Shorter builds for woods

[MadGolfer76]

So, thinking of doing something like this:

 

Taylormade M1 (2016) driver at 44' or 43.75' (w. some kind of 70 or 80 gram shaft)

TBD 4W at 42' (w. some kind of 80 or 90 gram shaft)

Mizuno CLK 3Hy at 39.25 (w. some kind of 90 or 100 gram shaft for all three)

Mizuno CLK 4Hy at 38.75

Mizuno CLK 5Hy at 38.25

 

The driver would be shorter than anything I have tried before, but I need more control off the tee. Same with fw and hybrids. The hybrids would only be 1/2 longer than the equivalent iron lengths in my JPX 900 HM's. I guess I need to know how much the shorter builds are going to mess with swingweight and lie angle? I don't know which fw head I am going to use yet. The Clk's have an upright setting, and the driver is kind of upright anyway. Any validation that this isn't a stupid overall idea would help.

 

With the shaft weight, I don't necessarily need to go with an X flex, but I am guessing I need to add some weight to the heads to balance them out, and in so doing am concerned the shafts may play a little softer due to the added weight in the head (which will be with lead tape at the moment). If this is a valid concern, do I tip a stiff shaft, or go up in flex to X?

 

Btw, do I go lightweight steel in the hybrids??

 

Thx

[mogc60]

In my experience and I have basically done the same setup as you are thinking of doing for as long as I can remember, go with the shaft you would normally use unless you are really in between flexes, go with the softer flex and tip it. I don’t think that the shafts play much stiffer once you’ve added the headweight back to where they feel right. I prefer heavy graphite...100 grams currently, but steel is an option and many people do well with them.

My setup...and like I said have done this for 15 years

M5 TOUR 44” Smoke 75 6.5

Biocell + 41 1/2” Matrix HD9 X 90 gr

FGTour 17* hybrid Phenom 100 Stiff tipped 1 inch. 39 1/4”

 

[MadGolfer76]

> @mogc60 said:

> In my experience and I have basically done the same setup as you are thinking of doing for as long as I can remember, go with the shaft you would normally use unless you are really in between flexes, go with the softer flex and tip it. I don’t think that the shafts play much stiffer once you’ve added the headweight back to where they feel right. I prefer heavy graphite...100 grams currently, but steel is an option and many people do well with them.

> My setup...and like I said have done this for 15 years

> M5 TOUR 44” Smoke 75 6.5

> Biocell + 41 1/2” Matrix HD9 X 90 gr

> FGTour 17* hybrid Phenom 100 Stiff tipped 1 inch. 39 1/4”

>

 

So, how bad does it mess with lie angle. Must be flatter?

[wkuo3]

Should go more flexible in the shaft when going shorter, stiffer when going longer.

You can try them out and use that as a base for adjustment.

Question for you is, why did you select these length for experiment ?

And one more add, I would try a driver head smaller than the 460 c.c. for 44". if you could find something close to 410 c.c. - 430 c.c, Those older heads are typically slightly heavier than the larger head, because when they were in use there is no ultra light shaft available.

[mogc60]

> @MadGolfer76 said:

> > @mogc60 said:

> > In my experience and I have basically done the same setup as you are thinking of doing for as long as I can remember, go with the shaft you would normally use unless you are really in between flexes, go with the softer flex and tip it. I don’t think that the shafts play much stiffer once you’ve added the headweight back to where they feel right. I prefer heavy graphite...100 grams currently, but steel is an option and many people do well with them.

> > My setup...and like I said have done this for 15 years

> > M5 TOUR 44” Smoke 75 6.5

> > Biocell + 41 1/2” Matrix HD9 X 90 gr

> > FGTour 17* hybrid Phenom 100 Stiff tipped 1 inch. 39 1/4”

> >

>

> So, how bad does it mess with lie angle. Must be flatter?

 

Lie angle is the same. The club is shorter so yes it is plays slightly flatter but I have never adjusted the lie angle due to the reduction in length in my woods. I used to think stiffer in longer and softer flex in shorter but it never worked for me.

