Qi35 swing weight alterations and misses

[Tman-the-Lefty]

Driver swing misses

• Push fade/slice. 
• Pushing/ blocking 

 

I am 10 hc lefty and I struggled with a slice a while back with my driver. My only miss was a  left to sharp left miss and I’ve worked very hard, 100 balls every Monday -Friday for about 3 months now, to incorporate an In to out swing. I now draw the ball, but I was choked up nearly two inches and had to bring my speed down. 

To note, my driver was dented and too long at 46 inches with a 56 g regular flex shaft. I’m 31 and have a fairly good swing speed. So recently, I bought a new driver (qi35 core with a Tour AD GC6 stiff flex with an 8oz weight in the front and back. Lift set at 8.25 degrees) I was fitted by Taylormade. 

During the fitting, I swung it with a regular Taylormade golf pride tour velvet grip, but the fitter recommended a midsize grip, since I told him I struggle with club face control at times. However, I didn’t use a midsize grip while swinging at the fitting. While I was there, the sun was in my eyes the whole time, and I don’t use sunglasses when playing, so I didnt see a single ball flight. He told me I was hitting 5 yard draws with the Tour AD shaft, and even my misses, were in the fairway. Well I took his word, and a week later, the driver was delivered with a midsize grip. I know this was probably stupid of me, since i didn’t see the ball flight but I trusted him and it is what it is now.

 

To note: the midsize grip is heavier by 7 grams

 

Since receiving the club, my dispersion has been worse than ever. Like horrendously worse. Im struggling with club face control and Im missing with a push fade/slice, even a hook sometimes if caught on the toe. Club face contact has been lower heel.
The shaft was delivered at 46’ long and I’m not sure what length it was during the fitting, but weeks after choking down 1 1/2 inches, i decided to have it cut down to 45 inches. I’m 6’1 for reference.  

It’s been a work in progress but I still haven’t been able to keep a ball in play. The 1 inch cut has helped a little this week, but I’m still hitting the ball on the heel. Please keep in mind, I haven’t altered the club head weight or loft for the changes I have made.

Since cutting it an inch, I’m going to add 9 grams of weight to the back. I taped 4 dimes (8g) to the rear of the club the other day , and flight was much higher and I set loft at 9.75 degrees and contact on the face was more mid/heel center. Now if I decide to keep the grip, should I add more head weight or would it be more beneficial to go down in grip? I understand this is all feel, but from a technical standpoint, would I be wrong to say, that 14gs of head weight needs to be added to the head with the cut in shaft and a heavier grip? Also, should I set loft to 9 and tweak from there since the adjustments? Lowering loft might bring strikes closer to hot impact spot, am I right by saying that?

I’m located on an island with one course with no club fitters near me. Closest one is 3 hours away. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

*The 17 gram rear weight has not been delivered yet and the shaft was cut from the butt, no tipping.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22 by Tman-the-Lefty

[Stuart_G]

Too much going on and uncertainty to give any specific advice.

However the first thing I might try is going back to the grip you're used to.  Trying to manipulate face control with a grip size change is a horrible reason to change.  The only valid reason to change grip size is to get a better feel or more comfortable grip.  Usually you want the size that gives the most secure feeling grip using the least amount of grip pressure.

 

The other thing that stands out is  that you went up in both shaft weight and grip weight - so the total static weight is higher than you are used to with the old club. 

 

Then, once you get the grip size figured out, read through and go through this to adjust playing length and head weight to see if that might improve things for you.  

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22 by Stuart_G

[Tman-the-Lefty]

Thank you! I’ve been reading the diy tune up and it’s been very helpful. I definitely grip the midsize grip with less pressure, and yesterday I added a 13g rear weight with 3 gram lead tape in the back totaling an increase of 8 grams, and I was hitting them perfectly. Contact and launch improved drastically, but I only hit about 30 balls. I do like the grip, but it’s just been frustrating with such a big change from my old setup, I wonder why he recommended a larger grip for me, if I wasn’t able to swing it during the fitting. I feel like it made the whole fitting process worthless for me.

 

The difference in grip weight is roughly 7.5 grams~ 1 swing weight point. Therefore, if I was to keep the grip, with the 1 inch cut from the butt of shaft, I’d need to add 5 swing weight points to the head~10 grams. Can anyone confirm this for me? Above I mentioned 14 grams but I believe that is wrong. 
 

 Vice versa, if I went down to the reg tour velvet at 51.5 g I’d need to add roughly 12-14 gs to the head. I just want to make sure, before I make the change because like I said above, I don’t have access to any club builders or golf shops near me. The only pro shop/ course only has a select few grips to choose from, and it would cost more in shipping to get the desired one I like and I’d have to install myself. They will not do it for me, unfortunately. 

[Stuart_G]

1 hour ago, Tman-the-Lefty said:

I wonder why he recommended a larger grip for me, if I wasn’t able to swing it during the fitting.  I feel like it made the whole fitting process worthless for me.

 

Most fitters are really more (self) glorified sales people than proper fitters.   But not even all good fitters are setup to do grip changes.

 

Most recommendations for grip size are either made by 1) just looking at how the player grips the club, 2) hand or glove size or 3) mis-information about how grip size is supposed to effect the shot shape.    None are all that reliable.

 

1 hour ago, Tman-the-Lefty said:

The difference in grip weight is roughly 7.5 grams~ 1 swing weight point. Therefore, if I was to keep the grip, with the 1 inch cut from the butt of shaft, I’d need to add 5 swing weight points to the head~10 grams. Can anyone confirm this for me? Above I mentioned 14 grams but I believe that is wrong.

 

No.  The swing weight scale and system was never intended to be used to tell you how to compensate for a grip weight change and it is not the tool to use to figure out how much head weight you might need for either the grip change or the length change.  Especially considered you probably weren't properly fit for head weight in the first place.   Did the fitter actually use lead tape on the head to test out different head weights and how it effected the results?

 

Forget the swing weight "rules" - The only valid way to figure out the best head weight is by going through the tutorial.

Edited May 23 by Stuart_G

[Tman-the-Lefty]

Thanks Stuart, this has been very helpful. To answer your question, no he didn’t use lead tape, he just used the changeable weights the qi35 core offers. From using heavier weights in the rear, i am seeing better contact and dispersion. I’m about to head over to the range before long and hit more balls and see if I can continue the dispersion and contact. I have three lengths on my grip that I taped measuring 44.5-44.0-43.5. Right now length is at 45 inches and I have the 8g weight in the front with a 13 g weight in the rear with a 3 g lead strip in the rear.