Note: Port St. Lucie, FL, The PGA Learning Center. Seems impossible we’re in our final hours at the golf school. Weather yesterday was fantastic, if rather windy. (O.K. golf school students, it was really windy.) I was able to play with everybody in the afternoon and while not all shots were perfect, I saw some very good golf. I want to personally thank the staff at the PGA Learning Center — fantastic job! None better. And our new friends at the Hilton Garden Inn (right across the street from the Learning Center). Top drawer all the way.
One great experience was that we discovered one of our students had driver with a shaft way too long (see below). We had it cut down at the Learning Center (they have everything there) in minutes. “A” was very happy!
Keeping in harmony with the Surgism, “the setup determines the motion,” a major part of setup involves the golf club, in that it must “FIT” the golfer in numerous parameters to be a good club for that player.
Some of the major fitting points that must be considered involve the specs of the club.
These include: head size… 460CC or smaller; face alignment… square, closed or open; shaft material… graphite or steel; shaft weight… light, medium or heavy; shaft flex… ladies, senior, regular, stiff, X-stiff or XX-stiff; shaft kick point… low, medium or high; shaft length; grip material; grip size; and round or ribbed grip.
These are a lot of components, but there are even more.
Today, we’re going to look at length and the shaft.
You might be thinking at this point “I have a good driver. It is from one of the top companies, and I paid “BIG BUCKS” for it, so it has to be good.”
Oh contraire… my good friends!
It may not fit you in one or a number of specs. That could be the main reason why you can’t hit it consistently.
Two weeks ago, I had a lesson with a new student, B, who told me he was a mid to high single digit player but struggling with consistency in ball striking and direction. He had major setup issues that affected his follow through and finish (body rotated way left of the target with arms collapsing around the chest) causing the ball striking and direction problems.
We fixed the setup and focused on getting him to the T-Finish: square to the target and arms and club over the left shoulder.
He took to this like a duck to water and was hitting good, solid, straight and longer 7 iron shots within minutes.
We upped him to a 5 iron… still good.
We went up to a hybrid and then a 3 wood…still good.
Went up to a driver. First shot, block right, close to power slice.
Second shot, pull hook.
The third was a thin, skank-like cut, but at least it was up the middle.
All with swings that looked good, he said felt pretty good. He was confident his forward up swing to the finish was good.
I took his club and hit three shots. I hit them better than he had, but for me they were still poor shots. I felt the problem in the first swing, which I blocked and confirmed in the second, when it went left. The problem was not his swing, it was his club. His shaft was way too weak.
He was swinging a fishing pole and he needed something like a telephone pole. I gave him my driver, which is a soft X-stiff. He hit three good, solid and relatively straight drives, and he could feel the difference in the shaft. He said it was more “rigid.”
Lastly, he was swinging a 46 inch driver. Mine is 44 inches. Standard for most companies is 45 inches. Even though B is around 6′1″ and I am only 5′9″ (give — or more likely take — an inch), 44 inches is all he needs.
He smoked his 3 wood, so I told him to consider it the “gold Standard.” I told B to go to a PGA Professional club fitter I recommended and use his 3 wood as the base when get fitted and have his driver re-shafted. I also told him to get the rest of his clubs checked.
Golfers are quick to blame their swing, and not their clubs, especially expensive ones.
So if you feel you made a pretty good swing and got poor results, check out your equipment first. A good swing is only as good as the club in your hands. A poorly fitted club, especially a driver, “The Big Stick,” can make a good swing look bad… real bad.
The moral of this story and the key to B’s success and yours is that I can give you a great setup and “The Peak Performance Swing,” but you also have to have “Peak Performance Clubs.”
The Surge!
Tell me what you're thinking... and what part of the golf swing, or this great game... you'd like to know more about. If you want your pic to show with your comment, go get a 
I recently purchased a brand new set of Cleveland clubs: Launcher driver, fairway, 3i & 4i hybrids, 5 – PW CG7 irons, 50, 54, 58 CG14 wedges. All of my irons are steel shafted regular flex and I love them to death especially after getting on board with the PPGS – I just can’t hit a shank for trying!
My Launcher driver and fairway (17 deg) is stiff flex graphite shafted and while I can smoke my fairway wood I struggle to get any consistency with the driver, it sounds to me like I have a similar problem as your friend Mr B. So I may have to go back to my club fitter and have my driver re-shafted using the fairway as the base to work off.
