Lead tape under grip

[Stuart_G]

my 6 iron is 37 7/8.

 

I don't mean to be insulting but just in case, it's good for us to double check that the playing length is being measured correctly. It's rare but sometimes it really does happen that some people confuse cut shaft length for playing length - which can result in a difference that's more than 1" off (longer) and also would explain swing weights in that range.

 

https://www.hirekogolf.com/how-is-the-length-of-a-golf-club-measured

[amitchell894]

I put a few strips under the grip on a putter once (under the bottom hand). It accomplished two things:

 

1. reduced the taper of the grip

2. helped me "feel" the putter head better

 

YMMV, but it is an inexpensive tinkering project if you're looking to fiddle around.

[Ri_Redneck]

I agree that the SW seems really heavy for the shafts used. I have some MP25s shafted with Recoil Proto 125 F4 shafts. 5i is 38" and I had to add approximately 8 gms to the head to get to my preferred feel. I weighed all the heads before shafting and they were very average. They SW at D4. E6/8 would take another 24+ gms!! I would pull the shafts and see what the heck has been done to them.

 

BT

[Jagpilotohio]

my 6 iron is 37 7/8.

 

I try to never use the word impossible on these threads, but a 37 7/8 inch PLAYING length 6 iron at E-8 is damn near impossible to understand. I’ve never heard of such an extremely heavy head......ever. That would be at least 14 points heavier than they should be if they were just 1/2 inch over.

 

Something is dramatically wrong. Either Your scale is incorrect or you are measuring incorrectly, or both.

[Big Ben]

I personally don’t care about the physics of the club I like the feel of D4. It doesn’t have to be more complicated then that. The overall weight is far less important to me assuming it’s not to light. Adding 6gr’s to the overall weight to accomplish this feel works for me. Call it whatever you like...

[Howard_Jones]

I personally don't care about the physics of the club I like the feel of D4. It doesn't have to be more complicated then that. The overall weight is far less important to me assuming it's not to light. Adding 6gr's to the overall weight to accomplish this feel works for me. Call it whatever you like...

 

When SW values is as simple as that, it demands that both play length and shaft weight progression in the bag is right, if not, that value means nothing, and could represent "what ever". SW values alone is useless, its like HP or KW/h without knowing the mass to be moved, then we can say if its "high or low", it has to be related to something and make no sense as a stand alone parameter. For SW thats play length and total wgt/ shaft weight, measured with or without grip, and what grip and tape wgt weight and Balance point of that grip.

[Valtiel]

I personally don't care about the physics of the club I like the feel of D4. It doesn't have to be more complicated then that. The overall weight is far less important to me assuming it's not to light. Adding 6gr's to the overall weight to accomplish this feel works for me. Call it whatever you like...

 

To add to Howard's point above, I could build you a driver that measures D4 that weighs 5 pounds. So yes, it is more complicated than that and to believe it is not is to ignore reality. Swing weight numbers are literally an illusion once you leave the standard parameters e.g. adding butt weight. If you like your driver head to be heavy then add weight to the butt to get to D4 then awesome, thats what works for you. But the D4 part is not useful unless you always have the same head weight, shaft weight, and grip weight, then you can use D4 as a reference point. But as soon as you change one of those components it no longer means the same thing.

[SAM_PGA]

I personally don't care about the physics of the club I like the feel of D4. It doesn't have to be more complicated then that. The overall weight is far less important to me assuming it's not to light. Adding 6gr's to the overall weight to accomplish this feel works for me. Call it whatever you like...

 

When SW values is as simple as that, it demands that both play length and shaft weight progression in the bag is right, if not, that value means nothing, and could represent "what ever". SW values alone is useless, its like HP or KW/h without knowing the mass to be moved, then we can say if its "high or low", it has to be related to something and make no sense as a stand alone parameter. For SW thats play length and total wgt/ shaft weight, measured with or without grip, and what grip and tape wgt weight and Balance point of that grip.

Always enjoy your feedback Howard... if one were to search on this site "swing weight" it comes up with a ludicrous number of threads discussing the same topic over and over and over. I've found, either through you or Stuart's input, the best way for my club building is to SW without the grip on. I've pinpointed my ideal SW without the grip and from that point on it doesn't matter which grip I use or how much buildup tape is used. Dynamic feel vs. static measurement.

[Stuart_G]

I've found, either through you or Stuart's input, the best way for my club building is to SW without the grip on.

 

All the credit goes to Howard for that wonderful gem. :clapping:

[RobS14526]

my 6 iron is 37 7/8.

 

I try to never use the word impossible on these threads, but a 37 7/8 inch PLAYING length 6 iron at E-8 is damn near impossible to understand. I’ve never heard of such an extremely heavy head......ever. That would be at least 14 points heavier than they should be if they were just 1/2 inch over.

 

Something is dramatically wrong. Either Your scale is incorrect or you are measuring incorrectly, or both.

 

I agree. I don’t think Cobra would even have the components on hand to build a set that would reach E8 at +1/2”. Time to find a different scale.

