Advice – I wonder what will happen….

I am not against giving players a bit of advice on golf clubs sometimes…..usually about the simple things like driver length.

I had a meeting this weekend with a pleasant person who is interested in getting new clubs. I made a few measurements with him and identified that he will likely play best with clubs shorter than standard length. Maybe a 43 to 43-1/2 inch length driver, and irons perhaps a half inch shorter than standard (cannot know real best lengths without impact label testing….).

During our discussion, I was wondering what might be the result if he went into a golf store and said “I am pretty sure I would play my best golf with a 43-1/2 inch length driver, what can you do for me?”

To my knowledge, all of the stores carry drivers that are at least 45 inches long. Someone in a store MIGHT say “well I can just cut that driver down to length for you and that would work.” Well, if you cut down a driver from 45 inches to 43-1/2 inches, you reduce the swingweight of that driver 9 swingweight points. Say the 45 inch driver had a swingweight of D2, the cut down one would have a swingweight of C3 – very very light and probably not good for this player.

The right way to modify a driver to a reduced length is to add appropriate weight to the head, and/or to reshaft the driver with a heavier shaft. It can be made to work….but simply cutting the shaft to a reduced length will typically not work.

Still, I would love to be a fly on the wall for the conversation with the salesman about reduced length clubs…..

Tony