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Cutting down length of fairway woods and driver

SuperStroke
FreddieMac

FreddieMac

Returning Golfer
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Aug 7, 2019
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Baton Rouge
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I am thinking about having my woods cut down by an inch across the clubs to get more accuracy. I know I am giving up a bit of distance, but right now that is not a big deal. Has anyone done this and had success?
 
I have played with shorter drive with some success but have found that since I historically change annually I sometimes find that upon resale that a shorter driver limits the audience of buyers. I have found that for me that the shorter driver resulted in better Center face success. In my opinion I have seen no loss of distance as the improved center face impact offsets any reduced length. My current 3 wood is also 1” shorter than standard and I see no negative results. Please note, I am below average height so that also factors in a shorter club at more suitable for my swing.
 
I am 5' 9", not very tall. I figured the resale value would be an issue, but I do not normally resell my old clubs, I try to donate them to someone or kids. May I ask, what is your height?
 
In the past two years i have gone the opposit direction on the club length. I have all my clubs 1/2" longer than standard and then grip down on the club a bit making the club feel more controllable.
 
I haven't gone a full inch. I guess it kind of depends what your starting point is. If you are playing 45.75" or something, then you aren't going to really be playing all that short of a club. Either way, I started playing my driver down to just a hair under 45" when I was at 45.5-45.75 before. I have noticed that I really am not hitting it any shorter but much straighter.
 
radiman;n8886917 said:
I haven't gone a full inch. I guess it kind of depends what your starting point is. If you are playing 45.75" or something, then you aren't going to really be playing all that short of a club. Either way, I started playing my driver down to just a hair under 45" when I was at 45.5-45.75 before. I have noticed that I really am not hitting it any shorter but much straighter.
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My current driver is 45" and I am thinking of taking it down to 44".
 
i have experimented with this, but i don't like it. i'm only 5'10 in timberlands, but i have never liked the feel of shortened clubs. just know that you can stiffen and lighten clubs by shortened, so make sure you have a professional do the work for you. might i recommend MWard hehe
 
Maybe just try buying a 3 wood shaft for your driver. I found one on eBay for my Epic Flash. I love the shorter club and I have gotten much more consistent off the tee. I also still have a full driver shaft to resell with my Epic Flash head when I upgrade to a new Callaway driver in the future. Yes I am limited on manufacturer unless I change the hosel, but I don't think being limited to Callaway is going to hurt me at all as I am fairly confident they are going to have one of if not the best driver heads on the market for the foreseeable future.
 
I'm also about 5'9". I took an inch off my driver this year, from 45.5 to 44.5. It made a lot of difference in terms of frequency of center contact, and I haven't noticed much if any loss of distance. I didn't put any thought into resale because it's a stock shaft and by the time I look to sell it probably won't be worth much anyway. I haven't cut my fairway woods down (yet), but I do usually grip them down an inch from the top.
 
McLovin;n8886925 said:
i have experimented with this, but i don't like it. i'm only 5'10 in timberlands, but i have never liked the feel of shortened clubs. just know that you can stiffen and lighten clubs by shortened, so make sure you have a professional do the work for you. might i recommend MWard hehe
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If you do it yourself, it’s a definite measure twice cut once thing. Heck, make a test cut above the line just to double check you know how to measure and then if all is well, cut the rest. Better to be a smidge long and adjust again than ah man cut it short and that’s probably ruined.
 
Swing weight will be something to keep in mind as well, this may help there:

[video=youtube_share;KIexK6AxE-4]https://youtu.be/KIexK6AxE-4[/video]
 
Oh I will probably do it myself on an older club first to give it a try. I was just wondering if anyone saw an improvement in their game. I have read a few places that swing weight will change but not significantly and becuase it is a regular shaft, should not "stiffen" to much or change much at all.
 
FreddieMac;n8887017 said:
Oh I will probably do it myself on an older club first to give it a try. I was just wondering if anyone saw an improvement in their game. I have read a few places that swing weight will change but not significantly and becuase it is a regular shaft, should not "stiffen" to much or change much at all.
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1" off the butt of a club will decrease swing weight 6 points, though that could be slightly different depending on if the shaft is counterbalanced or not.
 
I've played a driver most of the year at 44.5 and found the center of the face way more. I feel like I've picked up some distance consistency as well as confidence off the tee.
 
FreddieMac;n8886924 said:
My current driver is 45" and I am thinking of taking it down to 44".
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I would say to buy a "test" shaft to try out, but it looks like you are playing the Diablo which isn't adjustable. Maybe you can go to a shop and demo a driver but have them put a 3 wood shaft in it? Callaway's adapters have changed so that is not an option. But, TM or Titleist would probably have some decent 3 wood shafts you could try.
 
