Consistent shaft length across all woods?

[jonescm128]

Curious if anyone plays a consistent shaft length across their fairway woods, or at least plays them closer in length compared to standard.

 

I have always found standard length in woods and drivers to be much too long and usually cut down the driver, but am consider making my 3 wood a bit shorter now as well so it can play similar to my 5 wood, which I hit quite well.

[Wardonation]

I PLAY DRIVER AT 44.5" AND 3 WOOD AT 42" LOVE IT

[Milfordlefty]

3 wood and 5 wood will have different lie angles, shortening the 3 wood to 5 wood length will not make them identical. However, shortening a shaft will flatten the lie angle. I think it is 0.5 degree of lie angle for every 1/2" of shaft cut. Shortening the shaft will reduce the swing weight too. What make/model of fairway woods? Do they have an adjustable hosel? What is the current playing length? 

 

Try this experiment. Once you know the lengths of the two clubs, place a piece of tape on the 3 wood grip to mimic the 5 wood length. Choke down and play the 3 wood, this will give you a feel for what playing the 3 wood at 5 wood length. If you do not like it, all you need to do is remove the tape.

[Ty_Guy]

I fell into this inadvertently as a byproduct of fairway adapters and all Callaway heads.

 

Right now, my 3w, 4w, and 5w all are 42.75". It's more of that I have a few wood shafts that are all just about the same length. I've added a few grams to the 3w and 4w to get all three to the same SW and it works out just fine. Very helpful when I didn't really know what shaft was the right one for me and felt like the swing was wildly different with each incremental change.

 

I've gotten used to the longer 5w and don't really have a need to change the length. For 7w, I play 41.5". That's a number I'm a bit firmer on and see what I want to see with that length. 

 

Lately I've shifted a bit and play 3/4w at 43", 5w at 42.25", and 7w at 41.5". I measure ungripped, so add a smidge to each once I put the grip on. Driver is 45.25". All a shorter than Callaway's/Taylormade's standard and almost exactly Titleist's standard. My irons are .25" over.

 

The .75" length difference tends to play well with about 3-4 degrees of loft difference to gap each well enough. If I wanted with this setup, I could go 3w, 5w, and 7w in the bag with about ~17 yards between each one. Though there will still definitely be overlap between flushed shots and just passable shots.

 

When the 3w/5w was the same length, the 5w and 3w would overlap distances, and it just came down to height, spin, and ease of use when choosing which one.

 

Mini driver is still honing in. Another .75" at 43.75 looks to be the number though.

[Stuart_G]

22 hours ago, jonescm128 said:

Curious if anyone plays a consistent shaft length across their fairway woods, or at least plays them closer in length compared to standard.

 

I'm a big proponent of cutting down all the longer clubs (drivers, fairways, and hybrids).  Stock lengths generally are too long for most ams.   BTW stock lengths are not really any kind of standard IMO, they just change way too much.

 

Personally I play 3wd at 42.5" and 5wd and 42" (although not at the same time - only one is in the bag at a time).   A 1/2" length difference is pretty traditional so not sure if that counts as "closer in length compared to standard" since I have no idea which "standard" your referencing.

 

Never done it but as long as you properly adjust the head weights, I don't see any significant potential problems to even having a 3wd match a 5wd in length.   It may or may not effect your distance gaps - so go ahead and feel free to play around by choking up before actually doing any cutting.

Edited July 25 by Stuart_G

[jonescm128]

1 hour ago, Stuart_G said:

 

I'm a big proponent of cutting down all the longer clubs (drivers, fairways, and hybrids).  Stock lengths generally are too long for most ams.   BTW stock lengths are not really any kind of standard IMO, they just change way too much.

 

Personally I play 3wd at 42.5" and 5wd and 42" (although not at the same time - only one is in the bag at a time).   A 1/2" length difference is pretty traditional so not sure if that counts as "closer in length compared to standard" since I have no idea which "standard" your referencing.

 

Never done it but as long as you properly adjust the head weights, I don't see any significant potential problems to even having a 3wd match a 5wd in length.   It may or may not effect your distance gaps - so go ahead and feel free to play around by choking up before actually doing any cutting.

I play my 5W at 42" as well. I was looking at a Cobra 3W which has a standard playing length of 43.25 (according to the website) so I was hoping to get that down similar to what you play, a 42.5 or so.

 

How are your distance gaps with that? My 5W has about a 135-140 ball speed and carries around 215 or so. I am hoping if I play a 42.5 3W I can get into the 230 range. 

[Stuart_G]

4 hours ago, jonescm128 said:

How are your distance gaps with that? 

 

Sorry, it's not something I've looked into since I never put both in the bag at the same time.  For a particular course, if I plan to use it mostly off the tee (tight courses), I'll use the 3wd.  If I'll expect to need it more off the fairway, I'll use the 5wd.  Plus I loft them both up so it's more like a 4wd and 6wd.

[Drivingrangehero]

I play my 18° 5w at 41.5” and my 7w at 41”, I also play my 24° hybrid at standard 4i playing length 

[speedeuphoria]

4 hours ago, Drivingrangehero said:

I play my 18° 5w at 41.5” and my 7w at 41”, I also play my 24° hybrid at standard 4i playing length 

What 3 wood length do you prefer? I have been loving my 41.75" 5 wood, likely to loft up and shorten further as I just ordered a 3wood head.

[Drivingrangehero]

17 hours ago, speedeuphoria said:

What 3 wood length do you prefer?

I don’t carry a 3 wood. 
 

I have a bonded 14° 3W and a bonded 16.5° 4 wood, at 42”, but the gains in distance over my 5 wood off the tee, are outweighed by the tighter dispersion off the tee, and ability to flush it off the fairway, which is not happening nearly as much with the 3W’s 

 

My 5 wood (Tour Edge EXS PRO) is my favorite club to hit in my bag, my 16.5° is the same make and model, but for some reason, I just can’t to seem to flush it of the deck like my 5w. I have contemplated cutting it down another 1/2” and adding another few grams to the head to match my 5w length and weight, since they have the same shaft in both of them. 
 

I play my driver at 44.5”, but have been choking up about a 1/2” of late, and getting better results, so I may cut it down to 44”

[Johnny Biarritz]

As with most things related to fitting equipment, much of it depends on how it feels to you. Lie angle differences have been brought up, the difference between 3-5-7 is about .5 degrees. On the 7, you could make that up with a shaft adapter but with the 5 wood, you're stuck with it being .5 degrees "wrong." .5 degrees isn't going to do much of anything to impact how the ball is flying.

 

Remember that "standard" for woods was 42-41-40 inches until companies figured out that they could tell people that their clubs hit the ball longer by adding length. Same with drivers, standards were 43.5 inches, now we're up to 45.75 inches.

 

If going to a standard length across all fairway woods feels good to you, that's very likely to improve your confidence and improve your play, even if the lengths aren't "correct."