Who Among You Tried Shorter a Driver This year?

[JohnKHawk]

Been struggling last few years with the driver. Some days big slice. Some days big hook. Some days I stripe it. Seems like from 1 day to the next my driver is like box of chocolates...I never know what I'm gonna get?

 

Prior to this year I've generally played my driver at stock length. When fitted no one ever said "hey lets try a shorter driver shaft". Long story short, I cut my driver down to measure approx. 44.625 inches. Added weight back in so swing weight was D1.5. Only 1/2 point from the original D2. I figured close enough. What a difference! Been my my best year with driver in last several. Actually hitting it further & most importantly, straighter.

 

Anyone else cut down their driver from stock length this year?

 

What length driver do you all play?

 

 

[bnperrone]

I'm at basically the same length and SW and it's been killer. I'm playing woods and hybrids below stock length and I play my irons and wedges at or just above stock length.

[76mpg]

I cut mine down from 45 to 44.25 and added a bit of lead tape to the head. No loss in distance and hit it just fine. I will leave it for now, works fine.

[waltonsfinest]

I play it at 45.75 and bomb away. I hit a 5-7 yard draw and most holes that are straight/dogleg left I’m golden. If I come to a dogleg right that has trouble left, I’ll pull my P790 2 iron and hit it around 260 and play it in. Much better scoring this year doing that, than chasing a straighter ball. 

Edited October 26, 2020 by waltonsfinest

[Hougz79]

I have been playing 44.75” for the past year.  

[third-times-a-charm]

12 minutes ago, Hougz79 said:

I have been playing 44.75” for the past year.  

Same - and45”

[MuskieCy]

1 hour ago, waltonsfinest said:

I play it at 45.75 and bomb away. I hit a 5-7 yard draw and most holes that are straight/dogleg left I’m golden. If I come to a dogleg right that has trouble left, I’ll pull my P790 2 iron and hit it around 260 and play it in. Much better scoring this year doing that, than chasing a straighter ball. 

Are you a PGA Tour player or a true believer on GolfWRX?

[MikeW2]

I put a 5W shaft into my driver, plays at 43” and it’s been a big success for me. No idea what the SW is and don’t really care because it’s working so well.

[uglande]

I'm at 45 but I had a mini-driver as a second driver for a bit (43.75 inches). I got rid of that but am working on a 2-driver setup with my standard bomber at 45 inches but then a shorter driver at 43.50-44.00 inches using a G410 LST (adding extra weight) at 10.5 loft. This will be my high MOI, higher-lofted, higher-spinning fairway finder. This is still a work in progress; just one of my off-season projects.

Edited October 27, 2020 by uglande

[waltonsfinest]

44 minutes ago, MuskieCy said:

Are you a PGA Tour player or a true believer on GolfWRX?

Just a 12 handicap making his way in the world...

[jplroper]

Playing a Callaway Steelhead  with a 43 1/2" steel shaft all year, tried some 45" shafted drivers and it didn't go well. Going froma 3w to the driver is an easy transition.

[NRJyzr]

Been playing 43.5" for the last two or three years, and have dabbled with 43" as well.  I tried playing 44" and even 44.5" several times this year, didn't work so well, so back to 43.5" as a max.

 

Consistency is way up for me with the shorter clubs.  Which isn't saying much (LOL), I've long had directional issues with driver.  As for distance....

 

Had a fitting several years ago that showed me swinging a 43.25" steel shafted driver 2-3 mph faster than my 44-1/8" 90g graphite shafted Ti driver that was in the bag at the time.  Took a few years for it to sink in that I should make a serious effort in that direction, but I've been off and running with it the last few years.  Yeah.  No distance loss.

 

I lead tape the clubs to get them up to D5 or D6.

 

[chipa]

I put a 88 gram hybrid high flight SX shaft in my old 9.5 Macgregor 380cc driver and set it at 44" (stock 45") and am hitting it a lot higher than I did before and it has become one of the easiest clubs in my bag to hit. I'm sure I must have lost distance but then probably not more than 15 yards after all this setup gives me a lot of confidence to make a good swing.

[animalgolfs]

I play shorter every year, this year was no different .....

