Club Building 101: What happens when you cut down a driver
This video examines how cutting down your driver, without factoring in other variables, can cause it to change flex and not play as it was fit or intended.
Check out previous installments of “Club Building 101” below!
- Club Building 101: Understanding epoxy
- Club Building 101: How to properly fit ferrules
- Club Building 101: Counterbalancing golf clubs
Kristoffer Reitan just won his first PGA Tour event at the 2026 Truist Championship. He is a Ping staff member and has a complete set of clubs from the brand. He did make a late driver switch this weekend that helped propel him to victory.
Driver: Ping G440 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
7-wood: Ping G440 Max (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85 TX
Irons: Ping Blueprint S (4-9)
Shafts: KBS Tour X
Wedges: Ping S259
46-S
Shaft KBS Tour X
50-S
54-S
58-S
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Ping PLD Custom Ally Blue H (white finish)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC Midsize
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Videos
Finau’s unique long putter experiment, Webb’s WILD irons | Inside the Ropes | Truist Championship
In this week’s episode of Inside the Ropes from the Truist Championship, Alistair Cameron catches up with Tony Finau, who is in the midst of an interesting long-putter experiment, and Webb Simpson, whose irons must be seen to be believed. Also featuring: Sepp Straka, Ryan Gerard, and much more!
Right now, I am tied for first place in my league! Don’t worry, the wheels will fall off as we get further into the year, but let’s keep the train rolling with 14 brand new clubs this week. We are off on the back nine again, so the driver is back in, and the 7-wood is out, as the course dictates what clubs I tend not to use. Excited to get these New Level irons out there and see if I can catch some of that driver magic I had down at Pinehurst with the Wilson Dynapwr+.
Driver: Wilson Dynapwr Max+ (12 degrees @ 11)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6s
3-wood: Cobra OPTM Max (15.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VR-7s
Utility: PXG 0311 X Gen8
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI-85s Hybrid
Hybrid: Ping G440 4h (22 degrees @ 21)
Shaft: Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85s
Irons: New Level 702+ (5 & 6)
Shafts: Project X Red 6.0
Irons: New Level 702 CB (7-PW)
Shafts: Project X REd 6.0
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (50.12F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (56.14F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60V)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
Putter: PXG Hot Rod ZT
Ball: Titleist ProV1x Left Dash
Bag: Ghost GT-14 Patriot
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Matt
Jan 31, 2019 at 7:14 am
Absolutely awesome. If I had a shop like that my bag would change daily and I’d have 4 mortgages!!!
Chris
Jan 30, 2019 at 7:41 pm
Trying to understand how this impacts ball flight. I cut my driver down last year. Just butt trimmed. No weight added, no tip trimming. I’ve been happy with it. What would the ball do instead if I had added weight and tip trimmed?
I can easily get the same shaft with the right adapter on ebay, so I’d consider re-doing it correctly.
JuannyBravo
Jan 31, 2019 at 9:06 am
I would leave it the way it is. If you didnt add weight, you softened the shaft slightly, and it lowered the swingweight, which would have kind of a backweighting effect.
If you tipped and add weight, it would play similar, but probably a hair stiffer.
geohogan
Feb 4, 2019 at 9:20 pm
If you want to add weight to an adjustable driver, just order
a different head weight. Their color coded.
geohogan
Feb 5, 2019 at 7:52 pm
@chris
Every golfer can swing a shorter club more easily than a longer club, so why
do we assume cpm , frequency , clubhead weight should be in the same proportion in a shorter club, as a longer club?
If we can swing a shorter club easier, most likely faster, then why not increase the overall weight(counter balance), rather than adding tip weight?
An interesting experiment is to switch 5 iron shaft for 6 iron shaft and visa versa. So your 5 iron head is now on 6 iron shaft and 6 iron head is on 5 iron shaft without changing any weights.
Interesting experiment to learn how club length and clubhead weight affect the ball flight.
Joe
Jan 30, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Terrible video. FCM is a derivitave of CPM. He interchanged the terms twice. Come on GolfWRX. Take this down and re-do it. They laypeople here have no clue what 7.n vs. 8.n means. And he overweighted the head.
chris embardino
Jan 30, 2019 at 3:42 pm
Hmm.. guess i’m not allowed to post?
chris embardino
Jan 30, 2019 at 3:43 pm
maybe it’ll allow me now?
So information missing from this video:
Cutting a shaft does not necessarily change it in a “one size fits all” manner. Each shaft will behave slightly different than another.
Tipping the shaft does not necessarily make it more stiff relative to how it was – i.e. tipping 1/2 inch and leaving 1/2 inch longer on the butt for the same length does not mean it will be stiffer – it depends on the shaft profile.
Adding weight is the majority of what made the shaft softer in this instance – not necessarily the cutting. if he Freq’d the shaft without weight, it would be very close to the original frequency (hzrdus yellow is a backweighted model and performs slightly different than non-backweighted models)
Flex designated as CPM is not a XY axis change, it’s an angled chart. A shaft that is 1 inch shorter should be about 10 CPM faster to be designated the same “flex”.
