is it advisable to cut driver shaft?

just bought a new driver.. it is 45.75inches..

i am just 1.68m... hence I don't know, feels a little long.

hence is it possible to cut the shaft length by 1 inch? I guess it does affect the specs of the shaft? Approx how much to cut the shaft?

MATE BETTER U GO TO CLUB FITTER HE CAN TELL U IF IT GOOD BECAUSE MORE U CUT THE SHAFT MORE IS STIFFER ....

wah we're the same height. so i totally know how you feel. even my long irons feel super long. haha and the answers you're gonna get to your question will mostly be like this; get fitted. go see a clubfitter (there are many just ask around) and they will look at your swing and write a prescription as to how your shaft's flex/length should be. they're the ones that can say for sure what your shaft specs should be like so ppl like me cannot blame the club when i hit a bad shot. haha i'm saving up for a trip to a clubfitter at the moment.

ironfist,

go to BFG.. u no need to have any $$ to consult him.. most of times.. i spent nothing there.. still got free kopi and snacks too hahaha..

Grip lower..choke down one 1"???

Generally, cutting down shaft will somewhat stiffen the flex and lower your swing weight. I would suggest you go to a qualified club fitter to get yourself fitted. It will be money well-spent!

Actually I agree with SS. just choke down 1" or so....for me, it changes the flight and the carry...more importantly easier to resell....

But then again, I had encountered fm some of my vocal frens saying " eh..chicken ah??? choke down...dare not whack ".....my reply " yeah lor....just want to be on fairway..."

kooky wrote:

just bought a new driver.. it is 45.75inches..

i am just 1.68m... hence I don't know, feels a little long.

hence is it possible to cut the shaft length by 1 inch? I guess it does affect the specs of the shaft? Approx how much to cut the shaft?

hi kooky

I think 46 inches is the standard shaft length for driver and your driver is consider slightly shorter than standard already. Yes, some driver, like Machspeed is having slightly shorter shaft length.
Therefore, having it cut for 1 more inch will make it even much shorter than standard length.

I would suggest to try to grip it down say 1 inch lower, practise your swing to control the driver and gradually increase back to 45.75 inch length again....

this way, it give you an option to go back to the actual length again without having to change your shaft should you chose to cut it shorter..

just my thought

snowman[left]

Duval_S wrote:

Actually I agree with SS. just choke down 1" or so....for me, it changes the flight and the carry...more importantly easier to resell....

But then again, I had encountered fm some of my vocal frens saying " eh..chicken ah??? choke down...dare not whack ".....my reply " yeah lor....just want to be on fairway..."

Gripping it down 1 inch will still stiffen the shaft somewhat, like I mentioned earlier. BUT choking down could result in greater accuracy off the tee. I for one, will choke it down a bit whenever I need to whack the heck out of my drive. It gives me better accuracy and, sometimes, a longer distance, too. So next time you get that kind of gesture from your playing partner, just whack it, find the fairway and get yourself a birdie-chance. Then it's payback time!

golf_snowman wrote:

kooky wrote:

just bought a new driver.. it is 45.75inches..

i am just 1.68m... hence I don't know, feels a little long.

hence is it possible to cut the shaft length by 1 inch? I guess it does affect the specs of the shaft? Approx how much to cut the shaft?

hi kooky

I think 46 inches is the standard shaft length for driver and your driver is consider slightly shorter than standard already. Yes, some driver, like Machspeed is having slightly shorter shaft length.
Therefore, having it cut for 1 more inch will make it even much shorter than standard length.

I would suggest to try to grip it down say 1 inch lower, practise your swing to control the driver and gradually increase back to 45.75 inch length again....

this way, it give you an option to go back to the actual length again without having to change your shaft should you chose to cut it shorter..

just my thought

snowman[left]

Dun think 46 is the standard length.

But is there a standard length now?? everyone can come up with a driver with any length below 48 inches. It is how they wan to market the club.

I feel choking down is more versatile and save the trouble to cut it. If anybody ask, just say your favorite player is AK

think 20 yrs ago, std driver length is abt 44in.......i think

then 10 yrs later, change to 45in..... length of my driver now

now its 46in oreadi...... RnD must have run out of ideas making driver go longer distances

The longer shaft is to compensate the lighter head that seems to be the trend these days. Now driver s are measuring 46-inch, even 46.5-inch if I remember it correctly, utilizing lighter shaft and lighter head that they claim should help player increases swing speed.

BUT, I do find that it is harder to hit the sweet spot with longer shaft. However, like I mentioned times and times again, it is better for you to get fitted. A good, qualified fitter should be able to tell you an optimum driver length to fit both your body and swing profiles.

You know, i was thinking...those new driver that come with adaptor that allows you to adjust club face and also for easy removal of shaft..well if you have different shaft, then it would be very easy to just what we call "plug and play"....keke

Quote :

Quote :

Yarra wrote:

Duval_S wrote:

Actually I agree with SS. just choke down 1" or so....for me, it changes the flight and the carry...more importantly easier to resell....

But then again, I had encountered fm some of my vocal frens saying " eh..chicken ah??? choke down...dare not whack ".....my reply " yeah lor....just want to be on fairway..."

Gripping it down 1 inch will still stiffen the shaft somewhat, like I mentioned earlier. BUT choking down could result in greater accuracy off the tee. I for one, will choke it down a bit whenever I need to whack the heck out of my drive. It gives me better accuracy and, sometimes, a longer distance, too. So next time you get that kind of gesture from your playing partner, just whack it, find the fairway and get yourself a birdie-chance. Then it's payback time!

