How to Trim Golf Club Shafts
By Patrick Cameron
If you've got new clubs, you may notice some changes in your golf game. If the clubs are longer than your previous set, chances are you're going to start leaving the club open when you hit the ball and your ball is going to head right. You can fix this little problem by simply trimming down the shaft, or what's called tip trimming.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Start by figuring out the length you want your clubs to be. If you have an old set of clubs that worked well for you, you could measure their shafts and take off the additional length on the new shafts. If these are your first clubs and you want to know a good length for your height, you can find charts on the Internet or at your local pro shop.
Remove the club head with a heat gun. Club heads are held on by a fairly strong epoxy and you're going to need to loosen that bond between the outside of the shaft and the hosel (which is the club head outer shaft). Use the heat gun to apply heat to the hosel and then, when the epoxy has liquified, you should be able to pull it off.
Use a tape measure down on the tip of the shaft and mark the cut point. You have to be careful here because when you get up past the tip, the shaft will start to taper. You don't want to cut into the taper because then the shaft won't go back inside the hosel.
Wrap cloth tape over the cut point. This is only for graphite shafts, which can shred when cut without tape. For steel shafts, you can simply use a plumbers pipe cutter, rotating it around the shaft and gently increasing pressure until the shaft is cut.
Remeasure the shaft. If you're using graphite, you'll want to remeasure and remark just to make sure that you have the same cut mark on top of the tape. Don't try to eye-ball it.
Use your hacksaw to cut through the tape and the shaft at the cut point.
Take some 80-grit sandpaper and rough up the outside of the shaft where it goes into the hosel. It needs to be rough for the epoxy to bond the shaft back in to the club head.
Tips & Warnings
Be careful when applying heat to the hosel. You can damage the club if you leave the heat on any one spot of the hosel for too long. The best way to prevent damage to the club is to take the clubs you are going to trim and bring them to the pro shop. They can pull them apart using a shaft extractor.
About The Author
Patrick Cameron is a freelance writer with 10 years of diverse experience in consumer goods branding, promotions and retail communications. He works out of his home in Denver, Colo. He received his Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from the University of Minnesota.
