Shorter shafts than fitting recommends

[sliight]

Have been looking to replace my s3 Pros with something that isn't 9+ years old due to the solid improvements to club heads since then. I've been playing 1.5" long since basically 20 years old.

 

I've been looking at much older clubs and some tour player specs. It seems common that older clubs tended to be shorter, but lofts were weaker too, so in a sense part of that change is just that every iron today is really just has one number too small printed on it. Drivers though seemed to be a few inches lower, and many tour players seem to be shorter than the 45" standard.

 

So my question is... How many of you have experimented with clubs ranging from a half to a few inches shorter than what is recommended by a fitting? I mean ultimately you just need to tweak the lie so you're not toe or heel heavy and you're set for contact.

 

For those that have, did you test your swing speeds and compare to the longer matching clubs?

 

I'm just wondering if having that extra control would cause more consistent contact with just a negligible loss if any in speed.

 

I'm probably going to pick up a used set of Taylormade or Mizuno leaning away from blades/muscle backs and more towards the forgiving clubs. Figure I'll hit a few buckets at standard length to revamp swing, then bend the lie to fit and see how they play. If I like I'll throw on some jumbo grips to test more. Just hate to have to buy more grips to bump the length if it doesn't help...

 

Thanks all!

[@_the_crook]

several years ago I was fit into a 38 and a half inch (5 iron) set. that was about one inch longer than I'd previously played. it didn't work out.

some fitters seem to believe that longer will help a player adapt to try and gain distance.

after a bit of trial and error, I'm back to 37.5, 37.75 and that feels much better.

same for driver. anything 45 or over is unwieldy so I went back to 44 and a half.

you don't buy pants longer than needed so the same logic should go for club shafts.

Arnie said swing your swing, though he was better at it than I'll ever be.