Have Modern Driver Gotten Too Long - Club Length Not Distance?

[Stuart_G]

 

On 5/1/2024 at 9:58 AM, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

A standard length is always going to be what they consider "best" which is subjective.

 

Sure - but what's best for the OEM are the sales numbers, not what's best for the player.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

10 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

Sure - but what's best for the OEM are the sales numbers, not what's best for the player.

 

Of course, and everybody here would do the same.

My whole point was it's the player's responsibility to be informed on their own abilities and discuss with a fitter or adjust on their own. Not sure what else a manufacturer can do but tell customers "You cannot buy our clubs without a fitting."

That would pretty much guarantee business failure.

 

 

[Ri_Redneck]

I played 44.75" for ever.....

 

Until I built a longer club out of the proper components for me. Shaft weight / Balance, clubhead weight and PROPER SW/MOI is what matters when optimizing strike. My players are now 46" and my consistency is just as good (if not better) as it ever was. I have the build process described here.

 

BT

 

 

 

[Howard_Jones]

4 hours ago, RobS said:

I'm comfortable at 45.5"-46" and personally see distance/speed benefits without sacrificing much if anything with consistency.  I can certainly see how it doesn't work for everyone.  Being middle aged, I can recall the adjustment period I had when lightweight driver shafts at 45" became the norm.  After playing drivers at 45" with 260cc-300cc heads for years, 460cc at 45.5'-46" doesn't look/feel too long for me.  The upside with stock lengths at or near the USGA max is that it's generally easier to add weight if you want to go shorter vs removing weight to go longer on a stock head designed for a shorter shaft length.  As with every other aspect to selecting clubs, you need to test/experiment to see what offers the most balanced performance.

Thats impressive, but i beleive you.

Your bag is not in your signature, how does it alll looks like now on specs?
 

[dsmil]

I feel like if we only looked out for players, drivers would start at around 44 inches as standard. It’s better for your average bogey golfer out there, and I’m guessing that the vast majority of people are buying off the rack or with big box store types of fitters, who probably don’t love changing lengths and playing with head weights as much as skilled fitters. It would also be cool to see what the OEM’s could do to the club heads if for instance they had 10g of added weight to play with because of the shortened length.

 

But I understand how none of the OEM’s want to be the one who looks shorter in the fitting bay and it’s easier to cut down shafts and add weight than it is to do the reverse.

Edited May 2 by dsmil

[jda]

Titleist resisted hot faces at the detriment of other things for a long time.  They lost marketshare to Ping and TM.  They got it back when they got hot faces too.  Of course, the hot faces don't matter much on the course, but they popped numbers in the cages for fitters and YouTubers and stuff.

 

Most big-box golf stores do not really have fitters - they have number readers and shaft swappers.  I am sure that there are a few good ones out there, but the bad ones dominate.  Once, had a HS kid who swing 125-126 fit into a R shaft because it had the highest club head speed.  I doubt that any OEM wants these folks trying to explain nuance and stuff to the customers.

[RobS]

7 hours ago, Howard_Jones said:

Thats impressive, but i beleive you.

Your bag is not in your signature, how does it alll looks like now on specs?
 

Titleist TSI3 10* Tensei AV White 65, 45.5"

TM SIM Ti 15* Tensei AV White 75, 43"

Titleist TS2 7w 20.25* Tensei AV White 85, 42"

TM P770 4-P & MG 4 wedges 50, 54, 58, KBS $ Taper +1/2"

 

For context, I'm a barefoot 6'2, have been playing since the 1980['s and hover around scratch.

[EddieEdwards]

Most people play them as they come.  I'd bet most people don't even regrip thier clubs ever.  In the manufacturers defense, it's easier to shorten than lengthen a club.

 

Most people wear clothes that don't fit well and should be tailored but they don't bother.  If you tailor your stuff you notice.

[JM2]

Ended up picking up a third shaft yesterday. I decided to do a little experiment with it. So I brought it to the range and tried it as is (45 7/8” playing length as it came to me) to see how it performed.  Pulled the lead tape off the sole I had used to get the swing weight correct for my two 45” shafts so it would be correct (or at least close) for 45 7/8”.  I was inconsistent at best and really pretty bad with it at that length. 
 

 

I also brought my portable compressor, hack saw, some masking tape and a new grip. Cut the grip off, cut the shaft down to 45” playing length, blew on a new grip.  Walked right back out to the range, tried it at 45” and what a difference. Much more consistent at the shorter length. Distance was fairly similar and dispersion was way better with the shorter shaft. 
 

Figured this was the best way to do a head to head comparison without the variables of hitting it on two different days where my swing might be different from one day to the next.  Based on some of the looks I got while I was working in the parking lot, this isn’t something people see too often at the range 🤣