Are you a swing weight/overall weight snob and does heavier seem to work for you?

[sl1111]

I've been playing a full bag of Srixon Z series driver, fairway, hybrid, and Z585 irons for the last two years and have recently been testing new gear. D2 seems to be the average throughout my bag and I have been experimenting with lighter shafts at my preferred lengths recently and it has been a struggle.   I am not ready to abandon my testing, but today on a whim, I went the other way with my driver and fairways and I liked it. Mid range session added all the weight I had available at the range and put my old shafts back in. I liked the performance and had no idea what the swing weights of each club were until I got home. My driver came at D7 and my fairway was D6 on my golf works scale when i got home and tested them. This cursory test was only an extended range session and I will play a round tomorrow to evaluate if on course performance is good. 

 

I included overall weight in my question because my driver feels like sledge hammer, but swings very balanced. may get to heavy toward the end of a round. 

[mizuno player]

I seem to be more sensitive to SW. I had a "custom" aetmof irons built by a boutique iron company. Looked amazing.  Requested D3. Took them out to play and something felt off. I lost probably 20-25 yards on my 7 iron. Had the specs checked and the were D6 was the lowest. In the corner they went never to be played again. 

 

I've played 130gr shafts and 120. Have not seen a significant difference in distance or dispersion. 

 

I have also had 60gr and 70gr driver shafts without much difference. 

 

It seems light weight or lighter weight shafts do not jive with your swing. It happens. 

 

 

[Drivingrangehero]

When I played Mizuno Mp67’s I had X100 shafts at standard Mizuno length and midsize grips (60 gram), they had a swingweight of D0 and didn’t feel super light. I bought a set of Titleist 716 TMB’s with XP 115 shafts, standard grips (50 gram) and had a swingweight of D2 and felt heavier in the head than the Mizuno MP 67’s. If I were to pick up and compare the two clubs, I could not tell the difference in overall weight, only the swingweight when I was swinging them . While getting fit for new clubs, I hit a bunch of different shafts. The C-Taper 130x had a lighter swingweight by 1 point than the Modus 105s. The C-Tapers felt fine, but the Modus felt much too light even though they were 1 swingweight point higher, so the overall weight threw me off a bit. The fitter put the 1/2 over shaft with the B model (lighter , then A model (heavier) head. I noticed the difference immediately. They went from D2 to around D4.5-D5.  I ended up getting a set of Mizuno HMB’s with Modus 105s shafts at 1/2 over, MMC +4 grips at D5.  When the shaft is heavy, the light swingweight doesn’t affect me to much, but when they are light at a lower swingweight, I notice.  

 

I play my hybrids at D5 and my driver at D6. My driver is a Ping G410lst with an Xtorsion Copper 60TX shaft at 44.25 inch, with an 18 gram weight in the back (standard was 12 gram with a Tensei Orange 70x) and I play a Winn lite grip. I find I do best with a lighter overall weight, but higher swingweight. I play everything 1/2 over length except my driver which I play short and lighter (67 gram counterbalanced) with added headweight. 
 

 

[Nard_S]

I'm a weight snob. I like heavy. I even count the grams. SW is more fluid, I can swing D3-D4 but can also be okay with D0. I  realize it may not always be the best but the trade off mass as MOI and utilizing mass to enforce a discipline of making the club feel "light" for the possible down sides has kept me happily going for that hammering feel. 

[nitram]

I have always played heavy clubs and my set up has been the same since 1980. My current set is Driver D5, 3WD-7I D6, 8I D7, 9I D8, P-LW D9. I don't know why it started out that way but its worked for me pretty well over 40+ years. I have tried/tested lighter woods and long irons and hit them on the range ok at times, but never hit them well enough (consistency) to bag them in a round. I'm sure I'm losing 1-2 mph but it's a worthwhile tradeoff for me to be able to feel the club head through the ball.

[Go Horns!]

I've learned that it I am a shaft weight snob. Too light and I have no tempo, and can't do a half shot. Too heavy, and I only have a few decent swings in me.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Go Horns!

[Ephemerlol]

For me total weight is a bigger factor than swingweight.  Heavy definitely helps me, I tend to get quick and it kind of forces me to smooth out.  In the end I would up at ~D3 for irons, but with 68g grips and high balance point shafts they are still quite heavy overall.

[Howard_Jones]

Play length, Total weight and BALANCE is whats its all about....and Balance DONT mean SW Value, but ACTUAL weight distribution, and all 3 has to be set right, its not one or the other, but all 3 combined. Thats where it all starts...
To build a full bag, we also need a system for progression of Total wgt that works for us, and that can vary a lot from player to player

Edited March 8, 2021 by Howard_Jones

[jah7838]

I prefer heavier clubs for my irons and woods.  Part of the reason for that is that I choke down about 1/2" on all my clubs on normal shots, so the heavier weight helps me keep the feel of the head.  In the past, I've played my irons at D7, and those were usually s300 or s400 shafts with tip weights in each head to get the desired SW.  Last summer, I made the switch to Modus 125s shafts, and still kept the head weights the same in the irons heads, and the SW dropped 1-2 points.  I haven't noticed  a drop off in performance, but the irons are easier for me to swing, which was why I made the switch in the first place.  My wedges are all about D6 still, and those have been switched out from DGTI s400 to Modus 125 wedge shafts.  No noticeable difference in performance with the switch in the short time.  

