Dave, In my experience, I have found that I have to add considerable weight to most driver heads just to get a D3-D4 swingweight at 45". My current driver is an Infiniti Propulsion 460cc (also a carbon crown design like the 5n2), mated to an Aggressive Frenzy shaft at 45". I added 5 grams of tip weight, and an additional 5 grams of lead tape just to get to D4 at 45" (with a 52 gram grip). I have found that a lot of the newer heads are coming in at 195-196 grams instead of around 200 like most components used to. If I shortened to 44", I would have to add another 8-10 grams of lead tape, and at that point the head does start looking ugly, and you have to be careful where you are adding the weight. Ideally, one could buy a head at around 210 grams, toss in a 50-60 gram shaft and a 50 gram grip, and you have a nice 44" driver with a D4 swingweight and a total weight around 310-320 grams. Currently, you have to go with a ~100 gram shaft and a ~200 gram head to get anywhere close to D4 at 44", and with a 50 gram grip you are at 350+ grams total weight. The other trend I have found is that some of the heavier weight graphite shafts are balanced sort of butt heavy, so even though you expect a higher swingweight at shorter length, you don't actually get it. In my opinion, that's te worst of both worlds.
Tedd -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dave Tutelman Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 6:02 PM To: ShopTalk@mail.msen.com Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Wishon Short Driver Article At 04:08 PM 10/12/2005, Childers, Tedd A wrote: >Personally, I would >love to build a shorter driver, but ideally I could get a reasonable >swingweight (D2-D4) at 43.5-44" and with a very light shaft (60 grams). >This would require a heavier than normal driver head (210+ grams), and that >is what I have a problem finding, at least in a model that has the specs I >want (450+ cc, ~12* loft). Tedd, This year I started playing with a driver with a 12* Tourswing head. (See http://www.tourswinggolf.com/carboncrown.htm) I put it on a Mercury Savage shaft. I went with the Savage for its very stiff tip (to stabilize it coming into impact), and made up for that in feel with a softer shaft than usual by about 10cpm. It was 45-3/4" long at a swingweight of D4, using the components with no special weighting. In general, it has worked well for me. Not more distance than my old 10* driver, but I hit fewer bad shots and more fairways. Halfway through the year, I decided (for a variety of apparently valid reasons) that I should try to shorten it radically. I cut it down to 44.5". I preserved the swingweight by putting lead tape on the sole. I used a little over 10 grams, so your 210+ gram estimate is right on. The results have been great. I have further reduced my bad shots. But surprisingly, I've also hit drives on several holes that equal my best drives ever on that hole -- places this 64-year-old hasn't been off the tee in over a half-dozen years. That should say something about both the feasibility and desirability (for me, at least) of the shorter driver. If you think it might help you, try it! Lead tape isn't THAT ugly. (I'm reminded by that statement of John Karsten's somewhat defensive TV ads for the Ping Zing. "It's amazing how good it looks after you see the shots you make.") Cheers! DaveT -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.14/130 - Release Date: 10/12/2005
