Swing weight factors in relation to parts

[Stuart_G]

16 minutes ago, Cbfodalo said:

Ok so is there a recommended swing weight  based on wing speed, shaft flex or anything else.

 

Sorry, no.

 

16 minutes ago, Cbfodalo said:

I think I prefer a heavier feeling head, i want to really feel the head weight, so should I go d3?

Looking for some advice.

 

Forget guessing about specific target values.  Just build a test club with no extra weight and take it to the range with some lead tape.

 

Add it incrementally (2 gm at a time) and test, repeat until you get the best feel and best ball flight performance.  Only then put it on a swing weight scale to find a target for the rest of the set or to rebuild the test club with tip weights instead of the lead tape.

Edited May 21 by Stuart_G

[Cbfodalo]

15 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Sorry, no.

 

 

Forget guessing about specific target values.  Just build a test club with no extra weight and take it to the range with some lead tape.

 

Add it incrementally (2 gm at a time) and test, repeat until you get the best feel and best ball flight performance.  Only then put it on a swing weight scale to find a target for the rest of the set or to rebuild the test club with tip weights instead of the lead tape.

That makes a whole lot of sense. I will warm up with like 10 balls as is, then just  add  2gr at a time  to see what feels best, I don't think it will take all that many shots to get the feel right. Maybe 5 balls at each step . Might be best to do this at indoor launch monitor. That way I can get trackman data and see what's really going on. I think next rain day will be a trip to trackman shop. 

Once I get weight right, might be interesting to move that tape around a bit and see what it does to shot data. I am thinking low back in middle of iron will be most neutral place. 

[Stuart_G]

1 hour ago, Cbfodalo said:

Maybe 5 balls at each step

 

2-33 is plenty.  Hit enough balls and some people can adjust to the changes.

 

1 hour ago, Cbfodalo said:

Might be best to do this at indoor launch monitor.

 

Grass and outdoors is usually preferable to mats or indoors - to evaluate turf interaction and get accurate ball flight.   Bring some foot powder spray to check face impact location and consistency.  LM data might be nice for club data - but it's not critical (and might even be a distraction).  Remember, shaft fit is not about launch and spin so just seeing the ball flight should be good enough to judge consistency, accuracy, shot shape control, and general trajectory.

 

1 hour ago, Cbfodalo said:

Once I get weight right, might be interesting to move that tape around a bit and see what it does to shot data. I am thinking low back in middle of iron will be most neutral place. 

 

For most it wont generally matter all that much.  It's just not enough weight to significantly alter the head characteristics.  But you never know for sure what it might do for feel - so nothing wrong with experimentation.

 

But if you want to more exactly mimic the effect of using tip weights (if that's the intent for the rest of the build), just wrap it around the lower part of the hossel for the testing.

Edited May 22 by Stuart_G

[Cbfodalo]

Not sure I like the idea of adding tip weights at all. I know thats the standard way clubs are built so it's probabale effective. Something about adding 2-6 grams of weight to the hosel just doesn't seam right. I "feel" like the added weight should be down low on head with center, toe or heel side depending on what your trying to do. For me I tend to close face a little so maybe weight on the toe side would be better.  I am going to see if I can get swing weight that feels right and see if it really even matters to me before I rebuild all my clubs again. I don't mind taking them apart and putting back together, but something about that weight in tip of shaft just seams wrong to me. 

I already know that whatever sw my 7, 8 and 9i are feels really good as I hit those so sweet. 

I have new grips coming so I might install them first, then go through process. The zgrip mids i am putting on weigh about 7grams less then the mcc plus 4 mids so thats like +1.4 sw right there. I am going to take the time to at least get all my irons close to same swing weight. That seams to be the industry norm. Then at least thats one less variable to worry about. 

I am seriously considering removing the jpx badge off back of iron, adding lead tape there then replacing the badge. Not sure i can get those things off without bending them up... I remember years ago I tried to remove a damaged dented up badge to try and fix it and it basically melted and got destroyed. I forget which irons they where, some older  mizuno something. They actually looked pretty good without badge.  But saw some pics of irons with lead tape on back and they looked like hot garbage. Can't see me looking at those things very long.  I guess if needed it's going to be tip weights or tungsten powder.

[Stuart_G]

21 hours ago, Cbfodalo said:

Not sure I like the idea of adding tip weights at all. I know thats the standard way clubs are built so it's probabale effective. Something about adding 2-6 grams of weight to the hosel just doesn't seam right. I "feel" like the added weight should be down low on head with center, toe or heel side depending on what your trying to do.

