I know I’ve been talking a lot about experimenting with the longer driver shaft. Well, I’ve finally got all my notes together, testing data, and released the article. It’s a big one - I hope you enjoy!
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Great work on this one @jon! Very interesting read. All those driver swings probably helped keep you in groove during your off-season! 
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Good article! I’m amused I’m doing the same thing but backwards by adding a shorter driver.
I think the 2 driver setup makes sense if you don’t hit three wood often. Have a fairway finder and a boom stick… though I’m curious to see if it works on the course.
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thanks! I still start every session with 40-80 yard wedge shots though!!! Plenty of driver swings, we’ll see how it pays off.
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thanks! The 3-wood just sits there giving me the stink eye, so I figure I have nothing to lose. Especially on my golf course, we have some holes that are very wide open. I’m gonna go nuclear with the 47" and see what happens on those!
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Thorough analysis with - tempting - results. I’d love to hear the experts you had conversations with on the podcast to dive even deeper. This longer shaft idea has been in my head for a while, but I guess at 5’10” I assumed it would flatten my plane to try to hit the center of the face. You being 5’8” and having great results tells me that’s not necessarily the case.
Very interesting. Great article.
@jon out here about to make me spend $1000 on an experiment to get me closer to my 125mph club head speed goal. Love it.
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Haha, I have an adams long driver sitting in my basement… it’s 49 inches, I think… I’m sure we can work out a deal.
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Tempting, but if I’m gonna do it I’m gonna do it as Jon laid out here getting everything dialed in right.
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lol - Adam and I will discuss on the podcast this week sans experts though. Pretty much everything I put in there was 98% of what they said. It’s a “you won’t know until you test” type of thing. Also, the more I learn, I don’t think height has all that much to do with a concept like this.
I don’t want to tell you what those prototype shafts I’m using cost. And I believe they made a big difference.
Thanks for reading, and glad you liked it.
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Are you saying the driver setup I spent less than $100 on via eBay isn’t an ideal setup?
Hurtful.
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Nice article! I tried the long driver experiment several times, but it was mostly a failure for me. I went into it wondering if I could carry 2 drivers…I think this was even prior to Phil doing it. I actually carried 2 putters briefly years ago: a standard one for long putts and a belly putter for 15 ft and in. Incredibly effective and I might do it again if it were still legal…I liked to experiment.
I’m curious, did you look at the MOI of your current gamer and try to duplicate that in the longer driver?
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Thanks! In terms of MOI it was almost exactly the same between my prior 44" setup and the new one.
As for the 47" setup, I don’t know exactly how much it dropped, but removing both of the weights in the Callaway head will reduce the MOI. In my testing, I didn’t see a significant impact, but I’ll have to see how that plays out on the course.
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Cool experiment @jon Jon. You know I’ve been trying to get longer and I’d seriously considered going to a longer driver shaft. This actually helped me decide it won’t work for at this point, for a couple reasons:
- I already struggle to control my 45.5" driver, so adding another 10 yards dispersion would be a problem for me.
- I don’t really have a club-fitter I trust to help me get it right.
- I miss the center of the face too often so I need to work on that first.
I’ll be interested to hear your progress on the course!
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Maybe a different thread, but what are you doing to get longer? Cleaning up contact is always a great way to go (longer and more consistent is a huge win)… Building speed (Speed sticks, Fit for Golf, Rocky Montage) are fun but require some commitment…
I think it was Adam who had an article on Angle of Attack and not Jon… it’s definitely worth a read.
One of my big goals this season is to get on a launch monitor and really parse out my “swing efficiency”. I want to make sure I’m getting the most out of the power I generate, and then work on generating more.
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I have been doing speed sticks all winter. I just started protocol 3 this week.
I also got a lesson last fall which cleaned up some setup issues that were leading to inconsistent contact. I hit the middle of the face more in October/November than I think I did the entire rest of 2020, so that added some distance back. I also started missing more fairways when I get distance back because my draw was drawing farther! But my scoring did go down.
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Will you consider using your 44" driver off the deck at all?
With those dispersion #'s why would you carry 2 drivers? Seems the 47" would add distance and keep dispersion at a playable level.
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for a guy who de-lofts and struggles to get longer clubs in the air, I think that would be a disaster waiting to happen. Can you say worm burners!!!
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I’ve had such overwhelming success with the 44" I’m not ready to abandon it. Also, I was even more encouraged by tighter dispersion numbers than ever with the newer head/shaft.
That being said, I need to now see what happens on the course. And also under real pressure in a tournament. It’s possible that I might go with the longer driver, or if the USGA bans it, go with a 46" exclusively. This is just the starting point for me!
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