We get this question…a lot! “Should I take a 3-wood shaft and put it in my Driver?” It seems that many of us aging (I prefer “experienced”!) golfers do in fact hit our 3-wood nearly as far as we hit our Driver and we find the fairway more often. It’s not uncommon.
Spoiler alert: “no…not without some serious work from your club fitter and teacher.”
Let’s dive in. First, understand what you’re trying to achieve: If it’s just distance the answer is absolutely clear and it’s a “no”. Why? Club speed and ball speed will diminish with a shorter shaft. Accuracy? Maybe a small advantage. It has to do with the big change in swing weight coming down from a 45.5” shaft to a 42” or 43” (typical lengths for both) shaft. How much is that swing weight change? Likely from a D2 (normal driver) down to a C3! You’re asking to bring the left rough into play exponentially! It’s also just physics that your club speed will drop as shaft length decreases. So, sure, shaving a wee bit off the shaft length may show some benefit, like Grey Dog Wes has done (45”) but unless you have a professional club builder also adjust the weight, you’ve done nothing to help yourself. Caution!
Now, what can we suggest? The re-introduction of mini-drivers is an option to examine. We like them but also found these are truly beneficial to “better” players and are wickedly hard to use as a fairway club. But, they are compelling. Try one. See for yourself. They are also loft- and lie-adjustable to a point, which is a benefit. It’s important to note, however, that they are not as long in testing (even by the best players) as a well-fitted driver. Get professionally fit, folks!
This also brings up the difference we frequently speak about with “weight of shaft vs. stiffness of shaft”. A good fitter doing a blind testing with you is our recommendation. Go in with no preconceptions and you’ll likely see startling findings. Shaft technology is the greatest leap forward in the golf equipment world in the last several years! There really is something for everyone. Be patient and open minded.
A quick shout out to our pal Jeff Meyer at LA Golf who makes the shafts and putter for Bryson DeChambeau. Jeff has as many patents to his name as I have vices to mine (spoiler alert number two: MANY!) He’d tell you that many of his tour players actually game a driver shaft a small bit shorter than standard. We’re talking a half inch to an inch…not two or three inches. Why? These players are already plenty long. Finding a fairway shows benefit for them, as it does us, and the loss of a couple mph from 167 swing speed is negligible. We don’t have that horsepower.
Concluding thought. It’s fun to experiment and we encourage it. Work with a really good fitter. Understand your swing characteristics and your goals. Maybe, just maybe, take a few lessons! Also, we also recommend you take your teacher along (or at least involve them) for the fitting.
Hope this helps. Fairways and greens. That’s the key. Sadly, we don’t ever score better from the rough, (even the first cut) than we do from the fairway. We don’t have the swing speeds to try and muscle the ball from those dodgy lies. So…avoid them!
We sure hope this helps.