My other problem is with my hybrids, they are regular flex shafted graphites which I think are too weak. After pounding down some bowling alley straight bullets, at the range, with my 5 or 6 iron and I grab either of my 3i or 4i hybrids, I would hit a solid shot but blocked right. Only if I slow my hands down through the forward upswing could I hit it straight – I would feel the club head keeping pace with my hands. So I will try stiff a shafted graphite hybrid when I see my club fitter and if vindicated have them reshafted as well.
On another note, I’ve been watching our own Aussie Masters today, which was day 3, and Tiger had a hard day at the office – but he still managed to stay tied first. After one bad drive with the big stick he threw the club into the ground which then proceeded to bounce off into the crowd about 4 or 5 deep. The driver was returned with smiles all round, we Aussies tend not to be anally retentive, and Tiger was gracious in his apologies – what a class act.
Any other golfer in the world would have shot anywhere between 5 to 10 over if they were having a bad day on this course, the greens were hard and fast – like playing on top of a garbage can lid. One immaculate bunker shot Tiger played I could hear the ball “fizzing” through the air and finish up two foot from the hole – unreal!
Tiger was playing the third round today with fellow American Jason Dufner who has a chipping game to die for. I did notice that both golfers were quickly learning our Aussie salute – flicking flies away from the face one handed.
Anyway tomorrow we expect Tiger, once he dons the red shirt, to have a good day and probably shoot a 6 under and win by at least 2 shots.
Regards, Craig S
I just read your comments on shaft length and totally agree. I worked in the golf retail industry as a club sales person and certified club fitter and was continually amazed at consumers attitudes about “not needing” to be fit as they were buying “name clubs.” The other side of the coin are those consumers who purchased “lesser known” brands and didn’t think it was worth fitting the clubs. Either way you need to be fit and have it done by trained staff. Furthermore, and this is for women golfers, just because you’re female doesn’t mean you have to play “ladies” clubs. Get fit and go with what works best for you.
Thanks Surge for speaking to this often overlooked issue.
Susan
Don, I have a no-name driver that is 44 and hit it pretty well. I also have a new Cleveland Monster Draw version. If I cut 2 inches off it, would I have to do anything for weighting to compensate for the amount I cut off?
Being over 5′17″ I have had to fit all my clubs forever. The irons are +1″ plus 2* of bend upright. The hybrids and fairway woods also +1″ longer. I use 3 drivers due to differing conditions in the Phoenix area, all are 44″. Each driver has a different shaft chosen for the club head’s performance characteristics. I find it easier to switch drivers to changing conditions than adjusting the swing. That said I will hit different shots if the layout of the hole will give a reward to a particular shape.
Don,if you are ever booking lessons at Port St Lucie would you let me no so I could signup.
Thanks Don
Hi Don, I have recently purchased your ppgs and have to date really enjoyed your videos. I like it so much because you make the golf swing look so easy, there is so much tec talk today that you haven’t a clue what you should be doing.
Don my bad swing is when I hold back on my right side and then I just swing my arms which can create a pull or hook. ( By the way I do understand why this happens and I think it is because I have been saving my lower back due to injury ). I have incorporated your methods, i.e. swinging the club along the toe line and straight up, with a lot of success. However, when I got the hang of this action I then started to incorporate the weight shift i.e. my hips/weight to the left from the top/start of my down swing. I have now found that when I do this move I top the ball on nearly every shot ( teed up or not) and when I do make a reasonable contact I tend to still pull it left. Also I have noticed when I try this lateral shift left that my down and through swing line appears to be coming from slightly outside the line towards inside with a closed club face even though I try to through my hands and club towards the intended target/line. Can you please give me some guidance as to what you feel I may be doing wrong or what you think I should be working on. I am a 10 handicap aged 53 and have always struggled to get my left side and weight properly through the ball. i.e. without spinning through. Two years ago I had surgery on L4 & L5 discs but thank fully still reasonably fit for my age. Also Don is this the right channel to contact you re your blog?
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
Harrison Girvan
hi surge
i am learning the ppgs and going well and i think it is true i tend to hold my named driver at the bottom of the grip and still hit it 250 but as i put my hands where it should be on the grip i tend to hit it 180 and 50 yards right so shall i get my shaft which is regular and cut it down and by how much please help dj rom
Surge
Before I started with your swing I purchased a new driver, 3 and 5 wood. All three were offset to help with my slice. I was hitting them well with my old swing but now not so good with my new swing. I never hit my irons more solid or further with the peak performance swing. Is it the offset that causing me to hit my driver and woods bad? Should I get rid of the offset?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Big Fan
John H
It’s “au contraire” (to the contrary), not “oh contraire.” To the point, I like a shorter shaft too. Mine is 44″ or 43.5″.