 

I can understand the concern, but  the reality is that the amount of weight added for swing weight adjustment has zero impact on the head characteristics (c.g. or any of the MOI's).  It's just too little to make any difference as to where it's placed.

 

But nothing wrong with experimentation using lead tape in different locations - so if that's what makes you comfortable, go for it.

 

 

 

[DasTanK]

I'm having some issues and I can not figure out why.
I have two Accra i-steel red 120 shafts for my 7 iron (t150), the head weights 266g, grip 50g and shaft cut down to 37" weighs 115g (with no grip installed so with grip on it comes out to 37.25") my SW comes out to D4.5 on my scale but with a SW calculator it should be C9.8?
I tried the other i-red steel 7iron length but .25" less so with grip it plays 37" and that SW comes out to D2-D2.5.
idk why i'm getting an extra 1.5 to 2 higher SW points from .25" longer. 
The same thing is happening with my T150 6 iron head, weighs 260g, 118g shaft cut to 37.50" and 50g grip, SW comes out D4-D5 which is alot higher from a SW Calculator stating D0. 

[Stuart_G]

12 minutes ago, DasTanK said:

but with a SW calculator it should be C9.8?

 

Which calculator are you using that tells you that?

 

Is it a calculator that takes the shaft balance point as an input - or just shaft weight?

 

12 minutes ago, DasTanK said:

idk why i'm getting an extra 1.5 to 2 higher SW points from .25" longer. 

 

1/2" equals 3 sw pts so 1/4" should be 1.5 sw pts.

 

Swing weight will always be very sensitive to playing length differences so how accurate the length cuts are can have a noticeable effect on the actual results.  So always double check the playing length on a club ruler (usually best to do it before gluing the head and just dry fitting the head on the shaft.

 

Only other suggestion I can think of off hand is make sure you are not confusing cut shaft length and playing length in any calculator that you use - or during the build itself.

 

e.g.

 

12 minutes ago, DasTanK said:

shaft cut down to 37" weighs 115g

 

It sounds like you are talking about the cut shaft length as being 37" but that is usually the desired playing length of a 7i - not the length of the shaft.

Edited June 9 by Stuart_G

[DasTanK]

9 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Which calculator are you using that tells you that?

 

Is it a calculator that takes the shaft balance point as an input - or just shaft weight?

 

 

1/2" equals 3 sw pts so 1/4" should be 1.5 sw pts.

 

Only other suggestion I can think of off hand is make sure you are not confusing cut shaft length and playing length in any calculator that you use - or during the build itself.

 

e.g.

 

 

It sounds like you are talking about the cut shaft length as being 37" but that is usually the desired playing length of a 7i - not the length of the shaft.

The calculator on valuegolf. so would i need to add lead tape under the grip to trick the scale? or should i just build it with no tip weights/grip weight. 

[Stuart_G]

31 minutes ago, DasTanK said:

The calculator on valuegolf.

 

No balance point input - use a different calculator if you actually need to use a calculator.  But if you have a scale, you shouldn't be wasting time with a calculator - just use the scale.

 

But this is one option for building:

https://www.hirekogolf.com/golf-club-building-swingweight-calculator

 

Make sure you read the fine print near the bottom.

 

31 minutes ago, DasTanK said:

so would i need to add lead tape under the grip to trick the scale? 

 

Why do you think the scale needs to be tricked?

 

31 minutes ago, DasTanK said:

or should i just build it with no tip weights/grip weight. 

 

How have you established what the target swing weight should be?

 

 

Edited June 9 by Stuart_G

[DasTanK]

1 hour ago, Stuart_G said:

 

No balance point input - use a different calculator if you actually need to use a calculator.  But if you have a scale, you shouldn't be wasting time with a calculator - just use the scale.

 

But this is one option for building:

https://www.hirekogolf.com/golf-club-building-swingweight-calculator

 

Make sure you read the fine print near the bottom.

 

 

Why do you think the scale needs to be tricked?

 

 

How have you established what the target swing weight should be?

 

 

I was using the calculator to get back up what i was seeing on the scale. ill use that one for balance point. I was trying to do a moi build.
i have my PW at D4.5 at 36" playing length built and like it. so now im going backwards with .667 since they are .5" difference, so 9 is around D4, 8 is D3.5 was tring to get 7 at D3 and 6 at D2.5, 5 at D2.

[DasTanK]

On 6/9/2025 at 12:09 PM, Stuart_G said:

 

No balance point input - use a different calculator if you actually need to use a calculator.  But if you have a scale, you shouldn't be wasting time with a calculator - just use the scale.

 

But this is one option for building:

https://www.hirekogolf.com/golf-club-building-swingweight-calculator

 

Make sure you read the fine print near the bottom.