[Poolparty]

> @MadGolfer76 said:

> So, thinking of doing something like this:

>

> Taylormade M1 (2016) driver at 44' or 43.75' (w. some kind of 70 or 80 gram shaft)

> TBD 4W at 42' (w. some kind of 80 or 90 gram shaft)

> Mizuno CLK 3Hy at 39.25 (w. some kind of 90 or 100 gram shaft for all three)

> Mizuno CLK 4Hy at 38.75

> Mizuno CLK 5Hy at 38.25

>

> The driver would be shorter than anything I have tried before, but I need more control off the tee. Same with fw and hybrids. The hybrids would only be 1/2 longer than the equivalent iron lengths in my JPX 900 HM's. I guess I need to know how much the shorter builds are going to mess with swingweight and lie angle? I don't know which fw head I am going to use yet. The Clk's have an upright setting, and the driver is kind of upright anyway. Any validation that this isn't a stupid overall idea would help.

>

> With the shaft weight, I don't necessarily need to go with an X flex, but I am guessing I need to add some weight to the heads to balance them out, and in so doing am concerned the shafts may play a little softer due to the added weight in the head (which will be with lead tape at the moment). If this is a valid concern, do I tip a stiff shaft, or go up in flex to X?

>

> Btw, do I go lightweight steel in the hybrids??

>

> Thx

 

Its certainly not stupid.

 

Lead tape is cheap enough to run some calculations, add tape, choke down and try it at the range or on a sim.

[MadGolfer76]

> @wkuo3 said:

> Should go more flexible in the shaft when going shorter, stiffer when going longer.

> You can try them out and use that as a base for adjustment.

> Question for you is, why did you select these length for experiment ?

> And one more add, I would try a driver head smaller than the 460 c.c. for 44". if you could find something close to 410 c.c. - 430 c.c, Those older heads are typically slightly heavier than the larger head, because when they were in use there is no ultra light shaft available.

 

Driver length - because Howard and Tom Wishon

FW length - because I've actually tried something very close and it worked well, just wasn't heavy enough.

HY length - because I want to try them closer to actual iron length and see what happens. I don't need "distance" hybrids. Just something that will elevate a little sooner for the hilly courses that I play.

[drumdude96]

I play my drivers at 44" with 60-65 gram shafts and I love them. I have a G400 Max with a UST Attas 4U 6TS and a Cobra King F7 with a Hzrdus yellow 6.0, both shafts are untipped. The adjustable weighting in the heads makes it super easy to go shorter and keep a reasonable swingweight. Both of my drivers are at D4. I also just built a Wishon 929 HS 3 wood at 42" with the S2S black 85 gram shaft. It's an amazing club for when I absolutely have to hit the fairway off the tee. You can add up to 18 grams of additional head weight between the two weight ports, so this was also a very easy build. And as far as shorter hybrids, I have 21°, 24°, and 27° 915H hybrids with DG S300 steel and they all play 1/2" longer than the corresponding iron, so they're shorter than most hybrids. I love them with the steel. I get a bit higher launch and similar distance to the irons they replaced and they hold greens very well. I'm tempted to try the KBS steel hybrid shaft in them, but DG is so good I may not ever bother with changing.

[wkuo3]

> @MadGolfer76 said:

> > @wkuo3 said:

> > Should go more flexible in the shaft when going shorter, stiffer when going longer.

> > You can try them out and use that as a base for adjustment.

> > Question for you is, why did you select these length for experiment ?

> > And one more add, I would try a driver head smaller than the 460 c.c. for 44". if you could find something close to 410 c.c. - 430 c.c, Those older heads are typically slightly heavier than the larger head, because when they were in use there is no ultra light shaft available.

>

> Driver length - because Howard and Tom Wishon

> FW length - because I've actually tried something very close and it worked well, just wasn't heavy enough.

> HY length - because I want to try them closer to actual iron length and see what happens. I don't need "distance" hybrids. Just something that will elevate a little sooner for the hilly courses that I play.

 

Very good, sound advice for a starting point.

About the hybrid. If you're going to play them like irons, tip trim the shaft like so. If the 3 hybrids is going to be the 2 iron length, tip the shaft like a 2 iron. I'd always reseve 1/2" - 1" length just in case. You can always trim the length shorter which is better/easier than adding extension if you change your mind.

I had found the reto heads worked the best from the era with shorter golf clubs before they all went longer and lighter.

You can probably find some old driver and fairway woods form the early 90's which are already heavier than today's version. If you're lucky, you can find NOS.

TM had the "mini" driver which was smaller in head size and heavier in weight to balance out with shorter driver length.