Think Club Length Doesn’t Matter?

Bryson DeChambeau is one of golf’s more interesting characters.

During the pandemic, DeChambeau “bulked up” in a program designed to turn the golfer into a power monster who could bring golf courses to their knees by the sheer distance he could propel the golf ball.

DeChambeau got the desired effect. A PGA Tour highlight was his attempt at driving the par 5 6th hole at Bay Hill during the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational. He launched a drive that carried 347 yards over water, ending up in the rough with only 88 yards left to the green.

While DeChambeau’s muscle mass played its part in propelling the golf ball so far, we also need to look at DeChambeau’s driver and, in particular, the shaft he was using.

DeChambeau was gaming a 48-inch shaft in his prototype Cobra driver that week.

The added length of the driver shaft helped create more clubhead speed, which DeChambeau could impart to the golf ball. The ball speed on DeChambeau’s drive was clocked at 194 mph.

Professionals are always quick to pick up on trends. Rory McIlroy, who is no slouch off the tee, was a high-profile player who opted to experiment with the length of his driver shaft to keep up with DeChambeau.

However, McIlroy couldn’t get the longer shaft to work for him. McIlroy suffered issues with the timing in his swing and struggled with his ball-striking and accuracy. McIlroy quickly returned to his standard driver-length shaft, seeing no advantage to the longer shaft.

Getting the correct shaft length isn’t just for tour players—it's crucial for every golfer seeking to improve accuracy, distance, and consistency.

With this in mind, it is time to help you understand how fitting the right length of golf shafts can be pivotal in improving your game.

To do so, we’ll take a deeper dive into:

Determining Correct Golf Club Length: What’s Right, What’s Wrong
How Club Length Affects Your Swing
Custom Length Golf Clubs Fitting At Nine By Nine Golf

Determining Correct Golf Club Length: What’s Right, What’s Wrong

A simple theory about optimal golf club length was that taller players would benefit from longer clubs, and shorter players would be better suited to shorter clubs.

While this might sound like common sense to most people, it isn’t as straightforward, especially if you are a professional club fitter.

The problem lies in that the anatomy of tall and short people differs from person to person.

You might have a tall golfer with a short torso and long arms; equally, you could have a shorter player with a long torso and short arms. So, when it comes to the correct shaft length for each player, their overall body structure is the key to determining the proper shaft length.

If you have any physical issues, such as bad back, joint pain, or chronic injury issues, they must also be considered when selecting the correct golf shaft length.

How can you determine if the golf clubs you are playing are too long or short for what you need?

The first place to look at is the address position.

If your golf clubs are too short, you will likely stand closer to the ball and bend your knees more to feel more comfortable. This adjustment is necessary to ensure the sole of the club lies flat on the ground, fighting the tendency of the heel of the club to be slightly raised off the ground at address.

If your clubs are too long, you’ll have the opposite problem.

At address, you’ll likely stand further from the ball and more upright. These alterations are necessary to prevent the toe from sitting slightly off the ground.

The bottom line is that you should never compromise your setup to accommodate a poorly fitting golf club. Compromising your setup will cause issues in your swing and can lead to injury.

To obtain the correct shaft length you need to consult with a qualified fitter. When you are booked in for a fitting session, part of the assessment is for the fitter to measure the distance between the crease in your wrist and the ground.

The fitter will then check this length against your overall height to get a more accurate picture of your ideal club length.

The fitter can also use your ball flight and shot dispersion data obtained from the launch monitor when you hit shots to further narrow down the correct length of golf clubs.

How Club Length Affects Your Swing

We’ve discussed the compensations needed to accommodate golf shafts that are too long or too short, but what happens in the swing, and what are the resultant shot problems?

The easiest one to start with is shafts that are too long.

As we saw in our introduction, Rory McIlroy experimented with a longer driver shaft but couldn’t get it to work. More recently, Justin Thomas made a successful switch to a longer driver shaft, which has given him more distance off the tee.

