From the beginning of the 20th century all the way through to the middle 1980s, the standard mens driver length stood at 43. Bill iseri, who fit me at pings phoenix headquarters, added a little loft to the shorter driver since physics dictated it would produce a slightly lower launch angle, spin rate, and clubhead speed. If a shorter driver works for rickie fowler, chances are it could benefit your game as well. Whats the average driver shaft length on the pga tour. Odds are, youve tinkered with your driver shafts to help squeeze every last yard out of your swing, while paying little attention to your iron shafts. Driver shaft length are you shorting yourself using a 46. The folks at ping built me two identical g30 driversone at their standard length of 4534 inches, the other two inches shorter. Graphite clubs are slightly longer, with a standard driver at 45 inches, 5iron at 38. However, in the 21st century a standard driver is considered to be 45 inches. Length of shafts according to height in golf sportsrec. Most male golfers are wielding drivers that measure 45 to 48 inches, the maximum allowed under the united states golf associations rules of golf. Of course we hear about the random tour guys who use much shorter drivers because its news. The drivers and shafts used by the top10 drivers on the. There is no question i have been an advocate for driver shaft length to be shorter than the current standard driver shaft lengths as offered by the various golf equipment companies.
The shaft nippon regio formula b and head were the same in each test, and the swing weight was held constant. With the new trend of shortened driver shafts on tour right now, a question came to my mind. Rickie fowler finds shorterlength driver to his liking. In fact, testing shows an inch of extra shaft length equals roughly 10 yards in distance. The average driver shaft length on tour is roughly 44. As the driver length got shorter most of the golfers actually gained distance. Over the years manufacturers have increased the length of driver shafts considerably. Each player tested the shafts in a different, random order. The quest for a more accurate driver practical golf. Each player hit seven drives with each of three driver shaft lengths. For this video, weve used the gc quad launch monitor to gather real world data comparing two identical clubs that only differ in shaft length. There is an optimum driver shaft length with which golfers will achieve maximum clubhead speed and it will vary from player to player.
The drivers and shafts used by the top10 drivers on the pga tour may 14, 2019 by andrew tursky, pgatour. Drivers and other clubs clubs other than drivers gradually get shorter if a 44inch steel shaft driver is indicated by the chart, your 5iron will measure 38 inches and sand wedge 35. If you choked down so it plays like a 44 inch shaft, would it go further, the same, or shorter than if you had a shaft cut down to 44 inches. Standard drivers for women are an 1 inch shorter than standard mens drivers. Taking a look at the driver shaft length used by the tour leaders in strokes gained. Drivers that exceed 48 inches in length cannot be used to play official tournaments and long driving competitions. In reality, the average length of a driver used on tour is 44. However, the minimum and maximum lengths do not apply to putters. The longer shaft promises more speed but possibly less control while the.
Struggling with accuracy off the tee, rickie fowler shaved an inch off his driver length at the honda classic, using a 43. Previously, the standard length for a womans driver was 43 inches. The minimum length for a driver shaft is 18 inches. There are no standards in the golf industry for just about anything, so each.