I have been playing with a shorter (42") driver for a while and I love it!! I have all my FW woods made at 42", effectively creating a "single length woods" set. They are a perfect match for my single length irons, as I end up with just 2 swings for my entire set (aside from chip shots, bunker shots, etc).
I have two different short drivers - one was intentionally designed that way, the Acer XV Thriver, and I love everything about that one except for the closed face. It bugged me enough to start looking for another driver which offered an interchangeable weight which was heavy enough to bring the head weight up to 218-220g so I could make it at 5-wood weight and retain the same swing weight as the rest of my woods. I went with a Cobra King SZ Extreme and got a 19g replacement weight to replace the stock 6g (+13g) and then added a 5g tip weight to the shaft to bring it up to 218g.
When I'm swinging well I hit it straighter than any other driver I've ever played, and I still hit it about 240-250 so not much shorter than my longer drivers (which are typically 250-270). Last week I played a round where I hit 11/14 fairways (78%) which is very good for me. But then of course the next round was a different story, I think I only hit about 30%. In summary, the shorter drivers work great for me but you still need to put a decent swing on it. LOL