Don: I have a 46″ Ping- 460 CC- titanium- G/10- stiff- 9 degree-TFC-129D-tip flex control- I started playing golf in August 1945- the week the second world war ended- I am now 76 years old- I had just turned 12 when I began- I caddied for several years as a youngster for some of the great ones such as “The Babe”- an exhibition at Lachute Golf and Country club when the great Bobby Locke from South Africa was also a part of the foursome. There were 2 Canadian pros( Jack Archer and Stan Horne) involved. These exhibitions were arranged by Mr. Gilbert Ayers.
I have only had 1 driver in my 64 years of golf that I liked. This Ping while it is better than many of the others I have tried, I don’t think it is anywhere close to what it could be. I purchased the 3 wood that supposedly went with it but it does not feel anything like the driver.- it is heavier -a bit stiffer. I have tried regular shafts and I find I just ballon the ball particularly into the wind.
Should I have it cut to say 44″ or just choke down on it to see if it feels better and if in the affirmative have it cut?
During most of my golfing life we never heard anything here in Canada about club fitting the individual- although the older pros did a great job in serving their members even though they did not have todays equipment- Now it seems – either there is little interest in trying to fit clubs to the idiosyncrasies of a particular golfer or the personnel do not really know how to do it.One gets the impression that for whatever reason the attitude is ‘any club will work- if it doesn’t it is because of your swing.’ – So ‘there is the rack with the clubs for sale- pick out what you like and don’t bother me”- in other words – the attitude has become- every club fits the John Smith ( (noname golfer) who shows up to buy a set of clubs.Unfortunately most of the stuff is crap because it doesn’t fit the individual in question. How can these big name manufacturers who have just about everything made in China justify their aloof attitude towards the consuming public by doing nothing to improve a very frustrating and unsatisfactory aspect of the club purchase process ? Does China bring anything to the table other than their ability to satisfy the greed factor on the part of these big name golf manufacturers?
The one driver that I liked was a graphite shaft fitted (in 1972- one of the first graphites) to a club head circa 1928 by Mr Bill Kerr Sr- the Head Pro at Beaconsfield Golf and Country club which he sold to me in 1973. I played with this until I was convinced in 1995 I should buy something more recent. This began a search that continues to this day. As a younger person my handicap was well within the single digits but today it has soared and was this season at 16 when I quit for the year.
Thank you
Frank
Thanks for this great article, I have Callaway fusion irons that were fitted for me and they feel great to play with. On the other hand my driver is a Titleist 907D1which was purchased second hand. The driver is great on occasions, it will either smoke down the middle, hook or slice and I find that my setup with the driver is never the same. Reading your article has made me realise that the driver and me are probably just not the perfect match. We are always told that the swing for and irons and the driver should be the same but with me it never feels the same. Perhaps it’s time to go in for a driver fitting. Thanks Surge.
Bill
Let me take issue with Craig’s above comments about Tiger Woods…where he refers to him as a “Class Act”. I simply can’t agree…throwing clubs (and his constant scowl) is not indicative of a class act. Many attribute this as his intensity. No one can argue his skill…head and shoulders over the rest of the field..but calling him a “Class Act”…no way!
Frank, for club fitting, you should check out Taylor Made’s Matt Centre just north of Toronto. They will take the time to fit you for all of your clubs. Some of the other manufacturers have fitting centres too. BTW your story about The Babe and Bobby Locke was interesting. Also, BTW, you quit too early. Up in Barrie we were playing in shirtsleeves today.
Mike
Don when you are talking length and you talk of a 44″ driver where are you actually measuring from?
If you dont get your driver reshafted would it be good to grip down an inch or two as Mr. Kim on the tour does?
I recently purchased a new driver and was amazed at how far I hit it, but as amazingly was how far off line I could hit it. After trying to adjust my swing and so on I picked up my old driver and put it next to my new. I found that it was two inches shorter. I am only 5′8″but can put it out a reasonable distance. Anyway, I went to my local pro and had it shortened by two inches, we also had to adjust the swing weight back up, by cutting 2″s off it made it swing at C0 rather than D0. Anyway, now I probably hit it very slightly shorter but WOW it goes straight and I can move it left to right or right to left if I need to.
Everyone should check their driver length, the club manufacturers like them longer as it increases club head speed, but unless you can control it you might as well leave it in your bag.
