Cutting down a 3 wood to 5 wood length? Crazy or Smart or NBD

[smokedturkey]

In my seemingly endless attempt to maximize my 3 wood performance, I am seriously considering cutting down my 3 wood to my 5 wood length. For whatever reason I am very confident with my 5 wood, but get that 3 wood (3HL actually) in hand and dispersion is all over the place. I was also wondering if by shortening the 3 wood how much of an improvement of contact was observed, if any, for those of you that have done this. Did you actually gain more distance or not? I would expect to cut from the butt end which shouldn't effect shaft flex too much, but would get it swing weighted at a close by Edwin Watts that has a great club fitter in house.

 

Any of you try this and with what success would be great to hear suggestions.

[GolfTurkey]

From one turkey to another, I found far more consistent results at 42.5 inches at 4 wood loft

 

[morrisminor]

I am a big fan of shorter shafts in fairways. Recently I was playing a 5 wood at 40.75" and even at that length I didn't notice any distance drop off.

 

I have my 3 wood at 42.25" but I could easily go down to 42" or even shorter.

 

One thing to bear in mind is that cutting just from the butt and bringing the SW up with weight in/on the head will make the shaft play softer. The usual advice is to tip 1/2" to counteract the extra head weight.

[A.Princey]

Go for it, mine is much easier to hit now

[Joelsim]

I put a 7 wood shaft in my 3 Wood, the same shaft in fact. My dispersion and distance has improved dramatically.

[WidespreadPanic]

3 woods these days are way too long. Cut that thing down.

[coops]

And use a decent weight shaft. Minimum 80 or more gm. ;-)

[staysober for golf]

I had an R15 3 wood head with a 5 wood shaft and 2 10grm weights. Super club and just as long as the regular lenght.

 

They tip the 5 wood shaft more so it will not balloon on you and you get more control and confidence which will give you more distance.

[bluedot]

I did this with a set of G30 fairways; made the 3, 5, and 7 all the same length and then changed the weights in the sole to make the three identical except for the loft. Generally, I was pleased with the results, but it still didn't make me as accurate with a 3W off the deck as I would have liked. I've gotten away from all of that now because I don't carry either a 7W or a 5W anymore; hybrids are just too good and too much easier to hit consistently. I carry only a 16.5 3W now as a fairway, and for the most part only use it as a layup club off the tee; I hit a 2 hybrid as far as the 3W off the ground, with much better accuracy.

 

As you go into this, keep a couple of things in mind. First, it may be that the reason that you aren't as accurate as you'd like to be with the 3W is less about the length of the shaft and more about the loft. You're likely at least a little more accurate with a PW than with a 9 iron, even though the 9 iron has a relatively short shaft, to use an extreme example. Expecting to hit a club with lower loft, even a 3HL as accurately as a club with more loft probably isn't realistic, shaft length aside, so maybe rethink HOW you are using the 3W as well as the shaft length.

 

Second, be careful about how the swingweight is adjusted. If you tell a club guy, even a really good one, to shorten the 3W shaft by 1/2", and then add enough weight to get it back to an arbitrary swingweight with hot melt for instance, you may not like the feel, sound, or performance of the club at all. So maybe consider not adding any weight after you shorten the shaft until you can go to the range and hit the club, and then add lead tape in small increments until you get the feel you want. You could then take that lead tape off and weigh it, and get the club guy to add that much weight with hot melt or tungsten powder, or whatever. Remember that you can always add more weight later, but it's really difficult to take weight out once it's there. Of course, if your 3W is a model with removable weights, the problem becomes much easier to solve with after-market weights from Billy Bob's or somewhere like that.

 

Good luck!

[Jagpilotohio]

I play my Cally 3 and 5 both an inch short at 42 and 41.5. I have for 3 years since I bought them.

 

I tipped mine 1/2 inch and butt cut 1/2 inch to try and keep stiffness similar. I added about 10 grams of hot melt to the heads for swingweighting.

 

I use the stock Fuji speeder 665 x stiff flex 66 gram shafts. They Work great.. I’ve never understood why many people suggest heavier shafts on a distance club.

 

Its difficult to say how much more accurate I am with them, But I hit the center more often and I’m much more confident Standing over them.

[Howard_Jones]

In my seemingly endless attempt to maximize my 3 wood performance, I am seriously considering cutting down my 3 wood to my 5 wood length. For whatever reason I am very confident with my 5 wood, but get that 3 wood (3HL actually) in hand and dispersion is all over the place. I was also wondering if by shortening the 3 wood how much of an improvement of contact was observed, if any, for those of you that have done this. Did you actually gain more distance or not? I would expect to cut from the butt end which shouldn't effect shaft flex too much, but would get it swing weighted at a close by Edwin Watts that has a great club fitter in house.

 

Any of you try this and with what success would be great to hear suggestions.

 

To avoid that you mess it up, read this DIY driver tune up, and you can dial in that club WITHOUT cutting it before you know where to go with both length and head weight. In some cases we should pull the shaft and tip trim it, depending on how it feels and works when we have added weight to the head. All this can be tested BEFORE we cut it down, just follow this DIY and you want mess up.

 

The DIY is for drivers, but can be used for any club except putters

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/909991-diy-driver-tune-up-diy-fitting/

[Rohlio]

I have a 7 wood shaft in my 4 wood... Had to add a bunch of weight to play it at 41.5". I cut it first and played it at C7... Then did leadtape to get it up to D5 where I liked it... Then added the heaviest adjustable weight I could find and added 10g of yarn to the inside of the club head

 

But omg best I have ever hit a fairway wood.

[smokedturkey]

In my seemingly endless attempt to maximize my 3 wood performance, I am seriously considering cutting down my 3 wood to my 5 wood length. For whatever reason I am very confident with my 5 wood, but get that 3 wood (3HL actually) in hand and dispersion is all over the place. I was also wondering if by shortening the 3 wood how much of an improvement of contact was observed, if any, for those of you that have done this. Did you actually gain more distance or not? I would expect to cut from the butt end which shouldn't effect shaft flex too much, but would get it swing weighted at a close by Edwin Watts that has a great club fitter in house.

 

Any of you try this and with what success would be great to hear suggestions.

 

To avoid that you mess it up, read this DIY driver tune up, and you can dial in that club WITHOUT cutting it before you know where to go with both length and head weight. In some cases we should pull the shaft and tip trim it, depending on how it feels and works when we have added weight to the head. All this can be tested BEFORE we cut it down, just follow this DIY and you want mess up.

 

The DIY is for drivers, but can be used for any club except putters

http://www.golfwrx.c...up-diy-fitting/

 

 

Thanks for article link. A golf WRX club addict article.