Testing Shaft Length in Drivers: What Does Extra Length Do?

How Does the Length of Shaft affect Driver Performance?

Earlier in the year we did some testing on the effect of different lengths of shafts in Driver performance. Typically, shorter shafts give more control and longer shafts give more club head speed. Is this true and how much of a difference is there between them?

We tested four lengths, 44.25, 45, 45.75 and 46.5 inches. All were 75 grams in weight and stiff flex. We used the same PXG 0811X 10.5 degree driver for all the shots. Also a swingweight of D2 was used for all lengths, meaning weight was added or subtracted from the head to maintain the same balance in all lengths.

 

 

 

The testing was done on an April day, about 14 degrees Celsius and a slight breeze approx 5mph helping. The golfer performed a warm-up before the testing. The ball used in the test was the Titleist ProV1. The methodology of the test was to hit 3 shots with the 44.25, then 3 shots with the 45, 45.75, 46.5, returning to the 44.25 and following the same procedure until 12 shots were hit with each.

 

 

Results

Shaft Length	Club Speed MPH	Ball Speed MPH	Carry Yards	Total Distance Yards
44.25	100.4	149.0	239.3	269.1
45	101.5	150.0	240.3	268.9
45.75	103.2	150.1	245.4	269.8
46.5	104.7	152.8	249.3	274.1
	Dispersion- Feet	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Height - Feet
44.25	27.7	11.3	2565	73
45	38.6	11.3	2503	78
45.75	45.1	11.6	2968	84
46.5	30.2	11.5	2639	88

What we are mainly looking for length and accuracy. Dispersion is the indicator used for accuracy. Ball Speed, Club Speed, Carry and Total Distance are the indicators used for distance.

The 44.25 length gave the best accuracy with an average distance of 27.7 feet off the target line, the 46.5 length wasn't too far behind with an average of 30.2 feet. The 45.75 length was the worst with an average of 45.1.

The best ball speed, club head speed, carry and total distance came from the 46.5 length. The lowest came from the 44.25 with each shaft length gaining in distance performance over the previous one.

The 46.5 length had 4.3 mph more club head speed, 3.8 mph more ball speed, 10 yards more carry and 5 yards more total distance then the 44.25 length.

Shaft Length	Attack Angle	Club Path	Face to Path
44.25	-0.3	-0.5	-1.0
45	0.0	-1.3	-0.1
45.75	-0.2	-1.6	-0.3
46.5	0.3	-0.8	-1.5

 

While we were mainly looking at distance and accuracy we also checked the impact factors. At times shorter shafts and move the club path more in to out and longer shafts more out to in, meaning that slicers can have a much more significant gain in accuracy with a shorter shaft.

For this golfer who has a relatively neutral swing we didn't see big differences in club path.

Analysis

The best accuracy was with the shortest shaft and the longest distance was with the longest shaft. This is not always the case, many times with longer shafts centredness of contact gets worse and as a result ball speed is lower. When fitting for length we test the 4 lengths and use the one that gives the highest ball speed, while keeping an eye on accuracy.

The percentage breakdown of the lengths that work best in our fittings are

Length

 

44.25 inches 14.4%

45 inches 49.4%

45.75 inches 22.9%

46.5 inches 13.3%

 

 

 

Also note in the results, the club head and ball speed in the 44.25 length is 100.4 and 149, in the 46.5 length it is 104.7 and 152.8, a 4.3 difference in club head speed and only a 3.8 increase in ball speed, we normally would expect to see more ball speed but this is explained from the swingweighting of the clubs. With a shorter shaft more weight is needed in the head to keep the swing weight up, less weight is needed in the longer shaft, more weight in the head means a slightly better transfer to ball speed from club head speed and the lighter head in the longer shaft means a little worse transfer of ball speed. The lighter head also means a little more club head speed.

The change in club head speed for this golfer from shortest to longest shaft was 100.4-101.5-103.2-104.7. Jumps of 1.1, 1.7 and 1.5 mph. We could surmise that you gain around 1mph club head speed with each added inch to a driver with the little extra gains seen from the lighter head as the length increased.

