Putting an extension in a graphite shaft

Phabs · January 19

5 minutes ago, bogieboy said:

Guess i shall find out.... snappy transition to a 105-108mph average and have seen up to 112 mph club speed and been playing a 1.5" extension all last year....

Diff between 120 and 108 is significant in terms of load .

kt253 · January 19

definitely worth a shot before buying a new shaft. i added 3/4" to my 3 wood using an extender from golf galaxy. no issues at all, still going strong.

Stuart_G · January 20

13 hours ago, Phabs said:

Diff between 120 and 108 is significant in terms of load .

It's not the speed that matters, it's the acceleration and how aggressive the transition that determines the load that's placed on the extension.

And there is also a big difference between 1.5" extension and a 0.75" extension.

The only thing the OP needs to worry about is a poor choice in the selection of the extension used (size and quality) or a botched job in the installation of the extension.

Edited January 20 by Stuart_G

bogieboy · January 21

On 1/19/2025 at 2:57 PM, Phabs said:

Diff between 120 and 108 is significant in terms of load .

This is true.... for the price of a decent extension though, OP could find out if the new length works, and not be out too much, before blindly sinking $200 inti a shaft length that they may not like

14 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

It's not the speed that matters, it's the acceleration and how aggressive the transition that determines the load that's placed on the extension.

And there is also a big difference between 1.5" extension and a 0.75" extension.

The only thing the OP needs to worry about is a poor choice in the selection of the extension used (size and quality) or a botched job in the installation of the extension.

Agreed... i may only have a 108 swing speed, but i KNOW my transition is way more harsh than most golfers, as i come from baseball and tend to "snatch" the club at the top of the backswing like i am "swinging for the fences", i would say my transitionis nowhere near smooth, somewhere near quick...but i think abrupt may be an apt word to describe it....LOL

Stuart_G · January 21

9 hours ago, bogieboy said:

Agreed... i may only have a 108 swing speed, but i KNOW my transition is way more harsh than most golfers, as i come from baseball and tend to "snatch" the club at the top of the backswing like i am "swinging for the fences", i would say my transitionis nowhere near smooth, somewhere near quick...but i think abrupt may be an apt word to describe it....LOL

What I find most interesting is that in the more than 15+ years I've been browsing this forum, I've seen thousands of posts of people warning about all the terrible problems that can happen using extensions and to stay away from them or how people can get hurt with them, but I can only remember one post of someone coming here reporting about an (properly installed) extension that actually failed. Just one. And no one got hurt, and it didn't do anything to the shaft, only the extension itself broke. And that was a 2" extension for someone with a 132 mph swing speed - with the universal extension - which is a good extension, but just not the strongest. On a weekly basis, we get regular reports of failed epoxy glue jobs, problems with grips, broken shafts, and all the other woes that can be encountered in club building, but not extension failures. In fact, I remember more posts about the actual shaft breaking under the grip than I've seen about broken extensions.

ShortGolfer · January 21

It can be a hassle to add an extension if you don't know what you are doing.

I bought an steel extension from Dick's and had to trim off the end that fits into the shaft, as it measured 0.562 inches and the shaft had a 0.555 inside diameter. Otherwise it didn't fit!

Trimming the end reduced the OD from 0.562 to 0.553 inches. I could have also reduced the diameter with a lathe.

With graphite there are a lot of different sizes. Measure the ID of the shaft to figure out what you need.

Cheap dial calipers are surprisingly accurate. I like analog ones to avoid battery hassles.

Edited January 21 by ShortGolfer