We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Driver Shaft Shortening

Nippon Shafts
T

THPClarky

New member
Joined
May 17, 2010
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Location
Canada
Handicap
9
Hi, I have a few questions I was hoping some of the posters here could help me with.

I have a Diamana Redboard Stiff Flex in my Driver. It is untipped and makes the club play at 46 inches. I want to cut this down at least one inch for accuracy and more consistent sweet spot contact.

1) If I only butt trim, how much (if any) will this increase the stiffness of the club.

2) Will this butt trim change the kickpoint of the shaft much lowering the ball flight?

3) I know this will take down the swingweight approx. 6 points. I am considering putting on some Winn Lite grips which will bring my swing weight back up 5 points. I have heard that "tricking" the swingweight by changing grips is very detrimental to the club. Has anyone had any experience with this issue?

Any other insights/advice is welcome.

Thanks!
 
Being only 1 inch should not alter too much. I do not believe the stiffnes will change. Any trim technically changes the flex point. In this case it would move it slightly lower. Not enough for most to see in my opinion.
 
So, if it moves the flex point lower, would this increase the trajectory(launch angle) or does a lower flex point move the "kickpoint" higher?
 
flex point and kick point are one and the same for the most part. lower flex point means higher ball flight and vice versa.
 
Does this shaft normally get butt trimmed or tip trimmed when fitting?
 
wouldnt trimming it an inch be the same as choking down and inch of an untrimmed club?
 
Vegan702 said:
Does this shaft normally get butt trimmed or tip trimmed when fitting?
Click to expand...

I always thought it was best to trim the butt end of the shaft.
 
bogey_russ said:
wouldnt trimming it an inch be the same as choking down and inch of an untrimmed club?
Click to expand...

This is why I wanted to cut this down. Every time I choke down on this club I nut it. Just seems like I get the sweet spot more often this way and don't lose much if any distance. But, I want to cut it down as sometimes the choking up affects my grip a little with the butt end sticking out too far.

What I really want to know is how this butt trim will affect the stiffness and ball flight from this club.
 
As JB pointed out, an inch off the butt end isn't going to affect much of anything.

For all intents and purposes, the shaft will still flex as it always has and there should be no noticeable difference in ball flight.

There WILL however be a difference in swingweight and the club will feel lighter. Basically, for every 1/2-inch a club is shortened, there is a 3 unit drop in swingweight. So trimming an inch from a shaft will produce up to a 6 swingweight change. So if your driver now swingweights at, say, D-2, trimming an inch will make it feel like a C-6.
If that's OK with you, then you're fine. But if you still want the club to swingweight at D-2, you're going to have to add weight to the clubhead. If you have a driver that has changeable weights, then you'll need to swap out those weights for something heavier. If you have no movable weights, a few strips of lead tape will get you back to where you want to be. If you don't want lead tape on your driver, then you'll have to find a way to add weight to the inside of the clubhead (which is ideal) or remove the shaft and add a weight plug to the shaft tip (something I don't like doing). Or you could try the old method of lead (or tungsten) powder down the shaft and held in place with an epoxied cork, but I personally don't like that method because too much powder can change the tip flex and can cause rattles if it ever gets loose.

So it's not as simple as just whacking an inch off the shaft as whatever you do with a golf club has a definite cause and effect relationship.


-JP
 
THPClarky said:
Hi, I have a few questions I was hoping some of the posters here could help me with.

I have a Diamana Redboard Stiff Flex in my Driver. It is untipped and makes the club play at 46 inches. I want to cut this down at least one inch for accuracy and more consistent sweet spot contact.

1) If I only butt trim, how much (if any) will this increase the stiffness of the club.

2) Will this butt trim change the kickpoint of the shaft much lowering the ball flight?

3) I know this will take down the swingweight approx. 6 points. I am considering putting on some Winn Lite grips which will bring my swing weight back up 5 points. I have heard that "tricking" the swingweight by changing grips is very detrimental to the club. Has anyone had any experience with this issue?

Any other insights/advice is welcome.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

well i just did this a few weeks ago and am very pleased with the results. like you i was concerned about the swingweight issue buts it basically a non-factor at this point. I took the club to my local place and had it weighed before having an inch cut off then regripped. at 45.75" (nike sumo 5900) it was d-6. i slapped three 3" pieces of standard weight lead tape on the head and took it to the course. after a couple of holes it felt too head heavy so i progressively removed tape until it felt "better." i'm now playing with about 5" of tape on it and frankly some days that feels heavy and others it feels light. my point is that swingweight is not an absolute - its all about feel. take the plunge and then play around until you find something that you like. lead tape is easy way to go.
the shorter length gives me the confidence to swing more freely and as a result i think i'm making better contact. hard to tell distance wise - actually i don't think its made any difference longer or shorter.
good luck
 
Not trying to thread jack... but do you think the same would apply for a putter? If I wanted to cut down a putter from 35" to say 32" that won't significantly alter the way it works would it?
 
rbelbin said:
Not trying to thread jack... but do you think the same would apply for a putter? If I wanted to cut down a putter from 35" to say 32" that won't significantly alter the way it works would it?
Click to expand...

From my experience it will affect the swing weight more with the putter. 3" off a putter is significant. I took off an inch on my putter and you can totally tell. When I did that it was recommended I don't take off more than the 1 inch. It seems to have been enough since most of my friends marvel at my putting skills.
 
aubs88 said:
From my experience it will affect the swing weight more with the putter. 3" off a putter is significant. I took off an inch on my putter and you can totally tell. When I did that it was recommended I don't take off more than the 1 inch. It seems to have been enough since most of my friends marvel at my putting skills.
Click to expand...

