Is a driver that's too long harder to get square at impact?

[bushwood]

Playing a g20 at pings standard 45.75" length. I've generally playedy drivers at 44.5"-45" and have done well. Got the g20 and decided to give the normal length a go before cutting it, I'm having a hard time getting the face square. I'm not a slicer and I don't have any of these issues with any other clubs. Maybe im not used to the longer length or sething. Gonna cut it down I guess and add some lead tape.

 

But does anyone know if a shaft that's too long for someone could make it difficult to square the club at impact?

[bushwood]

To add.... I don't slice everything. I'm hitting it ok. But my straight ball is now a trailing off to the right a few yards. My draw is not automatic. And my miss is the standard start off straight and then slice from an open face, usually off the fairway or in the trees. The easy fix is to just cut and go back to a shorter stick, I guess. Just more less wondering if this is a common fitting issue or not.

[ForTourUseOnly]

For me that is the case, any time I hit a ping driver I hit a little fade with it, it just seems a touch too long to me.

[imaplus3wannaplay]

[quote name='bushwood' timestamp='1334115002' post='4697876']
To add.... I don't slice everything. I'm hitting it ok. But my straight ball is now a trailing off to the right a few yards. My draw is not automatic. And my miss is the standard start off straight and then slice from an open face, usually off the fairway or in the trees. The easy fix is to just cut and go back to a shorter stick, I guess. Just more less wondering if this is a common fitting issue or not.
[/quote]

This is very common in today's longer driver shafts. Cutting it down would likely fix this error, and you won't likely see a difference in distance due to loosing that dreaded slice. Swinging a driver that's too long will also add spin which will actually decrease distance. You have to understand that manufactures make clubs to fit the majority of players. The majority of players benefit from longer drivers because they don't swing hard enough to create too much spin. You won't see too many tour pros playing a driver over 45 inches.

[duffer888]

Same here. I can do ok up to about 45.5, but prefer 45. Experimenting with 44.5 now and it's working well.

[k b]

i actually gamed mine at the uncut shaft length, so it was playing slightly over 46". didn't like it much at all. way too heavy and long. got the guy to keep cutting it until it played at D4 (was playing at D9, wowzers!) which ended up somewhere between 44.5-44.75" i believe and what a difference.

i wasn't having problems with it before in terms of slicing/hooking...just contact was a little messy. i can tell by the sound alone at impact that i'm hitting it 100% more solid now than before.

[silliwilli]

Can I simply cut a graphite shaft using a standard shaft cutter...or is that steel only?

[bushwood]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I think you run the risk of cracking graphite if you use a steel pipe cutter. I've always used a saw, with a few wraps of tape around the shaft so it doesn't splinter.

[pingman1]

I choke down on my K15 about an inch. I would try this before cutting.

[TomWishon]

[quote name='bushwood' timestamp='1334114379' post='4697802']

But does anyone know if a shaft that's too long for someone could make it difficult to square the club at impact?
[/quote]

Absolutely true. My company has done research studies in biomechanics and engineering to verify how this can happen that a longer driver length can definitely make it a lot more difficult for a golfer to not only rotate the clubface back around on the downswing to square, but also longer driver length makes it more difficult to keep the club from moving over to an outside in swing path as well.

This is all because of what longer length does to greatly increase the Moment of Inertia of the fully assembled club in relation to both the axis of rotation about the wrist-c o c k release and the axis of rotation about our spine. In the MOI equation, length is a squared property in its effect on MOI. Hence when you have one driver that is say, 2" longer than another, that extra 2" hugely increases the MOI of the club and from it, greatly increases the load the club puts back on the golfer to swing the club.

Golfers who have the ability to significantly hold and retain their wrist-c o c k angle on the downswing most definitely have less of a problem dealing with the higher MOI and greater load from a longer length than do golfers who cannot hold that wrist-c o c k angle all the way on the downswing. But even with such players who can hold this angle longer through the downswing, that longer length most definitely is putting more load on their swing motions so there is always a greater chance of something breaking down, and at the best, losing swing to swing consistency.

Bottom line - unless you are VERY golf athletically gifted and have a smooth tempo with an inside out path and a good retention of your wrist-c o c k angle in your swing, anything much longer than 44" is really not helping the consistency and overall performance of your tee shot game.

But do remember if you choose to simply cut down the length of your existing driver rather than to go out and be fully custom fit for a new shorter driver that matches all your swing characteristics, you do have to add some weight back to the head to re-establish the swingweight or get you back some headweight feel at that shorter length. If you simply cut down the length and do nothing to the headweight, chances are pretty good you will not do well with the shorter length club because it won't have enough headweight feel to allow your swing tempo and swing rhythm to do well.

TOM

[bushwood]

Tom, that post is awesome! You described a lot of my game. I do have trouble holding my wrist angle. Gonna go ahead and chop off some and add lead tape. Thanks!

[ping223]

44.5" is the longest I go anymore. Order them all that length.

[imaplus3wannaplay]

[quote name='silliwilli' timestamp='1334141983' post='4698930']
Can I simply cut a graphite shaft using a standard shaft cutter...or is that steel only?
[/quote]

You can but it's not recommended. You can use a fine toothed hack saw, but tape around the area you are cutting to keep it from splintering. You can also use a grinder with a cutting wheel, or a drimmel tool.