 

I can't get any shorter

[setter02]

Started the year with a Ping G400 10* @ 43.5" and an 18g weight in the head with a KK Proto '13 in it.  Was working out really well until I cracked the head.  Biggest difference for me with that head was being able to pick up cheap OEM weights to tinker with various shafts.  Current Sim gamer is 45* and I quite like it, but I also don't have some head weights and a couple of tips to play around with.

[OsnolaKinnard]

44.5" long...for a very long time.

[phizzy30]

I've played tried 44-46 inch drivers in the past.  44 inch driver wasn't quite where I wanted to be distance wise.  46 inch driver was very long when hit solid, but when it was mishit, the dispersion would be awful.  45 inches seems to be the sweet spot for me.  It's a happy medium of distance and acceptable dispersion for me.

[doublepar93]

44.25 this year. Straighter ball flight. Maybe a hair distance loss but nothing too concerning.

[braincramp52]

9 hours ago, waltonsfinest said:

Just a 12 handicap making his way in the world...

 

 

What am I missing? Your avatar says you're a .8 .

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Fitting this week for a TSi2 came out with a 45” after seeing my most consistent miss being slightly toward the heel.  
 

The change brought the contact back toward the center.  
 

Minimal loss in CS, but imcreased ball speed got me a few more yards.  Accuracy wasn’t an issue before or after the change. 

[Stuart_G]

No this year.  But I've been playing driver at 44.25" for almost 10 years now.    Also cut down fairways and hybrids.  Irons are fairly standard.

[kmay__]

Just put my m2 back in the bag with a new 70g x stiff, 44.25" playing length, hit 11 of 14 fairways first round out, (one range sesh before) Never been so accurate, but also 20-30 yards shorter than normal. But it was cold and wet ect. Just need to open up the swing now with the improved accuracy. 

 

Not sure if its the shorter length, or the stiffer flex, likely both combined, but man the left miss is gone, strike location is more central, and it just goes straight to a slight fade. Was a nice feeling to aim up the left edge all day and watch it fade to the center. Warms the heart after major snap hook issues this year. 

Edited October 27, 2020 by kmay__
11* fairways lol

[Ephemerlol]

I moved to 44" this year.  Contact has improved dramatically, I also went to a shorter fairway wood to match.

[DREWZER300]

I play mine at 44.5".   I also added the +8g weight to my TS3 and installed a Golfpride Tour 25 grip.  This brought the swing weight to D6.   I typically always prefer shorter and heavier.   

[EDT501]

For the first time in my life I have my clubs specced out to where I feel comfortable over the ball. My irons are an inch over these days because I'm a tall guy (6' 4") and that's just where my stance/posture feels most natural. Driver is down to 44.5". I lost about 4-6 yards coming down from 45.5" but I the gains in accuracy have been well, well wroth it. Additionally, I feel much more comfortable really getting after one, so if anything I may have gained some at the very top end because I can swing hard and still find the center of the face.

[MtlJeff]

it's not a popular opinion though i always like to add my 0.02 to these threads. Many of the length changes that get discussed are less than 3% of the total length in terms of change, some well less than that. Going from 45 to 44.5 is a 1% change in total length. 

 

I don't believe that most golfers could even notice the difference purely on the length unless they knew it had been cut beforehand. I think a lot of times it's a placebo that just leads to more confidence for a new time period

 

I couldn't tell you the length of my driver (Mavrik Max), i could check the Callaway site and find out but i assume it's 45 to 45.75 in that range. I don't really care which it is, it doesn't make much difference to me. I don't think you really notice until you start getting into ~1.25-1.5 inch of difference to what you are accustomed

[Warrick]

Tried for a few years, been playing at 46 for last 3 seasons, works best for me

[waltonsfinest]

1 hour ago, braincramp52 said:

 

 

What am I missing? Your avatar says you're a .8 .

Just a little joke about a shot at my game..

[larryd3]

I tried a shorter driver and it didn't work as well for me.  Not sure the issue as on paper it should be better.  I've also just choked down on my current driver which is standard TM length and I don't hit it as well.  

[DNice26]

I played a 44.5" driver early in the season and will say that it was quite good.  

 

Now I'm back to 45/45.25" just because...