The lowdown on Driver shaft lengths

[virge666]

Picking the right driver shaft length.

I thought I would write this quick little explanation about drivers and why the shaft length is so important. It has to do with a lot of things... mainly weight and accuracy, let’s go through a few fallacies.

Longer Shaft = Longer drives. (This is both true and false)

It is true when you get it out of the screws. You know THAT drive you hit sort of once, or maybe twice a round. You will get approx 4m of distance for every half inch extra of shaft length. But you HAVE to hit it out of the centre and you have to be on plane. If you don’t – you are sacrificing the bonus that the extra length gives you.

Keep this in mind.

Every ½ inch off centre loses you around 4-5% of total distance.
So a swing speed that would result in a 250m drive but is just a ½” off-centre loses you between 12-13m of length... and that is only if you are perfectly on plane, i.e. no fade or draw (or slice or hook)

So work this out. Add 4m of distance with the extra half inch of shaft length – go and hit the ball but miss it by ½” . . . your net loss is a touch over 8m. So – YES, a longer shaft equals longer drives . . . but only if you NUT it.

OK then smartarse – why don’t the manufacturers make shorter drivers.

Because longer shafts go further . . . sometimes.

There are a few kinds of golfers out there, Let’s take 2 of them. We will ignore the professional – they always get custom fitted. Stupid amateur’s spend hundreds of dollars on different drivers each year searching for the right driver – smart golfers just go and get fitted for $80-100, but that is whole other story ...anyway...

Player A turns up with his new driver, 46” long, he hits about 5-6 fairways, but on one of the drives he nuts it. Up the centre, 260m. Then spends the rest of the days reliving THAT drive. He is still talking about it in the clubhouse. He may have shot 93, but that drive keeps him warm and brings him back next week.

Player B has his driver, 44” long, he hits maybe 7-8 fairways, he isn’t longer than anyone else, but he is straighter and usually in play. He may shoot 80, but in the clubhouse he isn’t talking about his new brand name driver that smoked it up the 12th hole 300m. (Even though it may be 240m)

If I was the manufacturer – who’s driver do I want to make . . . ?

The second part to all this – is that most of the population a crap golfers. And their only joy of the day may be that one or two drives that they smash past the low marker of the group. I and many others play in groups like this all the time. The golfing community is FULL of “Player A’s” and the manufacturers are just catering to the market.

There is more to it than just this . . . shaft weights, kick points and a few others that are out of the scope of this post. If you are interested, I can go further into it. But th elogic is sound and the measurements have been tested and published in more than one source.

This should give you some balance on the subject and understand the reasons why drivers are made the way they are.

Enjoy