[DaveGoodrich]

I've found, either through you or Stuart's input, the best way for my club building is to SW without the grip on.

 

All the credit goes to Howard for that wonderful gem. :clapping:

 

I just use a "standard" weight (~50g) split grip when swingweighting clubs I am building. I then feel free to use any grip I want (typically a heavier midsize grip), knowing that it won't affect the actual swingweight "feel" even though I know the SW will measure lower.

 

Similarly, I spec the club lengths without a grip, and let the actual gripped length go to whatever it does, depending on the thickness of the grip cap.

[mouchosse]

Recently, I softstepped twice my #7 MP5 iron by putting the 5 shaft and cutting off 1 inch.

My #7 and #5 irons were D2 without adding any weight. So I was surprised to see my new #7iron sofstepped mesured D6 !

Explanation ? Should I play it that way ?

 

[atj5206]

@Stuart_G  I have Nippon Modus 105s that I like well enough but I've been fit into Modus 120, Px 6.0 and Oban CT 115S over the last three years though never pulled the trigger...  I need to do a regrip anyway so I was thinking about, to getting the desired effect (more mass to help keep my transition decent), maybe putting some lead tape in the handle AND on the club head.

 

I'm sure the answer is to test, but approximately how much tape should I add to the grip and head (to keep SW more or less the same)?  Hoping for just a ball park idea.

 

If I put the tape on the butt of the grip, maybe with a little glue to hold it in place for a round or two, and apply the same amount to the cavity of the iron head- is that a good way to test?

 

Thank you for all your help (in this thread and others!)

 

 

Edited November 1, 2021 by atj5206

[Stuart_G]

17 minutes ago, atj5206 said:

@Stuart_G  I have Nippon Modus 105s that I like well enough but I've been fit into Modus 120, Px 6.0 and Oban CT 115S over the last three years though never pulled the trigger...  I need to do a regrip anyway so I was thinking about, to getting the desired effect (more mass to help keep my transition decent), maybe putting some lead tape in the handle AND on the club head.

 

I'm sure the answer is to test, but approximately how much tape should I add to the grip and head (to keep SW more or less the same)?  Hoping for just a ball park idea.

 

If I put the tape on the butt of the grip, maybe with a little glue to hold it in place for a round or two, and apply the same amount to the cavity of the iron head- is that a good way to test?

 

Thank you for all your help (in this thread and others!)

 

 

 

Weight on the grip and head do not balance each other out so no, generally that's not a good approach.   They do completely different things - and neither are the same as going up in shaft weight.

 

If you want to simulate the feel and performance of a heavier shaft, wrap the lead tape around the shaft about 3-5" below the bottom of the grip.   Add it in 5 gm increments or you could even start with 10 gm increments at first and drop to 5 to dial it in even more closely.

 

After you've found the best weight at that location (dialed in the best shaft weight), you can then go through testing adding it to the head.  Sswing weight should always be refit for any new shaft weight.  That should be done with much smaller increments.  2 gm max.

 

[BREWMASTER95060]

On 1/28/2019 at 7:24 PM, Valtiel said:

 

🙂

Edited November 2, 2021 by BREWMASTER95060

[Valtiel]

5 hours ago, BREWMASTER95060 said:

🙂

 

I'm confused, someone else said this and you're attributing it to me. If this was a mistake then please correct it since it's wrong, but if you're just trying to troll me then I recommend deleting it.

[Tanner25]

My clubhead and shaft feel very light. Will heavier grips add feel to it? These are for my graphite irons.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Tanner25

[rt_charger]

5 hours ago, Tanner25 said:

My clubhead and shaft feel very light. Will heavier grips add feel to it? These are for my graphite irons.

No, definitely not. You either need heavier shafts, or lead tape on the head, or even both.

[MightyMO8]

On 1/28/2019 at 1:57 PM, GeorgeHWB said:

People need to stop being slaves to swingweight. Adding weight to the butt end does not make the head feel lighter. It just makes the club heavier.

You couldn't be more wrong. Go buy a tour series jumbomax medium size grip (110 grams) and an ultralight jumbomax medium size (47 grams) then get back to me. 63 grams of difference between those two grips. The club head will feel night and day difference lighter when using the tour series grip (even though the overall club weight is heavier)

[MightyMO8]

On 1/28/2019 at 1:57 PM, GeorgeHWB said:

People need to stop being slaves to swingweight. Adding weight to the butt end does not make the head feel lighter. It just makes the club heavier.

You couldn't be more wrong. Go buy a tour series jumbomax medium size grip (110 grams) and an ultralight jumbomax medium size (47 grams) then get back to me. 63 grams of difference between those two grips. The club head will feel night and day difference lighter when using the tour series grip (even though the overall club weight is heavier)

[MightyMO8]

On 1/28/2019 at 1:57 PM, GeorgeHWB said:

People need to stop being slaves to swingweight. Adding weight to the butt end does not make the head feel lighter. It just makes the club heavier.

