The average length of a driver 5 years ago was approximately 45” long. In 2011, the average driver length of the brands that we stock is 45.73”, and that number is only going to go up in 2012. In concept, going to a longer shaft is a great idea since in most cases the longer the shaft the faster the head will travel. The average length of a driver 5 years ago was approximately 45” long. In 2011, the average driver length of the brands that we stock is 45.73”, and that number is only going to go up in 2012. In concept, going to a longer shaft is a great idea since in most cases the longer the shaft the faster the head will travel. The best length of driver for amateur golfers is 45.5 inches, whereas most professional players will instead use a 44.4 inch driver. It’s essential that your driver shaft is of the right length. As the length of the shaft increases, you tend to lose control over the golf club, and will find it difficult to hit the golf ball squarely.
Driver shafts keep getting longer - but could be making golf harder
Golf Driver Shaft Length Vs Height
Is your golf driver shaft too long for you?
Golf Driver Shaft Length Chart
What length is your driver shaft? For most golfers, the answer is “no idea”, “a bit longer than my 3-wood” or “not quite long enough to get me out of that bush when I’m using it to measure where I’m allowed to drop”. And why would you know or care? They’re all pretty much the same, right?
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But what if we told you that the driver in your bag now is probably two, three or even four inches longer than the one you had 15 years ago?
And what if we told you that extra length could be making it harder for you to hit the ball solidly, causing you to miss more fairways, and possibly even costing you distance off the tee?
And, finally, have you ever wondered why the best players on the planet are using shafts that are shorter than the ones being used by most amateurs?
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“I’d say 90 per cent of the drivers sold in the shops today are too long for most players,” says esteemed clubmaker Tom Wishon, of Wishon Golf. “The standard driver length of 45.5-46.5 inches offered by the majority of companies is too long for most golfers and will prevent them from achieving their maximum potential for distance and accuracy.”
Growing pains
Most driver shafts were around 43 inches until the early 1990s. The stock standard now is anywhere from 45.5 to 46.75 inches. There are two reasons for that growth. First, driver head size has increased significantly. Put a bigger head on the same length shaft you’re used to and it looks huge because your eye isn’t used to it, so shafts have increased to look more aesthetically pleasing.
And second – the biggest factor – the way we buy drivers has changed.
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Twenty years ago, you tried a few and bought the one you liked the best or the one that seemed to put you in the best positions. Nowadays, with the advent and proliferation of launch monitors, you can see exactly how far you’re hitting any driver you’re contemplating buying.
You can get instant feedback on launch angle, carry distance, total spin, sideways curvature and umpteen other metrics.
But there’s only one that the majority of golfers want to know: “How far did that go?”
Golfers are more obsessed than ever with hitting the ball as far as they can off the tee. And when a new driver can cost upwards of £450, you want as much yardage as possible for your money.
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Go and hit 50 balls using several different drivers with different shaft options and you’ll have a soft spot for the one that hit the longest drive of the day.
Manufacturers know a longer shaft gives them the best chance of achieving the “wow, that’s gone a mile” shot that stays in your mind and tempts you to part with your cash. That’s why shaft lengths keep getting longer – and we can’t blame manufacturers if that’s what we buy.
Driver distance sells golf clubs
“Longer driver shafts can create more clubhead speed, resulting in additional ball speed and overall distance gains,” says Custom Lab Golf founder Gavin Hay. “That’s why manufacturers have continually increased their standard spec driver shaft lengths over the years. They want their drivers to outperform other brands on raw distance.”
If longer shafts mean longer drives, isn’t this good news for us? Probably not, says Hay. “If a driver shaft is too long for the player, they can struggle to find the middle consistently. Off-centre hits not only drastically reduce ball speed and distance, but have a big impact on accuracy.”
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So why do manufacturers sell shafts that are holding us back?