Thanks - just looking to score a 2 ball putter for the wife. Guess I'll have to get one of the ladies versions.
 
gtaj said:
well i just did this a few weeks ago and am very pleased with the results. like you i was concerned about the swingweight issue buts it basically a non-factor at this point. I took the club to my local place and had it weighed before having an inch cut off then regripped. at 45.75" (nike sumo 5900) it was d-6. i slapped three 3" pieces of standard weight lead tape on the head and took it to the course. after a couple of holes it felt too head heavy so i progressively removed tape until it felt "better." i'm now playing with about 5" of tape on it and frankly some days that feels heavy and others it feels light. my point is that swingweight is not an absolute - its all about feel. take the plunge and then play around until you find something that you like. lead tape is easy way to go.
the shorter length gives me the confidence to swing more freely and as a result i think i'm making better contact. hard to tell distance wise - actually i don't think its made any difference longer or shorter.
good luck
Click to expand...

No arguments here - I'm a big fan of lead tape and I have rolls of the stuff.

The thing is though that not everyone wants a piece (or pieces) of lead tape marring the looks of their club.
And if cosmetics is a big issue for someone, then having to place a large amount of tape on a clubhead to compensate for significantly altering the swingweight of that club (such as by lopping an inch off the back of a driver shaft), could be problematic.

As far as I'm concerned, a golf club is a tool and whatever I need to do to make that tool work well is fine with me. So if that means one or more pieces of tape need to be on the back of the clubhead, then that's what it means.


-JP
 
rbelbin said:
Not trying to thread jack... but do you think the same would apply for a putter? If I wanted to cut down a putter from 35" to say 32" that won't significantly alter the way it works would it?
Click to expand...

It would, definitely.

When I had a Scotty Cameron, I dropped it from 35" to 34" and there was a huge difference to me. Ended up selling it because it was too light for my liking.
 
I've been looking at reshaft options for my stock Ping G10 driver, but decided to first shorten the stock (stiff) shaft to 45" simply by trimming the butt just to see how it plays. I figured if it sucks, I'll go ahead with a new shaft.

I have not put it on a scale since it was trimmed, but it feels noticeably lighter. The ball is launching slightly higher, which I was hoping for, but it's not drastically different.

The biggest difference is that virtually every shot is on the sweet spot, and I can actually shape shots with some degree of control, which I absolutely could not do with the stock 45.75" shaft. I'm not sure if this is a function of the shorter shaft or the reduced swing weight, but the difference in workability is considerable.

If I ultimately decide to go with a new shaft, I'm going to do it at 45 inches and try to get the swing weight mid-way between where it was before and where it is now.
 
Floppy said:
When I had a Scotty Cameron, I dropped it from 35" to 34" and there was a huge difference to me. Ended up selling it because it was too light for my liking.
Click to expand...


I've always thought Scotty's were too light overall which is a big reason why I never got into them.

But the truth is that I like a heavy putter and almost all putters seem too light for me. In fact, one of the things I look for when shopping for a new putter is where I might put some tape to make it a bit heavier because I know I'll almost always need to. I think that's one of the reasons why I love my Odyssey Dual Force; it's one of the first (if not the only) putter I've ever owned on which I didn't have to place ANY lead tape at all because it felt perfect right off the shelf!


-JP
 
Hi all,

Thanks a ton for the quality responses. I just got this email back from Mitsubishi and I thought I would share it.

"Eric,

Thank you for writing in. Butt trimming the shaft 1" to 1.5" will not change the stiffness of the shaft in any significant way. Putting a lighter grip on your club will not change the performance of the shaft, but it will change the swing weight.

MRC Golf
Customer Support"
 
This has been true for me. Cut mine down to 44". My shots are more accurate and even a touch longer.
 
For you guys that trimmed your shafts down by butt trimming, how much did your kickpoint change? Did it give you a higher or lower ballflight on average?
 
Wow is this site a wealth of fantastic information! Wish I'd found it years ago.

I've been considering altering the shaft in my Callaway FTIQ, but have a novice question. What is the proper way to measure shaft length? With the club head, without?

That said, why are all these mfrs. building standard equipment the pros wouldn't even try to play? I've heard repeatedly that the average tour driver shaft is 44.5"...
 
THPClarky said:
For you guys that trimmed your shafts down by butt trimming, how much did your kickpoint change? Did it give you a higher or lower ballflight on average?
Click to expand...

It didnt.

Flooder said:
Wow is this site a wealth of fantastic information! Wish I'd found it years ago.

I've been considering altering the shaft in my Callaway FTIQ, but have a novice question. What is the proper way to measure shaft length? With the club head, without?

That said, why are all these mfrs. building standard equipment the pros wouldn't even try to play? I've heard repeatedly that the average tour driver shaft is 44.5"...
Click to expand...

We did an article previously and quoted a few pros that do play the shafts at over 45". It comes down to distance and wanting more. The pros do not need that based on swing speed numbers. As mentioned by a shaft manufacturer in that article, many pros also do not play a 460cc driver. The bigger head looks odd and can create balance problems on shorter shafts.
 
Flooder said:
I've been considering altering the shaft in my Callaway FTIQ, but have a novice question. What is the proper way to measure shaft length? With the club head, without?
Click to expand...
Golf_Club_Length_Measuring.jpg
 
Nice. Thank you Bonknhead!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top