I’ve used one of these since I started in 2005. I cut off and shaped about four inches off the front. I also made the tip slightly pointy to pierce the ground easier as well as sharpened the edges a little. Has always worked great.
Also, when I’m in mostly water with the at pro, I use an old army foldable trench shovel. I welded and sealed a strong rare earth magnet in the end of the handle so that when I find iron signals I can usually just turn my shovel around and pull up whatever is iron with the magnet. Oh, and I ALWAYS use a pin pointer, makes life so much easier. I’ve had Sunray pinpointers built into two of my detectors and I use a first gen Garrett pinpointer in the water. I just sealed up it’s leak points.