Adding lead tape to irons - a right or wrong place to put it?

[wcdixon]

Since I know this is a feel thing and personal to everyone it's probably a dumb question but wanting to increase the swingweight slightly of my new to me Callaway Steelhead XR irons...using the photo for reference is there a better/worser place on the club to put the tape:

1) back of clubface near bottom?

2) back of clubface in middle?

3) a strip down the shaft near hosel?

I will experiment but any experiences or advice welcome. Thanks.

[Shane933]

I think it depends on the purpose, I work at a golf shop and have seen people put lead tape everywhere (even under the grip!) so I think experimenting would be a good idea.. It also matters to know what the goal of the tape is for? For just overall weight, #1 is always a safe bet.

[wcdixon]

Thanks Shane - I guess I have two goals...1) the heads feel a little light to me and would like to add a swingweight point or two, and 2) I was using a heavier shaft previously and even though these Recoil 760 ES reg flex shafts feel pretty good I sense like I'd like them better if slightly heftier (but don't want to mess up mechanics of shaft by taping in wrong spot). Perhaps a strip at #1 and a strip at #3?

[ChaosTheory]

I don't like #3 because you are moving the COG of the head towards the heel. I always use #1 because it lowers the COG a little, and it's the least noticeable. Sometimes you can have adhesion issues on the flat shelf though, because at impact there is a lot of force that can shear the lead tape off its perch. Where #2 will never have that problem, the tape is being forced tighter with every impact.

[Rosco1216]

You’re only adding a few grams and you aren’t going to be changing anything with regards to COG. Just put it on the back of the club head where is looks the cleanest.

[Shane933]

I agree with Snowman9000, I wouldnt start putting it on #3. Like I said though don't be afraid to experiment a little bit, see what feels the best for you. You can always take off the tape!

Adding weight to the head will make your club head feel heavier but might not necessarily make your shaft feel heavier (might do the opposite).

Let me know how it goes with trying out different weights! Good luck

[Goopher]

There is no right place to put it, but as has been said before ... any place that is low back would be a good starting point ... also having the weight lower on the clubhead will make it more effective for increasing the SW (1 or 2 vs 3)

there is however a wrong place to put lead tape ... please don't put it on the clubface :-)

[bradroche18]

You also may want to put it low on longer irons and high on short irons to assist with ball flight. Toe would make the club harder to turn over to promote a fade, heel easier to promote a draw. So many possibilities

[robrey85]

I have always centered lead tape as close to the sweet spot as possible, regardless what it looks like. If you really wanted to have the clean look, you could put tungsten powder in the shaft and cork it.

[Justsomeguy]

All the nerding out I've done on it in my attempts to tweak indicated that nearer the heel will promote face turning over and nearer the toe face holding off, draw and fade respectively.

The other nerding out has indicated that's infinitesimally too little to matter, which might or might not be so, but why not choose one or the other if you have to put it somewhere.

Get the tape - the stick on weights don't work.

[Radeon962]

You would have to put a lot of lead tape to impact the ball flight. I just pick a spot where it’s relatively flat so it gets good adhesion so it does not pop off during a round.

[fmp5954]

I want to flight my long irons lower. 3 4 5 irons. Should i put it just below the top line on the back? Also how much of a difference would switching from x100 hard stepped to x7 be in ball flight?

[RobotDoctor]

If I want to move the COG down to help balls get higher in the air I would put lead tape in spot #1. I tend to do this with my long irons. I apply lead tape higher on the back the shorter the iron. Generally the middle of the back for wedges or 8-9 iron. I would consider adding lead tape under the grip if I wanted to adjust swingweight of a particular club to lower the swingweight a point or two. I would not add lead tape on the hosel.

[chisag]

... That little lead tape will do zero to any performance. It will be all about feel. Location #2 might, might give the face a slightly denser feel and is where I always put my lead tape. But this is WRX and some are very concerned about how something looks you can't see at address or even I their bags so nothing wrong with #3 either.

[RobotDoctor]

I really don't give two hoots what a club looks like as long as it performs well.

Errrrr ........ Um .........

Yeah I do! I'm a head case!!! As for lead tape, I always add to the back of the club so I don't care what it looks like on the flange. ?

[wcgolfer]

You aren’t really adding enough weight to make a difference is ball flight, so anywhere you cosmetically like it.

[RobotDoctor]

I have added lead tape under the grip at the end of the shaft to tweak swingweight. While it is true not much weight is added the effects of a balance club, with regard to swingweight, makes the club feel better. At least it does for this head case.

[OrangeGravy]

If you want to add weight to the shaft, you can put a strip (whatever size you need) straight down the back of the shaft start a bit below the grip. The proper way would be to put an equal length above and below the balance point of the shaft, but I just eyeball it.