You couldn't be more wrong. Go buy a tour series jumbomax medium size grip (110 grams) and an ultralight jumbomax medium size (47 grams) then get back to me. 63 grams of difference between those two grips. The club head will feel night and day difference lighter when using the tour series grip (even though the overall club weight is heavier)

[Stuart_G]

18 hours ago, MightyMO8 said:

You couldn't be more wrong. Go buy a tour series jumbomax medium size grip (110 grams) and an ultralight jumbomax medium size (47 grams) then get back to me. 63 grams of difference between those two grips. The club head will feel night and day difference lighter when using the tour series grip (even though the overall club weight is heavier)

 

For some people it will, for other people it wont.   It's 100% subjective and it has nothing to do with the actual underlying physics of the swing and actual resistance of the club to being swung.   

 

So the real important point to take away is that the swing weight scale is not very useful at telling you how the feel might change with a different grip weight and the wrong tool to fix it if the feel does change.

Edited July 18 by Stuart_G

[Noodler]

18 hours ago, MightyMO8 said:

You couldn't be more wrong. Go buy a tour series jumbomax medium size grip (110 grams) and an ultralight jumbomax medium size (47 grams) then get back to me. 63 grams of difference between those two grips. The club head will feel night and day difference lighter when using the tour series grip (even though the overall club weight is heavier)

 

You couldn't be more wrong (and you had to post this 3 times?).  Put those clubs on an MOI machine with the two different grips and you'll see that they'll barley measure any different.  MOI machines measure the actual real scientific dynamic heft of the club.  Anything going on with what you think you're feeling is all in your head.  Sorry, but it's the truth.

[ChipNRun]

I put some lead tape below the grips...

 

My prior set of irons were Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro Tungstens, an early TE hollow-body. The longer irons were great, but I had an odd fall-off in distance 8i and above. Rough yardstick:

• 6i = 155
• 7i = 145
• 8i = 132
• 9i = 120
• PW = 105

A clubfitter said I was not staying down fully on the shorter irons. He suggested I put lead tape about 4" below the end of the grip: 1" on 8i, 1.5" on 9i, 2" on PW. This helped restore much of the lost yardage, as I got a better hand drop on downswing.

 

Another possible contributing factor, suggested in articles on wedge design. For golfers with decent clubhead speed, the launch help of hollow bodies and polymer injections may do more harm than good on short irons and wedges. The loft is sufficient to get the ball up and away, and the help can destabilize the ball - too much of a good thing.

[Drivingrangehero]

4 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

He suggested I put lead tape about 4" below the end of the grip: 1" on 8i, 1.5" on 9i, 2" on PW. This helped restore much of the lost yardage, as I got a better hand drop on downswing.

1” of lead tape then 1.5” then 2” of lead tape….. did this produce a type of AWT/AMT type effect? 

I’ve though about doing this, instead of just adding weight to the head, since I have 2 sets of clubs, my Mizuno’s have Steelfiber i110’s which swingweight very light, and a set of Ping i200’s  with Modus 105’s that swingweight almost 4 points heavier than the SF i110’s 

The Steelfibers feel heavier to swing than the Modus …… which they are…. (about 14g heavier in an 8 iron), which i like better around the 8 iron down, but I like the lighter Modus in the 5 iron more. I think it’s the overall heft, and has little or nothing to do with swingweight, since the Steelfibers swingweight 4points lower, so why should I even add lead tape to the head ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m going to try adding it incrementally and progressively at 14” from the butt to see how it works out first, starting with my 8i 

 

 

 

 

[Stuart_G]

10 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

suggested in articles on wedge design.

 

Interesting.  Do you still have a link to the article?

[BREWMASTER95060]

On 7/18/2025 at 6:50 AM, Noodler said:

they'll barley measure any different.

Heaver grip will raise the club Balance Point compared to the lighter grip.

[BREWMASTER95060]

“A clubfitter said I was not staying down fully on the shorter irons. He suggested I put lead tape about 4" below the end of the grip: 1" on 8i, 1.5" on 9i, 2" on PW.”

“lead tape about 4" below the end of the grip:”

Have heard about that.

Almost 14 inches

[BREWMASTER95060]

8 hours ago, Drivingrangehero said:

14” from the butt to see how it works out first, starting with my 8i 

I had lead to the shafts

8-wedges Sometimes just 9-wedges.

I like it.

[BREWMASTER95060]

13 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

• 7i = 145
• 8i = 132
• 9i = 120
• PW = 105

 

Six is a little longer in length (38”).

graphite shaft weight sorted

I adjusted club lighter and the longer clubs heavier and the shorter clubs to make an MOI match.

Of the distances on the 7-pitching wedge

That’s ME.

I added lead tape to the shafts just my luck I went to a jumbo grip it was the golf pride the ugly one with the black and green on it but it sure made my clubs feel better I think it was 80 g not 50. So if 30 extra grams make it feel better What were a few grams of lead tape on the shaft do? I liked it.

Edited July 20 by BREWMASTER95060
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