Conclusion

For this golfer a longer shaft did give more length and the shortest shaft did give the most accuracy. The longer shaft does add club head speed but not to the degree where we might see 20 or 30 yard gains. Ultimately the test shows again the need for every golfer to test to see what works best for them, a 45 inch shaft works best for nearly 50% of golfers that come to Drive Golf Performance but that also means that 50% can find extra performance out of a different length.

Any questions and comments are welcome.

Do Lighter Shafts Give More Club Head Speed?

 

What Effect does Shaft Weight have on Clubhead Speed?

Earlier in the year we did some testing on the effect of shaft weight on clubhead speed in a driver. The common belief is that lighter shafts mean more speed. Is this true?

We tested 4 shaft weights, 45, 55, 65 and 75 grams. The 4 shafts were Accra golf shafts, all in stiff flex and a playing length of 45 inches in the driver. The same head, a PXG 0811 X 10.5 degrees, was used with all the shafts.

 

 

The testing was done on an April day, about 14 degrees Celsius and a slight breeze approx 5mph against. The golfer performed a warm-up before the testing. The ball used in the test was the Titleist ProV1. The methodology of the test was to hit 3 shots with the 45 gram, then 3 shots with the 55, 65, 75, returning to the 45 and following the same procedure until 12 shots were hit with each.

 

 

Results

 

Shaft Weight	Club Speed MPH	Ball Speed MPH	Carry Yards	Total Distance Yards
45	101.4	148.5	229.1	252.5
55	101.7	148.8	230.8	253.2
65	101.5	148.9	229.8	251.6
75	102.1	149.7	235.2	258
	Dispersion Feet	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Height Feet
45	29.7	11.1	2792	80
55	26.725	11.0	3010	83
65	28.6	10.5	2975	81
75	40.7	11.5	2699	86

We were mainly looking to see which shaft gave the most speed and it was the 75 gram shaft at 102.1 mph, next was the 55 at 101.7, the 65 at 101.5 and finally the 45 at 101.4. As you would expect the fastest club head speed also gave the fastest ball speed, carry and overall distance at 149.7, 235.2 and 258.

The three other weights were very similar in ball speed, carry and total distance. The most accurate was the 55 gram at an average of 26.725 feet from the target line and the 75 was the worst at 40.7 feet. Launch angles were quite similar , spin was the lowest with the 75 and peak heights were similar too.

 

 

Shaft Weight	Attack Angle	Club Path	Face to Path
45	-1.2	-1.9	0.1
55	-1.1	-2.1	0.1
65	-1.1	-2.4	-0.2
75	-0.2	-1.4	-0.2

 

 

Even though we were mainly looking at club head speed it was no harm to check if the the swing was affected by the shaft weight. Again the impact factors were quite similar with just the 75 having a slightly more up attack angle compared to the others.

 

Analysis

 

The fastest speed was not with the lightest shaft. For this golfer the fastest speed was with the heaviest shaft. And the slowest speed was with the lightest shaft. This is not unusual, in the fittings we do with golfers rarely does the lightest shaft give the fastest speed.

The percentage breakdown in the fastest speeds is as follows.

Weight

 

45 grams 3.6%

55 grams 37.3%

65 grams 45.8%

75 grams 13.3%

 

What happens is the golfer moves the weight that they can feel, if you can't feel a light weight it becomes difficult to move it fast. Then when it becomes too heavy then the player loses speed.

What else can weight effect? 

It can have an effect on spin, as shafts get heavier there is more material in them and as a result they can also get stiffer. heavier shafts generally have lower spin and we can see for this golfer, the heaviest shaft gave the lowest spin.  

Also it can effect accuracy, generally heavier can also mean more accurate but for this golfer the heaviest was the least accurate.

 

Conclusion

 

Lighter does not mean faster, rarely will the lightest shaft be the fastest. Ultimately what the test shows is the importance of testing for each golfer. If we say to a golfer that a 65 gram shaft is what they should use to get the most speed, for 45.8% of golfers who come to Drive Golf Performance we would be right but we would also not be right for the other 54.2%. 

Any questions and comments are welcome.