Let’s switch up the topic this week. I had an interesting scenario arise, so I started a chain of dialog with my Fitting Team. I thought I’d share it with you to get your wheels turning.

Had a player- who is a good ball striker, Index around 0, and a tinkerer- ask me about the “Mickelson set up”. 2 Drivers in the bag. My first impression was “are you nuts?”, but I played along and asked “What are you thinking?”. He said his 3 wood was one of the best clubs in his bag – either off a tee or off the deck, but he was thinking about giving himself more options off the tee. He said he hits the 3 wood about 240 off the tee, and his driver about 265-270. His thinking was to try a longer shafted driver. 47″ – 47 1/2″. I asked him about the bigger gap between driver and 3 wood and he said he was thinking about getting rid of the 3 wood and replacing it with a shorter driver. I immediately said “Isn’t your 3 wood one of the best clubs in your bag?” “Yes, but if I hit the driver further, I wouldn’t need it.” I replied “True, but if you hit a long shafted driver in the trees, your scores will go off the charts.” He said, “I still carry a 5 wood which I hit better than the 3 wood, and I’d add a second, shorter driver to replace the 3 wood. With a longer driver, It would more than makeup the distance lost between 3 wood and 5 wood. The second driver would be 44 1/2″ long and maybe 10.5* or 11*.” I scratched my head… pondering the thought.

My first thought was this is idiotic. Then I thought switching to a strong 3 wood from a standard 3 wood for a good player is not that crazy of an idea – especially if it’s primarily a driving club for him. A strong 3 wood is 13.5* and 43 1/4″ long. If we built a driver at 11.5* and 44 1/4″, it would only be 2 degrees stronger and an inch longer. The head would be more forgiving. Interesting thought and concept. The driver would be easier to hit since it is shorter, but the increase in loft will make it spin more and go a little shorter than his current driver. All in, he’d probably drive the ball straighter with a driver like this than he would a strong 3 wood (maybe even than a standard 3 wood). It will certainly go further than both.

So, what can we do about the long driver? Here’s the theory… Each inch of length will get about 1.5 MPH more clubhead speed. Almost 2″ in length equates to about 3 MPH increase in clubhead Speed, which equates to about 6 MPH in ball speed IF… he hits it solid. The longer shaft will launch it higher, so it’s necessary to decrease the loft. That will reduce the spin and also increase the ball speed by a little bit due to the flush strike. That’s 7 x 3 = 21 yards. The reduced spin might get an additional 4 or 5 yards yards. So, in a perfect world, he gains 25 yards with the new driver. How crooked it goes depends on the proficiency of the player, and his discipline of which driver to pull is critical to the success of this makeup.

The 5 wood caused me some concern in this new make up. I love the extra loft, but I felt the distance gap might be too much. His 5 wood goes 225 and laser straight. Do we add another half inch to maybe stretch it to 230?

I was intrigued, so, off I went to the “warehouse” (my basement) and I built some clubs. I played 9 holes with each makeup. I play at a golf course that is very tight, so I thought the longer set wouldn’t be a good fit here, although I do hit 3 wood on a fair number of tees, so it was curious how the shorter driver would do. I hit a few shots with trackman to see what I could expect. 

With my current driver, I swing it at 100 MPH, ball speed is right at 150 on most shots. 2300 RPM of spin at 12* launch is a 270 yard tee shot. I choked down an inch on the shaft and changed the loft to 11.5*. Clubhead speed was roughly the same, and ball speed was slightly lower. Spin was up a few hundred RPM, height was up, and the distance was consistently in the 255 – 260 range. The shot pattern was tighter, and it was pretty stress free to hit that driver.

With the longer driver, all I had was a 47″ Fujikura Motore. A little different from the Ventus Blue I normally play, but close enough. My clubhead speed was 103 with the longer club. Ball speed jumped to 155. I did have some in the 104 & 157 range. Trajectory was higher, so I dropped the loft to 8*, then to 7*. Spin was lower. Total distance was in the 280-290 range. While the distance was 15-20 yards further, shot dispersion was definitely bigger (as I expected), but not as bad as I expected. I could feel the lag in the longer shaft and felt that I had to be very patient in the transition and try to hook the ball to hit it straight. I tinkered with that combination at 46 1/2″ and 8* and it was pretty good, but I wouldn’t want that to replace my current driver even though I did hit it straighter. 

I compared the short driver to a strong 3 wood and the driver was longer than the 3 wood by about 10 yards (about the same as my current 3 wood). The spin on the 3+ was lower, and it didn’t launch high enough for me. It was difficult for me to hit it off the deck, so it is essentially a driving club for me (just like the shorter driver). All in, the shorter driver was a better option for me than a strong 3 wood. The golf course will tell me if a Standard driver & 3 wood is a better combination for me. 

Off to the golf course… I hit several of the longer drivers in places where the tee shots are tight, and I was in play, but the distance was not that different from what I would normally expect. I had one that I caught on the button, and I was a good 2 clubs shorter into the green. The trade off on this round was on one par five, it’s a layup off the tee, then I hit 3 wood past a couple of hazards and have wedge in – without a 3 wood, I had to layup with a 5 iron and I had 6 iron into the green. Ironically enough, my scores on the two nines were… the same. Yawn. The stress level was higher with the longer driver. and I didn’t see enough benefit in that 9 holes to make a change. I was intrigued with the 46 1/2″ driver shaft length. The shorter driver was also not that different from my current driver on the golf course. Fun experiment for me, but at the end of the day, I’m still a one driver guy.

This was a very interesting exercise for sure. For this to work, I think it would have to be the right player. Someone who hits it significantly shorter than I do (maybe 200 yards with a normal driver), but also very straight. He’d have to be able to handle the length of the longer driver with ease. I have a guy in mind to try it… 😉

Hope this helps. Until next time – happy fitting!!