Shafts are designed by the manufacturer to work at “normal” playing length. 45″ +/- for drivers, and so on from there. When you add or subtract length, they will play differently, regardless. The same as if you blind bore or through-bore the head (for us old heads). See a proper repair shop for any sort of cutting and manipulating. It needs to be done slowly and properly if you want to maintain the playing characteristics of the shaft as they are before the work.
chris embardino
Jan 30, 2019 at 3:45 pm
OK that’s cool censor whatever. Just trying to give some legitimate information pertaining to the video.
Chuck
Jan 30, 2019 at 2:22 pm
Great information and insight…thank you! One question though…near the end you say that the flex changed. Di dit become stiffer or softer?
Scott
Jan 30, 2019 at 12:32 pm
To keep swingweight unchanged It’s 8 grams per inch cut down on a driver, not 12. It’s 1.6 grams per inch. It’s 2 grams per inch on mid irons and a bit more than 2 grams on wedges. It varies based on shaft length.
If you added more than 8 grams your test is interesting, but skewed. The result is fine but a bit exaggerated. The shaft gets softer and must be tip trimmed to maintain the same flex, not just butt cut.
Scheiss
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:44 am
This dude is so totally useless and he always talks like he’s got chew in his mouth, and that is freaking annoying.
Also, get a better camera that follows focus on your person, and if you’re going to continue to annoy us with this video series, at least get a remote mic! Sheesh
Skip
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:59 am
Yep, totally useless and not explaining anything in a clear, concise manner. Trying to sound more complicated than it really is lol.
darrell taylor
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:14 am
So….bottom line……is the shaft stiffer or weaker? Also is the swingweight more important, or the dead weight? You can get a utility pole to a d2 swingweight.
Scott
Jan 30, 2019 at 12:34 pm
Shaft is softer after butt trimmingband adding back weight
Duncan
Jan 30, 2019 at 10:58 am
so how would you get it back to the correct flex after cutting it down? Add more weight? Less weight?
Cody
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:39 am
He didn’t say directly, but at the beginning he pointed to a potential need to tip, in conjunction with cutting the butt. So, maybe if you want to shave an inch off, you would cut the butt .5 and the tip .5. Then add the swing weight back to the club. OR… Cut down .5, add weight, measure, and guess on what to take off the tip.
It’s all exhausting really.
Scott
Jan 30, 2019 at 12:40 pm
Pull the adapter and tip trim it instead of butt cutting…..which almost no one other than a professional builder does. The tip is the softest part of the shaft.
It’s like making a 3 wood. You always tip trim the shaft more than a driver shaft because even though the club is shorter, the 3 wood head is much heavier and causes the shaft to play softer if you were only to butt cut it shorter than the driver shaft.
CrashTestDummy
Jan 30, 2019 at 10:58 pm
Not necessarily. Each shaft manufacturer has their own different shaft trim guides that say either to tip or butt trim. Taper tip shafts are always butt trimmed. You always have to check with the manufacturer on the tip or butt trim guides.
geohogan
Feb 5, 2019 at 5:49 pm
@scott
Some shafts have a very stiff tip and are butt trim only. eg Nunchuk
Like its namesake, Nunchaku, has a very stiff tip, very stiff butt
and a mid section which is wrapped uniquely to absorb torque, flex, bending.
erock
Jan 30, 2019 at 10:53 am
Would have been neat to see the CPM and Frequency without adding the lead. I’d argue more people butt cut without adding any weight back to the head than those that do. Does the shaft now play firmer?
chris embardino
Jan 30, 2019 at 3:37 pm
The shaft will play nearly the same flex, but will feel much lighter. Amount of change depends on the shaft profile. It will CPM faster, but that is because it’s now shorter and would do so wether you cut from the butt or the tip end. I have many many clients that try to DIY and end up ruining the club.
geohogan
Feb 5, 2019 at 7:28 pm
Lets face it. Off the shelf shafts for woods are cheap junk.
If it doesnt work off the shelf throw it out and buy a decent shaft
from a proper fitter. Dont waste your time on junk.
A pretty paint job doesnt mean what your buying is what the pros are playing… it isnt, so dont kid yourself; junk is junk.
It would be better to buy a decent clubhead online and get fitted properly for a decent shaft. Anything shaft you buy new for under a $100 is only worth $10 in labor and material.
geohogan
Feb 5, 2019 at 7:37 pm
Guaranteed, check cpm, frequency on “off the shelf ” shafts for woods and
despite the commonality of paint job, the numbers will be all over the place.
The only consistency in cheap junk golf shafts off the shelf is their inconsistency.
CPM, frequency is a joke when referring to off the shelf golf shafts. Treat each shaft as unique. Either it works for you or it doesnt… period.
JCGolf
Jan 30, 2019 at 10:44 am
Ryan, what is the “Frequency” meausurement here? I alwaya thought CPM was frequency?
Skip
Jan 30, 2019 at 12:03 pm
You’re right. CPM is the frequency, the number is the FCM or Frequency Coefficient Matching number put out by Rifle back in the day.