 

My woods are all in the same D6-D7 range with heavier shafts in them (70g in driver & 80g in the 4 wood).  The heavier feel just makes it easier for me to keep a feel of the head and keep a good tempo.  I've also messed around with some 65-69g driver shafts in the past, and have had some success as long as the balance of the club is weighted towards the head, but I still find myself going back to the 70g+ shafts in the driver.  

 

There appears to be a recent club that goes against that trend, and it was done by accident.  I have a 21* X Forged Utility iron that I was given by a friend, and it was reamed out to make it a .370 tip, and due to some club trade ins that I was planning on doing, I moved some shafts around so I could keep the VTS hybrid shaft that I really like.  I put that in the Utility, and was pleasantly surprised by how well I hit it.  I put a 10g brass tip weight that I got from Billy Bob's golf, and that brought the SW up to about D3, and I don't see to have issues with feeling the head, and the balance is good.  I'm going to keep toying with it on the range because I like how easy the club is to hit.  I don't know if it'll replace my 3 hybrid that I've had in the bag for years, but I like its chances.  

[ChipNRun]

I turned 70, and I'm trying to find out what I want for next phase of my golfing.

 

Grew up swinging 130 gram DG stiff steel driver shafts, etc. Circa 2009 I made shift from heavier graphite wood shafts and midweight steel shafts to circa R-flex, ~ 70 gram graphite and ~ 100-gram steel.

 

Last spring I started having trouble with swing tempo and consistent distance. The season ended up with new long clubs, with shafts all 10 grams lighter. I'll be moving to graphite iron shafts probably this summer.

 

The last couple of years at demo days, I had a chance to hit the Ping AWT 2.0 shafts, about 100 grams in R-flex. The AWT feels good, and I was actually to hit a 4i off the deck with a somewhat lighter long iron AWT shaft.

 

Two years ago I had my CB Pro set 4i reshafted. Went from a 100 gram KBS Tour 90 to a 75 gram Steelfiber HST hybrid shaft. Now it makes a great driving iron and I can hit it off the deck on days I'm swinging well.

 

Where am I going? For irons, probably graphite AWT shafts. A little lighter in the longer irons, a little heavier in the short irons and wedges. I partially did this with my KBS Tour 90 shafts by putting lead tape an inch below the grip to increase short iron shaft weight and stabilize short-iron shot dispersion.

 

On iron short list: Ping G425 with Alta Slate AWT shafts, or Mavrik MAX irons with possibly Catalyst shafts (may go taper tip with shims to get closer to AWT). Also, I may have factory bring swingweight up to D1 or so with lighter graphite shafts so I can feel clubhead at top.

[cardoustie]

Irons running d7 to E0

 

woods and hybrids e0

 

wedges e3

 

35g weights in Scotty

 

love heavier 

[Baitkiller]

6 minutes ago, cardoustie said:

Irons running d7 to E0

 

woods and hybrids e0

 

wedges e3

 

35g weights in Scotty

 

love heavier 

Bricks on sticks 

[sl1111]

On 3/7/2021 at 7:06 PM, Go Horns! said:

I've learned that it I am a shaft weight snob. Too light and I have no tempo, and can't do a half shot. Too heavy, and I only have a few decent swings in me.

I think this is where I fall. Not ready to give up on the light weight shaft just yet as it comes highly recommended and I am in the process of hopefully making it work. I will attempt to raise swing weight in conjunction with the light shaft and see where that leads me. Just testing he water between overall weight and swing weight for now.

[phizzy30]

Def a swing weight person.  I like my clubs heavier overall.  D3 to D5 seem to work for me.  D5 for driver and 3 metal.  D4 I believe for hybrid.  D3 for irons and D4 and D5 for wedges.  I also like to play with heavier putters. 

[cookout14]

For the sake of variety- I'm actually the opposite: all of my numbers improve as I drop down towards D2, including tempo, SS, launch, etc.  

 

In fact, after struggling for a year and a half with a driver fit and then "perfect fit guaranteed" / refit at a certain national chain of fitters, with the first Driver being @ D9 and the second @ D7, dropping it to a D2 at another fitter last week instantly gave me 3-4 MPH and better launch/spin conditions. For every SW tested, my smash factor was btw 1.47-1.49, so it's not impacting center contact.  And as background, I'm a high single digit player, previously at ~111 mph, now back to 115+, and 92-93 mph 7 iron. 

 

At the heavier SWs, I typically feel like I'm behind in my swing, and can't get my hands through impact or release properly.  The combination of Speed + increasing my average AoA from -2.5 to -.5 seems to back those feelings up!