“The golf industry will generally go with whatever has worked well in testing,” says clubfitter and club builder Derek Murray of ForeGolf. “Under robot testing, you may find that if you take a longer shaft and hit it out of the screws, it could go five or eight yards further. So hit one right out of the middle with a long shaft and it will go far. But hit one out of the toe and you’ll lose eight or nine miles per hour in ball speed, which will end up costing you distance.”
Is it possible, then, that a shorter shaft may actually help you hit the ball further?
Golf Driver Shaft Length Guide
“We’ve seen a good number of players lose zero clubhead speed when testing a shaft that is an inch shorter than their current driver shaft, and they have found the centre of the clubface more consistently,” says Hay. “This improvement in strike generates higher ball speed, which is what creates distance.”
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If you’re not as good with a driver in your hands as the best players on the planet, why would you expect to be able to hit a driver with a longer shaft than they can?
“I very rarely build drivers that are 46 inches long,” says Murray, a former tour fitter who finds the vast majority of his clients are better off with a shaft that’s shorter than the manufacturer standard. “On tour I very rarely built drivers that were over 45 inches long.”
And Wishon agrees. “There’s a very good reason the average driver length on the PGA Tour is 44.5 inches and not 45.5 or 46.5.”
Putting it to the test
We built a Callaway Rogue driver in 43.5, 44.5 and 45.5 inches, with everything but the shaft length identical. The longer shaft did produce the highest average clubhead speed at 97.9mph, which also generated the highest ball speed at 146.1mph. But the resulting total distance of 273.7 yards was outdone by the 44.5-inch driver, which generated an average of 274.4 yards, despite clubhead speed being 1.3mph slower. The carry distance was four yards longer with the 44.5-inch shaft than its longer brother.
The reason? Strike. Our tester was able to find the middle of the clubface better with an inch taken off the shaft. The shortest shaft did produce the shortest drives, but only by three yards.
Dispersion was best with the shortest shaft and worst with the longest.
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The long and the short of it
It’s not a simple case of shorten your shaft and your handicap will fall. Your current length may be perfect for you. You may even need a longer one. But, as our experts and test have shown, a good number of golfers would benefit from a shorter shaft.
You may actually increase distance and there’s a good chance you’ll hit more fairways.
“Try shorter,” suggests Murray, who says that even half an inch can make a big difference – “45.5 is better than 46 in my experience, for the majority of golfers.”
How to find the right driver shaft length for YOU
1. There is no standard length
“There’s no golden length that is right for everyone, it’s totally individual,” says Derek Murray. “A lot will depend on timing, hand-eye co-ordination, individual ability and how you like a driver to feel. It’s not about your handicap, your swing speed or your height. The bottom line is that no one will know how a human golfer will react to something until they physically hit it.”
2. Test them out
“If you want to find out whether your driver is the optimum length to suit your swing, we highly recommend visiting an independent club fitter who uses a premium launch monitor, such as Trackman, GC2 or Flightscope,” says Gavin Hay. “Find someone who carries a wide selection of shafts at different lengths.”
3. Consider the whole package
If you've realised your driver shaft is too long for you, it’s not as simple as just chopping a few inches off your existing shaft.
“Be careful when changing shaft length as the swing weight will be affected which will result in a totally different feel,” says Hay. “If the shaft is shortened by an inch, you would need additional weight in the head to get the same swing weight. A good fitter can manage these variables for you to create a shaft that feels and performs the way you want.”
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When I tested my old college driver a few weeks ago my interest was piqued by how close my swing speed with the 43.5 inch club was to my current 45 inch driver. I have heard that altering the shaft length of your driver by an inch can/should alter the club speed by up to 4 mph. This called for a test.....
Using TrackMan my idea was to test the same golfer, clubhead and golf ball, but change the shaft length. I took my current driver, which is the Titleist D3 8.5 degree (B1) with a 45' Motore F3 70 gram stiff shaft and tested it alongside the same head (B1) with a 43' Project X 82 gram stiff shaft. Essentially a driver shaft versus a 3 wood shaft. I had recently came across a 42.5' well kept old Wilson Staff JP persimmon driver with a steel shaft and decided to include that in the testing.