Thanks Bro for the tip and encouragement....I usually very happy if I can do better than double bogey liao.

weesern wrote:

Dun think 46 is the standard length.

But is there a standard length now?? everyone can come up with a driver with any length below 48 inches. It is how they wan to market the club.

I feel choking down is more versatile and save the trouble to cut it. If anybody ask, just say your favorite player is AK

Yeah i think allowable limit is 48" and i think i read somewhere that average length on the PGA tour is 44.5" or something, shorter than what is being market to public.

just cut the backside. won't stiffen your shaft. weight will change but few grams how to feel. 45" drivers are nice to use =)

yanhaotiong wrote:

just cut the backside. won't stiffen your shaft. weight will change but few grams how to feel. 45" drivers are nice to use =)

Hey,

Yes cutting the Back end or Back Side wouldn't stiffen your driver.

It will make you Have a Better Control on your driver shot.

Swing weight change, depends on how many tapes you will add to your drip.
The more tapes you add to your golf grip will add the swing weight.

If you are comfortable with your swing weight. Do not add "additional tapes".

Check first the CPM ( frequency of your shaft) and swing weight. before you cut or do something.

Then tell your club maker what you want.

lastly, do you prefer to "feel" the driver head weight?" if you liked to feel it then don't add too much weight on the grip.

Hi kooky, can only share based on anecdotal evidence from my friends and myself.

I have a friend who cut his shaft by an inch, it did feel easier to control, but did not really help him much, probably cos he did not have the time to practice ... but he feels happier with it.

I have another friend who reshafted his club to a stiff flex but apparently it was not "spined", i.e. wobbling all over the place when we tested it on the frequency tester. Also he was stupid enough to insist on the stiff flex with the fitter and the brand of shaft that he wanted. He is now in the process of looking for a new driver.

I tried the new VR driver (Non-adjustable) at Nike Demo day, the 10.5 with Proj X 5.5 shaft at 45.75 (or 46.5in) and hit it pretty well, but needed to get used to length. When I ordered the club, the one I received was shorter and the head felt like it was twisting all over the place. Brought it in to test alignment and the stock shaft was way off ... after "Spining" the shaft that came with the Club (Proj X 5.5, 62 Grams, Freq 231), club felt much better and could hit straight and far pretty easily.

Bottom line, going straight to a good fitter is probably going to save you more money and heartache in the long run instead of guessing for a solution when the initial dianosis may not be accurate ...

thanks for all the replies...

i will try to grip down first. anyway, i just read that tiger shaft also 44.75 - 45 inch only. For a man his size, i guess 1.8m..?

when i read about club fitting, often hear about shaft type, flex, torque etc, but seldom hear ppl say about the length.. i mean when we buy irons from the market, we are all of different hieght, and most stock shaft also same length, then shouldn't shaft length be the primary concern? what if you like the shaft but it is an inch long, and by cutting = changes the flex, means have to change all the shaft to all new shaft ah? newbie here at shaft options.. as i always dont bother and play with stock shaft...

interested to know about what you guys feel about shaft length.. especially for those not so tall guys like me!

oh and i want to ask a direct question to clear my doubt..

does it mean if you are shorter, you must hit with a shorter shaft?

Yes, no?

Longer shafts usually give you slightly faster head speeds anyway, so you don't have to swing as hard, just focus on staying smooth. The cost of that longer shafts are less easy to control (which is why most people have more problems hitting a 3i than a PW)

Most people swing as hard or sometimes harder with a longer shaft, which results in poor contact (and loss of distance) and poor accuracy

Personally, I prefer my shafts around 44.75 to 45 inches as I am 6 ft 2"

+/- 1" wouldn't make a difference for us, we are not pros =) but standard length for drivers are at 45" longer shafts are used to promote swing speed. head over to occ to try some drivers at different lengths. gripping down doesn't always works. i hit shit when i try gripping down too much =(

kooky wrote:

oh and i want to ask a direct question to clear my doubt..

does it mean if you are shorter, you must hit with a shorter shaft?

Yes, no?

Not necessarily. I know a few golfers around 5ft 9" who play 46" drivers and swing smooth and easily get 280 yards.

Hi Kooky,

I am about the same height as you and when I use stock clubs and take the proper setup, normally the toe will sit up (or I have to preset my hands way in front of the ball). Most clubs will be too upright for guys our height. However, it does not necessarily mean that we have to play with shorter clubs.

For the stuff that we hit off the deck, lie angle is crucial and normally that is adjusted rather than cutting off 2-3 inches from the shaft.

For Drivers, since we tee it up and the sweet spot is much larger (compared to irons), the length (as it relates to lie angle) is probably is not as crucial. However, a longer shaft does give you more distance is you can control it.

That being said, it is slightly harder to control a longer club. But it does not mean that shortening it is going to make your drives go straight. For all you know, it may be the swingweight that is throwing you off, not the length, or something else like flex.

Give a couple of different driver lengths a try and see what you feel comfortable with. I'm sure that between your friends and the kaki in this forum there should be a whole bunch of lengths to try ... or go visit the professionals at BFG

its your style of swing, must get a shaft length to suit your style not the other way around. Same goes for Swing Weight.

shorter shaft can allow you to swing faster (or actually swing with better rhythm) to get better contact. Some ppl like long shaft and heavy swing weight and just let the head take over. Just depend which style u like. The head also important whether you got shallow face or deep face driver

My beginner's experience with my shallow face driver, Sumo 5900, with a longer shaft its more difficult to hit, so i trim it by 1 inch. My 9015D no problem with the contact at 1 inch longer (only with the direction, shaft too soft)