Effects of Shortening a Driver Shaft? (SOLVED!)

What happens when you shorten your driver shaft? Making the shaft shorter makes the club shorter, the shaft stiffer, and it will adjust the swing weight.

Your club will have less flex when you remove weight. A regular flex can become stiff, and a stiff can become extra stiff when you shorter it, but that all depends on how much you shorten it.

You need to be sure this is what you want because as we just pointed out, the swing weight will be adjusted along with the length. A golfer’s swing can change and evolve, and that often means to get better or more natural.

Does a Shorter Golf Driver Help?

It’s possible that the shaft on your driver might be too long for you, and you don’t even know it. For some people, shortening the driver shaft can help them to hit the ball farther and keep it in play more. That last part is something that we all want to do.

It’s hard to know this on your own without someone experienced studying your swing, like an experienced club fitter. They can evaluate your form and help you match with the right driver.

Everyone has a different golf swing. No two people are exactly the same.

That is also true of golf clubs as well. There’s an ideal balance to bet found between the two.

Of course, the best way to find out how much this helps you are on the golf course. Adjusting your equipment is a great thing to do, but it’s only refining the equipment. That doesn’t fix your swing, and unfortunately, no number of changes to your equipment will fix a stylistic or technical issue.

You might be able to lower your scores with some equipment refinement, but the biggest factor to helping you will be how you play. More time on the course, more time on the range and even a trainer are the most productive ways to improve your play.

Do You Lose Distance with a Shorter Driver Shaft?

This answer is a two-fold yes and no. A standard driver is about 45-45 inches long, and usually, the longer a driver shaft is, the more distance a golfer can have from a hit.

A longer shaft means a wider arc to your swing and that creates more speed.

But hitting the center of the clubface is much more important. A shorter driver shaft means a shorter arc in your swing and that makes hitting the center of the clubface easier.

Many players don’t lose any clubhead speed when they shorten their driver shaft by about an inch.

They also usually can hit the center of the clubface more often. Those two elements combined make their overall play better and more consistent.

Since they have improved their strike, they are gaining a higher ball speed and that gives their hits more distance.

On the PGA Tour, the average driver length is 44.5 inches. That’s shorter than the standard 45-46 inches. Most professional golfers are aware of the benefits that shortening their driver shaft, at least a little, can give them.

This doesn’t mean that shortening your driver shaft will immediately make your handicap fall. The biggest factor is still your technique and how you play.

Should I Get my Driver Shortened?

This is the big question for a lot of golfers. Do I need to shorten my driver shaft, and will it help me enough to justify it? Let’s look at the pros and cons of this.

Pros:

A shorter driver shaft will shorten the arc of your swing.

This will help you to hit the center of the clubface more often. Hitting the center of the clubface more often means you are more likely to keep the ball in play than you were before.

If you are hitting the ball with more consistency, it will build your confidence as a golfer and it can refine your technique while at the range.

Cons:

It is possible that shortening your driver shaft will actually decrease the distance that you drive the ball. A longer driver shaft has generally meant a greater distance when driving. This isn’t always the case, as we have already talked about, but it can happen.

A longer driver shaft widens the arc of your swing and makes hitting the center of the clubface more difficult.

You could be less consistent with this which would result in less distance and keeping the ball in play less. You might hit the ball with greater speed, but if you’re not keeping it in play, then what’s the point at all?

Is a Shorter Driver Easier to Hit?

The short answer is, yes, it is easier to hit with a shorter driver.

As we talked about before, a shorter driver will decrease the width of the arc to your swing and increase your frequency of hitting the center of the clubface.

A longer driver shaft might be affecting how accurately you hit the ball, and not in a good way.

If your driver shaft is too long for you, your swing is likely suffering because of it.

If you want to know if this is something that’s happening to you then try out a shorter driver shaft the next time you are on the range.

Overall, is a Shorter Driver Shaft Best for Me?

Every golfer wants to improve their game. Fine-tuning your equipment and making some tweaks is part of that process. Many professional golfers will agree that a shorter driver shaft is more beneficial, overall, than a longer driver shaft.

Of course, every golfer is different, and every swing is unique. Adjusting your equipment isn’t a quick fix to solve any issues you have. The most important factor is how you play. More practice equals more consistency.

Yes, better equipment helps. And equipment that is attuned to your needs helps even more.

Shortening your driver shaft could be beneficial for you and combining that with the want to improve is a step in the right direction.