I hit 11 shots with each club and eliminated the data for the poorest shot with each club. I was using fresh Titleist NXT Tour golf balls and it was a perfect 80 degree day with little wind. The results were astounding!
With all three clubs my tendency was to hit up on the ball with a slight in to out club path. My swing plane was very consistent from shot to shot (which surprised me a little actually) and the clubface was almost always slightly open at impact. This path and face relationship led to an average shot shape of a slight draw. Here are the numbers:
45' Driver Shaft
- Club Speed 101.3 mph
- Ball Speed 151.6 mph
- Spin Rate 2697 rpm
- Launch Angle 11.3 degrees
- Carry 245 yards
- Total 272.2 yards
- Height 76 feet
43' Three Wood Shaft
- Club Speed 101.1 mph
- Ball Speed 150.0 mph
- Spin Rate 2100 rpm
- Launch Angle 14.0 degrees
- Carry 249 yards
- Total 278.7 yards
- Height 84.3 feet
42.5' Persimmon Driver with Steel Shaft
- Club Speed 93.4 mph
- Ball Speed 141.2 mph
- Spin Rate 2115 rpm
- Launch Angle 10.3 degrees
- Carry 206.4 yards
- Total 246.4 yards
- Height 48 feet
I couldn't believe it! I hit my driver with a 3 wood shaft further, higher, with less spin and above all else - straighter. Take a look at how much straighter: (yellow - driver shaft/purple - 3 wood shaft/ white - persimmon)
I also totaled the distance (after roll) the ten shots with each club finished from the center line:
- Persimmon - 182 feet (average 18' off line)
- Three wood shaft - 234 feet (average 23' feet off line)
- Driver shaft - 315 feet (average 31' off line)
On my Andrew Rice Golf Facebook page I asked readers if they had any experience with shortening the shaft of their driver and here are a few of their responses:
'I just went to a 44' and am loving it! Longer then my 45.5' and straighter too!' GT
'Went to 44' and more consistent with no loss in distance' AvS
'44' Callaway...more fairways AND more distance!!!' CL
'Went to 44' and I hit it more solid further and straighter' PW
'44' this year. I agree it is far better. Middle of the face more often.' SF
'I found it made me less steep through attack so I have lowered my spin rate and launched it about a degree higher' AB
By the way - most of the above quotes are from full-time professional golf instructors. So what can we learn from this research?
Having tested a few golfers with shorter shafts it seems to me that each golfer has a 'threshold' length - an ideal length that gives them the optimal combination of speed and accuracy. For some that threshold could be 46' while for others they perform best with a 42' driver. The only way to find out is to get yourself with a teacher or fitter that has access to Trackman and various shafts.
Another point to note is that while the 3 wood shaft had a slightly slower club and ball speed the shots were longer...why? Notice how the launch angle was higher while the spin rate was lower. A perfect illustration of the term 'high launch low spin'. Launch the ball higher to get more out of your tee shots.
What can we learn from the 'persimmon' data? While that shaft was even shorter than the 3 wood shaft it was substantially heavier. I believe the 3 wood graphite shaft was almost 50 grams lighter than it's steel counterpart which would explain the almost 7 mph difference in club speed. The size, or lack there of, of the head was intimidating in the beginning, but as I went through the shots I became more comfortable. I believe that practicing with a smaller clubhead like this can only be beneficial in the long term for any serious golfer.
My feeling standing over the shorter club was better and almost every golfer I tested reported the same sense. The club feels easier to control and many golfers have reported a feel that they can 'get through' the shot better. I really felt like I could smash it without it going off line - a nice feeling!
Physics says that longer shaft + lighter shaft = faster club speed = more distance. On paper that might be true, but when the human element is involved everything changes. The next time I tee it up it will be with a substantially shorter shaft in my driver...but that's just me!