I took an inch off of my driver today

Why did I do it, well I am getting older and my swing speed is not as before and I would rather hit one out of the centre than a toe or heel shot. With this in mind “the longer the club, the harder it is to hit solid and on-centre” and with most PGA pros using 44 ins shafts mine was 45 ins, I thought I would try it and I certainly have been hitting the centre  more often and I believe the ball is going as far if not further. How do I know this ?  I put some chalk on the face to see the shot pattern.

Shaft Length is a MAJOR factor affecting distance

Shaft Length is a MAJOR factor affecting Accuracy

Shaft Length is a MAJOR factor affecting Feel

No other golf club specification has three major effects on performance.

The reason that so many golfers do not fit to a driver of 45” and longer is that many golfers swing with an outside-to-in swing path. The more the club is swung on the down-swing from out-side-to-in, the steeper will be the descent of the club and the more difficult it will be to deliver a longer length square at impact. The same is true for swing plane. The more upright the golfer’s swing plane, the steeper the club will be delivered to the ball, and the more difficult it will be to bring the club back to square at impact.

Lastly, the faster the golfer’s tempo, the more difficult it will be to rotate the club face back to square on the down swing with a longer length. The better the athletic ability and hand/eye coordination of the golfer, the longer the club can be.  The belief that so many golfers hold, that the longer the club, the greater the distance of the shot, is only true if the golfer is able to hit a longer club on-centre as high a percentage of the time as they do with a shorter club and achieve a higher club head speed with a longer club. Drivers that are longer than a golfer’s optimum, result in reduced accuracy and/or reduced distance.

If you can hit your 3-wood as far as your driver, that’s a real tell-tale sign that your driver is too long.