Surely it is the length from your hands to the ground, not your height, that determines the length of your driver
LENGTH DOES MATTER!
Hey Don, sure wish I could have been there at your school. Maybe next time. As for your thoughts on club specs, yes I took your advice (from a similar previous article) and went from x stiff 46 to regular 44 inch and have been straighter and consistently in the fairway. Actually I did not loose much in distance either. As you say, “straight and solid are great”. Thanks Surge!
hi don this is chris from australia in reference to length of the driver I have a callaway 460 bigbertha driver it is 46in /1o% with shaft aldila 55 iam only a novice is this too long how do you know , what about weight of the clubs I was using a 13%driver before I have been I would be better of using the bigger 13%than 10% could you help thank you chris
To Bob Ferguson,
You are absolutely right that throwing clubs in anger or carrying a scowl on one’s face because of intrusive photographers or abusive spectators is not a class act.
What I meant by the term “class act” in regards to Tiger was that everybody knew he didn’t intentionally throw the club into the crowd. He took the time out from focussing on his next shot to actually go over to the spot where the club went into the crowd, offer his genuine, heart felt and humble apologies to those people, retrieve the club personally AND have the big heart to laugh along with the crowd who would have been “taking the piss out of him” (to use an Aussie coloquialism). Mate to me that shows depth of character – he could of easilly asked Steve Williams to retrieve the club and shirked his responsibility to make an appropriate apology.
Anyway Tiger did manage to go on and win our Gold Jacket (Australian Masters champion) and nobody on this side of the pond will begrudge him that. Our own Greg Chalmers and Florida’s Jason Dufner had far too many putts to win it – Jason over the final two days had at least half a dozen three putt greens from reasonable positions.
I know that our Gold Jacket is second rung to the Green Jacket on the global scale of things but I like to think, as an Aussie, that Tiger has won a mini Major. Jack Nicklaus won about 5 Australian Opens, mini Majors, so Tiger’s first Aussie mini Major puts him only 4 behind the great Golden Bear (still my all time favourite golfer).
I personally rate the U.S. Masters the number 1 Golf Major because of its venue – Augusta National (the Valhalla of golfers worldwide). It is the constant major and should always retain that unique and idiosyncratic aspect of being the only one venue Major – it would be sacrilege of the highest order to change the venue of the U.S. Masters.
The ONE and only exception to my favourite Major is the OPEN at St. Andrews, this is the only time that Augusta National would take a respectful curtsy to the home of golf.
My third favourite Major is the U.S. Open, with greens that have a teenager stimp meter reading with greenside rough thick enough to hide an elephant.
My least favourite Major, only because I believe it is an over indulgence of Majors in North America, is the U.S. PGA. I believe this Major should be made a global touring major.
Regards, Craig S
you call me 302 519 0886 cell
I am a single handicap golfer 69 years of age. I use a 47 inch Mondeo Novaris (MONARK GOLF
SUPPLY) it is not a clone club but was given a very good rating by Golf Test U.S.A about 4 years ago.
The shaft is a John Daly, Penley high kick point R flex. i hit it great. I have tried Taylor Made,
Calloway, and Ping models but do not hit them as well as this club. Because I have a compact
but repeating swing I find the 47 inch shaft ideal. I experimented with other lengths but found
the 47 inch length most effective.
Hey Surge!, Went out and played a local club that I also joined today, should be recieving information on how to start scoring for a handicap rating to play amature senior tournaments next year. Played 3 times last week with a low score of 82, I’m the one who is recovering from from a broken neck in April this year. Well the issue with my driver was better due to concentrating on set-up, alignment, 3/4 swing, and wind direction. Well I had the best front nine I have ever shot a 38, couldn’t believe I figured out my stance wasn’t wide enough before with my irons and was placing the ball in the correct location forward or backward but too close to my toe line. I’m 6′ 3 1/2 and play with Adams Idea Pro gold Irons with the Black-Gold stiff shafts 1/2″ longer than standard for my height. Started hitting straight shots and hitting the greens in regulation. Ended up on the back nine with a 41, missed a 6′ put for birdie on the #1 handicap hole after sticking my 8 iron from 162 yards just left of the hole. I’m excited and looking forward to getting better. The PPGS swing has been the “ONE” thing that has allowed me to play with no pain, again C-5-6-7 Vertebrae’s fused in April this year with 7 other vertebre damaged from a motocycle racing accident. I finally broke “80″ for the first time in my life with a final score of “78″ unbelievable with outside temp’s arround 45 degrees and a slight 5-15 mph wind. Our Low last night was just above 10 degrees. Talked to a local pro yesterday about getting the clubs checked and the driver fitted properly. My slice problem i believe is due to just the issues you have mentioned in this article. Thanks Again Surge! Without the PPGS system I probably would have given up on golf! George Haas
To all considering cutting the length down (from butt end) make sure you swing weight the club back to it’s proper number!!!!!!. I cannot stress this enough. For example, I have a Burner 09 driver that was 46.25″ long at a swing weight of D4. Cut it down to 44.5″ and the swing weight shot up to C9. So now I have a shorter “Lighter” driver, I had a tough time feeling the clubhead in the swing as it was way too light, I started swinging outta my shoes and the problems of poor striking did not go away. I had to add weight to the club head to bring it back to approx. D4 for the club to “feel” proper. Cutting it down solved only half the problem, too light of a stick and you’ll have difficulty feeling where it is in your swing. To give you another example; C9 swing weight is suited for women’s clubs, and too light of a club for most amateur golfers forces us to swing harder/faster getting into all kinds of trouble. Cutting your driver down is not a bad thing, it’s a great thing actually……take it to your local fitter and have it swing weighted and you’ll be clapping the ball long and straight with minimal effort.