What are the merits and pitfalls of using a longer shaft in your driver or any other club in your golf bag?

The positive is that you can increase clubhead speed through a longer shaft. In Thomas’ case, he switched to the maximum legal length in his driver, 46 inches, which gave him an extra 3 mph clubhead speed and an additional 15 yards.

However, before you go and seek out your nearest club fitter and ask them to extend your driver shaft to 46 inches, you need to consider what else Thomas said about his new driver.

Thomas noted that on tight courses, courses where the rough is notoriously penal, or the size of the tournament dictates minimal mistakes, he would likely go back to his regular shaft length in his Titleist driver for more control.

Thomas’ observation gets to the heart of where the problems can lie with a longer shaft.

Longer shafts can create problems with swing tempo and timing, leading to inconsistent ball striking, which can affect your shots' accuracy.

Ball flights can be higher due to more spin being imparted on the ball at impact, and for right-handed golfers, the miss can be more to the right.

Shafts that are too short come with their own issues. Golf clubs that are too short can steepen the plane and angle of attack into the ball.

Ball flights can be lower and promote more of a draw bias, with strike location tending to be more towards the toe.

Custom Length Golf Clubs Fitting At Nine By Nine Golf

If you went to your nearest golf retailer and bought a driver off the rack, the driver shaft will likely measure around 46 inches. Manufacturers have used this ploy to help golfers believe they can hit the ball further. When driver shafts were predominantly steel, the maximum length most golfers used was 43.5 inches.

Leading club-fitting expert Tom Wishon stated in a recent interview that, in his opinion, 90% of golfers are using driver shafts that are too long to be effective.

Irons follow a similar pattern, although maybe not as extreme. A classic Ping Eye 2 7-iron from 1983 measured 36.75 inches and today’s Ping G730 measures 37 inches.

At Nine By Nine Golf, we agree with Wishon’s sentiment. From our experience working with all levels of golfers, a driver shaft around 45 inches long offers the best of both worlds by helping to create more clubhead speed and maintaining control through a more centred strike.

When you come in for a fitting session with us, we will take the necessary measurements to determine your ideal shaft length. We can then accumulate data when you hit shots with your existing clubs to determine shot dispersion, launch and spin rates, trajectory and shape of shots.

Your feedback is also important because it describes what you experience on the golf course, giving us the whole picture.

Every player will have a different set of priorities that can help dictate what we do to optimise shaft length. We can experiment with longer shafts if the player is looking for more distance. Using the launch monitor, we can check to see if we add distance, but we wouldn’t want to sacrifice ball-striking consistency and shot dispersion.

The optimal golf club length for accuracy will depend on the data we collect on the launch monitor. While shortening the golf shaft can improve accuracy, golfers often worry that a shorter shaft will not enhance distance.

The shorter shaft can help you hit the ball further because you are hitting the centre of the clubface more often, creating a more efficient strike. This can be measured from the launch monitor data, where you would notice an improvement in the smash factor.

Finding the correct balance of shafts best suited to your game also comes down to the fitter determining the correct weight and flex for your game. When altering the length of the shaft, the fitter will also be mindful of the change in the shaft's flex. Shortening the shaft can stiffen the flex, while the opposite is true for lengthening it.

To wrap everything up, using the correct length of golf club shafts can improve your ball striking, accuracy, and distance.

Stock golf clubs don’t cater to the vagaries of our build and height; therefore, going through a custom-fitting process is the only proper way to determine the correct length of shafts needed for your clubs.

Incidentally, did DeChambeau’s monster drive give him a huge advantage over his playing partner, Lee Westwood, that day at Bay Hill? The answer in this instance was no; both players made birdies.

If you are considering changing your golf clubs, you can book a fitting session through the Nine By Nine Golf website. During your fitting session, our qualified fitters will ensure you have the correct shaft lengths as part of their overall recommendation.

We’d be happy to assist if you have any questions about why the correct length of golf shaft is so essential for your game or the custom-fitting process in general.