There are two ways to "shorten the throw" on a shifter (barring tranmission mods themselves). One is to literally shorten the lever...the angle through which it moves is the same, only the absolute distance the knob travels is reduced.
The other way is to raise the fulcrum point through which the lever moves. This necessarily entails a loss of mechanical advantage (so does shortening the lever, but not as profoudly) and increase in effort. This is the way it's accomplished on the Hurst unit, for sure (I compared the fulcrum points while both were off the car).
Of course, you can also combine both methods to REALLY shorten the throw, but with each loss of mechanical advantage, you can expect effort to increase, and "smoothness" of action to decrease, which I found was the case with the HURST (don't get me wrong, I still like it and keep it installed).
I've heard reliable reports that a lot of folks, women in particular, don't care for the "feel" of the short throw shifters and I can well understand that. This can be a good thing if you have to share the car!:winks
