Considering taking 1.5" off the butt end of my driver

[bjordan1988]

I have a Cobra S3 driver that has a 46" shaft. I feel it is too long and adds greatly to ball spin. I was wondering if I were to cut 1.5" off the butt end of the club would it greatly affect performance and feel? I would be willing to sacrifice a few yards for increased accuracy and comfort while driving. Does anyone have experience with this?

[mkr001]

Going from 46" to 44.5" will greatly change swing weight and in turn how the club feels. 1” cut is about 5 to 6 swingweight points lost. I would suggest simply chocking down on the grip to get the desired effect.

http://www.golfworks.com/article.asp?ai=14

[Chieflongtee]

Going from 46" to 44.5" will greatly change swing weight and in turn how the club feels. 1” cut is about 5 to 6 swingweight points lost. I would suggest simply chocking down on the grip to get the desired effect.

http://www.golfworks.com/article.asp?ai=14

It will also make it stiffer therefore lowering the trajectory. Gripping down will give the golfer a taste of what he'll be getting. If the golfer wants to cut it down after trying choking down and if swingweight is an issue then a lighter 26 gram grip could restore the original swingweight.

[bjordan1988]

Okay thanks! I'll try choking up and see how it works.

[golfisforfun]

Just chop it down... I think too many people get carried away with swingweight and a lot of golfers wont even notice a difference, and it may not even hurt you at all.

I use a 44" driver and it really helps my accuracy and spin rates.

[jeffc]

Just chop it down... I think too many people get carried away with swingweight and a lot of golfers wont even notice a difference, and it may not even hurt you at all.

I use a 44" driver and it really helps my accuracy and spin rates.

agreed. Never had a problem cutting down a shaft and never noticed a difference in swingweight. The results are usually more accurate drives.

[Leftymoose]

Cutting it down will help accuracy..best thing you can do with a driver.

[zee51]

I have a Cobra S3 driver that has a 46" shaft. I feel it is too long and adds greatly to ball spin. I was wondering if I were to cut 1.5" off the butt end of the club would it greatly affect performance and feel? I would be willing to sacrifice a few yards for increased accuracy and comfort while driving. Does anyone have experience with this?

Wow. 46 inch is a long driver to start with. Do you know the current swing weight? I cut my stiff radix shaft down from 45.5 to 44.with no ill effects but I did add some weight back to the head to maintain the same swing weight.

Be aware that cutting the shaft by 1.5 inches will alter the swing weight a fair bit and possibly the overall feel for you. Some are of the view that swing weight is not that important but cutting this amount of shaft will lower the swing weight by about 9 points or so depending on the shaft. I think this is significant as if you started with a D2 it will become a C3 and while most people won't notice a couple of points I think it fair to say that everyone would notice 9 points. Depending on the shaft ,you may have to add somewhere in the area of 18 grams to bring the swing weight back to where it was so you may want to make sure that you can live with a lighter swing weight, add weight to the head or live with lead tape on the head if you want to bring the swing weight back to where it was.

No doubt there are others here that can tell you the effect in more detail but I believe the information I provided is correct.

[downhillslider]

I have a Cobra S3 driver that has a 46" shaft. I feel it is too long and adds greatly to ball spin. I was wondering if I were to cut 1.5" off the butt end of the club would it greatly affect performance and feel? I would be willing to sacrifice a few yards for increased accuracy and comfort while driving. Does anyone have experience with this?

What exactly are you referring to when you say it adds to ball spin ?

[downhillslider]

I have a Cobra S3 driver that has a 46" shaft. I feel it is too long and adds greatly to ball spin. I was wondering if I were to cut 1.5" off the butt end of the club would it greatly affect performance and feel? I would be willing to sacrifice a few yards for increased accuracy and comfort while driving. Does anyone have experience with this?

I have seen tons of threads on this topic and I am wondering if anyone has actually contacted the manufacturer on this.

It would be interesting and probably somewhat revealing as to what their response would be.

[Chieflongtee]

Just chop it down... I think too many people get carried away with swingweight and a lot of golfers wont even notice a difference, and it may not even hurt you at all.

I use a 44" driver and it really helps my accuracy and spin rates.

I kind of agree with the above statement. What really matters is contacting the ball in the center of the face as often as possible.
Impact decals are a great help for that. So if you can hit a 46 inch driver in the centre of the face consistently I say go for it. Swingweight is an arbitrary number. Bubba is a good example with his built up grip. Also if it's true and not marketing Nicklaus was playing with counterweighted clubs.

[john8888]

My approach is to start with a half inch. Then keep moving by a half inch each time.