 

 

Why do you think the scale needs to be tricked?

 

 

How have you established what the target swing weight should be?

 

 

 

[Stuart_G]

13 hours ago, DasTanK said:

 

 

Still missing shaft balance point input so the accuracy isn't going to be that great with that calculator.  Maybe +/- 2 sw pts.

 

Other than that, was there supposed to be a question in that post?

 

 

[TheFrozenChef]

I know that counterweighting a shaft doesn’t actually make it any lighter cuz you’re adding mass. Is the only way to get my irons to play lighter shortening the shafts if I can’t remove mass from the head? Trying to get to d0 from d2. 

[Stuart_G]

6 hours ago, TheFrozenChef said:

I know that counterweighting a shaft doesn’t actually make it any lighter cuz you’re adding mass. Is the only way to get my irons to play lighter shortening the shafts if I can’t remove mass from the head? Trying to get to d0 from d2. 

 

It's one way but not necessarily the only way.  It's not as predictable - but in some cases a shaft change (lighter or higher balance point) can either lower swing weight or alter the fit such that the heavier swing weight is a better fit.

 

Most shafts labeled as "counterbalanced" don't really use added mass in the butt so it's different from true counterbalancing or counter-weighting.  They mostly just redistribute the mass over the whole shaft to shift the balance point higher.  That can have a real effect on the swing weight.

 

That's assuming the head weight really is the problem.   If a club feels too heavy, it could just as easily be a static weight problem as a head weight problem.

[TheFrozenChef]

Thanks Stuart!

 

Overall club weight is rougly the same (within 5 grams) of the current gamers. First time changing to a graphite shaft coming from the modus 120's so I was trying to figure it out. 

 

If I went with a lighter grip but then added back the weight with counterweights to keep the same total weight as before would that make more sense or be the exact same? E.g. going from a 56g grip to a 46 gram grup but adding 10 grams in a counterweight.  

 

 

Edited June 16 by TheFrozenChef

[Stuart_G]

33 minutes ago, TheFrozenChef said:

Overall club weight is rougly the same (within 5 grams) of the current gamers. First time changing to a graphite shaft coming from the modus 120's so I was trying to figure it out. 

 

Which graphite  shaft?  And is the playing length the same?   I assume the grip is the same.

 

33 minutes ago, TheFrozenChef said:

I'll try them out standard length with the counterbalance weights and see. 

 

Have you tried them yet at the same length and without the counterbalance weights?   The feel is what's important, not the swing weight value.

 

And when I say same length, the same measured length from the same club ruler (or just comparing the two side-by-side). Not the same just based on published specs or OEM factory measurements.

 

It never hurts to try the counterbalancing weights as feel is very subjective so it's difficult to predict how it will effect the feel - but for most people I would not expect counterbalance weights to really make the heads feel any lighter.

 

Edited June 16 by Stuart_G

[TheFrozenChef]

Axiom 105s. Playing lengths are the same, grip weights are nearly identical, though the grips are not. Jumbomax Zenlite - 56grams from MCC +4 Standard (52g)

Edited June 16 by TheFrozenChef

[Stuart_G]

16 hours ago, TheFrozenChef said:

Axiom 105s. Playing lengths are the same, grip weights are nearly identical, though the grips are not. Jumbomax Zenlite - 56grams from MCC +4 Standard (52g)

 

If you're dropping that much in shaft weight, I wouldn't make any assumptions about what swing weight will be a good fit in the new shafts - at least not based on what swing weight was a good fit in the heavier shafts.    Just because D0 was a good fit with the 120 gm shafts doesn't mean it will be the best fit with the 105 gm shafts.

 

So we're back to the question of:  are you basing your decision that the head weights need to be reduced just on the swing weight value or have you actually hit them and found that they feel too heavy to you?

 

I just want to make sure it's not the former before going forward and doing anything to the clubs.

 

Edited June 17 by Stuart_G

[TheFrozenChef]

4 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

If you're dropping that much in shaft weight, I wouldn't make any assumptions about what swing weight will be a good fit in the new shafts - at least not based on what swing weight was a good fit in the heavier shafts.    Just because D0 was a good fit with the 120 gm shafts doesn't mean it will be the best fit with the 105 gm shafts.

 

So we're back to the question of:  are you basing your decision that the head weights need to be reduced just on the swing weight value or have you actually hit them and found that they feel too heavy to you?

 

I just want to make sure it's not the former before going forward and doing anything to the clubs.

 

That's a good point. I'll build the set without any counterweights and test it. I can always go back and take the grips off. 

 

Thanks!