Reshafting a Driver: What It Really Costs and When to Just Buy New

Ask three golfers what it costs to reshaft a driver and you'll get three different answers. One guy paid $60. Another paid over $550. Here's exactly where the money goes, what you can do yourself, and the mistake that turns a 20 dollar job into a $700 one.

Reshafting a driver costs about $20 to $25 in labor plus the shaft, so most golfers spend somewhere between $60 and $400. The labor barely changes from shop to shop. The shaft and whether you get fitted are what move the number.

Golf Galaxy charges $19.99 to install a standard shaft and $24.99 for a bore-through. And if you're asking what the heck a bore-through is, it's a shaft that runs all the way through the hosel instead of stopping inside it, which is why it costs a few bucks more. Keeping your old shaft when they pull it is another $14.99, and a new grip is $3.99 to install plus the grip. Local shops set their own prices, so call yours before you drop the club off.

All right, let's do the math out loud. The cheapest way is a prebuilt shaft with the adapter and grip already on, swapped in yourself. Value Golf sells TaylorMade-fit ones for $59.95, so you're done for about $60. Now say you already own a shaft and want a shop to put it in. An aftermarket adapter runs $16.99 to $32.99 at Dallas Golf. Add the install and the grip, and you're at roughly $40 to $60 plus the grip itself. And if you go all in with a $175 fitting and a $350 Fujikura Ventus TR, you're well over $550 before you hit a single ball. At that point, you're spending new driver money.

Yes, you can reshaft an adjustable driver yourself if you buy a shaft that already has the right adapter on it. All it takes is a few minutes and the wrench that came with your driver.

Most modern drivers have an adjustable hosel, with a screw on the bottom of the club and an adapter sleeve the shaft plugs into. Loosen the screw, pull the head off, slide the new shaft in, line up your loft setting and tighten it until the wrench clicks.

Now, here's the catch. Those adapters are brand-specific, so a TaylorMade adapter won't fit a Titleist head. Moving a shaft between brands means the old adapter comes off and a new one gets glued on. Same thing if you bought a loose shaft with no adapter. That's a shop job. And if your driver is older and has no screw at all, the shaft is glued straight into the head. Getting it out takes heat and a shaft puller. Do it wrong and you can wreck a graphite shaft or burn the finish off the head, so take that one to a club builder.

Reshafting a driver usually takes about a day, even though the hands-on work only takes a few minutes, because the epoxy needs time to cure.

The shop pulls the old shaft or adapter and cleans out the old glue. Then they prep and cut the new shaft, glue the adapter on lined up correctly, add the ferrule and put on a grip. Then it sits for about 24 hours. So if you've got a round on Saturday, don't drop the driver off Friday afternoon, and please don't hit balls on fresh epoxy. That's how a head comes off.

Here's a tip. When you pick it up, check the alignment. If the adapter went on rotated, your loft and face settings won't match the markings on the hosel anymore. It takes ten seconds to ask.

Most golfers should spend somewhere between $60 and a few hundred dollars on a driver shaft, and only go to $350 and up if a fitting told them exactly what they need.

If you just broke a shaft, want to try a different flex, or want a spare to mess around with, the $60 prebuilt route is the cheapest way to change how your driver feels. Premium shafts like the Fujikura Ventus line cost $350 or more. That sounds like a lot of marketing, but what you're really paying for is a very specific launch and spin profile. If a fitter told you that's your profile, it can be worth it. If you're buying it because a tour player has one in his bag, that's a $350 coin flip, because his shaft was fit to his swing speed, not yours.

So do the math. A driver fitting runs $79.99 at Golf Galaxy, $99.99 at PGA TOUR Superstore and $175 at Club Champion and True Spec. Any of those beats spending $700 on two shafts to find out the first one was wrong. And know your current playing length before you order. Tell the shop if you want the new shaft cut to match.

Reshafting a driver is worth it when you love your driver head and the shaft is the problem. If the head is old, cracked or a few generations behind, put that money toward a new driver instead.

So if your ball flight is way too high or too low, the shaft feels too whippy or too stiff, or it's just snapped, a new shaft in a head you already love is going to be cheaper. That goes double if a fitter already told you your head is fine. But if you're about to spend premium shaft money on a ten-year-old driver, a fitted new driver usually gets you more for the money.

And once you've paid for a new shaft, protect it. Don't let a car trunk or a baggage handler snap it. Keep a headcover on your driver every time it goes back in the bag. When you fly, use a real golf travel case with a thick padded top. Vessel also makes a Travel Club Protector for its Golf Travel Case 2.0. It's a telescoping carbon fiber support you set to your bag's height, and it helps keep the case from collapsing onto your clubs. That's a lot cheaper than reshafting the same driver twice.

Reshafting makes sense if you love your driver head but hate the ball flight or feel, you broke a shaft and want your driver back fast, or a fitter told you exactly which shaft profile will help. Go the $60 prebuilt route if you just need it working again.

Skip it if your driver head is old or cracked, you're guessing at which shaft to buy, or the real problem is your swing and you're hoping a shaft will fix it.