In my three years of professional clubfitting, I have not worked with one player who is playing a driver that is the right length for them. All too long. I think this is why I keep noting the lengths that PGA pros use for their drivers. I hope by doing this that as many readers of this blog will at least have an initial estimate made of what would be the best driver length for them.
This weekend I met a player who is taking lessons from Des Mahoney at Centenial, and Des steered him to me so that I could check his driver length. Another 46 inch driver, and in this case most likely he would hit his drives most solidly if he used a 44 to 44-1/2 inch driver.
And what is great about getting knowledge about the best driver length for you is that an initial fix for this is VERY easy. You can have a professional clubfitter cut some length from the end of shaft, add some lead tape to the bottom of the club so that the swingweight can be adjusted - cutting a half inch of lengh reduces swingweight by about 3 points, and adding 6 grams of weight increases swingweight the same 3 points.
The other often good element about adjusting swingweight by adding lead tape is that this also decreases the flex of the shaft. Many people are playing with store-purchased drivers that have shafts that are too stiff for their swings. So adding head weight can also have a positive influence on shaft flex for a lot of players.
When building drivers of lengths in the range of 44 to 44-1/2 inches, unless you use very heavy shafts it is necessary to add some weight in the hosel to achieve a swingweight that is a good fit for a player. Normally the best way to do this is to add "tip weights" that slip inside the shaft - 2 to 9 gram weights are typically available.
Today I purchased a new piece of equipment for my shop that will make adding appropriate weight to driver heads even easier. I bought the "Silencer System" from KC Products - it is a hot glue gun designed specifically for adding weight inside of driver heads. I believe this product is now used in many Tour club vans, and with it I will be able to add as much as 10 grams of addiitional weight inside of driver heads. My plan is to use this as a supplement for using tip weights to set the best driver swingweights for players.
If you are interested in finding out if you are playing the right length driver, I hope you will stop in to my Centenial fitting center on Saturdays or make an appointment to meet me there for some quick measurements. In 5 minutes I can do a quick evaluation of what your present driver length is and get a good approximation of what it should be. And you will have knowledge that can help you to play better golf.
Tony
PS - for the U.S. Open this week, a hard call as to who to root for more, Tiger or Phil. The best case is for the two of them to be playing in the final foursome on Sunday....how can it get any better than that!!
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