Maltby DBM graphite iron shafts and swing weight

[wjmfour1]

Interested in putting graphite shafts in my Maltby dbms.. I have read that they need to be built a half inch longer for swing weight purposes but I'm not really a fan of the longer lengths. I was hoping for a weight around D1. Is there a good way for me to figure out swing weight on my own. I have a scale to measure total weight etc. Also read .370 shafts will be lighter than .355 due to trimming but the .355 are harder to find for a reasonable price. I would like to build one or two to try. Any advice appreciated.

[ChipNRun]

The .355 shafts tend to be more expensive because they are taper tip: the tip of each shaft is manufactured specially to fit a 3i, 4i, etc., and the club is butt-cut to length. This means for 3i-PW set the components people must maintain inventory on eight different blanks - one for each numbered iron tipping.

 

The .370 parallel tips all come from the same blank. With parallels the clubfitter must both tip cut and butt-cut the shafts: tip cuts for flex for given iron, and then butt-cuts for final length.

 

If you don't have a swingweight scale, locate one of the SwWt calculators available online. You plug in the head weight of the club, the weight and length of uncut shaft, the club length, and weight of grip. Then, it gives you a fairly accurate estimate of swingweight. Note: The ValueGolf site says, "Use at your own risk."

[Stuart_G]

16 hours ago, wjmfour1 said:

Interested in putting graphite shafts in my Maltby dbms.. I have read that they need to be built a half inch longer for swing weight purposes but I'm not really a fan of the longer lengths. I was hoping for a weight around D1. Is there a good way for me to figure out swing weight on my own. I have a scale to measure total weight etc. Also read .370 shafts will be lighter than .355 due to trimming but the .355 are harder to find for a reasonable price. I would like to build one or two to try. Any advice appreciated.

 

Forget what ever you read about graphite shafted irons needing to be longer.  Most shafts (graphite and steel) have the balance point adjusted to help compensate for differences shaft weights and end up with relatively similar swing weights.  However, there are always exceptions so it's important to actually measure out and adjust the swing weight.  Even if the swing weight does come out light, going longer in the playing length is the WORST way to adjust swing weight.  There are plenty of options for tip weights for graphite shafts that should be used instead.  Even lead tape on the heads would be a better approach.

 

As mentioned there are some online options for estimating swing weight,  my recommendation is to ignore any that do not either have you measure the balance point of the club or the balance point of the shaft.  Those are pretty much useless.   What I'd do use just dry fit the shaft onto the head, cut to length and use the leaderboard.com estimator without the grip.  http://www.leaderboard.com/SWINGWT.HTM to adjust head weight.

 

Because the grip is not included, shoot for a swing weight 9 pts higher then desired.  e.g. if you want it around D1, weight the head to give you E0 w/o the grip.

 

Just realize that as you change shaft weight, what might be a good swing weight can change.  So if you drop a lot of weight from whatever shaft you're used to playing, D1 may no longer be the best value for you.   So ideally you would build a club with the shaft you chose w/o worrying about swing weight, then go to the range with some lead tape and add it incrementally to dial in the head weight.  Then you can use the online estimator to find your desired swing weight.

 

[Ri_Redneck]

18 hours ago, wjmfour1 said:

Interested in putting graphite shafts in my Maltby dbms.. I have read that they need to be built a half inch longer for swing weight purposes but I'm not really a fan of the longer lengths. I was hoping for a weight around D1. Is there a good way for me to figure out swing weight on my own. I have a scale to measure total weight etc. Also read .370 shafts will be lighter than .355 due to trimming but the .355 are harder to find for a reasonable price. I would like to build one or two to try. Any advice appreciated.

I built a set of irons using the Fuji Pro 115 parallel tip shafts and rubber tungsten weights from GWs. I was able to get them all to my preferred SW of D6 with no problem. You may not even need tip weights to get to D1. Best to have them on hand though. Yes, they're $3+ each!

 

BT

[Stuart_G]

12 hours ago, Ri_Redneck said:

 rubber tungsten weights from GWs. Yes, they're $3+ each!

 

 

Those are OK but take up a lot of the hosel bore.   Because of that I prefer using these brass tip weights in graphite for anything more than 4 gm (lead for 2 gm or 4 gm wts):

 

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product/brass-swingweight-for-heavy-graphite-shafts-with-small-mandrel-hole/

or

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product/brass-swingweights-for-graphite-shafts/

 

They have their own issues though, there is no perfect solution when it comes to graphite shaft tip weights when you need more than 4 gms.  Biggest being they can be a PITA to remove them from inside the graphite shaft if you ever need to pull the shafts and reuse the shafts in a different set of heads.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Hybrid]

To figure out swing weight without a swingweight scale, you’ll need some really sophisticated equipment🤓:a weight scale which you have now, a tape measure and a small chunk of angle iron to act as a fulcrum. Look up the on-line directions. 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Hybrid
Added ‘swingweight’

[Ri_Redneck]

On 1/10/2021 at 4:28 AM, Stuart_G said:

 

Those are OK but take up a lot of the hosel bore.   Because of that I prefer using these brass tip weights in graphite for anything more than 4 gm (lead for 2 gm or 4 gm wts):

 

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product/brass-swingweight-for-heavy-graphite-shafts-with-small-mandrel-hole/

or

https://store.billybobsgolf.com/product/brass-swingweights-for-graphite-shafts/

 

They have their own issues though, there is no perfect solution when it comes to graphite shaft tip weights when you need more than 4 gms.  Biggest being they can be a PITA to remove them from inside the graphite shaft if you ever need to pull the shafts and reuse the shafts in a different set of heads.

Agreed. When I trim them to fine weight, I start with the bulb on the base instead of the stem. 

 

BT