distance due to a better flight.

[Qwiklap]

Went to 44.5" a few months back. I am longer and straighter than ever.

[xGameOver]

Playing at 44.5

[dsmil]

44 inch here and I haven't lost any distance on average. If you are struggling with your driver, hitting the center of the club face more often will be key for you, and shortening the shaft can help. Most golfers out there are going to gain accuracy and could maintain or even gain distance on average, because they are finding the middle of the face more often. Maybe your max drive goes down with a slight loss of swing speed, but that really isn't important.

[pappaf2]

Been playing a 44.25"-44.5" (depending on how you measure) driver for a while and I love it. Added an NV75 and a little lead tape to get the weight up. I can't really imagine playing a longer driver again after playing with this length.