Shortening a G440 driver by an 0.75-1.25"

[Ripken08]

Looking to shortening the G440 Max shaft to 44.75"  what's the best way to go about swingweight?  The Ping weights don't go high enough in a single.  So two weights?

Edited May 28 by Ripken08
spelling

[Drivingrangehero]

Have you determined that you even need to add weight? 
 

You may not even need to add head weight, some people do, some don’t. 
 

If you have determined that you do need to add weight and aren’t just chasing after an arbitrary swingweight number, do you have access to get inside the head? 
 

if you do (what I have done and will continue to do with every driver if possible) yarn can be added inside the head….. no it won’t move around because there is enough factory hot melt to catch debris, that it will secure the yarn after a few dry swings, and it deadens the tinny sound a bunch. I typically add 6-9g depending on the weight of the head, and it’s been a game changer….. thanks to Howard’s DIY Driver tune up 

 

 

[Stuart_G]

3 hours ago, Ripken08 said:

Looking to shortening the G440 Max shaft to 44.75"  what's the best way to go about swingweight?  The Ping weights don't go high enough in a single.  So two weights?

 

Forget swing weight values and the swing weight rules and get a roll of lead tape and take it to the range.    You have to figure out how much to add before you do anything else.

 

But yes, once you do figure out how much to add,  two weights can fit into the Ping heads  - one is the draw and one in the fade location.  At least that works for me in my g425.  The g440 doesn't look like it has changed that much in that respect.

 

2 hours ago, Drivingrangehero said:

thanks to Howard’s DIY Driver tune up

 

Edited May 28 by Stuart_G

[GloriousGlory]

They go up to 38 grams.  That seems like enough to me, but I don't know what swing weight you plan to play in.  My experience is that Ping heads are pretty heavy (Over 200g) and on a non cb shaft, they already play pretty heavy in swing weight.  I had to replace my g430 weight with their lightest option to stay at D4 for 45" playing length.

[Pepperturbo]

When I shortened my Rogue ST Max 10.5 with Diamana GT S to 44.75", my builder used 1.5" length of lead tape centered face to back, on the bottom, result D3.5

[ShortGolfer]

I found I don't need extra weight.  Some of my clubs are really short, as my WTF is 31 inches.

[Joelsim]

I did the same with a G400 direct from Ping and it came with an 8g heavier weight than standard.

[Ripken08]

6 hours ago, GloriousGlory said:

They go up to 38 grams.  That seems like enough to me, but I don't know what swing weight you plan to play in.  My experience is that Ping heads are pretty heavy (Over 200g) and on a non cb shaft, they already play pretty heavy in swing weight.  I had to replace my g430 weight with their lightest option to stay at D4 for 45" playing length.

Stock is 29 grams.  Isn't every 1/2" 3SW or 6 grams?  If I go 1" shorter that's 12 grams so 1 weight won't do it.

[Whatnogarnish]

Over time I learned a 199gm - 201gm head with 44.75 length is where I get my best dispersion. Regardless of oem adaptor, that’s what I request from all my orders. 

[dsmil]

I'd forget about getting back to whatever the stock SW value is and experiment with lead tape first. You may find that you don't need any weight added. Some people like getting half of the SW value back and then testing from there to start. FYI I think it's closer to 1.7g per SW point so if you cut off an inch, it might be about 5g to get half of the SW back.

 

My G425 plays at 43.75. I play with a 10g heavier shaft and replaced the 26g weight with a 35g weight. I think it comes in around a C8 or C9 but that combo for me has been better than my old method of loading up on head weight until I get back to the stock SW.

[Stuart_G]

9 hours ago, Ripken08 said:

Stock is 29 grams.  Isn't every 1/2" 3SW or 6 grams?  If I go 1" shorter that's 12 grams so 1 weight won't do it.

 

Those are the swing weight rules that I said were useless in this context.  That's not how they were ever meant to be used.   And there is nothing magic about the stock swing weight value - which you were never actually fit for in the first place.  So there is no good reason to blindly go back to it at the shorter length.   You don't know how much of your problems with the current setup might be length and how much might be swing weight.

 

I'm sorry, but if you want the best fit and best performance - there are no short cuts.  You have to put some effort into some testing before you can get there.

 

And BTW - how many grams to change the club 1 SW pt actually varies with length - it's not a const 2 gm for the whole set.  It's less for the driver.

Edited May 29 by Stuart_G

[Drivingrangehero]

I have gone through Howard’s DIY driver tune up with 2 drivers, a mini driver, 5w, 7w and 4 hybrid, I play my Driver at 44-3/4” with a counterbalanced shaft and added 6g to a Ping G400max head, and 9g to a Tour Edge driver head…… I have no idea what the swingweight is, but I know it’s just right for me with this particular length and weight in these heads

 

when going through the DIY, I  cut my 5w 1/2”short and my PXG 7w 1” shorter than OEM specs, I did not need to add headweight to either club (I do play heavier aftermarket shafts in my PXG 7w, so that may have contributed to not needing to add headweight, since the overall weight of the club changed by about 10g) 

 

My 23° hybrid at 24.5° I play at 38.5” and didn’t need to add headweight to that either, but it has a heavier shaft than the OEM 
 

The DIY is a simple thing to do (albeit I do a truncated version, and don’t bother with the pin point stuff on the head). It’s just marking how much you choke up, adding lead tape, foot spray, playing with loft and lie setting. 
 

After getting dialed in, my driver went from being a liability, to a weapon off the tee.

 

I struggled with consistency off the tee, so I’d always find myself returning to my trusty Titleist 905R out of frustration……… come to find out after going through the DIY,and trying to figure out why the 905R was performing better, I found that is was due to its shorter length (45”) and a heavier 78g shaft in it, which puts me close to my current set up in length (1/4” difference) and the total weight is close as well, being that I play a 67g shaft now and add weight to the head  

 

Before going through the DIY I would just play off the shelf set ups and think that I’d just get used to the change, but noticed that I’d got more erratic off the tee over the years …….. probably due to the ever lengthening driver by the OEM’s 

 

 

 

[jarediogolf]

9 hours ago, Drivingrangehero said:

 

I have gone through Howard’s DIY driver tune up with 2 drivers, a mini driver, 5w, 7w and 4 hybrid, I play my Driver at 44-3/4” with a counterbalanced shaft and added 6g to a Ping G400max head, and 9g to a Tour Edge driver head…… I have no idea what the swingweight is, but I know it’s just right for me with this particular length and weight in these heads

 

This👆 

Don’t even think about the swing weight #. My last driver was played shortened (choked up on the grip), weight was added and subtracted on the range and further fine tuned on the course. 
 

Bought a new head and did the same thing. Grabbed a series of weights from ali express, and played with length and head weight until it felt right and the start line was consistent. No idea what the swing weight is, don’t care to find out. 
 

New shaft came in the mail today and I will do the same thing again with no preconceived ideas on length or swing weight. 
 

A few grams goes a long way. 
 

For what it’s worth I’m playing about 44.25” with + 11 grams in the head. Callaway Head weight (with no adapter) was 190 stock so I’m playing 201g not including adapter weight.  

[tippethor]

I tested with adding 10gr headweigth to my qi35 driver at stock length. Swingspeed dropped by 2-3 mph, but efficency went up to 1.49 on trackman from typical 1.45-1.46.

I would love to keep that smash factor, but do not want to drop additional swingspeed by going shorter length. 
 

The only thing i do know for sure is that stock configurations is not the way to go for best fit.