What is My Correct Driver Length?
Don Bonrud February 14th, 2011
Good question. While there are no golf industry standards for club length, there are averages used by club makers. Average driver lengths have increased through the years with the average length in the 1950’s being 43 inches; today it is 45 inches with ladies club lengths generally 1 inch shorter than men’s lengths. The maximum driver length allowed by the USGA is 48 inches.
Driver heads and graphite shafts are considerably lighter today which makes swinging a longer driver a little easier. It’s all about swing speed and control.
The first measurement to find is your wrist to floor measurement. This will give you your recommended club length, from there take an assessment of your swing characteristics, do you hit a straight ball or do you have a slice that you can’t control? The idea here is to be able to control the longest club possible. The longer the club the faster the swing speed and that translates into more distance, but uncontrollable distance is not a good thing. A shorter club is much easier to control and its a lot more fun playing from the fairway. So put away that ego and play a driver length that you can handle.
