Driver shaft experiment

It's no secret that I am very inconsistent with driver and fairway woods. I can absolutely hammer 270 yard drives on one day and then pull hook everything with the driver the next day. Getting off the tee is absolutely the worst part of my game right now and has been for a long time, probably forever.

A little back-story about me for those who haven't seen me. I'm a sawed off little guy, pretty much barrel shaped. I'm only 5'5", but weigh 185lbs and I'm not a fat little guy. My irons are 1" short and I hit them fairly well, but have always struggled with driver and fairway woods and for some reason, I've never been fit for a driver and typically play them at standard length.

A buddy of mine owns a golf shop and I was talking to him about my struggles and we went out for a few minutes and he watched me hit a few balls. He immediately said that he thinks that I would be well served with a shorter driver shaft because of my height and build. He also suggested a real fitting, but decided to see what he had in his rack of old shafts. He pulled out a Diamana Blue 62S that ended up being 43.75" after installed. A shaft that had been cut for a fairway wood, I guess? He stuck an adapter on it and today we went back down to the range. It took a while to get used to a driver that was that short, but after I got used to it, I was hitting low draws about 220 yards. That's a bit short for me, but they were all very consistent, which is not something that I have been able to say before. We broke out the wrench and set it to 11* from the 9.5* I had previously used and I gained about 20 more yards and was hitting nice high straight shots.

It seems like an odd combination, a driver at fairway wood length, but it seems to work well for consistency for me. I'm not completely sold yet, but I can't argue with the results so far. He has a couple other shafts he's giving me to play around with, so I ordered the adapters and I'm going to try the Fubuki at 44" and see if I can get a little more distance without giving up the consistency. I have always said I'd give up 20 yards to hit the driver better consistently, so I guess this is going to test that theory.

I've been through many real driver fittings including one ten days ago, and at 5'10", my optimal length is 44 inches. Being able to change head weights made it easier for me this time around to maintain the SW I want in a driver which is D3. I give up a handful of yards, but very little and I'm much more accurate.

Marketing is the only reason driver shafts are at today's 46 inch standard.

Sounds like the shorter driver is working pretty well for you. Why don't you just carry two drivers, one for accuracy and one that gives more distance. You might also try a flatter lie angle to help with the hooks.

I am looking at doing the same thing. Looking forward to seeing your continuing results.

I know an inch longer shaft played havoc with me. I went from absolutely cannot hit 46" to absolute confidence in 45".

I just went from 46" last year to 44.5" this year. I guess I did see some improvement in dispersion but now I'm wanting my distance back. lol.
I'm actually looking for a stock whiteboard shaft to put in my driver and see if my swing has improved or if the shorter length helped the dispersion.

I think a shortened shaft will do you good, along with the right one as far as flex and kick point are concerned.

That said, I've played with a guy your height who uses stock length shafts, and I myself use 46 inch shafts and I'm a little over 5'10". However, for me, I tried going with a shorter shaft, the results were not good, so I reached that stage through trial and error.

I suggest you keep going on with the experiment, and you may try shaving the length off just a little bit more. You may also want to try out those 1.5 drivers which are a little shorter if you're hitting your 3w pretty well. For me I'll trade 10 yards less for more consistency. You can always try to get those 10 yards back once you're already comfortable with the new setup.