[OrangeGravy]

Another little tip if you want to be able to get the lead tape off anything easy, put a piece of that clear packing tape down first, then lead tape over it. Sometimes if you get the tape on the cavity of your irons real good, it can take a bit to get it off.

[DeadPoets]

On 5/23/2020 at 12:53 PM, chisag said:

... That little lead tape will do zero to any performance. It will be all about feel. 

Is that really true though?  If the increase in swing weight changes his mechanics (e.g. stops early releasing) then you could argue it will alter performance.

[nitram]

As long as you don't put it on the face or the sole you can't go wrong. It's all about making it feel right.

[Stuart_G]

11 hours ago, DeadPoets said:

Is that really true though?  If the increase in swing weight changes his mechanics (e.g. stops early releasing) then you could argue it will alter performance.

 

Pretty sure he was referring to the performance characteristics of the head, not the performance of the club as a whole. 

 

It certainly can result in changes to the swing (or mechanics) but that come about because of the change in feel - so saying it's "all about feel" is still very true and the true root cause of any changes in the ball flight results.

[T Creer]

I vote for #1 or #2. If you put it on the hosel you’ll be thinking too much. 

[ClubBuildRookie]

On 11/18/2020 at 4:02 AM, Stuart_G said:

 

Pretty sure he was referring to the performance characteristics of the head, not the performance of the club as a whole. 

 

It certainly can result in changes to the swing (or mechanics) but that come about because of the change in feel - so saying it's "all about feel" is still very true and the true root cause of any changes in the ball flight results.

I always like your responses.  However, after reading several other responses it has peaked my nerdy curiosity how much the COG would actually be moved toward the heel by placing a given amount of weight in the hosel area.  
 

Not knowing the mathematical method for calculating the amount of lateral COG movement, I find myself wishing I had a SolidWorks model of a head so I could easily let the software figure it out for me.   

 

Are you or anyone else, able to work thru an example mathematically to show how much COG would actually be moved for a given amount of added hosel weight?
 

If so, here’s an example.  Let assume we are using a Cobra F7 6i Head.  Specs below are from Maltby site and I’m not sure if that’s enough info.  Let’s assume about worst possible case and we added a 14g Rubber Tungsten Weight to the shaft to keep it neat and clean.  Mathematically, how much would the COG move toward the heel?  

[ClubBuildRookie]

After a little searching and reading I found another interesting thread linked below that alleviates the worst case concern explained above.  Please ignore prior request for calculation assistance unless you really just want to get nerdy and show technical competence.

 

[Buzzkill]

On 2/13/2020 at 6:04 AM, Radeon962 said:

You would have to put a lot of lead tape to impact the ball flight. I just pick a spot where it’s relatively flat so it gets good adhesion so it does not pop off during a round.

This!

[Stuart_G]

8 hours ago, ClubBuildRookie said:

Are you or anyone else, able to work thru an example mathematically to show how much COG would actually be moved for a given amount of added hosel weight?

 

This is a close enough estimate:

distance c.g. moved =  (distance added weight is from orig c.g.) * (added weight) / (orig weight + added weight)

[ClubBuildRookie]

3 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

This is a close enough estimate:

distance c.g. moved =  (distance added weight is from orig c.g.) * (added weight) / (orig weight + added weight)

Perfect, Thanks!  So on the F7 head if I assume lateral center of gravity is starting out at center of face, the centerline of hosel where the tip weight would be placed is pretty close to 2” away on the money, 14g added to hosel on a head that originally weighs 270g, COG would move approximately .098” toward the hosel.

[Stuart_G]

14 minutes ago, ClubBuildRookie said:

Perfect, Thanks!  So on the F7 head if I assume lateral center of gravity is starting out at center of face, the centerline of hosel where the tip weight would be placed is pretty close to 2” away on the money, 14g added to hosel on a head that originally weighs 270g, COG would move approximately .098” toward the hosel.

 

Or between 2-3 mm, and that's pretty conservative.   Most are not even close to being consistent enough with their face impact for that to be noticeable.

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Stuart_G

[ClubBuildRookie]

51 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Or between 2-3 mm, and that's pretty conservative.   Most are not even close to being consistent enough with their face impact for that to be noticeable.

 

For the example, thats more than I hoping to see but it’s easy enough to compensate for at setup knowing approximately how much it shifted.  Regardless of skill though, it’s all relative to the diameter or elliptical width size of the sweet spot which begs the next question.  
 

Regarding GI equipment being built today, what would you estimate the typical width size of the sweet spot to be?  Respectfully speaking, if typical total sweet spot width is 1/2”, a .098” lateral shift from vertical centerline of the original sweet spot is a pretty significant shift if your goal is to hit the sweet and you don’t know enough to compensate for the shift.