Junior Girl Driver Advice

[PhilWhitUK]

I have just bought my 12 year old daughter (around 63” tall) the PING G Le2 iron set having moved her from the US Kids Tour series 60”.  
 

I have picked up a G Le driver for her as well but am not sure what to do re length.  The US Kids 60” driver is 40” long.  Moving to the next the size that she would fit would be 42” long (for the 63” US Kids set). The PING G Le driver is 44.75”.  She has tried it and it is far too long.

 

My question is: should I just cut the driver down 2.75” or maybe 2”?  Or should I put a different shaft in (heavier / lighter?) that is just shorter? What have other people done?

 

important point: I bought the PING clubs as they have 10% lighter heads so the overall swing weight is close to the US Kids so it didn’t feel like much of a jump for her.

 

Thank you for your help everyone.

[ShortGolfer]

Has she tried choking down on the grip?

[PhilWhitUK]

She has but isn’t as comfortable doing that. Might be I just tell her to keep trying!

[MD_]

You can order a shaft ready to install with a Ping adapter on it from Flynn golf...then just keep the stock shaft ready for her next growth spurt.

[mrshinsa]

Just cut the shaft 2" from butt end.

Many people on this forum have done it.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by mrshinsa

[isgerrior]

24 minutes ago, MD_ said:

You can order a shaft ready to install with a Ping adapter on it from Flynn golf...then just keep the stock shaft ready for her next growth spurt.

yup.  order a used one off ebay, but keep the original for next year.

[PhilWhitUK]

1 hour ago, isgerrior said:

yup.  order a used one off ebay, but keep the original for next year.

That is probably what I was thinking.  Potentially helps future resale also when she moves on again.

[Golfingdawg19]

12 hours ago, PhilWhitUK said:

I have just bought my 12 year old daughter (around 63” tall) the PING G Le2 iron set having moved her from the US Kids Tour series 60”.  
 

I have picked up a G Le driver for her as well but am not sure what to do re length.  The US Kids 60” driver is 40” long.  Moving to the next the size that she would fit would be 42” long (for the 63” US Kids set). The PING G Le driver is 44.75”.  She has tried it and it is far too long.

 

My question is: should I just cut the driver down 2.75” or maybe 2”?  Or should I put a different shaft in (heavier / lighter?) that is just shorter? What have other people done?

 

important point: I bought the PING clubs as they have 10% lighter heads so the overall swing weight is close to the US Kids so it didn’t feel like much of a jump for her.

 

Thank you for your help everyone.

Here is my take. The first thing you have to ask yourself is how long do you expect to have the driver? If she is 5’3 then she is already at or close to standard womens length which is 44.5 in most cases. You could go 43.5 and be safe but as she gets taller you will need to lengthen it a tad. My daughter is 14 and is 5’6. She is in regular shafts now so I have had to switch drivers and shafts not because of her height but because of her swing speed. My buddies daughter is 12 and she just got fitted for a driver at Sea Island. She is around 5’3 and they fit her for a Callaway Rogue driver with a senior flex shaft and it’s standard womens

length (44.5). I think her swing speed is 80-82 range. 

[ShortGolfer]

Does she really need to work on a new driver?

She just got new irons so maybe she should work on that for a while.

I work on my short irons a lot because I can do that in my back yard.

Could she use her original driver for a while longer?

Edited June 9, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[PhilWhitUK]

2 hours ago, Golfingdawg19 said:

Here is my take. The first thing you have to ask yourself is how long do you expect to have the driver? If she is 5’3 then she is already at or close to standard womens length which is 44.5 in most cases. You could go 43.5 and be safe but as she gets taller you will need to lengthen it a tad. My daughter is 14 and is 5’6. She is in regular shafts now so I have had to switch drivers and shafts not because of her height but because of her swing speed. My buddies daughter is 12 and she just got fitted for a driver at Sea Island. She is around 5’3 and they fit her for a Callaway Rogue driver with a senior flex shaft and it’s standard womens

length (44.5). I think her swing speed is 80-82 range. 

That’s interesting.  I do find it odd that the standard female driver is so long.  In the irons the PING are the same length as the 63” US Kids (although I think 2 degrees more upright).  The difference in the driver just seems to be very large.  Do many junior girls play drivers of 44” or more?

[frankie]

My daughters 13yr and about 5'3" and just received a shaft from a friend that's super light 40 grams and plays 45.5". She was playing a 43.5" shaft previously. We were hesitant b/c of the length and swing weight, but she's been choking down and hitting it very long. I felt more comfortable after watching someone post on youtube that choking down vs cutting the shaft as it relates to Swing weight. What was interesting is that choking down lowered the swing weight according to his video analysis.

 

 

[PhilWhitUK]

3 hours ago, frankie said:

My daughters 13yr and about 5'3" and just received a shaft from a friend that's super light 40 grams and plays 45.5". She was playing a 43.5" shaft previously. We were hesitant b/c of the length and swing weight, but she's been choking down and hitting it very long. I felt more comfortable after watching someone post on youtube that choking down vs cutting the shaft as it relates to Swing weight. What was interesting is that choking down lowered the swing weight according to his video analysis.

 

 

Thank you.  Shall see if I can find that video.  Good to hear about your daughter’s experience.

[killer21]

My daugther is 13, just over 63".  She is playing a 44.5" Regular Shaft Driver. Swing speed is about 85-87 mph with driver. 60gr Regular Fujikura F3 in a Cobra Rad Speed.

Some of her friends of similar height are playing 45 or longer.  Good luck with your search.  She blew through Senior pretty quick.🙃

Edited June 13, 2022 by killer21

[PhilWhitUK]

Thank you for the advice everyone.  
 

I finally came to a decision.  I fitted a 45g even flow green 3 wood shaft extended to 42.5 so it is 2.5” longer than her previous driver.  She seems to be hitting that pretty well.  Given how much she has grown since Christmas I reckon the original length will be in before too many more months but it might no longer be a ladies shaft!

 

Great that we can get so many helpful views through the power of the wrx community.  I hope all your daughters have good seasons.