To Phil Harmon,
My goodness! What has gotten you in such an uproar about the PPGS?
I suggest you get a reading comprehension tutor because you clearly did not understand anything in this article. Specifically what misinformation did Don “spew”? Where did he say that shortening the driver will add yardage? He simply related facts about the lesson he gave and the results that he observed.
The problem his student had was with the shaft of his driver–not with his swing, as was clearly evident by his ability to hit his other clubs well. When the student hit Don’s driver with the stiffer and shorter shaft, he hit 3 solid, straighter drives. So where’s the misinformation that Don is “spewing”? There’s an implication that hitting it more solidly and straighter can lead to greater distance than mishitting it, but that is certainly true.
Nobody with any common sense would interpret Don’s “2 buckets of balls” claim to mean that that’s all that’s needed to develop a repeating swing. The claim is meant to show how easy it is to pick up the concepts and begin hitting good shots. I’m not sure what your motivation is to denigrate a system that works extremely well for many who have tried it.
I, like many other satisfied customers, can say that the PPGS was the best thing that I’ve discovered in the 45 years I’ve been playing golf. If someone had told me last year when my swing had deteriorated that I could be playing again at the high level I was used to if I bought this new system, I would gladly have paid 10 times the price.
Don,
Thanks for addressing the driver length issue. I have a Taylor Made Burner driver (graphite shaft) I purchased in Sept. of this year. I have learned the PPGS and feel very comfortable hitting my irons and woods. The driver has been a problem when it comes to consistency. Some times I can crush the ball and other times I am all over the place. After reading this article, I went out and measured my driver. I am 6′5″ and the driver is 47″ long. After reading this article, it appears it may be to long for me? All of my irons and woods were fitted for me with +1 shafts and regrips, but not the driver.
Can this driver be shortened or should I get fitted for a new one? Your thoughts?
Thanks
Greg
Mt. Sinai, NY
Dear Surge,
I’d like to know if there is a PPGS instructor down here in Miami, FL or if you come down here, what are lesson rates etc.
Thanks much.
dear surge
i am working now for a few weeks with your dvd’s and i am impressed. my fairway-shots are ways better then before, nice and straight. ball-contact is ways better and controlled.
two problems:
1.i am at least 1 iron shorter than before, about 20 yards with the driver and faiway-woods..
2.since i have change my swing to your system, i have pain in both elbows.
please help
kind regards
ernst
Don
Still working on your method. My biggest problem has been moving from practice to game. I used to concentrate on the club position, hands etc in both practice and game. However, I recently decided to forget everything (not easy, but a work in progress) when playing. I take one practice swing and if that feels good I visualize my swing and go for it. If the first practice swing didn`t feel good I would take a second and the feeling is usually there. This has improved my shots with every club including my driver. The game of golf, like life, is a journey and one needs both a map and sometimes help on the way. The map is in our head and is useless if we don`t use it. The help comes from people like yourself that know the game and how to use the tools. Thanks for your help.
Hey Surge,
What do you think about the 1 iron clubs that have the same length shaft for every club? They say that with the same length shaft you can use the exact same swing with every club.
Brian
Surge,
How do I find a reputable golf club fitting professional in my area??? I am considering new clubs and I would like to ensure that I am making the best decision for my game. Any advise would be appreciated.
Dave
Bridgewater, NJ