I'm 5'11 and play my driver at 44.5" and 3 wood at 42.5". My son is 5'7 and plays his driver and 3 wood at the same lengths. Bubba Watson is 6'3 and plays his at 44.5" as well. So I don't think length shares any absolute relationship with height. I find centered contact best at 44.5" after testing everything from 44 to 46". I also still swing my club 120+ mph and Bubba swings his up to 125 mph. So you won't give up much in club head speed. If the contact is optimal you might even gain carry and total distance with a shorter club. My son swings his driver in the low 90's and carries 230-240 and has a measured drive in Drive, Chip, and Putt between the 260-270 markers with a junk range ball. But he's about as optimized as possible for his swing speed.

Swing weight is a factor and expect to lose about 3 swing weight points for every 1/2 inch. It's actually a loss of a point for approximately every 5 grams of weight removed from the butt end. It's easier to correct if you have a driver that has a weight system. Most OEM's offer heavier weights, and you can find heavier knockoff weights on Ebay if necessary.
 
FreddieMac;n8886797 said:
I am thinking about having my woods cut down by an inch across the clubs to get more accuracy. I know I am giving up a bit of distance, but right now that is not a big deal. Has anyone done this and had success?
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I have not, however when Im struggling to keep the ball straight I will choke down and 1" or so
 
With today's clubs, I wouldn't think resale would take that much of a hit. It's so easy to swap shafts nowadays, I'd think it's an afterthought.

As far as playing a shorter driver, I'm currently playing a 45.5" driver and it's the first I've played over 44.75" in years. I still might cut it down, but I'm gonna give it a few more rounds to decide.

What driver are we talking about? If it's one with adjustable weights, then getting the swingweight (or at least part of it) back should be simple.
 
Yeah, unless you really like to nestle your back hand against the butt, why don't you just choke down and see how it works for you.

edit: It's been my overwhelming experience that resale IS affected by shortening stock shafts. I don't think most view a $100 shaft as an afterthought.
 
Yeah I play my driver at 44 1/2", my 3w at 42 3/4, and 5w at 42 1/4. The fairway woods I had built that length to D3 swingweight, so tip weights were added to compensate. The driver I had to add weight to the head to compensate for the shorter shaft. Like JMan said, it's about 6 swingweight points for a non counterbalanced shaft for every inch taken off, which is about 12g of weight needed in the head to bring it back to it's original swingweight.

Some of the testing I did with the driver cut down showed that I was just as long but more accurate with the shorter shaft. But the club felt really light without adding weight to the head. You really just need to mess with it and find what works for you. With the shorter shaft, I didn't need to get it all the way back to the D4-D5 range I was used to with a standard length driver. In fact, anything over D3 felt crazy heavy in the head. Best results for me were right around the D1-D2 range.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
radiman;n8887030 said:
I would say to buy a "test" shaft to try out, but it looks like you are playing the Diablo which isn't adjustable. Maybe you can go to a shop and demo a driver but have them put a 3 wood shaft in it? Callaway's adapters have changed so that is not an option. But, TM or Titleist would probably have some decent 3 wood shafts you could try.
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Oh, that is a good idea.
 
OGputtnfool;n8887047 said:
With today's clubs, I wouldn't think resale would take that much of a hit. It's so easy to swap shafts nowadays, I'd think it's an afterthought.

As far as playing a shorter driver, I'm currently playing a 45.5" driver and it's the first I've played over 44.75" in years. I still might cut it down, but I'm gonna give it a few more rounds to decide.

What driver are we talking about? If it's one with adjustable weights, then getting the swingweight (or at least part of it) back should be simple.
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I play a Big Bertha Diablo driver right now. I know I am going to buy a new driver next year, I was thinking of doing this to test it for about 6 months and see if I like it for the new driver and fairway woods.
 
FreddieMac;n8886797 said:
I am thinking about having my woods cut down by an inch across the clubs to get more accuracy. I know I am giving up a bit of distance, but right now that is not a big deal. Has anyone done this and had success?
Click to expand...

Had my driver cut down and it made a big difference, but it was covering a flaw I had. Once I ironed out the flaw, I went back to standard length.
 
I’m playing driver at 44”, 3 wood at 42” and 5 wood at 41”. I’m finding centre of the face more often and much more consistent with distance and fairway.

I didn’t give up anything on distance to my eye and it has improved confidence immensely.

If you’re anything like me... measure 6,452 times, cut once.
 
I play my driver just short of 45", 3 Wood at a little over 42", and 5 Wood at 41". I often flirt with shorter irons as well but am currently playing off a 38" 5 iron and 35" LW.

Biggest thing for me was figuring out swing weight. Even though I play everything short I also like heavier swingweights. My driver even though it has a CB shaft in it still SW to D6+. My 3 Wood and 5 Wood are both at D4+. Distance wise, I think is about neutral. Centered strikes go farther and the shorter length usually means a bit better control.
 
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